JP2006168245A - Printer controller - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To readily choose, determine and set a paper shrinkage ratio from the shrinkage ratios in the horizontal and vertical directions at front and rear faces of a front engine and a rear engine forming dozens of patterns when the paper shrinkage ratio is set via an operation panel. <P>SOLUTION: By varying shrinkage ratios in the horizontal and vertical direction at the front and rear faces of the front engine and rear engine via the operation panel, printing position check patterns are printed together with numbers of combinations and the shrinkage ratios in the horizontal and vertical directions. An optimum combination of the shrinkage ratio for a present print paper sheet is determined from the printed result. The shrinkage ratios in the horizontal and vertical directions at front and rear faces of each engine can be set by inputting of the combination number via the operation panel. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a printer control device that corrects printing misalignment between a front engine and a rear engine due to thermal contraction of printing paper.

  Set the shrinkage rate of the paper from the operation panel by printing the horizontal and vertical shrinkage rates on the front and rear engine front and back surfaces in a combination of shrinkage rates, measuring how much they are shifted, and then selecting which Estimate whether or not to select a shrinkage rate and set it. After setting the shrinkage rate, printing is performed to confirm the setting result, and if the printing result is deviated, setting value change and confirmation printing are repeatedly determined again, which takes time and effort.

JP-A-8-88713

JP 2002-333744 A

  When setting the sheet shrinkage rate from the operation panel, it is possible to easily select, determine, and set the horizontal and vertical shrinkage rates on the front and rear surfaces of the tens of patterns.

  The present invention prints the print position check pattern from the operation panel by changing the horizontal and vertical shrinkage rates on the front and rear surfaces of the front engine and the rear engine, and simultaneously printing the numbering for each combination and the horizontal and vertical shrinkage rates, The present invention is characterized in that the best combination of shrinkage rates on the current printing paper is judged from the print results, and the horizontal and vertical shrinkage rates on the front and back surfaces of each engine are set by inputting a combination number from the operation panel.

  According to the present invention, the combination number printed on the combination of the horizontal and vertical total shrinkage ratios on the front and rear surfaces of the front engine and the rear engine, the print position check pattern, and the horizontal surfaces on the front and rear surfaces of the front and rear engines. By visually confirming the vertical shrinkage rate, it is possible to easily determine the horizontal and vertical shrinkage rates of the front and rear surfaces of the front and rear engines, and simply enter a combination number from the operation panel. Parameter can be set.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described by way of examples.

  FIG. 1 is an overall block diagram showing the flow of print data of a printer. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the front engine. 1 and 2, 1 is a host CPU, 2 is a front and rear print data control server, 3 is a reception control unit, 4 is a main memory, 5 is a print control unit that controls editing and expansion of the whole and data, and 6 is A parallel and serial data conversion control unit, 7 is a print clock control unit, 8 is a front engine unit, 9 is a front and rear print control communication unit, 10 is an operation panel, 11 is an HDD, and 12 is a rear engine unit.

  Print data is sent from the host CPU 1, and the print data is divided into data to be printed by the front engine and the rear engine by the front / rear engine print data control server 2. Each divided print data is received by the reception control unit 3 and stored in the reception buffer in the main memory 4. Based on the print data stored in the reception buffer, the print control unit 5 edits and expands the print data, and stores the print data in the full dot memory in the main memory 4. The print data stored in the full-dot memory is selected from the transmitter based on the sheet shrinkage rate set by the parallel / serial data conversion control unit 6 by the print clock control unit 7 and serialized in synchronization with the generated print clock. The data is converted into data, output to the engine units 8 and 12, and printed.

  The above is the procedure until print data is transmitted from the host CPU 1 and printed. Next, a procedure for setting a sheet shrinkage rate accompanying thermal shrinkage from the sheet shrinkage rate setting menu will be described. A sheet shrinkage ratio setting menu is selected from the operation panel 10, and then single-sided printing or double-sided printing is selected. When one side is selected, the print control unit 5 of the front engine reads the print position check pattern from the HDD 11 and develops it in the full dot memory in the main memory 4 together with the front and rear engine surface horizontal, vertical shrinkage rate and combination number, The parallel / serial conversion control unit 6 outputs an oscillator select signal for the front surface level and vertical paper shrinkage rate 0%, and the front and rear engine surface levels stored in the full dot memory in synchronization with the generated print clock. The vertical shrinkage rate, the combination number, and the print position check pattern are printed with the front surface horizontal and the vertical shrinkage rate of 0%. Next, when a sheet comes from the front engine, the rear engine prints a printing position check pattern having a surface horizontal and vertical shrinkage rate of 0%. (The first page is printed with the front and rear surfaces horizontal, vertical paper shrinkage of 0%, combination No. 1.) From the second page onward, the oscillator in the print clock controller 7 is selected by the front and rear engines. The horizontal and vertical shrinkage rates, the combination number, and the print position check pattern are printed on the surface in all combinations while changing.

  When printing is completed, the screen of the operation panel 10 is switched to the surface shrinkage rate setting number input screen. From the printing result, the combination number of the shrinkage rate that best matches the print positions of the front and rear engines on the front surface is registered from the operation panel 10, and the paper shrinkage rate setting is completed.

  When double-sided printing is selected, the front side printing operation is also executed on the back side at the same time. Horizontal and vertical shrinkage rates, combination numbers, and print position check patterns for all combinations of the front and rear engine front and back sides. Is printed on both sides, and after the printing is finished, the front and back shrinkage rate setting number input screen is displayed. The combination number of the shrinkage rates that best match the printing positions on each side is registered, and the paper shrinkage rate setting is completed.

