JP2543204B2 - Printer format data input method - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method of inputting print format data to a printer that prints according to the print format of standard format paper, and in particular the paper thickness of standard format paper. The present invention relates to a method of inputting print format data of a printer having a mechanism for automatically adjusting a so-called platen gap between a print head and a platen corresponding to the above.

[Conventional technology]

For example, a printer connected to a print format input device that inputs print format data by inputting coordinates is used as a printer that prints on standard format paper that has a print format in which the portion to be printed is surrounded by a frame (hereinafter referred to as the print frame). is there.

In this printer, the touch panel of the print format input device is overlaid on a standard format sheet, and the print start position in the print frame is pressed with a touch pen from the touch panel to input the coordinate of the print start position, and the coordinate value is calculated. By storing the print format data in the storage unit of the printer, when printing on the standard format paper, characters and numbers are automatically printed in the print frame based on the print format data stored in the storage unit. Is able to.

In addition, this type of printer is equipped with a platen gap adjustment motor that adjusts the platen gap by moving the print head toward and away from the platen, and a detection sensor that detects the paper thickness of the standard format paper. It is also possible to automatically adjust the platen gap to an optimum value and print according to the detected thickness of the standard format paper.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the above-described conventional printer,
For fixed format paper with a constant paper thickness, it is possible to print efficiently according to the printing format, that is, the printing frame, but the paper thickness is partially different, for example, only a part of the paper is carbon for copying. When printing on standard format paper that contains a sheet of paper or standard format paper that partially differs in the number of sheets and has a different thickness, the platen gap has the optimum value at the position where the paper thickness is different from the position where the paper thickness is detected. However, there is a problem in that it cannot be printed normally due to the difference in the paper thickness.Therefore, for standard format papers with partially different paper thicknesses, all of the data entered by the stamp format input device Corresponding to the stamp format data, that is, at the print start position of all print frames, the paper thickness must be detected immediately before printing, so the total printing time is "(paper thickness There is a problem that out of the operation required time) × (print format number of data) "only become worse.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and print format data of a printer that can contribute to a reduction in total printing time when printing on standard format papers having partially different paper thicknesses. The purpose is to realize the input method.

[Means and Actions for Solving the Problems]

A first aspect of the invention for achieving this object is a printer print format data input method for printing on a standard format sheet on which a print format is printed by a printer having a sheet thickness detecting means, the printer comprising: Connect a data input device, match the reference point of the standard form sheet with the input position reference point of the data input device, and input the coordinate value from the reference point of the print start position of each print format on the standard form sheet. Then, test printing is performed by the printer at the print start position of each print format on the standard format paper, and the paper thickness at the print start position is detected by the paper thickness detecting means during the test printing, and the detected paper is detected. The thickness data is stored in the storage unit in association with the coordinate value of the print start position.

A second aspect of the present invention is a method for inputting print format data of a printer for printing on a standard format sheet on which a print format is printed by a printer having a platen gap adjusting mechanism for adjusting a gap between a print head and a paper support. In, connecting a data input device to the printer,
Matching the reference point of the standard format sheet and the input position reference point of the data input device, the coordinate value from the reference point of the print start position of each print format on the standard format sheet, and the paper thickness at the print start position. Is input and the data of the paper thickness is stored in the storage unit in association with the coordinate value of the print start position.

[Work]

According to the present invention having the above-described configuration, since the print start position and the paper thickness of each print format of the standard format paper are stored in the storage unit of the printer in advance, based on the paper thickness data of the print start position of each print format. It is possible to determine whether or not the platen gap is adjusted by the printer itself, and adjust the platen gap as necessary to perform printing.

Therefore, according to this, when printing on the standard format papers with partially different paper thicknesses, it is only necessary to adjust the platen gap only when the paper thickness at the next printing position changes. Since it is not necessary to detect the paper thickness and adjust the platen gap immediately before printing each time when printing in the print format, it is possible to minimize the platen gap adjustment and greatly increase the total printing time. It can be shortened.

〔Example〕

 Embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention, and is a front view showing a state at the time of inputting print format data by a print format input device, and FIG. 2 shows a print example of a standard format sheet 6. It is a figure.

First, in describing the present embodiment, the configuration of the apparatus used in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 5.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of each device used in this embodiment. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 1 is a print format input device 1 as a data input device called a touch panel tablet, and input data from this print format input device 1 is an interface. It is adapted to be sent to the printer 3 via the cable 2.

Reference numeral 4 is a host computer, and print data is sent from the host computer 4 to the printer 3 via the center interface cable 5.

Reference numeral 6 is a standard format paper, which has a print format, that is, a print frame, printed in advance, and when printing, the same one is set on a platen (not shown) of the printer 3.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of each device in FIG.
As shown in this figure, the print format input device 1 has a transparent touch panel 7 in which electrodes are arranged in a matrix and coordinates can be input by pressing a touch pen described later.
An operation switch unit 8, a read-only memory (hereinafter ROM) 9 that stores a device control program, a random access memory (hereinafter RAM) 10 that stores print format data input from the touch panel 7, and these. It is provided with a CPU for controlling, that is, a control unit 11 of the print format input device 1, and the control unit 11 is connected to a control unit 12 of the printer via an interface cable 2.

