DE2037980A1 - High-speed printer - Google Patents

Description

DR BERG DIPL-IivlQ. BTAPF

PATENTANWÄLTE β MUNICH S ₁ HILBLESTRASSE 2O

CIBA AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, BASEL (SWITZERLAND)

Attorney's file 19 885 Munich, the 3o. July 197o

Case G 510 / R

FAST PRINTER

The invention relates to a high-speed printer with a printer that is guided past the printing positions in the line direction Type carrier. -

Such printers have very high printing speeds and are therefore used in particular in data processing systems. The requirement often arises here the printed data automatically, for example, with writing

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speed to be able to read. To read the printed Information, separate reading devices were previously used. Since in these devices devices for precisely aligning the recording medium with respect to the reading device, for line-by-line advancement of the recording medium, and for Scanning must be provided in the line direction, they are expensive and take up a lot of space.

• The invention avoids these disadvantages and is

W ' characterized in that at least one reading head of a photoelectric scanner is attached directly to the type carrier, which reads the printing points when the type carrier is running

Line direction scans, and that this read head with a Evaluation device is connected, which electrical images are there? read characters generated.

The advantages achieved with the invention consist in particular in that only a single device is required for the data input and ³ Datehau.sgabe which lent essential 'is cheaper than a Sehnelldrucker and a separate

^ - reader of the same quality. For optical reading of Data is added to the. Printing unit only requires a read head and an evaluation device. One Device for positioning and line-by-line advancement of the recording media as well as for guiding .the print or Reading elements in line direction are only required once for the printing unit and for reading. In addition, at the same time can be printed and read, which means that you can easily check the ©

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hit to check whether the pressure has been carried out correctly.

An electric typewriter equipped with a read head is used in connection with data processing systems known. However, this is a normal typewriter, e.g. with a type lever which type printing always takes place sequentially at one and the same place; in contrast to high-speed printers the type according to the invention thus lacks the type carrier running past the printing points. In the case of the well-known writing | machine ", the read head is either stationary or on a special one Movement mechanism mounted. In each of the two cases there is an additional control for the scanning movement built-in. Simultaneous writing and reading is not provided in the known typewriter.

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The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the figures. Show it:

1 shows a part of an equipped according to the invention Line printer in the area of the printing points in a perspective view;

2 and 3 show two detail variants of the line printer of Fig. 1;

4 shows a part of an equipped according to the invention Serial printer in the area of the printing points in perspective Depiction.

According to Fig. 1, the type carrier is through a endless type band 1 or a type chain formed and around a 'drive roller 2 and a tension roller J are placed. On the type tape 1 is at least a complete set of the Imprint of the available characters, consisting of letters, numbers, punctuation and special characters, attached. The type tape 1 can be driven continuously or gradually rotating or moving back and forth, in such a way that the entire range of characters is moved past each printing point of a recording medium 4 to be printed will. A print hammer is assigned to each print point, the print hammers of a print line in one Hammerbank 5 are summarized. One in the drawing electronic control device, not shown, triggers

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the print hammer of a printing point as soon as the character to be reproduced with the character at this printing point on the type tape. The print hammer strikes the corresponding type on type tape 1 against the

Recording medium 4. In order to make the imprint on recording medium 4 visible, an ink ribbon 6 is attached between type tape 1 and recording medium 4. Self, of course, also selbstfärbendes paper can be used as a recording medium, whereby the ink ribbon 6 is not required ■% is. An optical reading head 7, which is connected to an evaluation device 9 by a flexible connection line 8, is attached to the type tape 1, offset upwards one print line distance. The reading head 7 is rotatably mounted on the type tape 1 and a vertical axis. A position of the reading head 7 in the area of a deflection of the type tape 1 is indicated by dashed lines in FIG. This fastening of the reading head prevents the connecting line 8 from winding up when the type tape 1 is rotating. The reading head 7 can be firmly connected to the type tape 1, provided that the type tape is not rotated but moved back and forth.

The reading head 7 is carried along by the type tape 1 and guided past the recording medium 4 in the line direction. The reading head 7 contains means in order to be able to read characters printed on the recording medium 4 optically.

I.

These means can be photocells, whereby the connection

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line 8 is an electrical cable. Or they can also be light guides that carry the information read Pass on evaluation device. In the latter case, the Connecting line 8 a flexible bundle of light guides and the photocells are located in the evaluation device 9 In the evaluation device 9, the read head 7 are read Characters are converted into electrical signals, such as binary pulse combinations, with each character being a other signal value is assigned. Such devices are known per se and are therefore not described in more detail here. Of course, several reading heads 7 can also be attached to the type tape 1; also can Read head 7 at the same height as the types on the type tape to be appropriate. In the latter case, the ribbon 6 must be pivoted away while reading.

