JP2000280513A - Method for controlling printing and measuring apparatus of thermal printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate thinning patterns in the case of thinned printing and print measured results easy to see by changing a part of heating elements for a non-current-carrying control in accordance with a passed time in the thinned printing wherein the part of heating elements are controlled by the non-current- carrying control. SOLUTION: A RAM 7 is constituted of a connection data memory area 7a for temporarily storing operation results of a CPU 11 in a control part 6, and a printing data memory area 7b for temporarily storing a printing data DF generated on the basis of waveform data. Moreover, a ROM 8 has a program memory area 8a for storing an operation program of the control part 6, and the like, and a pattern data memory area 8b for storing, e.g. each of eight pattern data D1-D8 for thinning. In this case, each thinning pattern data D is 64 data in a random combination of a current-carrying control and a non- current-carrying control, for example, if 832 heating elements 22... are divided to 13 blocks to print in a time sharing manner.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing control method for performing thinned printing on a thermal printer,
And a measuring device configured to execute thinned-out printing on a thermal printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A waveform measuring device such as a waveform recording device or a waveform display device generally has a built-in or externally connected thermal printer, and is used to print a signal waveform of an input signal to be measured. , The signal waveform is printed by the thermal printer by outputting the print data.

On the other hand, a thermal printer prints signal waveforms and the like on thermal paper by controlling the energization of a large number of heating elements provided on a thermal head. In this case, for example, a unit time t1 like a triangular wave shown in FIG.
When the signal waveform W in which the voltage value (or current value) changes is printed, the heating element 22 in the thermal head 21 corresponding to the maximum value within the unit time t1 is changed from the heating element 22 corresponding to the minimum value. A plurality of heating elements 22 up to 22;
By controlling the energization of all of the steps, the maximum value to the minimum value are printed linearly as shown in FIG.
In FIG. 3 and FIGS. 3 and 5, which will be described later, hatched portions indicate printed portions. Next, the signal waveform W is printed by repeating this process while feeding the thermal paper P by a predetermined length every unit time t1. However, the unit time t
When the change in the voltage value of the signal waveform W per unit is large, the number of the heating elements 22 to be energized also increases. In such a case, a large current must be supplied to the thermal head 21.

On the other hand, the printing of the signal waveform W requires a unit time t.
It is preferable that the maximum value and the minimum value within 1 (or within one cycle of the signal waveform W) are printed, but printing of the signal waveform portion between the maximum value and the minimum value is not always required. For this reason, conventionally, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, the thinning printing is performed by controlling the non-energization of every other heating elements 22a, 22a,.
Are printed with broken lines. As a result, the number of heating elements 22 to be energized per unit time t1 can be reduced.
The power consumption of the thermal printer has been reduced.

[0005]

However, the conventional print control method for a thermal printer has the following problems. That is, in the conventional printing control method, the non-energization control is always performed on the specific heating elements 22a. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, a striped thinning pattern caused by the thinning printing is formed at a portion corresponding to the voltage values V1 to V8 in the signal waveform W. For this reason, in the conventional print control method, due to the formation of the thinned pattern,
There is a problem that the printed signal waveform W is difficult to see.

Further, in the conventional print control method, since the thinned-out printing is always performed by controlling the non-energization of the specific heating element 22, the maximum value and the minimum value of the signal waveform W in the unit time t1 are not always required. Not printed. For this reason, the conventional print control method has a problem in that the analysis of the measurement result may not be accurately performed because the maximum value and the minimum value of the signal waveform W are not printed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing control method and a measuring apparatus for a thermal printer capable of printing a measurement result which can be easily viewed without a thinning pattern at the time of thinning printing. Main purpose.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print control method for a thermal printer, wherein when a measurement result is printed based on print data, some of the heating elements are de-energized. In the print control method for the thermal printer that thins out and prints the measurement result, a part of the heating elements to be controlled to be non-conducting is changed over time.

A print control method for a thermal printer according to a second aspect of the present invention is the print control method for a thermal printer according to the first aspect, wherein one of the plurality of thinning-out pattern data for determining a heating element to be subjected to non-conduction control. To select thinning pattern data in an arbitrary order or a predetermined order, sequentially generate logical product data of each selected thinning pattern data and print data, and execute thinning printing based on the generated logical product data. It is characterized by.

