Abstract:
A printer includes a shell, a reversion module, a stick, a roller set, a first sensor, a second sensor, a first motor, and a second motor. The reversion module includes a housing, a first axis, a first gear, a second axis, a second gear, and a plurality of cannelures. The printer feeds a printing media into the reversion module, and drives the rotation of the reversion module to drive the rotation of the printing media so that both sides of the printing media are capable of being printed by the printer. The effect of reversible print without additional reversion of the printing media by bare hands is achieved.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a printer, and more particularly, to a printer capable of printing on both sides of a printing media.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0004]     In the prior art technology, when a user wishes to perform a printing operation on an unprinted side of a printing media the operation is performed with a single-sided media printer. Specifically, the printing media, having the unprinted side facing up, is fed by the user into the single-sided media printer so that printing on the unprinted side of the printing media can be performed. However, when a user wishes to perform printing on both sides of a printing media (i.e., double sided printing) the operation requires significant user intervention. Specifically, a printed side of the printing media must be reversed manually by the user so that an unprinted side of the printing media faces up. Thereby printing on the unprinted side of the printing media can be performed, and the requirement of printing on both sides (double sides) of the printing media is achieved. When the volume of the desired printing media to be generated in a double-sided fashion is smaller, the time consumed by the user for manually reversing a printed side of the printing media is acceptable. However, when the volume of printing media to be printed in a double-sided fashion is larger, the time consumed by the user for manually reversing a printed side of the printing media thereby performing double-sided printing increases significantly as compared to the time consumed for performing single-sided printing. Therefore, the inconvenient to the users is much greater.  
         [0005]     The amount of time and the labor consumed by performing double-sided printing with single-sided media printers is inconvenient. Additionally, since the printing media is reversed manually while the single-sided media printer performing the double-sided printing, the unprinted second side of the printing media easily deviates from a designated position for printing. Therefore, the patterns of both sides of the printing media are inconsistent with each other. This results in the necessity of reprint the double-sided printing causing a waste in the consumed printing media.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     A printer capable of printing double sides of a printing media comprises a shell having a cannelure disposed on the shell, a reversion module disposed inside the shell in a rotatable manner with respect to the shell, a stick having an end fixed on the cannelure in a slidable manner and having another end fitting a cylindrical structure of the reversion module, a roller set utilized for driving the printing media while the reversion module is fixed within the shell, a first sensor utilized for sensing whether the printing media is driven to a first default position, a second sensor utilized for sensing whether the reversion module is rotated to a second default position, a first motor utilized for driving the stick and the reversion module simultaneously, and a second motor utilized for driving the roller set to drive the printing media.  
         [0007]     These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]      FIG. 1  is a diagram of the present invention printer  100  capable of performing double-sided printing.  
         [0009]      FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the reversion module  105  and the roller set  109  of  FIG. 1 .  
         [0010]      FIG. 3  is a diagram of the present invention reversion module  105  of the printer  100  not being rotated nor being at the aforementioned first designated position.  
         [0011]      FIG. 4  is a diagram of the reversion module  105  of the printer  100  being rotated a half turn from the aforementioned first designated position to the aforementioned second designated position.  
         [0012]      FIG. 5  is a diagram of the present invention reversion module  105  being released from the cylindrical structure  131  by the stick  107  in the printer  100 .  
         [0013]      FIG. 6  is a diagram of the printing media  119  being directly excluded from the reversion module  105  when there is a defect on the printing media  119 .  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0014]     Please refer to  FIG. 1 , which is a diagram of the present invention printer  100  capable of performing double-sided printing. A printing media  119  is fed into the printer  100 . The printing media  119  has a first side and a second side. The first side of the printing media  119  is printed. The second side of the printing media  119  is not printed yet. In view of  FIG. 1 , the first side of the printing media  119  faces up, and the second side of the printing media  119  faces down. The first side and the second side of the printing media cannot be clearly shown in  FIG. 1  so please see  FIG. 2  for a clear illustration. The printer  100  comprises a shell  101  with a cannelure  103  disposed on the shell  101 , a reversion module  105  with cylindrical structures  131 , 133 , 135  disposed on the reversion module  105 , the reversion module  105  being disposed inside the shell  101  in a rotatable manner with respect to the shell  101 , a stick  107  having one end fixed on the cannelure  103  in a slidable manner and having another end fixed on the cylindrical structures  131 ,  133 , or  135 , a roller set  109 , a first sensor  111 , a second sensor  113 , a first motor  115 , and a second motor  117 . The reversion module  105  is used to drive a rotation of the printing media  119  by a rotation of the reversion module  105  itself when the printing media  119  is fixed inside the reversion module  105 . The stick  107  is used to fix or release the reversion module  105 . When the stick  107  is fixed on one of the cylindrical structures  131 ,  133 , and  135  of the reversion module  105 , the reversion module  105  is fixed by the stick  107  and is thus not able to be rotated. When the stick  107  is not fixed on one of the cylindrical structures  131 ,  133 , and  135  of the reversion module  105 , the reversion module  105  is released by the stick  107  and is thus able to be rotated. The roller set  109  is used to drive the printing media  119  when the reversion module  105  is fixed inside the shell  101 . The first sensor  111  is used to sense whether the printing media  119  is driven to a first designated position. The second sensor  113  is used to sense whether the reversion module  105  is rotated to a second designated position. The first motor  115  is used to drive a rotation of the reversion module  105  and a slide of the stick  107  simultaneously. The second motor  117  is used to drive the roller set  109  for driving a movement of the printing media  119 . When the reversion module  105  is rotated to the second designated position, the stick  107  is fixed on the cylindrical structure  133  so that the reversion module  105  is fixed again and is not able to be rotated. The use of the cylindrical structure  135  will be explained in  FIG. 6 . Additionally, before the printing media  119  is fed into the reversion module  105 , the first side of the printing media  119  is printed. Therefore, the aim of the present invention is to reverse the printing media  119  so that the second side of the printing media  119  faces in a direction that the first side of the printing media  119  was facing (i.e., the aim is to reverse the printing media  119  so that the second side of the printing media  119  faces up).  
