RECORDING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE SAME
BACKGROUND
1. Technical Field
[0001] The present invention relates to a recording apparatus recording an image on a recording medium and a method of controlling the same.
2. Related Art
[0002] In the related art, a recording apparatus recording an image on a recording medium transported on a platen is known in which a film-shaped sheet guide is interposed between the recording medium and a recording head, whereby the recording medium can be stably transported to the recording head (for example, see Patent Document 1).
[0003] Patent Document 1: JP-A-2005-262473
[0004] However, a bank book or a voucher used as a recording medium is extremely diversified and a position or a size of a recording area in which an image is recorded also varies. Particularly, in recent years, since there is emphasized a necessity for recording the image to a position adjacent to an upper end or a lower end of the recording medium by reducing a margin of a end portion of the recording medium as much as possible, the image is often recorded in parts which were not assumed to be recordable in the past. For example, in a recording apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, the overlapping between the recording medium and a sheet guide decreases when the image is recorded in a position adjacent to the lower end of the recording medium. The end portion of the recording medium oscillates with a platen and the recording medium is removed from a lower part of the sheet guide by a protrusion force of a recording wire protruding from the recording head and an urging force applied to stabilize the platen in a normal position by resisting the protrusion force, whereby the recording medium may be seated on the sheet guide at the time of recording the image.

When the recording medium is to be discharged in a state that
9
the recording medium is seated on the sheet guide, the recording medium is seated on the sheet guide and is caught in the recording apparatus. As a result, even when the image is recorded in the position adjacent to the lower end of the recording medium, a recording apparatus capable of more certainly discharging the recording medium is required,
SUMMARY
[0005] An advantage of some aspects of the invention is to provide a recording apparatus having a structure in which a sheet guide is interposed between a recording head and the recording medium, and even when an image is recorded in a position adjacent to a bottom portion of the recording medium, the recording medium can be more certainly discharged. The advantage can be attained by at least one of the following aspects:
[0006] A first aspect of the invention provides a recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium inserted into a transporting path and discharging the recording medium to an insertion side, the recording apparatus comprising: a sheet guide, having a guide portion disposed at a side of a recording head with respect to the transporting path, and adapted to guide the inserted recording medium to a printing portion of the recording head; a sheet guide moving mechanism moving the guide portion of the sheet guide to a first position to which the recording medium is guided in the transporting path and to a second position away from the transporting path; a transporting mechanism adapted to transport the recording medium; and a controller allowing the transporting mechanism to perform a discharging operation of transporting the recording medium to a discharge slot in a state that the guide portion of the sheet guide keeps away from the transporting path of the recording medium, wherein the controller transports the recording medium to a position where the recording medium is separated from the guide portion prior to the discharging

operation.
[0007] By this configuration, the guide portion moves away from the transporting path after the recording medium is separated from the guide portion of the sheet guide before performing the discharging operation, whereby the recording medium is discharged. As a result, it is possible to more certainly and stably discharge the recording medium so that the recording medium is not rolled up by the movement of the sheet guide.
[0008] In the first aspect of the invention, only when the recording head records the image within a predetermined distance from a rear end of the printing medium, the controller may allow the transporting mechanism to transport the recording medium to a position where the rear end of the recording medium is separated from the guide portion prior to a later discharging operation.
That is, it is possible to more certainly discharge the recording medium while suppressing a degradation of a throughput by performing a moving operation for separating the recording medium from the sheet guide only when necessary.
[0009] It is preferable that the sheet guide is supported to be pivotable and thus the sheet guide moving mechanism may be constituted by a simple mechanism.
[0010] A second aspect of the invention provides a method of controlling a recording apparatus which includes a recording head for recording an image on a recording medium transported in a transporting path, and a sheet guide having a guide portion disposed at a side of the recording head with respect to the transporting path and adapted to guide the inserted recording medium to a printing portion of the recording head, the method comprising: recording the image on the recording medium; then transporting the recording medium to a position where the recording medium is separated from the guide portion; and then performing a discharging operation of transporting the recording medium to a discharge slot in a state that the guide portion of the sheet guide keeps away from the transporting path of the recording medium.

