JPS6266981A - Thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable not only the saving of a ribbon but also high speed printing, in a printer for printing image data, by detecting a non-printing area while a head is escaped and the taking-up of the ribbon is stopped. CONSTITUTION:Image data is received by the bite from a host and three bites are set as a column to search for whether there is non-printing data in the column. When a definite number of non-printing columns have been continuously detected, the spaces between the columns are set as non-printing regions and the column numbers at the left end and right end thereof are successively stored in a pointer buffer 16. Next, the column number indicated by a pointer is taken out from the pointer buffer 16 to judge whether said number coincides with a head column number. In the case of coincidence, because non-printing region data is stored in a line buffer 5, the next column number indicated by the pointer is taken and a printing head is escaped up to said column not only to stop the taking-up of a ribbon but also to order high speed spacing to a space control part 6.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] The present invention provides a thermal transfer printer that detects a non-print area of image data, evacuates (hereinafter referred to as escape) the print head and moves it to the print area, and stops ribbon feeding. With this, it is possible to save ribbon and speed up printing by moving at high speed in non-printing areas.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to an improvement in a print control method in a thermal transfer printer.

In recent years, image printers that serially print image data along with characters have become popular.

This image data is composed of bitmap information in which one line has the number of bits corresponding to the matrix print head, and is sent out by the host in a column serial manner.

On the printer side, the image data is printed in columns by spacing and ribbon feeding at a predetermined speed, but in thermal transfer printers that use one-time ribbon, ribbon is wasted due to ribbon feeding in non-printing areas. There were two problems: one problem was that the printing speed was slow even though there were many non-print areas.

Therefore, there is a need for a thermal transfer printer that solves the above problems.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a thermal transfer printer.

This printer is equipped with a matrix print head and prints serially according to spacing, and has a function of receiving and printing character codes and a function of receiving and printing image data in column order.

(In the case of character code) The character code received from the interface 2 is stored in the reception buffer 3, and then converted to 1 based on the character pattern generator 4.
It is expanded into the line buffer 5 as a character pattern for a line.

For a character pattern in which a column is composed of 24 dots, the line buffer 5 is composed of 3 bytes x (number of columns for one line) memory, and the expanded character pattern is read in units of 3 bytes, and the spacing is are printed sequentially.

(In the case of image data) Image data consists of one line of pattern data including non-printing parts, and each byte is directly transferred to the line buffer 5.
The characters are stored in the character pattern and are sequentially extracted column by column and printed in the same way as the character pattern.

In thermal transfer printers, the ink ribbon can usually be used only once (referred to as a one-time ribbon), so the ribbon is wound so that the spacing and the relative speed with the print head 9 are zero, so that a new ribbon is always available. When the ribbon is supplied and the carriage returns, the print head 9 is retracted from the platen and winding of the ribbon is stopped, and the non-print area of the image data is also treated as pattern data.

Note that ribbon winding methods include a mechanism that is linked to the escape/approach operation of the print head 9, and a method that is controlled by a motor. In FIG. This shows a ribbon winding system.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

As explained above, when printing image data, the received data is stored in the line buffer together with the non-print area and printed serially.

However, the image data contains many non-print areas,
In thermal transfer systems that use one-time ribbons, the ribbon is wound up even in non-printing areas, resulting in waste, and even if there are many non-printing areas, the printing speed cannot be increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a printer that detects a non-print area and performs print control corresponding to the non-print area.

[Means for solving problems]

For the above purpose, the printer of the present invention, as shown in the principle explanatory diagram of FIG. A control means (14) is provided for moving the ribbon to the printing area at a predetermined speed and stopping the ribbon feeding.

[Effect]

That is, when image data is received as shown in FIG. 2(a), when a predetermined number of consecutive non-print columns are detected, it is defined as a non-print area (15), and the column numbers at the left and right ends are stored in the pointer buffer 16. Store them sequentially.

When printing that line according to a print command, the column number is searched, and in the non-printing area (15), the print head is escaped and ribbon winding is stopped.