         [0015]     Please refer to  FIG. 2 , which is an exploded view of the reversion module  105  and the roller set  109  of  FIG. 1 . The reversion module  105  comprises a housing  201 , a first axis  207  coupled to the housing  201 , a first gear  209  coupled to the first motor  115  in  FIG. 1  and the first axis  207 , a second axis  211  coupled to the housing  201 , a second gear  213  coupled to the second motor  117  in  FIG. 1 , the second axis  211 , and the cylindrical structures  131 , 133 , 135  in  FIG. 1 . The roller set  109  comprises two first rollers  203  fixed on the housing  201 , two second rollers  205 , which are disposed beneath the first rollers  203  and are coupled to the housing  201  and the first motor  117  of  FIG. 1 . Moreover, when the printing media  119  is fed into the reversion module  105 , the first rollers  203  and the second rollers  205  are contacted with the printing media  119  so that a moving direction of the printing media  119  inside the reversion module  105  is fixed. The housing  201  is used to put in the printing media  119  fed in the reversion module  105 , and is used to drive a whole rotation of the reversion module  105  with a rotation of the housing  201  itself. The first rollers  203  is used to exert a normal force on the printing media  119  so that the moving direction of the printing media  119  is fixed, and the moving direction is a forward direction or a backward direction of the printing media  119 . A driving force is exerted on the second rollers  205  by the second motor  117  in  FIG. 1  and is transmitted through the second gear  213 . And a forward movement or a backward movement of the printing media  119  is driven by a rotation of the second rollers  205 , which are making use of the normal force that the first rollers  203  exert on the printing media  119 . A driving force is exerted on the first axis  207  by the first motor  115  and is transmitted through the first gear  209 , and the driving force is again exerted on the housing  201  by the first axis  207  to drive a rotation of the housing  201 . The second axis  211  is used to balance the driving force exerted by the first motor  115  to fix the rotating direction of the housing  201  while the housing  201  is rotated.  
         [0016]     Please refer to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2  again. Before making the second side of the printing media  119  face up in the view of  FIG. 1  for performing a double-sided printing, the printing media  119  is fed into the housing  201  of the reversion module  105  with the first side of the printing media  119  facing up. The stick  107  is fixed on the cylindrical structure  131  of the reversion module  105 , and the reversion module  105  is fixed by the stick  107  at this time. Therefore, the reversion module  105  is unable to be rotated. Then, a rotation of the second rollers  205  is driven by the second motor  117  through the second gear  213 . A friction force generated between the second rollers  205  and the printing media  119  is also used to drive the printing media  119  forward from outside the housing  201  to inside the housing  201 . During the process of the printing media  119  being driven by the second motor  117 , a normal force on the printing media  119  is exerted by the first rollers  203  to fix the moving direction of the printing media  119 . Next, the printing media  119  is driven to a first designated position by the second motor  117 , and the first designated position is an appropriate position for the printing media  119  to be rotated. When the first sensor  111  detects that the printing media  119  is driven to the first designated position, the second motor  117  ceases driving the printing media  119 . The stick  107  is driven by the first motor  115  through the first gear  209  and is released from the cylindrical structure  131  of the reversion module  105  to release the reversion module  105  so that the reversion module  105  is rotatable at this time. In the meanwhile, a driving force is also transmitted to the first axis  207  by the first motor  115  through the first gear  209 . Therefore, a rotation of the housing  201  can be driven by the first axis  207 . And a normal force, which is exerted by the first rollers  203  on the printing media  119 , is also used to fix the printing media  119  inside the housing  201  so that the printing media  119  will not fall off the housing  201  by the rotation of the housing  201 . After the second sensor  113  detects that the housing  201  has been rotated to a second designated position, the first motor  115  ceases driving the rotation of the housing  201 . The second designated position is where the printing media  119  and the housing  201  are rotated a half turn from the first designated position. Since the housing  201  is driven by the first motor  115  to rotate a half turn from the first designated position, the printing media  119 , which is fixed on the housing  201  by the first rollers  203 , is also rotated a half turn so that the unprinted second side of the printing media  119  faces up in the view of  FIG. 1  at this time. Next, the first motor  115  ceasing to drive the rotation of the housing  201 , the stick  107  is also driven by the first motor  115  through the first gear  109  so that the stick  107  is fixed on the cylindrical structure  133 . Therefore, the reversion module  105  is fixed by the stick  107  again and is unable to be rotated. Then a driving force is exerted on the second rollers  205  by the second motor  117  through the second gear  213  to make a movement of the printing media  119  so that the printing media  119  can be driven to outside of the housing  201  with a moving direction from inside of the housing  201  to outside of the housing  201 . The unprinted second side of the printing media  119  faces up in the view of  FIG. 1  at this time.  