[0011] In this case, it is preferable to monitor a rear end of the recording medium inserted into the transporting path and to transport the recording medium to a position where the recording medium is separated from the guide portion before performing the discharging operation only when the image is recorded within a predetermined distance from the rear end of the printing medium, and even when lengths of the front end and the rear end of the recording medium is different from each other, it is possible to cope with the problem without changing the control. [0012] According to the aspects of the invention, it is possible to more certainly discharge a recording medium so that the recording medium is not rolled up due to the movement of the sheet guide by separating a rear end of a recording medium from a guide portion of a sheet guide,
[0013] The present disclosure relates to the subject matter contained in Japanese patent application No. 2006-104972 filed onApril 6, 2006, which is expressly incorporatedhereinby reference in its entirety.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0014] The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like numbers reference like elements .
[0015] Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an exterior appearance
of a dot impact printer according to an exemplary embodiment of
the invention.
[0016] Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a printer main body.
[0017] Fig. 3 is a side cross-sectional view of a printer main
body.
[0018] Fig. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a state where
an upper part of a printer main body is removed.
[0019] Fig. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a major
part of a printer main body.
[0020] Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a major

part of a printer main body. ■
[0021] Fig. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a major part of a printer main body.
[0022] Fig. 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a major part of a printer main body.
[0023] Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of a dot impact printer.
[0024] Fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a dot impact printer.
DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS [0025] Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. [0026] Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an exterior appearance of a dot impact printer as a recording apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment to which the invention is applied. The dot impact printer according to the exemplary embodiment includes a recording head 18 (see Figs. 2and3) having a plurality of recording wires, in which dots are formed on a recording surface of the recording medium by pushing out the recording wires toward the recording medium via an ink ribbon from the recording head 18, and images including characters are recorded.
[0027] One line or a plurality of lines form an image recorded by a dot impact printer 10 and a recording operation is performed for each line.
[002 8] Herein, when an image recording command is given to the dot impact printer 10 from an external apparatus (a host computer 68 to be described later) , the command can be carried out by lines or by pages.
[0029] Herein, a recording medium available in the dot impact printer 10 includes a cut sheet cut by a predetermined length and a continuous sheet formed of a plurality of sheets which are continuously connected with each other. The cut sheet and the continuous sheet include papers such as a standard paper, a carbon

paper, and a heavy paper, or a sheet made of a synthetic resin, A treatment such as coating or infiltration may be applied to these sheets. The cut sheet, for example, may include a booklet (bank book) formed of the plurality of sheets which are bound with each other or a sheet (envelope) molded in a pocket shape in addition to a standard-size cut sheet (PPCpaper or postcard) . The continuous sheet, for example, includes a continuous paper having sprocket holes bored on both sides in a width direction thereof and folded by a predetermined interval or a roll paper rolled in a roll shape. [0030] The exemplary embodiment describes a case where the image is recorded on a recording medium 100 by the dot impact printer 10. The recording medium 100 includes the cut sheet, the carbon paper, or the bank book described above, and will be described irrespective of a kind of the recording medium in particular. [0031] The dot impact printer 10 shown in Fig. 1 has a structure in which a main body is housed in an exterior case provided with a cover 12, an upper case 13, and a lower case 14. The exterior case has a structure in which the upper case 13 and the lower case 14 are longitudinally coupled with each other under the cover 12 which is disposed openable or closable in an upper part thereof. A front surface of the exterior case is provided with an opening portion in a boundary between the upper case 13 and the lower case 14 and the opening portion is formed of a manual feeder 15 for manually feeding the recording medium 100. The manual feeder 15 additionally serves as a discharge slot for discharging the recording medium 100.
[0032] In descriptions and drawings according to the exemplary embodiment, a direction where the recording medium 100 is inserted into the manual feeder 15 is represented by a direction A and a direction where the recording medium 100 is discharged from the manual feeder 15 is represented by a direction B, and the directions are represented by the arrows A and B in the drawings, respectively. [0033] Fig. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the printer main body housed in the exterior case of the dot impact printer.

Fig. 3 is a side cross-sectional view of the dot impact printer.
A reference numeral C shown in Fig. 3 denotes a transporting path of the recording medium 100.
[0034] As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, a printer main body 11 has a main body frame including a left side frame 16 and a right side frame 17. The main body frame is provided with a recording mechanism portion 20 including the recording head 18 and a carriage 19, a platen 21 facing the recording head 18, a first transport ingmechanism portion 24 including a first transporting roller 22 and a second transporting roller 23, a second transporting mechanism portion 27 including a third transporting roller 25 and a fourth transporting roller 26, a magnetic data reading portion 29 including a magnetic head 34 reading and writing magnetic information of a magnetic stripe 101 in the recording medium 100, and a sheet pressing portion 30 pressing against the rising of the recording medium 100 at the time of reading and writing the magnetic information from the upside. [0035] The left side frame 16 and the right side frame 17 are stood to face each other on both left and right end portions of the printer main body 11. A carriage shaft 31 is laid between the side frames 16 and 17 and plane-shaped front and rear sheet guides 32 and 33 are fixed to the side frames 16 and 17. [0036] The front and rear sheet guides 32 and 33 constitute a bottom surface of a transporting path C through which the recording medium 100 inserted from the manual feeder 15 (shown in Fig. 1) is transported. The front sheet guide 32 is located at a front side of the printer main body 11, that is, the manual feeder 15 and the rear sheet guide 33 is located at a rear side of the printer main body 11. The front sheet guide 32 and the rear sheet guide 33 are spaced from each other under the recording head 18 and the platen 21 having a flat top surface is disposed in the space. [0037] The manual feeder 15 of the printer main body 11 is fixed to the left side frame 16 and the right side frame 17, that is, a front frame 45 is fixed to the front side and a rear frame 46 is fixed to the rear side. The front frame 45 and the rear frame

