JP2016107508A - Head control device and printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a head control device which is reduced in the number of times of interruption to a CPU to enable stable print control.SOLUTION: A head control device includes a print data transfer circuit 21, a counter 34 and a state machine 32. A print data transfer circuit 38 transfers the print data to be printed to a print head 28. A counter counts the number of times of repetition of printing operation set by a CPU 20. The state machine updates a counter every time transfer of the print data to the print head is completed by a print data transfer circuit after the number of times of repetition is set by the CPU, and controls the printing operation until the counter shows completion of the printing operation for the number of times of repetition.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  Embodiments described herein relate generally to a head control device and a printer device used in a printer device.

  Conventionally, a printer device equipped with an inkjet head is equipped with a processor (CPU (Central Processing Unit)) that controls the entire device. The CPU controls the printing operation via a drive control circuit that drives and controls the inkjet head in response to an instruction from a host device such as a personal computer to which the printer device is connected.

  Conventionally, when a CPU of a printer device repeatedly executes a certain series of operations, for example, the CPU controls the operations repeatedly based on software for controlling driving. That is, the CPU monitors the operation status such as the head status and the status of the drive control circuit, and repeats control such as executing the next operation when detecting the end of a series of operations. Conventionally, as a method for starting the next operation, for example, a method of accepting an interrupt by a CPU or the like using an operation end interrupt or the like and executing it in an interrupt processing routine is used.

JP 2002-55830 A

  As described above, the conventional printer apparatus uses a method of executing an interrupt processing routine by accepting an interrupt by a CPU or the like when controlling a repetitive operation.

  However, when interrupts are multiplexed by the CPU or the like, the software processing routine may be complicated. Further, when the next operation is executed in the interrupt processing routine, there is a risk that the next start time may not be in time for the requested process, or the start timing may become unstable.

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a head control device and a printer device capable of reducing the number of interruptions to the CPU and performing stable printing control.

  According to the embodiment, the head control device includes a print data transfer circuit, a counter, and a state machine. The print data transfer circuit transfers print data to be printed to the print head. The counter counts the number of repetitions of the printing operation set by the CPU. After the number of repetitions is set by the CPU, the state machine updates the counter every time the print data transfer circuit transfers the print data to the print head, and the counter prints the number of repetitions. Control the printing operation until it indicates completion of the operation.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer apparatus according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of a head control device according to the present embodiment. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the printer apparatus according to the present embodiment. The block diagram which shows the structure of the head control apparatus which is the 1st modification in this embodiment. The block diagram which shows the structure of the head control apparatus which is the 2nd modification in this embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment. The printer device 10 is connected to, for example, a personal computer (PC) 12 via an interface shown in FIG. The PC 12 is an electronic device in which an application program (printer software) having a printing function is mounted, for example. The PC 12 communicates with the printer device 10 under the control of printer software, and transmits various data and commands including print data to be printed to the printer device 10.

  The printer device 10 according to the present embodiment is a printer that performs printing by, for example, an inkjet method. The printer device 10 executes print processing for printing print data transmitted from the PC 12 in accordance with control of the PC 12 (printer software).

  As shown in FIG. 1, the printer device 10 includes a CPU 20, a head control device 21, a power supply control circuit 22, a status register 23, a storage device 24, an external I / F (Interface) control circuit 25, and the like.

  The CPU 20 controls the entire printer apparatus 10 under the control of the PC 12. The CPU 20 outputs the print data received from the PC 12 to the head control device 21 and instructs execution of print processing for the print data. When there is a request from the PC 12 to repeatedly execute a series of printing operations (hereinafter referred to as “repetitive processing”) (for example, printing processing for a plurality of sheets), the CPU 20 causes the head control device 21 (drive control circuit 26) to Set the number of repetitions. The CPU 20 has an interrupt circuit 20A. When the repetitive processing is completed in the head control device 21 (drive control circuit 26), the CPU 20 receives an interrupt from the drive control circuit 26 (interrupt circuit 36 described later) by the interrupt circuit 20A and shifts to the next operation. And so on.