According to Fig. 2, the type carrier is through a Type bar 10 is formed on which the reading head 7 with its connecting line 8 is attached. The type bar 10 is in the printing process in the line direction in front of the recording medium moved back and forth. In contrast to the exemplary embodiment in FIG. 1, the hammer bank 5 is here (Fig.l) not in front of the type carrier but behind the recording medium 4 (Fig. 1) and suggests this if the characters to be reproduced match and the characters currently in print position on the type bar 10 against the type on the type bar. Dar-

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position according formed the reading surface of the reading head J- mosaic-like, whereby the individual Msaikpunkte are formed by small photocells or end faces of optical fibers. To illuminate the reading point, some mosaic points that are not required for reading can emit light; when using light guides, a light source can be provided in the evaluation device 9 (FIG. 1) which supplies light to the light guides provided for the illumination. / '- Λ-. ι

According to FIG. 3, the type carrier is formed by a flexible metal or plastic band 100 with types 12 attached to flexible arms 11. The reading heads J are attached to rigid arms 15 and are in turn connected to the evaluation device 9 (FIG. 1) via connecting lines 8. In the example shown, each reading head 7 contains several photocells or light guides which are arranged in a row running transversely to the line direction and are able to scan at least character height. About I its width of each printed character is sequentially scanned. For this purpose, the evaluation device 9 (FIG. 1) contains an additional memory which stores the values of the sequential scanning, a further memory in which the values corresponding to all possible characters are stored and a comparator which compares the stored sample values with the stored Comparing stock of values. The evaluation device registers the character

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at which maximum agreement between the samples and the values corresponding to a certain character, of the value set. Such scanning and Evaluation systems are known per se and are therefore not explained in more detail here.

Of course, the exemplary embodiments the pig. 1 and 2 with a single-row reading head (Pig. "3) or the exemplary embodiments of Pig. 1 and 3 be provided with a mosaic reading head (Fig. 2). It is also within the scope of the invention that photocells and / or Light guides are arranged on the reading heads differently than shown in the figures.

In Fig. 4 the essential parts of a serial printer are shown schematically, in which the characters to be printed are printed one after the other in the line direction. All printing types are combined in a type head Ik , which is mounted on a conveyor belt 1 'and is guided past the printing points in the line direction by this, which loops around a drive and tensioning roller 2 or 3. An ink ribbon 6 is attached between the type head 14 and the recording medium 4. A reading head 7 is attached to the conveyor belt 1 ', which is thus able to scan printed characters in the line direction, similar to the line printer according to FIGS. 1 to 3. The reading head 7 is in the same way as in the line printers of FIGS. 1 to 3 via a connecting line 8

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connected to an evaluation device 9. The type head can e.g. be a known mosaic print head or a likewise known ball head and is controlled via a control cable 15 actuated by a control device 16 known per se. With the mosaic print head, the characters are respectively by raising certain grid points of the mosaic by the Control device assembled. The read head 7, the Connection line 8 and the evaluation device 9 can be designed in the same way as it already.zu the Fig. 1 ■ | to 3 has been described. The horizontal movement of the reading ·. head T and type head l4 can take place through the conveyor belt l 'also by a slide, a spindle or the like, are executed.

In all exemplary embodiments (Pig. I to 4) it is possible to print and read at the same time, only to print and not to read or just to read and not to print.

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Claims (10)

Expectations High-speed printer with a type carrier guided past aen printing points in the direction of the lines, thereby marked that directly on the type carrier (l, l ', 10 or 100) at least one reading head (7) of a photoelectric scanner is attached, which when the type carrier is running scans the print points in the line direction, and that this reading head is connected to an evaluation device (9), which generates electrical images of the characters read. 2. High-speed printer according to claim 1, characterized in that the photocells of the scanner directly on Read head (7) arranged and with the evaluation device (9) are connected by a flexible electrical cable. J5. High-speed printer according to claim 1, characterized in that the photocells of the scanner of reading head (7) and type carrier (1, I ¹ , 10 or 100) are spatially separated and are connected to the reading head by means of a fiber optic tie (8). 4. High-speed printer according to claim 2 or 3, characterized characterized in that the photocells or the light guide ends on the reading head (7) are arranged in a grid (Fig. 2). \ - 109808/1857 - ^ - ■■ 2037380 5 · High-speed printer according to claim 2 or 3, characterized characterizedj that the photocells or light guide ends on the reading head (7) in a direction transverse to the row direction running, at least character height overlapping row are arranged (Fig. 3). 6. High-speed printer according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by light guides which end in the reading head (7) with their other ends connected to a light λ source illuminate the reading point. 7 · High-speed printer according to one of the preceding Claims, characterized in that the reading head (7) is arranged at the same line height as the types (Fig. 2 to 4). ' 8. Sehnell printer according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the reading head (7) by at least one line of print offset upwards on the type carrier (1, 1 ', 10 or 100) is attached (Pig. I). 9 · High-speed printer according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the type carrier designed as a type tape (l), type bar (10) or type chain is. 10. High-speed printer according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the types on a mosaic 109808/1857 2 O 3 7 § § § print head (l4) or a ball head are combined. ,, which in turn ^{sits on the same type carrier * eg a conveyor belt (l 1} ) as the reading head (7) (Pig · 4). 10980 8/1857 ii .. Blank page