GB1152620A - Apparatus for producing a Record of a Message - Google Patents

Abstract

1,152,620. Electric typewriter control. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP. 19 Dec., 1967 [16 Jan., 1967], No. 57736/67. Heading G4H. In a printing system information read from a magnetic tape is serially received and printed, the information signals being divided into groups representing successive printed lines in accordance with a preselected format and means are provided which store an indication of the start position of a line when it is printed and subsequently use this stored indication to control the printing of following lines so that they start at the same position. The apparatus has the same general form as that described in Specifications 1,098,431, 1,098,432, 1,098,433 and 1,151,641, a single element type head printer 1 being interconnected with a magnetic tape recording and reading unit 2. The printer has a keyboard 3 and various functional keys. When a key is struck printer transmit contacts 8 give coded signals representing the corresponding character or function. As the printer operates, printer feedback contacts 9 also give signals for control purposes. The tape unit 2 has two tape stations, right and left 12, 14. The stepping of the tape at either station is controlled by unit 17. Control knob 20 on unit 2 selects the Right or Left station, Record or Playback, Adjust, Transfer Type and Transfer Adjust. Start Condition knob 21 controls the amount of data played back as described in Specification 1,098,432. Search knob 22 selects a particular block of information from the selected tape, the number of the block being indicated in window 23. The operation modes set by knob 20 are as follows: In a Record (left or right) mode, data and function characters are passed from the printer transmit contacts 8, or from data encoding buttons 30 on the tape unit to relay register 35 via cable 34. The coded characters are then passed via the Right Tape Read/Record block 37 to the right tape 13 or via cable 40 and Left Tape Read/ Record block 41 to the left tape 15. In the Playback modes characters read from the right or left tapes pass (via 37 or 41) to relay register 35 and operate the printer via control block 46. In Adjust Left, Adjust Right and Transfer Adjust operations the characters are passed from relay register 35 over cable 45 to the Line Adjust logic 48 and then by cable 49 to control block 46, so that characters are printed in lines the end-points of which are controlled by " Region " signals from the printer. In a Transfer Type operation the characters are transferred from the right tape to the left tape without any adjustment. The mode control signals are applied from unit 2 via leads 51 and 51a to the mode control block 52 and Line Adjust logic 48. Specification 1,098,433 describes how documents are automatically prepared according to a desired format which is the same or different from the format of the original document. When the record of the original document is played back the new format is established by setting the margin limits on the printer 1. The document is then printed within these new limits. When the apparatus is operating in Transfer Adjust mode, the printer being controlled by the right tape and the left tape recording what is printed, the reading of the right tape may be stopped manually or in response to a stop code on the tape to allow new data, or different data to be entered on the keyboard. In such an operation the settings of the left or right margin will probably differ from the settings used when the original document was prepared. The setting of the right margin establishes the Region through which the Adjust Logic 48 determines when a line shall end and a new line begin. A Carrier Return code encountered between the left margin and the beginning of the Region is ignored and the printer spaces instead. A Space code in the Region indicates that this is a suitable place to end the line and a Carrier Return operation is made. A Carrier Return code followed by a Tab code is treated as the end of a paragraph. Normally a new paragraph is indicated by two Carrier Return codes in sequence. When the first line of a new paragraph is detected the primary counter 100 is controlled to count the tabs that occur prior to the recognition of a Carrier Return code or an actual carrier return occurring in the Region. In each succeeding line the printer tabulating mechanism is made to perform a number of tab operations equalling the stored count. The tab operations are counted at 101 and the number compared at 102 with the count in 100. At the end of the paragraph the counter 100 resets and repeats its operation for the next paragraph. Indentation is controlled by Paragraph Indent logic 103, the counters 100 and 101 being used to cause indentation of a paragraph to the required tab position.