  The head control device 21 controls the printing operation under the control of the CPU 20. The head control device 21 includes a drive control circuit 26 and a head 28 (print head). The head 28 is an inkjet head. The drive control circuit 26 transfers print data output from the CPU 20 to the head 28 and controls printing on a print medium (for example, inkjet paper) by the head 28. The drive control circuit 26 reduces the occurrence of interrupts to the CPU 20 by mounting dedicated hardware (a state machine 32 described later) for controlling the printing operation. That is, the drive control circuit 26 reduces the control load caused by the interrupt processing routine by the CPU 20 and realizes stable print control.

  The power supply control circuit 22 controls the supply of driving power to each unit including the head 28.

  The status register 23 stores various statuses related to the head 28, the head control device 21, and the (drive control circuit 26). The status includes, for example, the temperature and voltage of the head 28, the FIFO status of the drive control circuit 26, the print control status, and the like. The status stored in the status register 23 is read by the CPU 20.

  The storage device 24 includes storage media such as RAM (Random Access Memory) and ROM (Read Only Memory) accessed by the CPU 20. The storage device 24 stores programs executed by the CPU 20 and various data.

  The external I / F control circuit 25 connects, for example, a device that supports a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface, and performs data communication with this device.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the head control device 21 in the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 2, the drive control circuit 26 includes a register 30, a state machine 32, a job counter 34, an interrupt circuit 36, and a print data transfer circuit 38.

  The register 30 stores commands and data received from the CPU 20 and passes them to the state machine 32 or the job counter 34.

  The state machine 32 is dedicated hardware for controlling a printing operation for print data transmitted from the CPU 20. The state machine 32 controls the printing operation while monitoring the print data transfer state (status) by the print data transfer circuit 38 according to the command from the CPU 20 received through the register 30. The state machine 32 updates the job counter 34 every time the print data transfer circuit 38 completes the transfer of print data to the head 28 after the CPU 20 sets the number of repetitions of the print operation when the execution of the repeat process is instructed. The printing operation is controlled until the job counter 34 indicates completion of the printing operation for the number of repetitions.

  The state machine 32 controls the printing operation while monitoring the transfer state (status) of the print data by the print data transfer circuit 38, and controls the repetitive processing while updating the job counter 34. That is, no interruption to the CPU 20 is generated while the printing operation is controlled by repeated processing. Therefore, the software processing routine for the interrupt request executed by the CPU 20 is not complicated. Further, the printing operation is controlled by the state machine 32 which is dedicated hardware in the drive control circuit 26, thereby making it difficult for processing delay to occur.

  The job counter 34 counts the number of repetitions of a series of printing operations controlled by the state machine 32. The job counter 34 is updated by the state machine 32 every time a series of printing operations (for example, printing processing for one sheet) is completed.

  The interrupt circuit 36 requests the CPU 20 to interrupt when the job counter 34 indicates completion of the printing operation for the number of repetitions.

  The print data transfer circuit 38 transfers the print data to be printed received from the CPU 20 to the head 28 under the control of the state machine 32. The print data transfer circuit 38 transfers a plurality of storage media in stages. The print data transfer circuit 38 includes a memory 40, a memory controller 41, a transfer DMA (Direct Memory Access) block 42, a pre-buffer 43, a transfer DMA block 44, a FIFO (First-In First-Out) buffer 45, and a transfer DMA block 46. Have

Next, the operation of the printer apparatus 10 in this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
When printing is executed by the printer device 10, the PC 12 transmits print data to the printer device 10 under the control of printer software. The print data transmitted from the PC 12 is stored in the storage device 24. Here, for example, it is assumed that execution of continuous printing for collectively executing printing for a plurality of sheets is instructed, and print data for a plurality of sheets is stored in the storage device 24.

  The CPU 20 of the printer device 10 sets initial parameters in response to a request for continuous printing (ACT A1). Examples of the initial parameters include print width / line setting, voltage setting, and mode selection.

  Further, the CPU 20 sets the number of repetitions (number of repetitions = n) (for example, the number of prints) in continuous printing in the state machine 32 through the register 30 (ACT A2). Thereafter, the CPU 20 causes the state machine 32 to start a continuous operation through the register 30 (ACT A3).

  The state machine 32 repeatedly executes a process in response to a continuous operation start instruction from the CPU 20 (ACT A4). The print data is output to the drive control circuit 26 by the CPU 20 and developed in the memory 40 through the memory controller 41 of the print data transfer circuit 38.

  Hereinafter, control of the printing operation by the state machine 32 will be described. Here, a simplified print data transfer process will be described.

