IE43754B1 - Improvements in or relating to data terminals - Google Patents

Description

This invention relates to data terminals and, more particularly, to data terminals for converting coded information into visual data. Such data terminals may for example be included in totalizator systems.

In some types of data communication network data is entered into and received from the network by means of visual data units (VDU) connected on line to a processor of the network. One of the advantages of a VDU is that data can be arranged and displayed in a layout and VDU's therefore are used in applications where the layout of data is important. A disadvantage, however, is that a .

VDU does not provide a permanent record of data displayed by the unit.

Another method of entering and extracting data in a communication network is by means of a printer terminal.

In this case a processor of the network is interrogated by operating a keyboard whereby coded signals are generated and transmitted along a communication link to the processor. The instruction is printed on a record sheet by the same operation of the keyboard which operates the printer also. When a response is received from the processor, the answer to the instruction is printed on the record sheet by the printer. While such a terminal provides a permanent record of data entered into and received from the network, the data cannot be arranged in a desired layout.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved data terminal for converting coded information into visual data. - 2 437 54 According to the present invention there is provided a data terminal for connection to a processor including means to transmit output data to the processor whereby the processor· can recieve and process data and return the data to the j terminal as input data, and comprising a keyboard,a matrix printer, means for generating output signals in accordance with operation of the keys of said keyboard, means for decoding the output signals into data; means for feeding a record web past a printing position; means operable in synchronism jq with the feeding of the record web to control the generation of the output signals to be recorded into data as the web is being fed; logic means for controlling commonly the matrix display and the matrix printer to generate at least some of the data on the display and for generating at least some of data printed on the record web in matrix lines wherein when the terminal is connected to a processor the output signals are transmitted to the processor and the input signals are recieved by the terminal from the processor, so that coded information entered by the keyboard is converted into visual data printed on the record web.

The invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: Fig.l is a block diagram of components of a data terminal according to an embodiment of the invention, Fig. 2a, 2b and 2c together form a diagram of a control circuit of the terminal, Figs. 3a, 3b and 3c together form an addressing and memory circuit of the terminal, Figs. 4a and 4b together form a print and display control circuit, and, - 3 437 5 4 Figures 5 and 6 illustrate a keyboard and a circuit diagram of a modification.

Referring now to Figure 1, the data terminal comprises a keyboard 1, a FIFO buffer 2 connected to the keyboard for storing coded signals keyed by the keyboard, a control circuit 5 for controlling output information to be drawn from the FIFO buffer 2 and transmitted along a twisted pair of cables 4 to a central processor (not shown) and for controlling input data received along a twisted pair of cables 5 from the processor, an addressing and memory circuit 6 for extracting data addressed to the terminal along the cables 5 from the processor and forstoring the data and for controlling operation of a printer 7 and a display 8.

As shown in Figure 2a output from the FIFO buffer 2 is fed to a parallel input of a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter ((JART) chip 9 and converted to a serial output which is fed by a line 10 to an input of a driver chip 11 and transmitted by the driver chip through the twisted pair of cables 4 to the processor when the driver chip is triggered. Pulses are received from the processor along the twisted pair of cables 5, in the form of eight bit words which are either CONTROL or BATA. CONTROL words contain an address code in the four least significant bits.

The pulses are received by the driver chip 12 and are fed serially by the chip to the UART 9 in which they are distributed on parallel output lines Al to A10 respectively. - 4 4 ΐ; Τ ί» 4 The lines Al to A4 inclusive are tapped to provide input to an address decoder (AL) 13 the output of which is fed to the clock of a DECODER 14. The lines A5 and A6 are tapped and, together with the line A7, provide input to the DECODER 14. There are six output lines of the DECODER and they carry pulses that represent respectively SEND DATA; CURSOR ADDRESS; END CURSOR; WRITE DATA; END WRITE and PRINT DEMAND.

As coded eight bit words are transmitted along the cables they are received in the address decoder 13 and are registered in the address decoder 13 if the address code corresponds with the address code of the terminal. The DECODER 14 thus is clocked and the words forming the message are decoded by the DECODER 14.

The first message to be decoded from the processor will be SEND DATA. When this message is received a pulse from the DECODER 14 is fed by a line 13 to a second input of the driver chip 11 and the chip is triggered to send the pulses on the line 10 through the cables 4 to the processor.

