EP0429873A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Printing apparatus
Assignee: Brother Industries Ltd
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Filing: 1990-10-30
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2010-10-30
Abstract
Abstract Ink on an ink tape (2) is melted and transferred onto a print tape (1) by a thermal print head (5), while an electric motor is driven to feed the print tape (1). When the number of rotations of the motor reaches a predetermined value, a controller judges that the lead print position of the tape has reached a cutter (17) and stops rotating the motor. At this time, operating the cutter (17) can cut away a blank area preceding the lead print position. Continuing the printing without operating the cutter (17) can eliminate blank areas between the multiple printed portions.
Inventors
- 👤 Kazuyoshi Minaminaka
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-25 17:09
CPC Classifications
B; B41; B41J; B41J11/00; B41J11/66; B41J11/70; B41J11/703
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 11
Claim 1
Independent Claim
106 words
A tape printing apparatus comprising: a print tape(1) arranged so as to run on a predetermined path; a printing means(2)(5), provided on one side of the predetermined path, for printing on the print tape(1) at a predetermined print position; a tape feeding means(9)(30) for feeding the print tape(1) in a predetermined direction at a time of printing on the print tape(1); a cutting means(17) for cutting the print tape(1) at a tape cutting position spaced away from the print position; and a stop means(22) for stopping the tape feeding means(9)(30) when a print start portion of the print tape(1) comes immediately before the tape cutting position.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
106 words
A tape printing apparatus comprising: a print tape(1) arranged so as to run on a predetermined path; a printing means(2)(5), provided on one side of the predetermined path, for printing on the print tape(1) at a predetermined print position; a tape feeding means(9)(30) for feeding the print tape(1) in a predetermined direction at a time of printing on the print tape(1); a cutting means(17) for cutting the print tape(1) at a tape cutting position spaced away from the print position; and a stop means(22) for stopping the tape feeding means(9)(30) when a print start portion of the print tape(1) comes immediately before the tape cutting position.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
50 words
A tape printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing means includes: an ink ribbon(2) coated with ink; and a thermal print head(5) for causing the ink ribbon(2) to contact the print tape(1), melting the ink on the ink ribbon(2), and transferring the melted ink onto the print tape(1).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
60 words
A tape printing apparatus according to claims 1 or 2, wherein the tape feeding means includes: a feed roller (9) rotatable in synchronism with an operation of the thermal print head(5) to feed the print tape(1); and an electric motor (30) for driving the feed roller (9). a controller(22) for synchronously driving the electric motor(30) and the thermal print head(5).
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
88 words
A tape printing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the stop means is constituted by the controller(22), and the controller(22) performs an operation including: storing the actual number of rotations of the electric motor (30) and a predetermined number of rotations of the electric motor (30) required to feed the print tape(1) to the tape cutting position from the print position; comparing the stored actual number of rotations with the stored predetermined number of rotations; and stopping the electric motor (30) based on a result of the comparison.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
83 words
A tape printing apparatus according to claim 5 or 4, wherein the controller(22) is connected with an input device(25), said input device(25) comprising: a character input member (35) for entering characters and symbols to be printed on the print tape(1); a print instructing member (37) for directing printing by the thermal print head(5); and a tape-cut mode setting member (38) for instructing the electric motor (30) to stop rotating when the print start portion of the print tape(1) reaches the tape cutting position.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
103 words
A tape printing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the controller(22) comprises: a central processing unit(23); a first storage means (31) for storing key input data from the character input member(35), the actual number of rotations of the electric motor (30) and an input from the tape-cut mode setting member(38); and a second storage means(33) for storing a predetermined number of rotations of the electric motor(30), a predetermined number of steps of the electric motor(30) during operation of the thermal print head(5) in response to a single key input from the character input member(35), and a control program of the central processing unit(23).
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
88 words
A tape printing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein based on an instruction from the print instructing member, the controller(22) drives the thermal print head(5) to execute printing in accordance with the key input data stored in the first storage means(31), and forcibly drives the electric motor(30) after printing all of the key input data, the electric motor(30) being driven by a number of steps determined by subtracting the actual number of steps of the electric motor (30) from the predetermined number of steps of the electric motor(22).
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
39 words
A tape printing apparatus according to anyone of claims 1 to 7, wherein an interval between the print position and the tape cutting position is set to an integer multiple of a width of a character to be printed.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
21 words
A tape printing apparatus according to anyone of claims 1 to 8, wherein the cutting means is an externally operable cutter(17).
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
36 words
A tape printing apparatus according to anyone of claims 3 to 9 further comprising a display driven under control of the controller(22), for displaying input data from the input device and various types of print data.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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