  The state machine 32 determines whether the printing operation for the number of processing repetitions has been completed (ACT B1). If the printing operation is not completed, the state machine 32 clears the pre-buffer 43 and the FIFO buffer 45 (ACT B2) before starting to transfer the print data.

  Thereafter, the state machine 32 starts DMA transfer of print data by the pre-buffer 43 and the transfer DMA block 42. The transfer DMA block 42 transfers the print data read by the memory controller 41 to the pre-buffer 43 (first DMA start) (ACT B3).

  The state machine 32 monitors whether or not a certain amount of print data has been transferred to the pre-buffer 43 (for example, half-full state) (ACT B4). When it is determined that the pre-buffer 43 is in a half-full state, the state machine 32 activates the next DMA transfer by the transfer DMA block 44. The transfer DMA block 44 transfers the print data stored in the pre-buffer 43 to the FIFO buffer 45 (second DMA start) (ACT B5).

  Similarly, next, the state machine 32 monitors whether or not a certain amount of print data has been transferred to the FIFO buffer 45 (for example, half-full state) (ACT B6). When it is determined that the FIFO buffer 45 is in the half-full state, the state machine 32 activates the next DMA transfer by the transfer DMA block 46.

  The transfer DMA block 46 performs parallel-serial conversion on the print data stored in the FIFO buffer 45 by the PS conversion unit 46 </ b> A and outputs it to the head 28. The head 28 performs printing on the print medium based on the print data transferred from the transfer DMA block 46.

  Thus, the print data transfer in the print data transfer circuit 38 is executed under the control of the state machine 32.

  When the series of print data is transferred to the head 28 and the print process is completed (ACT B8), the state machine 32 executes the print end process (ACT B9). That is, the state machine 32 detects the end of print data transfer by the transfer DMA blocks 42, 44, and 46 and stops the respective DMA control registers.

  The state machine 32 counts up the value (job_count) of the number of execution times of a series of printing processes stored in the job counter 34 (job_count = job_count + 1) (ACT B10).

  The state machine 32 determines whether the printing operation for the number of repetitions has been completed (ACT B1). That is, the state machine 32 determines whether or not “job_count <= n”.

  If it is determined that the printing operation for the number of repetitions has not been completed, the state machine 32 repeatedly executes the process of transferring the print data for the next print medium in the same manner as described above (ACT B1 to B10).

  On the other hand, when the state machine 32 determines that the printing operation for the number of repetitions has been completed, the state machine 32 ends the control of the printing operation.

  Thus, the data transfer by the transfer DMA blocks 42, 44, 45 in the print data transfer circuit 38 is controlled by the state machine 32 by monitoring the states of the pre-buffer 43 and the FIFO buffer 45. That is, a series of printing operations can be controlled by the state machine 32 that is dedicated hardware without generating an interrupt to the CPU 20.

  The CPU 20 waits for an interrupt after the state machine 32 of the drive control circuit 26 starts a continuous operation. The interrupt circuit 36 of the drive control circuit 26 generates an interrupt and outputs it to the CPU 20 (interrupt circuit 20A) when the job counter 34 indicates that the printing operation for the number of repetitions set by the CPU 20 has been completed.

  Based on the interrupt input by the interrupt circuit 20A, the CPU 20 determines that the continuous printing process by the head controller 21 has been completed (ACT A5), and proceeds to the next process.

  As described above, in the printer device 10 according to the present embodiment, the drive control circuit 26 is provided with the state machine 32 that replaces the control operation performed by the CPU 20, and a series of printing operations can be repeatedly executed while updating the job counter 36. it can. In addition, by providing the drive control circuit 26 with dedicated hardware based on the combination of the state machine 32 and the interrupt circuit 36, the printing process can be controlled at high speed.

  Therefore, in order to control the transfer of print data in the print data transfer circuit 38, the CPU 20 does not need to perform polling processing or perform interrupt processing for each stage of data transfer in the print data transfer circuit 38. For this reason, the load on the CPU 20 is reduced, and it is possible to stabilize the start timing and the like of the continuous operation.

Next, a modified example of the printer device 10 (head control device 21) in the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a head control device 21A that is a first modification example of the present embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a head control device 21B that is a second modification example of the present embodiment. is there. Each of the head control devices 21A and 21B has a configuration for controlling a printing operation by a plurality of heads 28 (here, two heads 28A and 28B).