46 constitute a ceiling surface of the transporting path of the recording medium 100 and support the second transporting roller 23 and the fourth transporting roller 26 to be described later* [0038] The first transporting mechanism portion 24 is located closer to a front side than the platen 21 and the second transporting mechanism portion 27 is located at a rear side of the platen 21, [0039] The first transporting roller 22 and the third transporting roller 25 are disposed at a lower side of the transporting path C and the second transporting roller 23 and the fourth transporting roller 26 are disposed at an upper side of the transporting path C. The recording medium 100 is interposed between the first transporting roller 22 and the second transporting roller 23 and between the third transporting roller 25 and the fourth transporting roller 26, and the recording medium 100 is transported through the transporting path C.
[0040] Herein, the first transporting roller 22 and the third transporting roller 25 are driving rollers driven by a transporting motor 36 (Fig. 9) and a wheel array driving portion (not shown) and are supported by a shaft laid between the left side frame 16 and the right side frame 17. The second transporting roller 23 and the fourth transporting roller 26 each are driven rollers which rotate with the rotation of the first transporting roller 22 and the third transporting roller 25. The second transporting roller 23 is supported by the front frame 45 via a shaft which is pivotable and is urged toward the first transporting roller 22 by a spring. Similarly, the fourth transporting roller 26 is supported on the rear frame 4 6 via the pivotable shaft and is urged toward the third transporting roller 25 by the spring.
[0041] As the result, the second transporting roller 23 and the fourth transporting roller 26 rotate by the rotation of the first transporting roller 22 and the third transporting roller 25. At this time, the first transporting roller 22 and the second transporting roller 23 rotate in directions opposite to each other and the third transporting roller 25 and the fourth transporting

roller 26 rotate in directions opposite to each other. [0042] The first transporting mechanism portion 24 and the second transporting mechanism portion 27 constitute a transporting mechanism with the transporting motor 36 to be described later. [0043] As shown in Fig. 3, an array plate 54 is disposed between the platen 21 and the first transporting roller 22. The array plate 54 extends in parallel to a scanning direction of the recording head 18 and is a plate-like member perpendicular to the transporting path C. The array plate 54 is buried at the lower side of the transporting path C and is movable forward and backward to the transporting path C by an operation of an array motor 37 (Fig. 9) . That is, the array plate 54 is driven by the array motor 37 to move up and down and is protruded to the transporting path C from the bottom of the front sheet guide 32. Alternatively, the array plate 54 retreats to the bottom part of the front sheet guide 32 or the same plane as the front sheet guide 32 from a state that the array plate 54 protrudes to the transporting path C. The array plate 54 and the array motor 37 driving the array plate 54 constitute an array unit.
[0044] The magnetic head 34 reciprocates along two magnetic head guides laid in parallel between the side frames 16 and 17 by the magnetic motor 38 (Fig. 9) . When the recording medium 100 is the bank book, the magnetic stripe 101 shown in a broken line of Fig. 1 is provided on a bottom surface in a state that the recording surface of the recording medium is opened. The magnetic stripe 101 can magnetically record a variety of information. The magnetic head 34 reads and writes the information on the magnetic stripe 101 by scanning the magnetic stripe 101 of the bank book when the bank book having the magnetic stripe 101 is inserted from the manual feeder 15.
[0045] As described above, the carriage 19 is slidably inserted into a carriage shaft 31 laid between the left side frame 16 and the right side frame 17 . The carriage 19 is connected to the carriage driving motor 35 (Fig. 9) via the wheel array driving portion (not

