Ink ribbon control apparatus for locating replacement cartridge color band in a color printer

Claim 1

An ink ribbon control apparatus for a color printer of the type that has a printing head and uses a ribbon cartridge having housed therein an ink ribbon divided in a lateral direction into a plurality of color bands, the control apparatus comprising: supporting means for supporting the ribbon cartridge, said supporting means permitting selective movement of the ribbon cartridge in the lateral direction of the ink ribbon; detecting means for generating a first detection signal indicating that the ribbon cartridge is disposed at an initial position which serves as a reference position for changing the color bands and a second detection signal indicating that the ribbon cartridge has been replaced; and drive means, responsive to said detecting means, for driving said supporting means to move the ribbon cartridge in response to the first and second detection signals, said drive means moving the ribbon cartridge toward the initial position in response to the second detection signal and moving the ribbon cartridge by a required distance in response to the first detection signal to set a previously selected color band at the same position relative to the printing head of the printer as the color band of the previous ribbon cartridge prior to cartridge replacement.