A print control method for a thermal printer according to a third aspect of the present invention is the print control method for a thermal printer according to the first or second aspect, wherein a signal waveform as a measurement result is thinned out within a unit time of the signal waveform. The conduction control of the heating element corresponding to the maximum value and the minimum value in is performed.

A print control method for a thermal printer according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the print control method for a thermal printer according to the third aspect, wherein a logical product of the print data corresponding to the maximum value and the minimum value in each unit time of the signal waveform is obtained. It is characterized in that logical sum data with data is sequentially generated, and thinning printing is executed based on the generated logical sum data.

The measuring device according to the present invention is applicable to a built-in or externally connected thermal printer.
Print control is performed according to the print control method for the thermal printer described in any one of the above.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which a printing control method and a measuring device for a thermal printer according to the present invention are applied to a waveform recording device 1 will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 2, the waveform recording apparatus 1 includes a measuring unit 2, an LCD 3, a printer 4, an operation unit 5, a control unit 6,
It comprises a RAM 7 and a ROM 8. In this case, the measuring section 2 amplifies the signal to be measured SIN and performs analog-to-digital conversion to generate waveform data DW. The LCD 3 employs, for example, a color liquid crystal display.
The signal waveform W based on the waveform data DW for IN and various setting screens are displayed in color.

The printer 4 is composed of a thermal printer, and prints the signal waveform W and a hard copy of the screen display of the LCD 3 on the thermal paper P in monochrome. More specifically, the printer 4 includes, for example, 832 heating elements 2
Are arranged, and a control IC 23 for controlling energization / de-energization of each heating element 22
And the print data D serially transferred from the control IC 23
A shift register 24 for sequentially shifting P from a first register to a last register, a latch register 25 for latching print data DP transferred from the shift register 24,
The print data D latched by each latch register 25
An output driver 2 that energizes the heating element 22 when P has a value of 1.
6 is provided.

The operation unit 5 includes a plurality of keys for performing various key operations. Also, RAM7
As shown in FIG. 1, a normal data storage area 7a for temporarily storing the calculation result of the CPU 11 in the control unit 6, and a print data DF for temporarily storing print data DF generated based on the waveform data DW. And a data storage area 7b. Further, as shown in FIG.
A program storage area 8a for storing an operation program of the control unit 6 and the like, for example, eight thinning pattern data D
1 to D8 (hereinafter, referred to as "thinning-out pattern data D" when not distinguished) from each other. In this case, each of the thinning pattern data D has a value of 1 (energization control) and a value of 0 (non-energization control) when, for example, 832 heating elements 22, 22,. ) Is composed of 64 random combinations of data.

On the other hand, the control section 6 is configured to be able to execute measurement control for the measurement section 2, display control for the LCD 3, print control for the printer 4, and the like. More specifically, as shown in FIG.
The circuit includes a data switching circuit 12, a maximum value / minimum value detection circuit 13, an AND circuit 14, an OR circuit 15, and a parallel-serial conversion circuit 16.

The CPU 11 performs control of each circuit, data transfer control, measurement start / stop control, and the like during the various control processes described above. Data switching circuit 1
2 represents one thinning pattern data D from eight thinning pattern data D1 to D8 under the control of the CPU 11.
Is selected and output to the AND circuit 14. In this case, as the selection method, random selection based on the result of the random number operation by the CPU 11, selection in accordance with a predetermined repetition order, or the like can be adopted.
In order to surely eliminate the thinning pattern, the former selection method is more preferable. The maximum value / minimum value detection circuit 13 is, for example,
A total of 64 print data DFs are collected in RA in a unit time t1.
At this time, the maximum value and the minimum value of the signal waveform in the 64 print data DF are detected. Further, the maximum value / minimum value detection circuit 13 outputs the value 1 to two or a plurality of predetermined portions corresponding to the 64 data strings containing the detected maximum value and minimum value.
Is written and a value 0 is written in another portion to generate OR data DM consisting of 64 data, and output the OR data DM to the OR circuit 15. The AND circuit 14 includes the 64 print data DF input via the maximum value / minimum value detection circuit 13 and the thinning pattern data D selected by the data switching circuit 12.
And outputs the calculated new print data DS to the OR circuit 15. The OR circuit 15 calculates the logical sum of the print data DS output from the AND circuit 14 and the logical sum data DM output from the maximum / minimum value detection circuit 13, and converts the print data DOR as the calculation result into parallel data. Output to the serial conversion circuit 16; The parallel-serial conversion circuit 16 converts the print data DOR which is parallel data into the print data DP which is serial data.
And outputs it to the control IC 23 in the printer 4.