shown) and a timing belt (not shown) and is traveled (scanned) along the carriage shaft 31 by a normal rotation or a reverse rotation of the carriage driving motor 35. The scanning direction of the carriage 19 is referred to as a main scanning direction.
[0046] The recording head 18 is mounted on the carriage 19.
The recording head 18 is integrated with the carriage 19 and moves along the main scanning direction on the recording surface of the recording medium 100.
[0047] A ribbon cartridge 39 in which a folded ink ribbon is housed is attached to the carriage 19 or a main body frame. The ink ribbon housed in the ribbon cartridge 39 is partially pulled out and is overlapped with a front end of the recording head 18.
The recording head 18 protrudes a recording wire during traveling in the main scanning direction to bump the recording surface of the recording medium 100 via the ink ribbon, and ink of the ink ribbon is deposited to the recording medium 100 transported between the platen 21 and the recording head 18, whereby images including characters are recorded in the recording medium 100. [0048] A protrusion force of the recording wire protruding from the recording head 18 is taken by the platen 21. The platen 21 has a plane extending in a traveling direction of the carriage 19 andis elastically supportedwhilebeingurgedtoward the recording head 18 by an urging spring 40 (Fig. 3) supported in both longitudinal end portions. The urging spring 40, for example, is a compression coil spring. The protrusion force of the recording wire at the time of a recording operation of the recording head 18 is supported by an urging force of the urging spring 40. In the recording head 18, a gap roller 41 is arranged at the side of a location where the recordingwire protrudes . The gap roller 41 is a roller supported along the scanning direction of the recording head 18 to bepivotable.
A lower end of the gap roller 41 is located below the front end of the recording head 18 in a state that the recording wire is not pushed out and resists the urging force of the urging spring 40 pushing up the platen 21 by abutting on the platen 21 or the

recording medium 100 on the platen 21.
[0049] Accordingly, in a state that the recording medium is set and the image is recorded by the recording head 18, since the gap roller 41, the recording medium 100, and the platen 21 are abutted with each other by the urging force of the urging spring
40, a space (gap) is secured between the recording surface of the
recording medium 100 and the recording head 18 by the gap roller
41. Even when a thickness of the recording medium 100 varies during
performance of the recoding medium, the platen 21 is displaced
up and down all the more and a difference in thickness is absorbed,
whereby the gap is maintained to be a pertinent size.
[0050] The dot impact printer 10 is provided with various sensors detecting a position of the recording medium 100. As shown in Fig. 3, a plurality of array sensors 52 is arranged side by side in a front side of the array plate 54 protruding between the second transporting roller 23 and the carriage 19. The array sensor 52, for example, is provided with a light emitting portion (LED) and a light receiving portion (photo transistor) facing each other with the transporting path of the recording medium 100 interposed therebetween and detects whether or not the recording medium 100 exists. The array sensor 52 detects whether or not the recording medium 100 abutting on the array plate 54 exists in a state that the array plate 54 is protruded and the array sensor 52 can judge whether the array of the recording medium 100 is succeeded and the direction of the recording medium 100 is arrayed on the basis of a detection state of the array sensor 52. A front end of the recording medium 100 is located on the array plate 54 by the array sensor 52 at the time when the recording medium 100 has been completed.
Accordingly, it is possible to acquire a position of the front end and a rear end 100A of the recording medium 100 on the basis of the number of operation steps of the transporting motor 36 after the array sensor 52 detects that the array has been completed.
The detection state of the array sensor 52 may be used to detect the rear end 100A of the recording medium 100.

[0051] A medium width detecting sensor 55 is arranged at the rear side of the recording medium 18 to be located above the platen 21. The medium width detecting sensor 55, for example, is provided with the light emittingportion (LED) and the light receiving portion
(photo transistor) and detects whether or not the recording medium 100 exists on the platen 21. The medium width detecting sensor 55 is mounted on the carriage 19 and scans the platen 21 with the carriage 19. Accordingly, whether or not the recording medium 100 exists is detected by the medium width detecting sensor 55 at the time of scanning the carriage 19, and a position of the side end of the recording medium 100 or a width of the recording medium 100 can be acquired by corresponding a detected value to a scanning position of the carriage 19. The dot impact printer 10 is provided with an insertion sensor 53 (Fig. 9) arranged at the front side of the second transporting roller 23. The insertion sensor 53, for example, is provided with the light emitting portion
(LED) and the light receiving portion (photo transistor) facing each other with the transporting path of the recording medium 100 interposed therebetween and detects whether or not the recording medium 100 exists in the front side of the second transporting roller 23, the recording medium 100 manually being inserted from the manual feeder 15.
[0052] Fig. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a state that an upper part of the printer main body 11 is removed. Figs. 5 and 6 are enlarged cross-sectional views of a major part of the printer main body 11 illustrating a part adjacent to the recording head 18. Fig. 5 illustrates an upper position thereof and Fig. 6 illustrates a lower position thereof. Fig. 7 is an enlarged perspective view of a major part illustrating a configuration of the platen 21 and Fig. 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a major part adjacent to the recording head 18. [0053] As shown in Fig. 4, the dot impact printer 10 has a sheet guide 60 guiding the recording medium 100 in a transporting direction.
The sheet guide 60 is extensively disposed along a reciprocation

