JP2000025298A - Page mode printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer which can obtain desired print results even with a millimeter pitch or an inch pitch of ruled lines, frame lines of form papers, etc. SOLUTION: In the page mode printer having a CPU for controlling the printer and a memory and printing on the basis of data received from a host apparatus, the CPU regulates a dot position as a reference point of bit image print data based on data on the memory on the basis of a command received from the host apparatus, stores the bit image print data in the memory with setting the dot position as the reference point, and prints the bit image print data stored in the memory on the basis of a print command from the host apparatus. A position of a character to be printed is designated by a dot unit which is a constitution unit of the character, and therefore the character can be printed at a desired position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer,
In particular, the present invention relates to a page mode printer that prints imprint data on a memory area corresponding to a print area specified in dot units based on a print command.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, fixed-format paper such as slip paper, which is referred to as form paper, is generally provided with a ruled line or a frame line at a portion to be printed. Varies from country to country, with millimeter pitch units being common in Japan or Europe, while inch pitch units are common in the United States.

[0003]

Therefore, it is impossible to print form papers having different ruled line and frame line pitches with a single printer. That is, in the conventional printer, the printing reference is in units of one line (for example, in the case of printing of 5 × 7 dots, 11 dot lines is called one line), and the line pitch can be set only in units of one line. It was like.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above drawbacks. The position of print data to be printed is set in dot units, and the set position is used as a base point in the X direction or Y direction. The print data is arranged in the direction, the print data is stored as bit image data in a memory area, and the print data in the memory area is printed based on a print command. That is, a printing area (X direction, Y direction) of printing paper to be printed is set in advance, a memory area corresponding to the printing area is secured, and printing data is stored in a bit image based on information received in this area. It is stored as data, and print data on the memory area is printed based on a print command. Data in this case, for example, form paper borders, as the pitch of the border were mm pitch or inch pitch, the positioning of the print data is any set location in any kind of form sheet for can be set in dot units Can be printed, and can be easily handled without making major modifications such as changing the mechanical structure of the printer body.

[0005]

According to the above configuration of the present invention, a desired print format can be obtained even for various types of foam papers from various countries around the world, and an extremely versatile printer can be provided. In addition, since the position of the print data can be set in units of one dot, the application of emphasized characters and the like can be performed very easily, and the issuing of a slip rich in applications becomes easy.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a method of setting foam paper in a slip printer according to the present invention, and is a very compact printer equipped with a shuttle print head. The user inserts form paper to be printed from the front of the printer, applies the form paper 11 to the form stopper inside the printer, clamps the form paper at this position, and starts printing. 10
Denotes a printer body, and 11 denotes a form sheet. FIG.
FIG. 2 shows a formatted sample of the form paper of FIG.
2 indicates a frame line or the like.

As shown in FIG. 2, there is no problem if printing can be performed accurately in the area surrounded by the ruled line and the frame line. However, for example, as shown in FIG. There was a problem.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a method of setting the print area of the form paper and the position setting of data to be printed according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. With reference to a reference (0, 0) as a base point in the direction and the Y direction, for example, a command E
SC + I + (n1) + (n2) determines memory area 3
1 and an arbitrary position (x,
y) is replaced with the command ESC + X + (n1) + (n
2), the base point of data to be printed is set by ESC + Y + (n1) + (n2), print data is arranged, and printing is performed. However, the origin of the print data is X, but also can respond in any kind of form paper for both the Y direction can be set in dot units.

FIG. 4 shows the electrical configuration of the printer of the present invention. Reference numeral 41 denotes an I / O, which has a function of receiving data (for example, HOST or the like) from outside the printer and notifying the CPU 42 of the printer of the data. The CPU 42, based on the data from the I / O 41,
The data written in the ROM 44 is called out and RA
I / O while writing and reading on M43
The printer 47 is driven by sending control data to the driver 45 and the driver 46. ESC shown in FIG.
+ I + (n1) + (n2), the memory area 31 secured by the command and the base point of the print data (x,
All the position settings of y) are written and held on the RAM 43.

FIG. 5 shows a case where "ABC" is printed at an arbitrary position on the format paper 11 by the method according to the present invention. The character "A" is printed by being shifted by one dot in each of the X and Y directions. I have. This is because every time the print data of “A” is transmitted, the coordinate data in the (X, Y) direction, which is the base point of “A”, is also transmitted as data shifted by one dot at a time. It is written as data on the top and printed like overwriting. Reference numeral 31 denotes a printing area on the form paper, which is as described above.

FIG. 6 shows a conventional example of printing. The pitch between characters and the pitch between lines have a certain regularity, and these pitches cannot be changed without permission. For this reason, characters are printed on the ruled lines as shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 shows a conventional example of printing on foam paper.

[0014]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, since the character position can be designated in dot units, desired printing can be obtained at any position on any form paper. It is possible to provide a good-looking slip without worrying about paper ruled lines and frame lines. In the present invention, since data to be printed on the memory area is stored as bit image data, a dot position serving as a base point can be set each time, and overwriting can be easily performed without any trouble. Further, if a printer having a shuttle print head as a main element is used as the printer, the shuttle head performs processing for each dot line, so that a very compact page mode printer can be provided. Although the present invention has been described with reference to a slip printer for simplicity, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to a slip printer but can be applied to a journal printer for printing roll paper or the like. In addition, commands such as position setting are used as an example, but the present invention is not limited to these commands, and it goes without saying that commands that can expect similar effects can be applied.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a method of setting a form sheet in a slip printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an example of a form paper sample.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a method for securing a memory area for form paper and a position setting of data to be printed according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an electrical configuration diagram of the printer of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a printing example of a format sheet according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an example of printing on a conventional format sheet.

FIG. 7 shows an example of printing on ruled lines in a printing example using conventional format paper.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 slip printer body 11 form paper 21 ruled line 22 frame line 31 print area 41 in memory area 41 I / O 42 CPU 43 RAM 44 ROM 45 I / O 46 Driver 47 Printer

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A printing area (X direction, Y direction) of printing paper to be printed is defined in dot units, and an arbitrary memory area corresponding to the printing area is secured on a memory.
On the memory area, a dot position is defined based on the received information, print data is arranged in the X direction or Y direction with the dot position as a base point, and the data arranged on the memory area based on a print command. A page mode printer, which prints a page. 2. The page mode printer according to claim 1, wherein the print data on the memory area is bit image data. 3. A dot position serving as a base point can be defined each time data is transferred, and can be overwritten.
The described page mode printer. 4. The page mode printer according to claim 1, wherein a shuttle print head is a main element as the printer.