         [0017]     Please refer to  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4 .  FIG. 3  is a diagram of the reversion module  105  of the printer  100  not being rotated nor being at the aforementioned first designated position of the present invention.  FIG. 4  is a diagram of the reversion module  105  of the printer  100  being rotated a half turn from the aforementioned first designated position to the aforementioned second designated position. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the printing media  119  is fixed at the first designated position appropriate for the printing media  119  to be rotated. Then the reversion module  105  is rotated a half turn from the first designated position shown in  FIG. 3  to the second designated position shown in  FIG. 4 . Not only the reversion module  105  but also the printing media  119  inside the reversion module  105  is rotated a half turn so that the previously faced-up first side of the printing media  119  faces down, and the previously faced-down second side of the printing media  119  faces up. As shown in  FIG. 4 , the reversed printing media  119  is covered by the reversion module  105  so that the printing media  119  is not shown in  FIG. 4 .  
         [0018]     Please refer to  FIG. 5 , and refer to  FIG. 3  again. In  FIG. 3 , the reversion module  105  of the printer  100  is fixed on the cylindrical structure  131  by the stick  107 .  FIG. 5  is a diagram of the reversion module  105  being released from the cylindrical structure  131  by the stick  107  in the printer  100  of the present invention. In  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 5 , the reversion module  105  is at the aforementioned first designated position. As shown in  FIG. 3 , when the printing media is not yet rotated a half turn, the stick  107  is fixed on the cylindrical structure  131  of the reversion module  105  so that the reversion module  105  cannot be rotated. As shown in  FIG. 5 , when the printing media  119  is rotated a half turn from the first designated position to make the second side of the printing media  119  face up, the first motor  115  of  FIG. 1  is required to drive a slide of the stick  107  through the first gear  209  of  FIG. 2  so that the stick  107  is released from the cylindrical structure  131  of the reversion module  105  to release the reversion module  105 . Therefore, the reversion module  105  can be rotated.  
         [0019]     Please refer to  FIG. 6 , which is a diagram of the printing media  119  being directly ejected from the reversion module  105  when there is a defect on the printing media  119 . Please refer to  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 2 , and  FIG. 6 . As shown in  FIG. 6 , the stick  107  is fixed on the cylindrical structure  135  of the reversion module  105 . Therefore, the reversion module  105  tilts from the horizon and is fixed by the stick  107 . Then the second gear  213  of  FIG. 2  is driven by the second motor  117  of  FIG. 1 . Therefore, the printing media  119  can be driven to a position for departing from the reversion module  105  by the second rollers  205  coupled to the second gear  213  in a rotatable manner. Therefore, the printing media  119  can be ejected from the reversion module  105 .  
         [0020]     Compared with the single-sided media printer in the prior art, the double-sided media printer of the present invention can reverse a printing media without additional manual operations. Therefore, the unprinted second side of the printing media faces up in the double sided-printer of the present invention whereas the second side of the printing media cannot be printed directly in the single-sided media printer of the prior art. Therefore, the problem of the prior art single-sided media printer is solved in the present invention by reducing the time needed for manual operations. The problem of the prior art is the low efficiency caused by significantly increasing manual operations of reversing the printing media while processing huge amount of double-sided printing by the single-sided media printer of the prior art. The problem is solved by directly performing double-sided printing on the printing media with the double-sided media printer of the present invention. Moreover, since the position of the printing media being fed into the reversion module and the position of the reversion module being rotated is detected by respective sensors, the positions where the printing media is being driven and rotated are well located. Therefore, another problem of the prior art single-sided media printer is solved. The problem is caused by the second side of the printing media easily deviating from a designated position and is caused by the arrangement of the patterns of the first side and the second side of the printing media being inconsistent resulting from the reversing of the printing media by manual operations with the single-sided media printer of the prior art.  
         [0021]     Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.