direction of the recording head 18. A guide portion 60A abutting on the recording medium 100 of the sheet guide 60 is formed of a flexible sheet and a front end thereof reaches a top surface of the platen 21 and a base end of the sheet guide 60 is supported by a guide supporting portion 70.
[0054] As shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the guide supporting portion 70 is provided with a guide supporting shaft 71 laid between the left side frame 16 and the right side frame 17, a guide supporting bearing 72 pivotably supporting the guide supporting shaft 71, a spring receiving plate 73 fixed to an end portion of the right side frame 17 of the guide supporting shaft 71 and protruding to the recording head 18, an abutment portion 73A fixed to the spring receiving plate 73 and the guide supporting shaft 71 and protruding to a side opposite to the spring receiving plate 73, an urging spring 75 urging the spring receiving plate 73 from a lower part, and a spring receiving portion 74 housing the lower part of the urging spring 75 and supporting the urging spring 75 from the lower part thereof.
[0055] A base end portion of the guide portion 60A of the above-mentioned sheet guide 60 is adhesively fixed to the guide supporting shaft 71 by, for example, a two-sided tape or an adhesive agent.
[0056] A pressing lever 76 is arranged adjacent to the guide supporting portion 70. The pressing lever 76 is provided with a rotation shaft 78 pivotably supported by the right side frame 17, a pressing protrusion 79 protruding from the rotation shaft 78 to the guide supporting portion 70, and a cam abutting portion 77 protruding substantially to a lower part above a side opposite to the pressing protrusion 79. The pressing lever 76 is urged in a left rotation direction shown in Figs. 5 and 6 by a pressing spring (not shown).
[0057] The guide supporting portion 70 and the pressing lever 76 constitute a sheet guide moving mechanism in conjunction with each other.

[0058] The pressing protrusion 79 of the pressing lever 76 is
engaged with the spring receiving plate 73 of the guide supporting portion 70 in a state that the pressing protrusion 79 is seated thereon.
[0059] As described above, the carriage 19 on which the recording head 18 is mounted is driven in the main scanning direction by the carriage driving motor 35 (Fig, 9), but the guide supporting portion 70 and the pressing lever 76 are in a different state during the scanning of the carriage 19 and when the carriage 19 is in a standby position of the right side frame 17.
[0060] The guide supporting portion 70 is urged in the left rotation shown in Figs. 5 and 6 on the guide supporting shaft 71 by the urging force of the urging spring 75 housed in the spring receiving portion 74, Herein, the pressing spring (not shown) urging the pressing lever 76 in the left rotation direction shown in Figs, 5 and 6 has an urging force stronger than the urging spring 75 urging the guide supporting portion 70. As the result, as shown in Fig. 5, the pressing lever 76 is urged by the urging force of the pressing spring (not shown) and the pressing protrusion 79 presses the spring receiving plate 73 downward during the scanning operation of the carriage 19. The guide supporting portion 70 rotates to the right shown in the drawing by resisting the urging force of the urging spring 75 and the spring receiving plate 73 is pressed down by a pressing force. Herein, the guide portion 60A of the sheet guide 60 is impressed to the platen 21. Then, the carriage 19 is moved and is interposed between the gap roller 41 of the carriage 19 and the platen 21. As described above, a position where the guide portion 60A is impressed to the platen 21 is referred to as a first position.
[0061] Meanwhile, when the carriage 19 reaches the standby position most adjacent to the right side frame 17, a cam slope 19A formed on a side of the right side frame 17 of the carriage 19 abuts on a cam abutting portion 77. The cam abutting portion 77 is pressed down by resisting the urging force of the pressing

spring (not shown) with the approach of the cam slope 19A, whereby the pressing lever 76 rotates to the right as shown in the drawing.
Accordingly, the pressing force which the pressing protrusion 79 of the pressing lever 76 applies to the spring receiving plate 73 is released and the spring receiving plate 73 is pushed up by the urging force of the urging spring 75. The guide supporting portion 70 rotates to the left as shown in the drawing and an abutment portion 73A reaches the front sheet guide 32 and is stopped. [0062] As the result, when the carriage 19 is in the standby position, the spring receiving plate 73 is in an ascent position and the abutment portion 73A is in a descent position as shown in Fig. 6. In this state, the guide portion 60A moves upward and keeps away from away from the platen 21. As described above, a position where the guide portion 60A moves away from the platen 21 is referred to as a second position.
[0063] As shown in Fig. 7, a slope 21A extending downward is formed in the end portion of the right side frame 17 of the platen 21 and is connected to a terminal portion 21B formed of a plane lower than other parts by a step. In Fig. 7, the only gap roller 41 of the carriage 19 is shown for explanation, but when the carriage 19 moves to the standby position, the gap roller 41 moves in contact with a top surface of the platen 21 and stops at a position where the gap roller 41 keeps away from a terminal portion 21B. [0064] As described above, when the carriage 19 is in the standby position, the guide portion 60A is in the second position, whereby the guide portion 60A of the right side frame 17 of the sheet guide 60 abuts on the gap roller 41, but the guide portions 60A of the other portions keep away from the platen 21 and is floated. Then, when the carriage 19 keeps away from the right side frame 17, the sheet guide 60 is in the first position and urges the platen 21.
The gap roller 41 moves with pressing down on the paten 21 via the sheet guide 60 by using the slope 21A of the platen 21. [0065] The sheet guide 60 serves to guide the recording medium 100 manually inserted from the manual feeder 15 (Fig. 1) so as

