EP0373558B2 - Method and device for controlling a carriage motor and paper feed motor of a printer - Google Patents

Method and device for controlling a carriage motor and paper feed motor of a printer Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0373558B2
EP0373558B2 EP19890122825 EP89122825A EP0373558B2 EP 0373558 B2 EP0373558 B2 EP 0373558B2 EP 19890122825 EP19890122825 EP 19890122825 EP 89122825 A EP89122825 A EP 89122825A EP 0373558 B2 EP0373558 B2 EP 0373558B2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
paper
motor
absence
paper feeding
expected
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP19890122825
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0373558A3 (en
EP0373558B1 (en
EP0373558A2 (en
Inventor
Kazuo C/O Seiko Epson Corporation Kitabata
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Seiko Epson Corp
Original Assignee
Seiko Epson Corp
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Publication date
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Application filed by Seiko Epson Corp filed Critical Seiko Epson Corp
Publication of EP0373558A2 publication Critical patent/EP0373558A2/en
Publication of EP0373558A3 publication Critical patent/EP0373558A3/en
Publication of EP0373558B1 publication Critical patent/EP0373558B1/en
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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J29/00—Details of, or accessories for, typewriters or selective printing mechanisms not otherwise provided for
    • B41J29/42—Scales and indicators, e.g. for determining side margins
    • B41J29/44—Scales and indicators, e.g. for determining side margins for determining top and bottom margins or indicating exhaust of paper
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J11/00—Devices or arrangements  of selective printing mechanisms, e.g. ink-jet printers or thermal printers, for supporting or handling copy material in sheet or web form
    • B41J11/36—Blanking or long feeds; Feeding to a particular line, e.g. by rotation of platen or feed roller
    • B41J11/42—Controlling printing material conveyance for accurate alignment of the printing material with the printhead; Print registering