If the information decoded by the processor is an intelligable message, the message is transmitted as successive eight bit words in a pulse stream along the cables 5 and decoded by the DECODER 14. The CURSOR is extracted by pulses transmitted along the CURSOR ADDRESS and END CURSOR lines to a LATCH 16 (see Fig. 2b) and a WRITE signal is extracted by pulses transmitted along the WRITE DATA and END WRITE lines to a LATCH 17. When the LATCHES 16 and 17 are triggered signals representing CURSOR issue from the LATCH 16 and a signal representing WRITE issues from ., 0 the LATCH 17. The CURSOR signals are divided into MOST - 5 4 3 7 6-1 SIGNIFICANT CURSOR and LEAST SIGNIFICANT CURSOR by NAND gates 18 and 19 respectively (see RIG. 2c). After the whole message has been received in the DECODER 14, a PRINT signal is decoded by the DECODER 14.

Referring now to EIG. 3c, the output of the NAND gate 18 is connected to the clock of a SHIRT REGISTER 20 and the output of the NAND gate 19 ia connected to the clock of a SHIFT REGISTER 21. The four inputs of the SHIRT REGISTERS 20 and 21 are tapped respectively from the lines Al, A2, A3 and A4 which supply random access memories (RAMS) forming a print/display MEMORY 22. The WRITE pulses are fed to MULTIPLEXERS ?3 and 24 the outputs of which supply the MEMORY 22 also and first inputs of which are connected to the outputs of the SHIRT REGISTERS 20 and 21 respectively. In this manner, when the LATCHES 16 and 17 are triggered, the data loaded into the SHIFT REGISTERS 20 and 21 from the lines Al to Λ4 is shifted from the registers by the CURSOR pulso and loaded into the MEMORY 22 through the MULTIPLEXERS 23 and 24 which are strobed by the WRITE pulse. The MEMORY 22 is strobed by a RAM WRITE pulse and the SHIRT REGISTER 21 is strobed by an INCREMENT pulse both pulses being generated when an initiating pulse is received on the line A8. The INCREMENT pulse has the effect of holding back loading of least significant bits into the MEMORY 22 until the most significant bits have been loaded.

The display 8 is a cathode ray tube (CRT) having a scan rate of sixteen lines for each alpha/numeric character to be displayed and each inter-character 4S754 space and a frame of eight rows of characters with thirty two characters in each row. The printer is a matrix needle printer having three heads each with seven needles and arranged to drive a ticket stock web under the needles in synchronism with operation of the needles so that operation of the needles produces alpha/numeric characters composed of five columns of ink dots in each of which there is a possible maximum of seven dots. Between each group of five columns of dots there is a column free of jO dots which provides inter character spaces. Preferably the printer is of the kind described in Patent Specification No. 2566/76.

In Pigs, ia and 3b, therefore, there is shown various circuits for apportioning positioning codes on each sixteen line scan of the CRT and address codes to alpha/numeric characters to be displayed and printed and which are loaded into the MEMORY 22 from the SHIFT REGISTERS 20 and 21.

In order to determine where portions of a character 2Q are to appear on each sixteen line scan, a DIVIDE BY SIXTEEN circuit 26 is provided which is strobed by a SCAN SYNCHRONISING circuit 27, the latter circuit 27 being initiated by the PRINT pulse. Output from the DIVIDE BY SIXTEEN circuit 26 is on four lines BO, BI, 2$ B2 and which are tapped and input to a NOR gate 28 from which a pulse CBS is extracted.

The address codes for the positions of characters in each line of the display are determined by a DIVIDE BY SIXTEEN circuit 30 and are distributed on five output lines Co, Cl, C2, C3 ana C4. similarly the address codes - 7 for which of the eight lines of the display characters are to be located are determined by a DIVIDE BY EIGHT circuit 31 and are distributed on three output lines C5, C6 and C7- The output lines CO to C3 are connected to second inputs of the MULTIPLEXER 24 and the output lines C4 to C7 are connected to second inputs of the MULTIPLEXES 23. for determining the address codes of the six columns for printing each character and spacing it from a successive character, there is a DIVIDE BY SIX circuit 32 the output of which is distributed on three OUTPUT lines DO.D1,D2.