to be smoothly transported to the lower part of the recording head 18. The sheet guide 60 also serves to enable the gap roller 41 moving in the main scanning direction to smoothly climb over a ridge when the booklet or the bank book formed of the plurality of sheets bound with each other and having the ridge is used as the recording medium 100.
[0066] The guide portion 60A of the sheet guide 60 is in the first position and stabilizes the recording medium 100 during the time the image is recorded in the recording medium 100, while the guide portion 60 A of the sheet guide 60 allows the carriage 19 to reach the standby position and moves upward so as to keep away from the transporting path when the recording of the image in the recording medium 100 is finished and the recording medium 100 is transported for a line spacing or the discharge of the recording medium 100.
[0067] When the image is recorded to a part adjacent to the rear end 100A of the recording medium 100, the recording medium 100 stops in a state that the rear end 100A is partially overlapped with the front end of the guide portion 60A of the sheet guide 60. At this time, the guide 60A is in the first position and is overlapped with the recording medium 100.
[0068] In this state, the platen 21 receives the protrusion force of the recording wire (not shown) protruding from the recording head 18 and the platen 21 oscillates by the protrusion force and the urging force of the urging spring 40. The oscillation allows the recording medium 100 to oscillate up and down, and the front end 100A of the recording medium 100 is taken off from the lower part of the guide portion 60A and may ride on the guide portion 60A. When the recording of the image is finished and the guide portion 60A moves to the second position in a state that the front end 100A of the recording medium 100 rides on the guide portion 60A, the rear end 100A of the recording medium 100 is lifted with the guide portion 60A. When the recording medium 100 is to be discharged in an arrow B direction in the state that the rear end

100A of the recording medium 100 is lifted, the recording medium 100 moves to the upper part of the sheet guide 60 and bumps into the guide supporting shaft 71, thereby bringing about a jam. [0069] To avoid this problem, the dot impact printer 10 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention transports the recording medium in a reference numeral A direction before discharging the recording medium 100 and allows the rear end 100A of the recording medium 100 to be separated from the guide portion 60A once as shown in Fig. 8 . Even when the sheet guide 60 moves from the first position to the second position in the state that the recording medium 100 is separated from the guide portion 60A, the recording medium 100 is not lifted with the rising of the guide portion 60A. When the recording medium 100 is discharged after the sheet guide 60 moves to the second position, the recording medium 100 passes through the lower part of the sheet guide 60 and is certainly transported to the manual feeder 15.
[0070] The dot impact printer 10 is provided with a control substrate portion 50 at a lower side of the rear side of the printer main body 11 as a control device controlling the whole printer 10, such as a driving control of the first and second sheet transporting mechanism portions 24 and 27, a traveling control of the carriage 19, a recording operation control by the recording wire of the recording head 18, and a reading and writing control of the magnetic data reading portion 29.
[0071] Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of the dot impact printer 10, that is, a functional configuration of each part on the control substrate portion 50. [0072] As shown in Fig. 9, the dot impact printer 10 includes a CPU 61, a RAM 63 temporarily storing a program and data executed by the CPU 61, and an EEPROM 64 storing a control program executed by the CPU 61, and the parts are mutually connected via a bus 62. A gate array (G/A) 65 is connected to the bus 62, and the recording head 18, the array sensor 52, the insertion sensor 53, the medium width detecting sensor 55, and a motor driver 66 are connected