Note that spacing can be performed at high speed in the non-print area (15), which has the effect of increasing printing speed.

〔Example〕 The details of the present invention will be explained according to the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 2 (bl is a block diagram of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 (C) is a flowchart of a non-printing area detection operation, and FIG. 2 (dl is a flowchart of a printing operation).

In FIG. 2(b), 16 is a pointer buffer in which the column numbers of the left and right ends of the no-print area detected by the operation of the no-print processing unit 22, which will be described later, are sequentially written, and 22 is a no-print processing section. 20 is a main control unit that searches each column of the received image data to detect a non-printed column and stores the column number in the pointer buffer IG; 20 is a main control unit that searches the contents of the pointer buffer 16; The same reference numerals indicate the same objects throughout the figures.

The non-print area detection operation and printing operation will be explained below.

[Non-print area detection operation]

As shown in FIG. 2 (C1), the following operations are performed when image data is received, but if the non-print area is less than a certain number of columns, it is ignored and the normal printing operation is performed.

(11 Receive image data one byte at a time from the host, use 3 bytes as a column, and search for non-print data in the column.

(2) When a certain number of non-print columns are consecutively detected, the left-most and right-most column numbers are sequentially stored in the pointer buffer 16 as a non-print area between the columns.

In the result pointer buffer 16, the non-print area of the image data corresponding to - lines is written as the left end and right end column numbers.

[Printing operation]

When the reception of one line of image data is completed and a print command is sent, printing is performed using the following operations.

+11 The column number specified by the pointer is taken out from the pointer buffer 16, and it is determined whether it matches the first column number.

Although not shown, the pointer is in pointer buffer 1.
6, and increments from the first address each time it is referenced.

(2) In the case of a match, the line buffer 5 stores the non-print area data, so the next column number pointed to by the pointer is extracted, the print head 9 is escaped to that column, and the ribbon winding is performed. Along with stopping,
Instructs the space control unit 6 to perform high-speed spacing.

The space control section 6 sends pulses corresponding to the number of columns to the space motor at a faster rate than usual (1.5 to 2 times), and when a predetermined column number is reached, the speed is reduced to the space speed for printing.

(3) If there is a mismatch, normal printing is performed in the print area up to the column number indicated by the next pointer.

The above printing operation is repeated as shown in the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 (dl).

In addition, in the above operation in which escape/approach and ribbon winding stop are linked, it can be controlled only by escape/approach control.

As described above, by stopping the ribbon winding in the non-printing area, it is possible to save a large amount of ribbon, and at the same time, it is possible to perform high-speed printing operations.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention detects a non-printing area in a printer that prints image data, escapes the head during that time, and stops ribbon winding, thereby saving ribbon and achieving high-speed printing. The possible effects are significant.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a diagram explaining the principle of the present invention, Figure 2 (Ta) is a diagram explaining the functions of the present invention, Figure 2 (b) is a printer block diagram of an embodiment, and Figure 2 (C) is a non-print area detection diagram. Operation flowchart diagram, Figure 2 (dl is a printing operation flowchart diagram, and Figure 3 is a block diagram of a thermal transfer printer. In the figure, 1 is the main control unit, 2 is an interface, 3 is a reception buffer, and 4 is a character pattern. 5 is a line buffer, 6 is a space control unit, 7 is a line feed control unit, 8 is a print control unit, 9 is a print head, 10 is an escape/approach control unit, 11 is a plunger magnet, 12 is a ribbon winder 13 is a non-print area detection means; 14 is a control means; 15 is a non-print area; 16 is a pointer buffer; 20 is a main control section; 22 is a non-print processing section; M3 is a ribbon winding remoter.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A matrix print head, means for retracting the print head from and approaching the platen, and means for feeding the ribbon in accordance with the spacing of the print head,
A thermal transfer printer that serially receives and prints image data, comprising means (13) for detecting a non-printing area in the received image data, and in the non-printing area, retracting the print head to a predetermined printing area. 1. A thermal transfer printer comprising: a control means (14) for moving the ribbon at a speed of .