Control of feed of paper to be printed by the printer is synchronised with operation of the print needles of the printer by initiating a PULSE GENERATOR 33 with a PAPER STROBED pulse and feeding pulses from the generator into one input of a LATCH 34 and by feeding the print pulse into another input of the LATCH 34. Only if both pulses are registered will a NAND gate 33 tie enabled to thereby dispatch a PRINT MOTOR pulse to a circuit (not shown) for operating a paper feed device. Geared to operate with the paper feed device (not shown) is a rotatable timing disc (not shown) which generates the PAPER STROBED pulses in a photocell (not shown) as the disc roitates.

Pulses from the PULSE GENERATOR 33 are also fed to an input of the SCAN SYCHRONISING circuit 27.

Referring now to PIGS. 4a, and 4b, output from the MEMORY 22 is distributed on eight lines El to E8 respectively. - 8 4 3 7 5 4 The six lines El to E6 carry data representative of character code from the MEMORY 22 to inputs of a character generator MATRIX 36 and the two lines E? and E8 are connected to inputs of a READ ONLY MEMORY (ROM) 37 the output of which is connected to data inputs of the MATRIX 36 representive of column code. Other inputs of the ROM 37 are supplied by the lines LO, DI and D2 of the DIVIDE BY SIX circuit 32.

Output from the MATRIX 36 is fed through LATCHES 38 and 39 to a MULTIPLEXER 40. The LATCHES 38 and 39 are triggered by pulses CLS received from the NOR gate 28 (see Pig. 3b) and similarly, the MULTIPLEXER 40 is supplied by the lines BO to B3 (See Pig. 3b).

A serial output VIDEO signal from the MULTIPLEXER 40 is fed to the CRT (not shown) to display the message received by the DECODER 14 (See Fig. 2a) and the signal is also input to serially connected SHIFT REGISTERS 41, 42 and 43 the outputs of which are connected to supply lines for the operating solenoids of print heads A, B and C respectively.

After the VIDEO pulse stream has filled up the SHIFT REGISTERS 41, 42 and 43 to set the registers ready to pulse the appropriate operating solenoids, the registers are strobed by the PRINT pulse whereby the selected solenoids are operated and their corresponding needles are fired to print the message.

Instead of the CRT, the display fw/ bt h. the form of a line SELF SCAN. In this case supply t.o i ne SELF SCAN - 9 ·· 3 7 5 4 will be tapped from the lines El to E6 from the MEMORY 22 and fed to the EELF SCAN through LATCHES 44 and 45 (See Fig. 4a).

Referring now to Figs. 2b and 2c there is shown a circuit 46 for extending the width of characters to be printed. It has been found that if a character is extended to occupy a position which would normally' be occupied by two successive characters, the widened character has the appearance of being bold compared with characters which are not so widened. In the circuit 46 a MONOSTABLE 4? is triggered when a STRETCH CHARACTER pulse is received on the line A8 from the HART 9 (See Fig. 2a). As a result a pulse issues from the MONOSTABLE 47 and a NAND gate 48 is enabled. When a pulse issues from a counter 49 under control of data entry signals received on lines A9 and A10 from the UART 9, a stretch pulse issues from the NAND gate 48 along a line XO and is stored in an address in the MEMORY 22. Similarly a pulse issues from a NOR gate 50 along a line'XI indicating that the STRETCH pulse is for the first half of the character. The process is repeated when the second data word is received except that the subsequent pulse from the NOR gate 50 indicates that the STRETCH pulse is for the second half of the character. The pulses transmitted along the line XI are stored in addresses in the MEMORY 22.

When the stretched characters are called up from the MEMORY 22, the STRETCH CHARACTER data is entered in the MATRIX 56 by means of the line E7 ml pulses - 10 4 3 7 5 4 representing first and second parts of the character to be stretched are entered on the line E8. In this manner, a character is stretched to a 7 x 10 dot matrix compared with an unstretched character which is formed by a 7 x 5 dot matrix.