to the gate array 65. The gate array 65 acquires output voltage
r
values of the array sensor 52, the insertion sensor 53, and the medium width detecting sensor 55 to output the output voltage values to the CPU 61. The gate array 65 allows the recording wire (not shown) of the recording head 18 to perform the protruding operation by driving the recording head 18 under the control of the CPU 61.
The gate array 65 drives each of the carriage driving motor 35, the transporting motor 36, the array motor 37, and a magnetic motor 38 by controlling the motor driver 66 under the control of the CPU 61.
[0073] The carriage drivingmotor 35 is a motor moving the carriage 19 along the main scanning direction and the carriage 19 reciprocates by the normal rotation and the reverse rotation of the carriage driving motor 35. The transporting motor 36 is a motor rotating the above-mentioned first transporting roller 22 and third transporting roller 25 and the array motor 37 is a motor advancing to and retreating from the transporting path of the recording medium 100. The magnetic motor 38 is a motor scanning the magnetic data reading portion 29 (Fig. 2) . These motors may be stepping motors with the number of operation steps depending on a pulse inputted from the motor driver 66 to each motor. The number of operation steps of each motor can be more accurately monitored by using a rotary encoder (not shown) or a linear encoder (not shown) . It is possible to acquire a paper position and a paper end position by making a relationship between a position of the carriage acquired by the number of pulses and the output of the sensor. [0074] The CPU 61 controls the gate array 65 and the motor driver 66, and obtains the output states of the sensors via the gate array 65 on the basis of the control program stored in the EEPROM 64.
For example, the CPU 61 acquires data representing the output voltage by sampling the output voltage value of each sensor via the gate array 65 by a predetermined period (for example, 100 ms) and performs an A/D conversion of the output voltage value, and acquires the detection state of the recording medium 100 in each

sensor on the basis of the data.
*
[0075] An interface (I/F) 67 connected to an external apparatus of the dot impact printer 10 is connected to the bus 62 . The interface 67 includes connectors complying with various standards, such as a serial interface, a parallel interface, a USB interface, and a network card interface, and is connected to the external apparatus via the connectors.
[0076] The host computer 68 outside the dot impact printer 10 is connected to the interface 67.
[0077] The host computer 68 transmits and receives a variety of information to and from the CPU 61 in accordance with an operator' s manipulation. The information includes various commands such as a control command instructing the commencement of the recording by the recording head 18 and data representing a position of a recording area where the image is recorded in the recording medium 100. Herein, the data representing the position of the recording area includes a size of the recording medium 100, distances from the end portions of the upper end, the rear end 100A, a left end, and a right end of the recording medium 100 to the recording area, the number of lines in the recording area, and a digit per line. [0078] A manipulating portion receiving an input manipulation or a display portion displaying an operation result may be connected to the bus 62.
[0079] An operation of the dot impact printer 10 configured as above will be described.
[0080] As described above, in the dot impact printer 10, the image including the characters is recorded on a recording surface of the recording medium 100 by pushing out the recording wire (not shown) provided in the recording head 18 via the ink ribbon drawn from the ribbon cartridge 39.
[0081] In the dot impact printer 10, the sheet guide 60 drives the transporting motor 36 in the first position state and transports the recording medium 100 in a direction opposite to the manual feeder 15, whereby the recording medium 100 is separated from the

lower part of the guide portion 60A of the sheet guide 60 before performing the discharging operation discharging the recording medium 100 is performed after the recording operation is performed by the recording head 18. The recording medium 100 is transported toward the manual feeder 15 after the carriage 19 moves to the standby position and the sheet guide 60 moves to the second position by driving the carriage driving motor 35 after the recording medium is separated.
[0082] Fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the dot impact printer 10.
[0083] The operation shown in Fig. 10 is implemented by reading and executing the control program stored in the EEPROM 64 by the CPU 61. The CPU 61 serves as the controller at the time of executing the operation shown in Fig. 10.
[0084] After the dot impact printer 10 is electrified, the CPU 61 acquires information transmitted from the host computer 68 (step Sll) , and extracts and acquires the rear end 100A of the recording area in the recording medium 100 from the information (step S12) . [0085] Herein, the CPU 61 judges whether a position of a final line of the recording area is within a predetermined distance from the rear end 100A of the recording medium 100 (step S13) and sets the transportation of the recording medium 100 before performing the discharging operation of the recording medium 100 when the position of the final line is within the predetermined distance (step S14) . Subsequently, the CPU 61 records the image in the recording medium 100 (step S15) and discharges the recording medium 100 from the manual feeder 15 after the recording operation is finished (stepS16) . InstepS16, the CPU 61 transports the recording medium 100 in a direction away from the manual feeder 15 before performing the discharging operation of the recording medium 100 and in a state that the carriage 19 is in positions other than the standby position and the sheet guide 60 is in the first position. The recording medium 100 is transported toward the manual feeder 15"by moving the carriage 19 to the standby position and the sheet