  The head control device 21A shown in FIG. 4 is provided with a print data transfer circuit 38A1 that transfers print data to the head 28A, and a print data transfer circuit 38A2 that transfers print data to the head 28B. The print data transfer circuits 38A1 and 38A2 have substantially the same configuration as the print data transfer circuit 38 shown in FIG.

  The head control device 21A is provided with a state machine 32A that controls printing operations of a plurality of systems (two in this case). Under the control of the CPU 20, the state machine 32A performs printing of the system (first system) by the print data transfer circuit 38A1 and the head 28A and printing operation of the system (second system) by the print data transfer circuit 38A2 and the head 28B. It has a function to control. Control of each system by the state machine 32A is executed in the same manner as the state machine 32 shown in FIG.

  In the job counter 34A, the state machine 32A controls the printing operation while updating the execution count value (job_count1) 34A1 every time a series of printing processing is executed in the first system. Further, the state machine 32A controls the printing operation while updating the execution count value (job_count2) 34A2 every time a series of printing processing is executed in the second system in the job counter 34A.

The head control device 21B shown in FIG. 5 is provided with a print data transfer circuit 38B1 for transferring print data to the head 28A, a state machine 32B1 corresponding to the print data transfer circuit 38B1, and a job counter 34B1 (first system). The head control device 21B is provided with a print data transfer circuit 38B2 for transferring print data to the head 28B, and a state machine 32B2 and a job counter 34B2 corresponding to the print data transfer circuit 38B2 (second system).
The print data transfer circuits 38B1 and 38B2 have substantially the same configuration as the print data transfer circuit 38 shown in FIG. The state machines 32B1 and 32B2 and job counters 34B1 and 34B2 have substantially the same functions as the state machine 32 and job counter 34 shown in FIG.

  The state machines 32B1 and 32B2 have a function of controlling the printing operation of each system (first system, second system) under the control of the CPU 20.

  In this way, even when the printing is performed by the plurality of heads 28A and 28B, by providing a dedicated circuit for controlling the printing operation in parallel instead of the CPU 20 (first system, second system), High-speed processing can be performed with a minimum load on the CPU 20. As a result, it is possible to realize stabilization and high-speed processing in the continuous printing process.

  4 and 5 show an example of the configuration of two systems for controlling printing by the two heads 28A and 28B, it is also possible to provide a configuration of three or more systems.

  Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are also included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Printer apparatus, 20 ... CPU, 21 ... Head drive control unit, 22 ... Power supply control circuit, 26 ... Drive control circuit, 28 ... Head, 30 ... Register, 32, 32A, 32B1, 32B2 ... State machine, 34, 34A , 34B1, 34B2 ... job counter, 36 ... interrupt circuit, 38, 38A1, 38A2, 38B1, 38B2 ... print data transfer circuit.

Claims (6)

A print data transfer circuit for transferring print data to be printed to the print head;
A counter for counting the number of repetitions of the printing operation set by the CPU;
After the number of repetitions is set by the CPU, the counter is updated every time transfer of the print data to the print head by the print data transfer circuit is completed, and the counter completes the printing operation for the number of repetitions. A head control device having a state machine for controlling a printing operation until shown.   The head control device according to claim 1, further comprising: an interrupt circuit that requests an interrupt to the CPU when the counter indicates completion of the printing operation for the number of repetitions. The print data transfer circuit has a configuration for transferring the print data to a plurality of storage media in stages.
The head control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the state machine controls transfer of the print data of a storage medium at each stage. The state machine includes a first state machine and a second state machine,
The print head includes a first print head and a second print head,
The head control device according to claim 1, wherein the first state machine controls a printing operation by the first print head, and the second state machine controls a printing operation of the second print head.   The head control device according to claim 1, wherein the state machine controls a printing operation by a first printing head and a printing operation by a second printing head. A CPU for controlling a printing operation in response to an instruction from the electronic device;
A print data transfer circuit for transferring print data to be printed to the print head;
A counter for counting the number of repetitions of the printing operation set by the CPU;
After the number of repetitions is set by the CPU, the counter is updated every time transfer of the print data to the print head by the print data transfer circuit is completed, and the counter completes the printing operation for the number of repetitions. And a state machine that controls a printing operation until shown.