Next, an overall operation including a print control method for the printer 4 performed by the waveform recording apparatus 1 will be described.

When a predetermined key of the operation unit 5 is operated to start the measurement, the measurement unit 2 operates the CPU 11 of the control unit 6.
Under the control of the waveform data D for the signal SIN to be measured
W is generated and output to the control unit 6. Next, the CPU 11
Transfers the waveform data DW to the print data storage area 7b of the RAM 7 for storage. Next, when a predetermined key of the operation unit 5 is operated, printing is started.

At this time, the CPU 11 causes the maximum / minimum value detection circuit 13 to read 64 pieces of print data DF from the print data storage area 7b of the RAM 7. At the same time, the CPU 11 causes the data switching circuit 12 to read out the randomly selected thinning-out pattern data D from the pattern data storage area 8 b of the ROM 8 and to transfer the data to the AND circuit 14. Next, the maximum value / minimum value detection circuit 13 detects the maximum value and the minimum value, outputs the OR data DM to the OR circuit 15, and transfers the print data DF to the AND circuit 14. Subsequently, the AND circuit 14 calculates the logical product of the print data DF and the thinning pattern data D, and outputs the print data DS as the calculation result to the OR circuit 15. Subsequently, the OR circuit 15
Calculates the logical sum of the logical sum data DM and the print data DS output from the AND circuit 14, and outputs the calculated print data DOR to the parallel-serial conversion circuit 16. Thereafter, the parallel-serial conversion circuit 16
Converts print data DOR into print data DP and controls
Output to C23.

On the other hand, in the printer 4, the control IC 23
The print data D, which is serial data, is synchronized with a system clock generated by a clock generation circuit (not shown).
P is sequentially transferred to the shift register 24. At this time, under the control of the CPU 11 in the control section 6, for example, when the thermal head 21 is to be printed in a time-division manner into 13 blocks, the control IC 23 inputs the 64 print data DP.
Is transferred to the corresponding block of the 13 blocks, and the print data of the value 0 is transferred to all of the other 12 blocks. Next, the latch register 25 latches the print data DP stored in the shift register 24, and the output driver 26 controls the energization / deactivation of each heating element 22 based on the print data DP latched by the latch register 25.
Controls de-energization. The signal waveform W is printed on the thermal paper P by sequentially performing these processes on each of the 64 print data DF.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 3, during the period from time t11 to time t12 corresponding to each unit time t1,
The maximum value and the minimum value of the signal waveform W within the unit time t1 are printed, and the thinning pattern data D
Is thinned out. Similarly, during the period from time t12 to time t13, the print portion P
2 and P3 are thinned out, and in the period from time t13 to time t14, the print portion P4 is thinned out and time t14 to time t14
In the period of 15, the print portion P5 is thinned out and the time t1
In the period from 5 to time t16, the printing parts P6 and P7 are thinned out, and in the period from time t16 to time t17, the printing part P8 is thinned out. As a result, the thinned portion in the signal waveform W printed on the thermal paper P changes as time passes. For this reason, since the thinning pattern resulting from the thinning printing is not formed in the signal waveform W on the thermal paper P, the signal waveform W which is easy to see without a sense of incongruity can be printed. In addition, power consumption during printing can be reliably reduced.

As described above, according to the waveform recording apparatus 1, a print generated based on the original print data DF and the thinning pattern data D randomly selected from the eight thinning pattern data D1 to D8. By causing the printer 4 to print the data DP, thinned-out printing can be performed, and the thinned-out pattern at that time can be eliminated.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment of the present invention. For example, in the waveform recording apparatus 1, an example has been described in which the 832 heating elements 22 in the thermal head 21 are time-divisionally subjected to printing control. However, when time-division printing control is not performed, the number of heating elements 22 is equal to the number of heating elements 22. 832
Alternatively, thinning-out pattern data composed of pieces of data may be used. Further, a large number of thinning pattern data D composed of a small number (for example, eight or sixteen) of data are prepared, and by changing the combination of these thinning pattern data D, the final thinning pattern data D is obtained. D can also be generated. Further, the combination of the value 1 and the value 0 in the thinning pattern data D can be appropriately defined, and the number of the value 0 (non-energized control for the heating element 22) is further increased as compared with every other conventional one. Can also. In such a case, power consumption can be further reduced.

Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, an example has been described in which the maximum value and the minimum value of the signal waveform W at a unit time t1 are always printed. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the original print data DF and the thinning pattern Printing can also be performed based on print data DP corresponding to a logical product with the data D. However, in order to clarify the maximum value and the minimum value in the signal waveform W, it is preferable to print the maximum value and the minimum value. Further, the print control method according to the present invention is not limited to the signal waveform W, and can be applied to printing of various graphs. Further, the configuration of each circuit in the control unit 6 and the printer 4 is not limited to the configuration described in the embodiment of the present invention, and can be appropriately changed. Further, as the printer 4, any of a monochrome type and a color type can be adopted.

Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, the waveform recording device 1 has been described as an example, but the measuring device according to the present invention can be connected to a thermal printer such as a voltmeter, an ammeter, and a wattmeter. The present invention can be applied to various configured measuring devices. The print control method is also applicable to an inkjet method.

[0028]

As described above, according to the printing control method for a thermal printer according to the first aspect, by changing some of the heating elements to be controlled to be non-conducting over time, thinning printing is performed. In this case, it is possible to eliminate the thinned pattern at the time, so that it is possible to print a measurement result that is extremely easy to see without discomfort.

According to the printing control method for a thermal printer according to the second aspect, the thinning printing is executed based on the logical product data of the thinning pattern data selected from the plurality of thinning pattern data and the print data. Accordingly, it is possible to reliably eliminate the thinning pattern while using a simple control method.

Further, according to the printing control method for the thermal printer according to the third aspect, the heating element corresponding to the maximum value and the minimum value within a unit time of the signal waveform is controlled to be conductive, so that the maximum value and the maximum value in the signal waveform are obtained. Thinning printing can be performed while clarifying the minimum value.

According to the printing control method for a thermal printer according to the fourth aspect, thinning is performed based on the logical sum data of the printing data and the logical product data corresponding to the maximum value and the minimum value of the signal waveform within a unit time. By executing printing, it is possible to reliably eliminate the thinning pattern while clarifying the maximum value and the minimum value in the signal waveform while using a simple control method.

According to the measuring device of the fifth aspect,
By performing print control on the built-in or externally connected thermal printer in accordance with the print control method according to the present invention, it is possible to perform thinned printing of various measured signal waveforms and graphs without forming a thinned pattern. In addition, it is possible to print a measurement result that is easy to see and to reduce power consumption.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control unit 6, a RAM 7, a ROM 8, and a printer 4 in a waveform recording apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the waveform recording device 1.

FIG. 3 is a print result display diagram showing an example of a signal waveform W printed on thermal paper P.

4A is a voltage waveform diagram of a signal waveform W, and FIG. 4B is a print result display diagram of the signal waveform W printed on thermal paper P. FIG.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a printing result of a signal waveform W printed on thermal paper P in a conventional thinning printing control method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Waveform recording device 4 Printer 7 RAM 7b Print data storage area 8 ROM 8b Pattern data storage area 11 CPU 13 Maximum value minimum value detection circuit 14 AND circuit 15 OR circuit 21 Thermal head 22 Heating elements D1 to D8 Thinning pattern data DF printing Data DM Logical OR Data DOR Print Data DP Print Data DS Print Data

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A printing control method for a thermal printer, which prints out the measurement results by de-energizing some of the heating elements when printing the measurement results based on print data, comprising: A printing method for a thermal printer, wherein some of the heating elements are changed according to the passage of time. 2. A method of selecting one thinning pattern data in an arbitrary order or a predetermined order from a plurality of thinning pattern data for determining a heating element to be non-conductive controlled, and selecting each of the selected thinning patterns. 2. The print control method for a thermal printer according to claim 1, wherein logical product data of the data and the print data is sequentially generated, and the thinning printing is executed based on the generated logical product data. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein when thinning out the signal waveform as the measurement result, the heating element corresponding to the maximum value and the minimum value of the signal waveform in a unit time is controlled. Or a printing control method for the thermal printer according to 2. 4. A method for sequentially generating logical sum data of print data corresponding to a maximum value and a minimum value of the signal waveform within each unit time and the logical product data, and based on the generated logical sum data, 4. The print control method for a thermal printer according to claim 3, wherein printing is performed. 5. A measuring apparatus for performing printing control on a built-in or externally connected thermal printer in accordance with the printing control method for a thermal printer according to claim 1.