guide 60 to the second position after a predetermined quantity of the recording medium 100 is transported and is separated from the lower part of the guide portion 60A.
[0086] When the position of the final line of the recording area is separated from the rear end lOOAbymore than the predetermined distance (step S13; No) , the CPU 61 allows the image to be recorded in the recording medium 100 (step S15) , and after the recording operation, the recording medium 100 is discharged from the manual feeder 15 (step S16) . In this case, the CPU 61 transports the recording medium 100 to the manual feeder 15 in step S16. [0087] As described above, the dot impact printer 10 according to an exemplary embodiment to which the invention is applied includes the sheet guide 60 movable up and down by the guide supporting portion 70 closer to the manual feeder 15 than the recording head 18 on the transporting path C of the recording medium 100, wherein the sheet guide 60 transports the recording medium 100 in a direction away from the manual feeder 15 in the first position state and the recording medium 100 is separated from the sheet guide 60 before performing the discharging operation of the recording medium 100.
Then, the recording medium 100 is discharged by moving the sheet guide 60 to the second position.
[0088] By this configuration, it is possible to more certainly and stably discharge the recording medium 100 without seating the recording medium 100 on the guide portion 60A of the sheet guide 60.
[0089] Since an operation of transporting the recording medium 100 to a side opposite to the manual feeder 15 before performing the discharging operation of the recording medium 100 is performed only when the final line is within the predetermined distance from the rear end 100A of the recording medium 100, it is possible to more certainly discharge the recording medium 100 while suppressing a degradation of a throughput by reducing unnecessary transporting
operations.
[0090] The exemplary embodiments show aspects of the invention

and are optionally changeable and applicable within the scope of
r
the invention. For example, in an exemplary embodiment, a case where whether the position of the final line of the recording area of the recording medium 100 is within the predetermined distance from the rear end 100A of the recording medium 100 is judged on the basis of the information transmitted from the host computer 68 is described, but the invention is not limited as such. Whether the position of the final line of the recording medium 100 is within the predetermined distance from the rear end 100A of the recording medium 100 may be judged on the basis of a transportation amount of which the recording medium is transported, that is, an operation amount of the transporting motor 35 after protruding the array plate 54 to the transporting path C and arraying the recording medium 100. In this case, the position of the line which is being recorded and the position of the rear end 100A of the recording medium 100 are compared with each other during the final line is recorded by the recording head 18.
[0091] A method of detecting the rear end 100A of the recording medium 100 on the basis of the detection state of the array sensor 52 may be performed as a method of detecting the rear end 100A of the recording medium 100 since the rear end 100A can be detected irrespective of a length of the recording medium 100. When the length of the inserted recording medium may be defined by a paper size, it is possible to acquire the position of the front end and the position of the rear end 100A of the recording medium 100 on the basis of the signal of the front end portion of the recording medium and the number of operation steps of the transporting motor 36 transporting the recording medium 100.
[0092] Whether the recording medium needs to be sent forward is judged only when the final line of the recording area is within the predetermined distance from the rear end 100A of the recording medium 100, but whether the recording medium 100 needs to be sent forward may be judged when the lower end 100A of the recording medium 100 is detected.

[0093] In an exemplary embodiment, a case whether the invention is applied to the dot impact printer 10 is described, but the invention is not limited to this case. The invention is applicable to recording apparatuses incorporated in other equipment (copying machines, etc.) .
[0094] Other detailed configurations according the exemplary embodiments also are optionally changeable.

What is claimed is:
1. A recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording
medium inserted into a transporting path and discharging the
recording medium to an insertion side, the recording apparatus
comprising:
a sheet guide, having a guide portion disposed at a side of a recording head with respect to the transporting path, and adapted to guide the inserted recording medium to a printing portion of the recording head;
a sheet guide moving mechanism moving the guide portion of the sheet guide to a first position to which the recording medium is guided in the transporting path and to a second position away from the transporting path;
a transporting mechanism adapted to transport the recording medium; and
a controller allowing the transporting mechanism to perform a discharging operation of transporting the recording medium to a discharge slot in a state that the guide portion of the sheet guide keeps away from the transporting path of the recording medium,
wherein the controller transports the recording medium to a position where the recording medium is separated from the guide portion prior to the discharging operation.
2. The recording apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein only
when the recording head records the image within a predetermined
distance from a rear end of the printing medium, the controller
allows the transporting mechanism to transport the recording medium
to a position where the rear end of the recording medium is separated
from the guide portion prior to a later discharging operation.
3 . The recording apparatus according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the sheet guide is supported to be pivotable.

4. A method of controlling a recording apparatus which includes
a recording head for recording an image on a recording medium
transported in a transporting path, and a sheet guide having a
guide portion disposed at a side of the recording head with respect
to the transporting path and adapted to guide the inserted recording
medium to a printing portion of the recording head, the method
comprising:
recording the image on the recording medium;
transporting the recording medium to a position where the recording medium is separated from the guide portion; and
performing a discharging operation of transporting the recording medium to a discharge slot in a state that the guide portion of the sheet guide keeps away from the transporting path of the recording medium.
5. The method of controlling a recording apparatus according
to Claim 4, the method further comprising:
monitoring a rear end of the recording medium; and transporting the recording medium to a position where the recording medium is separated from the guide portion prior to the discharging operation only when the image is recorded within a predetermined distance from the rear end of the printing medium.