Definitions

  • This invention relates to a method and device for controlling a carriage motor and paper feed motor of a printer.
  • a carriage motor hereinafter referred to as a CR motor
  • a paper feed motor hereinafter referred to as a PF motor
  • Figs. 1(A) and (B) show the situation wherein a paper feed action is performed in the course of printing.
  • deceleration c begins in the drive sequence of the CR motor (Fig. 1(A))
  • acceleration e begins in the drive sequence of the PF motor (Fig 1(B))
  • the driving a of the CR motor begins.
  • Is is an object of the present invention to remedy these problems of the prior art and to provide a control method and device which allow to improve the real print speed of a printer by shortening the dead time between the paper feeding and the beginning of shift of a carriage.
  • a judgement of printability after the execution of paper feeding is made before the execution of that paper feeding.
  • the driving of the carriage motor is started in advance of the termination of the paper feeding, so that the speed of the carriage motor reaches a level adapted for the print action just at the moment when the paper feeding terminates. Therefore, no judgement of printability is made between the paper feeding and the subsequent shifting of the carriage, and no waste time for acceleration of the carriage motor is spent between them.
  • Fig. 2 shows a general structure of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
  • a printer control device 1 is connected via an interface (I/F) section 3 with an external host computer 5. Supplied from the host computer 5 are print data, print control (e.g. paper feed control) commands, etc. Such data is temporarily stored in the I/F section 3 or a RAM 15.
  • print control e.g. paper feed control
  • the I/F section 3 is connected via an address/data bus 7 with a CPU 9.
  • the CPU 9 is connected via the bus 7 with a ROM 11, so that the print action is controlled in accordance with a control program stored in the ROM 11.
  • the CPU 9 reads and interprets the data stored in the I/F section 3, and if necessary, refers to the signal from a paper existence (presence/absence) detector (hereinafter referred to as a PE detector) 13, a variety of data (for print control) previously stored in the ROM 11 or RAM 15, etc. Then, the CPU 9 performs calculation on such data in accordance with the control program. Consequently, the CPU 9 sends various control commands through the bus 7 to a CR motor drive circuit 17, a PF motor drive circuit 19 and a head drive circuit 21.
  • a PE detector paper existence (presence/absence) detector
  • the CR motor drive circuit 17 drives a CR motor 23 in accordance with the command from the CPU 9; as a result, a carriage 25 shifts.
  • the PF motor drive circuit 19 drives a PF motor 27; as a result, a paper 29 is fed.
  • each of the CR motor 23 and the PF motor 27 is a step motor; in this case, a count of steps of the step motor determines the amount of shift of the carriage, or the amount of feed of the paper.
  • the head drive circuit 21 drives a print head 31 attached to the carriage 25 to perform printing. A print action is carried out in response to the shifting of the carriage 25.
  • the paper feeding is carried out while the carriage 25 is at a stop.
  • Figs. 3(A) and (B) show the relationship between the paper 29, the carriage 25 and the PE detector 13.
  • the paper 29 is fed from the side of a paper supply guide 33 and inserted between a platen 35 and a paper feed roller 37, and then, fed upward in front of the print head 31 in response to the rotation of the platen 35 caused by the PF motor 27.
  • the feeding of the paper is performed using a line pitch previously stored in the RAM 15 (that is stored after being converted into the form of a step count of the PF motor 27) as a unit.
  • the carriage 25 reciprocatingly shifts along guide rods 39 in directions i orthogonal to the paper feed direction h .
  • the print head 31 is driven to perform printing.
  • the carriage 25 stops, the paper is fed to bring about the next new line, and then the carriage 25 is re-shifted to perform printing at the new line.
  • the present invention primarily resides in the control of paper feeding performed between two successive shift actions of the carriage 25. Whether or not the present invention is applicable to such a paper feed control is previously judged on the basis of the print control command read from the I/F section 3 by the CPU 9.
  • the PE detector 13 is generally made of a microswitch.
  • the PE detector 13 is attached to the back side of the paper supply guide 33 such that its detecting pin 13a projects from the surface of the paper supply guide 33.
  • the PE detector 13 provides a paper presence signal.
  • the output of the PE detector 13 changes from the paper presence signal to a paper absence signal (a PE signal).
  • the paper 29 still has a printable space corresponding to the distance L from the detecting pin 13a to a paper retaining plate 40 disposed ahead thereof.
  • the distance L is called an override amount herein.
  • the override amount L is a constant depending on the attached position of the PE detector 13, which is previously stored in the ROM 11 or RAM 15 after being converted into the form of a step count of the PF motor 27.
  • the number of printable lines permitted within the override amount L varies depending on the line pitch and a marginal width to be left on the side of the rear edge of the paper.
  • Format setting data including the line pitch, the marginal width, the number of characters per line, an inter-character pitch, a character magnifying factor, etc. are supplied from the host computer 5 to the printer control device 1 prior to the entry of print data, print action data such as print control commands, etc.
  • Such format data are sent from the I/F section 3 to the CPU 9 and written in a dedicated area of the RAM 15.
  • Fig. 4(A) shows the drive sequence of the CR motor 23, in which j is an acceleration zone, k is a constant-speed zone, l is a deceleration zone, and m is a stop zone.
  • Fig. 4(B) shows the drive sequence of the PF motor 27, in which o is an acceleration zone, p is a constant-speed zone, and q is a deceleration zone. As illustrated in Figs.
  • the PF motor 27 is started to accelerate at a deceleration beginning moment t1 of the CR motor 23, the CR motor 23 is started to accelerate a second time at a moment t2 before the PF motor 27 stops, and the CR motor 23 comes to a constant-speed state just at a moment t3 when the PF motor 27 stops.
  • the foregoing drive sequence system includes no waste time between the termination of the paper feeding and the next shifting of the carriage; thus, its temporal efficiency is very high.
  • Fig. 5 shows the operation process of the CPU 9 performed to realize the drive sequence of Fig. 4.
  • the CPU 9 performs the process of Fig. 5 when it is instructed by the print control commands read out of the I/F section 3 to shift the carriage, feed the paper, and re-shift the carriage.
  • step S 1 the driving of the CR motor 23 is started to shift the carriage. Then it is judged whether the paper is present or not on the basis of the signal from the PE detector 13 (step S2).
  • the drive sequence of the CR motor and PF motor shown in Figs. 4(A) and (B) are performed, that is, the CR motor 23 is accelerated (zone j) to come to the constant-speed state (zone k).
  • the CR motor 23 is started to decelerate at a proper moment t1.
  • the PF motor 27 is started to accelerate (step S3).
  • the PF motor 27 While the PF motor 27 is in the constant-speed zone (p), the CR motor 23 is at a stop (zone m).
  • the time r (called a precedence time) from the acceleration beginning moment t1 of the PF motor 27 to the next acceleration beginning moment t2 of the CR motor 23 is calculated (step S4).
  • the calculation of the precedence time r is made on the basis of a paper feed amount instructed by, for example, the print control command (that is generally given in the form of a line pitch amount from the host computer 5 and is converted by the CPU 9 into the form of a step count of the PF motor 27 on the basis of the line pitch data stored in the RAM 15) and on the basis of the running characteristic data of the CR motor and PF motor previously stored in the ROM 11 or RAM 15, in the following manner. That is, a required paper feed time S (from the moment t1 to the moment t3) necessary to obtain the instructed paper feed amount is calculated on the basis of the instructed paper feed amount and the characteristic data, relating to acceleration, constant-speed and deceleration, of the PF motor 27.
  • the precedence time r is calculated by subtracting the acceleration time j of the CR motor 23 from the required paper feed time S . Then, at the moment t2 when the elapsed time from the moment t1 reaches the calculated precedence time r , the CR motor 23 is started to accelerate (step S4). Subsequently, the PF motor 27 is started to decelerate (step S5), and at the position when the PF motor 27 stops, there is obtained the instructed paper feed amount. At the stop moment t3 of the PF motor 27, the CR motor 23 is put in the constant-speed drive state.
  • step S6 a remaining override amount stored in the RAM 15 is read (step S6).
  • This remaining override amount is indicative of the distance from the rear edge of the paper 29 after the paper absence is detected by the PE detector 13 to the paper retaining plate 40.
  • the override amount L is initially used and set as the remaining override amount. Accordingly, the remaining override amount read out corresponds to the override amount L at the moment of first paper feeding after the detection of paper absence, but to the remaining override amount updated in step S11 (hereinafter described) at the moments of second paper feeding and so on.
  • next step S7 it is judged whether or not the space corresponding to the remaining override amount minus the paper feed amount is printable.
  • This judgement may be made as follows. First, the paper feed amount instructed by the print control command is subtracted from the remaining override amount, and further, the marginal width on the side of the paper rear edge stored in the RAM 15 is subtracted from the above. The thus calculated amount is indicative of the space for printing. If this space is greater than the size of characters based on the character magnifying factor stored in the RAM 15, this is judged to be printable.
  • step S7 When in step S7 it is judged that the paper is printable, similarly to the case of the paper being present, the sequences shown in Figs. 4(A) and (B) are performed (steps S8, S9, S10). Then, in preparation for a next paper feed control, the (current) remaining override amount minus the current paper feed amount is written in the RAM 15 as a new remaining override amount (step S11).
  • step S7 when in step S7 the space is judged to be non-printable, concurrently with the starting of deceleration of the CR motor 23 (moment t1), the PF motor 27 is started to accelerate (step S12) to feed the paper by the remaining override amount, and then, the PF motor 27 is decelerated and stopped (step S13). That is, in this case, the paper 27 is detached from the platen 35.
  • the step S13 may be modified such that the PF motor 27 is immediately stopped and the print control action is terminated. The next shifting of the carriage that is instructed by the print control command will be carried out after a new paper 29 is set.
  • control sequence is performed to shift the carriage, feed the paper, and re-shift the carriage.
  • the starting of acceleration of the CR motor in step S4 or S9 of the last sequence is considered to have corresponded to that of step S1 of the subsequent sequence. Therefore, following the step S5 or S11 of the last sequence, the step S2 and so on of the subsequent sequence are performed.
  • step S2 of Fig. 5 each time the sequence of feeding the paper and shifting the carriage is reached, another system may be used in which a no-paper flag is set when the absence of the paper is detected, during this flag being in the set state each sequence of feeding the paper and shifting the carriage is repeatedly performed through step S6 to step S11, and if the judgement of step S7 is NO, the no-paper flag is reset.