  Since the rear engine shares the operation panel 10 of the front engine, the rear engine has a configuration in which the operation panel 10 is not mounted in the configuration of FIG.

  Next, the paper shrinkage rate setting process will be described with reference to FIGS. Step 101 selects a paper shrinkage rate setting menu for spot color printing on the operation panel 10. Step 102 selects single-sided printing or double-sided printing. In step 103, one side of the combination No. 1, front and rear surface horizontal, vertical shrinkage of 0%, and printing position check pattern is printed. Step 104 increments the contraction rate combination number to 2. Step 105 changes only the rear engine surface horizontal direction shrinkage rate.

  In step 106, if the rear engine surface horizontal direction shrinkage rate is, for example, 4 patterns, it is checked whether all 4 patterns have been printed. If the condition of step 106 is not satisfied, the process returns to step 103, and the contraction rate combination number incremented with the changed rear engine surface horizontal contraction rate, front, rear surface horizontal, vertical contraction rate, and printing position check pattern To print. Until the step 106 is satisfied, only the rear engine surface horizontal contraction rate is changed, and the incremented contraction rate combination number and front, rear surface horizontal, vertical contraction rate and printing position check pattern are printed. When the rear engine surface horizontal contraction rate returns to the initial value at step 104 and all combinations are printed and step 106 is satisfied, the rear engine surface vertical contraction rate is changed at step 107, Check if printing was done with the vertical shrinkage of the rear engine surface. If the condition is not satisfied, the process returns to step 103, and the rear engine surface vertical contraction rate in the changed rear engine and all rear engine surface horizontal contraction rates in steps 104 to 106 are combined and printed.

  In step 107, the rear engine surface vertical contraction rate returns to the initial value, and printing is performed in all combinations. When step 108 is satisfied, the front engine surface horizontal contraction rate is changed in step 109. Check if the front engine surface has been printed with horizontal shrinkage. If the condition is not satisfied, the process returns to Step 103, and the changed front engine surface horizontal shrinkage ratio and all the rear engine surface horizontal and vertical reduction ratios are combined in Steps 104 to 108 for printing. In step 109, the front engine surface horizontal direction shrinkage rate returns to the initial value. When step 110 is satisfied, the front engine surface vertical direction shrinkage rate is changed in step 111, and in step 112, all front engine surface vertical direction shrinkage rates are changed. Check if you printed with. If the condition is not satisfied, the process returns to Step 103, and the modified front engine surface vertical shrinkage is combined with all rear engine surface horizontal, vertical shrinkage and front engine horizontal shrinkage in Steps 104 to 110. To do. When the front engine surface vertical direction shrinkage rate returns to the initial value at step 111 and step 112 is satisfied, the paper shrinkage number is initialized at step 113, and the operation panel is changed to the front paper shrinkage rate combination number input screen at step 114. In step 115, the shrinkage rate combination number that best matches the front and rear engine surface printing positions is input and registered in step 115, and the paper shrinkage rate setting menu is terminated.

  Steps 116 to 125 in FIG. 4 perform double-sided printing of the sheet shrinkage rate combination number and the front and rear engine front and rear engine horizontal and vertical shrinkage rates and the printing position check pattern when double-sided printing is selected in step 102. It is a flow. Steps 104 to 110 combine the front and rear engine shrinkage rates only on the front side, but steps 116 to 125 only change the front and rear engine shrinkage rates on the front and back sides at the same time and change the combination to make double-sided printing. The procedure for changing the shrinkage rate is the same.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a printer. It is the block diagram which showed the implementation method in a front engine. It is the flowchart which showed the execution procedure of the printing position setting method. It is the flowchart which showed the execution procedure of the printing position setting method.

Explanation of symbols

1 Host CPU
2 Front / Rear Print Data Control Server 3 Reception Control Unit 4 Main Memory 5 Print Control Unit 6 Parallel / Serial Conversion Control Unit 7 Print Clock Control Unit 8 Printer Engine 9 Front / Rear Print Control Communication Unit 10 Operation Panel 11 HDD

Claims (1)

The front and rear print data control servers that divide the two colors of print data transmitted from the host CPU into colors and distribute the print data to the front engine and the rear engine, and the print data reception control unit that receives the print data. The print control unit that edits the stored print data and stores it in the memory, the print clock control unit that corrects the printing deviation caused by the thermal contraction of the paper that occurs when the toner is fixed to the paper, and the raster pattern data that is stored in the memory are converted into serial data Parallel to convert and send to the engine unit in synchronization with the print clock of the paper shrinkage selected from the operation panel of the print clock control unit, front for synchronization between the serial conversion control unit and the front engine and the rear engine, Stores programs and font data with the rear print control communication unit Two printers with Dodisuku constitute the tandem connection, the front connects the print data reception portion of the rear print data control server and the front engine and the rear engine, a printer that enables spot color duplex printing function,
Print all combinations of shrinkage rates by numbering the shrinkage rate and print position check pattern for each combination on the front, rear engine front and back, horizontal and vertical shrinkage on each side from the paper shrinkage rate setting menu on the operation panel. The best combination of shrinkage rates for the current printing paper is judged from the print results, and the number at the time of the combination is input from the operation panel, and the horizontal and vertical shrinkage rates at the front and rear engine front and back surfaces are once determined. A printer control device that can be set to

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