In a modified embodiment of the data terminal according to the present invention, the four address lines forming input to the address decoder 13 are extended outside a casing of the terminal, as shown in dotted lines in Rig. 2a, Such an arrangement permits the lines to be connected to a T-box on lines connecting the processor to terminals. In another embodiment,the terminal would be connected to a local micro-processor which would be one of a plurality of such local processors each serving a processor.

Referring to Rigs. 5 and 6 there is shown a data terminal which is suitable for use in point of sale applications in which a ticket i3 produced. As an example a Totalizator ticket machine is described. In such an application the data terminal is used with a Keyboard 60 as shown in Rig. 5 connected to a microprocessor 61 (Rig. 6).

The Keyboard 60 is divided into sections 60a, 60b, 60c, 60d and 60e. The first part 60a comprises a pair of keys which constitute instructions to effect payment or selling in relation to bets paid.

The second part 60b constitutes 4 keys relating to amounts of money, which amount is to constitute the 11. ·· amount of the bet.

The third, part 60c is a numerical section, and represents the digits 0 to 9 on a numbered keyboard to enable numerical information to be entered into the terminal, This numerical information can refer, for example, to the number of the race and the number of the runners on which a bet is to be laid.

The fourth section 60d relates to a plurality of keys each bearing a reference to the kind of bet, details of which are being entered into the processor.

The fifth section 60e relates to Instructions to the terminal to cancel, repeat or accept a bet.

The sections of the Keyboard are connected to control circuits whereby output signals to be transmitted are ; generated in accordance with the operation of the keys of the Keyboard.

Figure 6 of the drawings shows a data terminal similar to the data terminal shown in Fig. 1 but in which the control circuit 3 is replaced by a microprocessor 61 with a keyboard, terminal printing control mechanism and display and printer connected as peripherals to the microprocessor. Communication is made through two pairs of wires from the microprocessor to the central processor as described in connection with Fig. 1 and similar connections are made with the keyboard 1 matrix printer 7 and display unit 8. - 12 4S754 The matrix printer 7 includes three needle print heads 62 each of which print heads 6? may be of the kind described in Patent Specification No. 2566/76.

Each head has seven needles positioned in line at right angles to the direction of feed of the record member preferably in the form of a continuous web of ticket paper. Each needle has a solenoid associated with it andeach solenoid has a connection through an amplifier circuit 6? from the microprocessor.

The printer 7 also includes a ticket paper feeding mechanism which includes the printer control circuit 64 which control circuit has a strobe timing disc device associated with it which is synchronised with the ticket paper movement. It is arranged that a strobe pulse is generated by the strobe timing device each time the ticket paper has been fed a predetermined distance corresponding to the position at which the line of needles is due to be operated. The strobe pulse is passed to the microprocessor to initiate operation of the print heads.

The display 8 consists of a cathode ray or other display unit (for example that sold as a Burroughs Self-Scan display) in which a series of characters are displayed in a single line. The display is connected to the microprocessor in order that details of the characters entered by operation of the Keyboard are displayed on the display 8. The display can also display information relevant to the receipt of signals from the Keyboard - 13 » 754 relating to irrelevant information. Thus if a bet is to be laid on a runner having a specified number and there is no runner of that number in the race the fact that such is irrelevant information is displayed.

A terminal address system 65 is also connected to the microprocessor in order that the address of the terminal can he passed to the central processor.

The microprocessor may he of the kind sold under the name MS800 and embodies logical circuitry including memory circuitry. It also includes circuits programmed to convert signals related to characters into matrix format signals related to the printing of the characters in a dot pattern matrix to make up a character.

Preferably the digits printed are represented by a 7 by 5 matrix. Thus the line of 7 printed needles are arranged to be operated five times as the paper is fed.

The microprocessor also includes a divide by 6 counter in the processor memory to count off the five lines of dots generated by the needle printer and the single space which constitute one character.

The microprocessor memory also includes a store to store details of characters to be printed and the dot pattern to be generated.