Landscapes

  • Character Spaces And Line Spaces In Printers (AREA)
  • Handling Of Sheets (AREA)
EP19890122825 1988-12-12 1989-12-11 Method and device for controlling a carriage motor and paper feed motor of a printer Expired - Lifetime EP0373558B2 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP31333188A JPH02158367A (ja) 1988-12-12 1988-12-12 プリンタ制御方法
JP313331/88 1988-12-12

Publications (4)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0373558A2 EP0373558A2 (en) 1990-06-20
EP0373558A3 EP0373558A3 (en) 1991-01-02
EP0373558B1 EP0373558B1 (en) 1993-08-11
EP0373558B2 true EP0373558B2 (en) 1997-03-12

Family

ID=18039952

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP19890122825 Expired - Lifetime EP0373558B2 (en) 1988-12-12 1989-12-11 Method and device for controlling a carriage motor and paper feed motor of a printer

Country Status (3)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0373558B2 (ja)
JP (1) JPH02158367A (ja)
DE (1) DE68908372T3 (ja)

Families Citing this family (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JP3166998B2 (ja) * 1994-02-08 2001-05-14 キヤノン株式会社 記録装置及び記録制御方法
JP3658339B2 (ja) 2001-05-17 2005-06-08 キヤノン株式会社 モータの制御のための方法及び装置
JP3472278B2 (ja) 2001-05-17 2003-12-02 キヤノン株式会社 記録装置及び記録制御方法
JP3658340B2 (ja) 2001-05-17 2005-06-08 キヤノン株式会社 モータの制御のための方法及び装置
CN102463752B (zh) * 2010-10-29 2014-05-07 北大方正集团有限公司 喷印位置控制方法和装置

Family Cites Families (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS60109892A (ja) * 1983-11-18 1985-06-15 Brother Ind Ltd 電子式タイプライタ
EP0267125B1 (en) * 1986-11-07 1994-08-31 Fujitsu Limited Line printer apparatus
JPH01101173A (ja) * 1987-10-14 1989-04-19 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd プリンター

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP0373558A3 (en) 1991-01-02
JPH02158367A (ja) 1990-06-18
DE68908372T2 (de) 1994-01-13
EP0373558B1 (en) 1993-08-11
DE68908372T3 (de) 1997-06-12
EP0373558A2 (en) 1990-06-20
DE68908372D1 (de) 1993-09-16

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