The microprocessor operates in a similar way to the control circuit 3 of Fig. 1 except that some of the keyboard information is held in the microprocessor memory and is not necessarily passed to the control processor. - 14 When for example details of a bet are to be recorded the operator depresses the keys in sequence. Thus he depresses the sell key 60a followed by depression of the amount of money key 60b, the numerical information key 60c and the kind of bet key 60d. Signals representative of the key depressions are passed to the microprocessor and some information may be stored in the microprocessor's memory and other information formatted and passed to the central processor at the end of a valid key sequence for example when the ACCEPT key is depressed. The information is processed in the central processor and if appropriate an error signal is returned specifying irrelevant information. If the information processed by the central processor is found correct a signal is returned to the microprocessor. In turn printing is initiated by the microprocessor by sending a control pulse to energise a solenoid which starts the ticket paper drum motor to feed paper through the printer.

As the paper moves under the 3 print heads of the printer strobe pulses from the timing disc synchronised with the paper movement are fed back to the microprocessor. A strobe pulse is produced each time the needles of the print heads are to be fired to produce a line of up to 7 dots of the print needles. The strobe pulses are passed to and counted in a divide by 6 counter in the memory of the microprocessor, to count off the 5 lines of dots and the space which form one character. The memory of the processor stores the characters to be printed and . he dot pattern to be generated to form each character. The divide by 6 counter controls the memory in increments whereby a character counter - 15 , «·. rl Κ ,4 d ί M -in the microprocessor memory which brings out of the character store memory the character to be printed by a print head and puts it into a character buffer part of the memory. The character buffer circuit in the microprocessor then accesses the character generator . part of the memory to find the dot pattern, and in association with the divide by six counter brings out the column of dots to be printed. These are put into a print buffer also included in the microprocessor memory.

The next strobe pulse passed to the microprocessor then causes the contents of the print buffer to be fed out from the microprocessor to the printer through the printer head amplifiers 63. These amplifiers drive the solenoids which cause the selected print needles to print the required column of a character on the paper.

The counters within the microprocessor thus control the output to the printer and also control the starting and stopping of the printer.

By a similar interaction of inputs and outputs the microprocessor can send and receive data from the Keyboard, display etc, and its speed is such that it can control these activities simultaneously.

If appropriate a circuit for extending the width of characters similar to the circuit 46 (Figs. 2b and 2c) may be embodied in the microprocessor 61 of Fig. 6 or circuits external to the microprocessor can be connected to the microprocessor for performing this function. - 16 The message back from the processor need not contain all the information to he printed as some of this is keyboard information and is held in the microprocessor's memory. Information such as the unique ticket number S need only be received from the processor, in which case information relating to a bet is reproduced on the display and printed on the printer from the information stored in the microprocessor.

As a consequence of these tasks now performed by the 10 terminal, the work load on the central processor and communication lines is reduced, allowing a small central processor to handle a larger number of terminals.

A data terminal as herein before described can also be utilized in a ticket reservation system in which the ls microprocessor and central processor are appropriately programmed and wherein the signals recorded refer to information about the reservation of tickets.

Claims (4)

1. CLAIMS:1. A data terminal for connection to a processor including means to transmit output data and return the data to the terminal as input data, and comprising a keyboard, a matrix display, a matrix printer, means for generating output signals in accordance with operation of the keys of said keyboard; means for decoding the output signals into data; means for feeding a record web past a printing position; means operable in synchronism with the feeding of the record web to control the generation of the outpuc signals to be recorded into data as the web is being fed; logic, means for controlling commonly the matrix display and the matrix printer to generate at least some of the data on the display and for generating at least some of the data printed on the record web in matrix lines wherein when the terminal is connected to a processor the output signals are transmitted to the processor and the input signals arc- rociovetl by the terminal from the processor, so that coded information entered by the keyboard is converted into visual data which is represented on the display and printed on the record web.

2. A data terminal as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the matrix printer comprises a plurality of needle print heads.

3. A data terminal as claimed in Claim 1 or 2 including record member feeding mechanism..

4. A data terminal as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the keyboard includes instruction keys, and numerical keys. - 18 6. 6. 77· . 8. . 8. 915 9· A data terminal as claimed in any one of the preceding claims including a circuit to extend the width of the characters being printed. A totalizator system which, embodies a data terminal according to Claim 1 and wherein the signals recorded refer to information about wagers laid. A ticket reservation system embodying a data terminal as claimed in any one of the Claims 1 to 6 and wherein the signals recorded refer to information about reservation of tickets. A data terminal constructed, arranged and adapted to operate substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. A totalizator system constructed, arranged and adapted to operate substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.