On the other hand, the printer 3 includes a space motor 14 connected to the control unit 12 via a space motor driver 13, a print head 16 also connected to the control unit 12 via a head driver 15, and a line feed to the control unit 12. A line feed motor 18 connected via a motor driver 17, and a read-only memory (hereinafter ROM) 19 storing a control program for the printer 3
A random access memory (hereinafter referred to as RAM) 20 for storing print data, a random access memory (hereinafter referred to as BBRAM) 22 for storing a print start position and paper thickness backed up in a battery 21, and a motor driver for the control unit 12. twenty four
The platen gap adjusting motor 25 is connected to the control unit 12 of the printer 3 via the center interface cable 5, and the host computer 4 is further connected to the control unit 12 of the printer 3 via the center interface cable 5.

The space motor 14 in the printer 3 is driven by the space motor driver 13 based on a command from the control unit 12 at the time of printing, and serves to reciprocally move the print head 16 together with a carriage (not shown) along the platen.

The head driver 15 drives the print head 16 based on the print data sent from the controller 12 to print on the plain paper or the standard format paper 6 set on the platen. .

Further, the line feed motor 18 is driven by the line feed motor driver 17 based on a command from the control unit 12, and functions to feed the plain paper or the standard form paper 6 through the platen, and the platen gap adjustment motor 25 further Driven by the motor driver 24 based on a command from the control unit 12,
The print head 16 is moved toward and away from the platen to adjust the platen gap.

The control unit 12 has a function of reading the amount of rotation of the platen gap adjusting motor 24 by a detection sensor (not shown) and detecting the paper thickness of a portion of the standard format paper 6 that faces the front end surface of the print head 16. There is.

That is, the platen gap adjustment motor 24, for example, a slit plate provided with slits at regular intervals in the axial direction is attached, and the position of the print head 16 that provides the maximum platen gap is set as a reference position, and the print head 16 is moved by the platen gap adjustment motor 24. The tip surface (or ribbon protector) is moved until it comes into contact with the standard format paper 6 set on the platen, and the rotation amount of the platen gap adjusting motor 24 at this time is read from the number of slits of the slit plate by the detection sensor. The paper thickness can be detected.

Next, a method for inputting print format data of the printer of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 and FIGS. 3 and 4.

Operation keys of the print format input device 1 shown in FIG.
Reference numerals 8a to 8c constitute an operation switch section 8 in FIG. 4 together with a switch circuit (not shown). Here, 8a is an input start key, 8b is an input end key, and 8c is a test print start for confirming a print start position. I have a key.

Further, 6a to 6e are print formats, that is, print frames printed on the standard format paper 6, and 26 is a touch pen for pressing the touch panel 7 to input coordinates.

In the above configuration, the print format data input is
This is done as follows.

First, the input start key 8a of the print format input device 1
When is pressed, the pressing signal is detected by the control unit 11 which monitors the touch panel 7 and the operation switch unit 8 according to the control program of the ROM 9, and based on this, the control unit 11 controls the printer 3 via the interface cable 2. An input start signal is transmitted to the unit 12.

When the control unit 12 of the printer 3 receives the input signal, the RO
The mode of the printer 3 is switched from the normal print data reception / print mode to the print format data input mode according to the control program of M19.

Then, next, the print format input device 1 is overlaid on the fixed form sheet 6 placed on a desk or the like, and as shown in FIG.
The upper left corner of the touch panel 7 is aligned with the upper left corner of the standard form paper 6. That is, the input reference point of the touch panel 7 is made to coincide with the reference point of the standard form paper 6.

Since the coordinates on the touch panel 7 have a one-to-one correspondence with the print area of the printer 3, the print start position, for example, in the print frame 6a printed on the standard format paper is pressed from the touch panel 7 by the touch pen 26. The coordinate value of the print start position from the reference point is read by the control unit 11, and the read coordinate value is sent to the control unit 12 of the printer 3 via the interface cable 2 as print format data. .

However, at this time, if the control unit 12 is in the unreceivable state, the print format data is temporarily stored in the RAM 10 of the print format input device 1, and the control unit 1
When 2 is ready to be received, it is taken out from the RAM 10 and sent to the control unit 12 by the control unit 11.

When the print format data is thus sent to the control unit 12 of the printer 3, the control unit 12 converts the received print format data into the print start position of the print area of the print head 16 and stores it in the BBRAM 22.

By repeating this data conversion storage process the number of times the touch pen 26 is input, the print start position data is stored in the input order.

That is, the print frame is input by the print format input device 1.
By sequentially inputting the coordinates of the respective print start positions within 6a to 6e, the print format data of the standard format paper 6 is input into the printer 3, whereby the print format corresponding to the print frames 6a to 6e in the printer 3 is entered. Is set.

Next, when the standard format paper 6 is set on the platen of the printer 3 and the test print start key 8c is pressed, the print head 16 automatically performs the test print for confirming the print position at the print start position input as described above. At the same time as this printing, the print frame 6a to 6e paper thickness data is detected and stored.

That is, FIG. 2 (A) shows a set print format of the standard format paper 6, the numbers in the circles in the print frames 6a to 6c indicate the order of specifying the print start position, and the numbers in [] indicate the order. Indicates the paper thickness at the print position. Further, FIG. 7B is a diagram showing an example of print data sent from the host computer 4 to the printer 3, and FIG. 7C is a print result.

As shown in this figure, when the print format of FIG. 2 (A) is set, the control unit 23 of the host computer 4 transfers the second data to the control unit 12 of the printer 3 via the center interface cable 5. When the test print data shown in FIG. 3B is sent, the control unit 12 refers to the print format stored in the BBRAM 22, that is, the print start position corresponding to each of the print frames 6a to 6e, and sets the platen by the line feed motor 18. Rotate and print the print frame 6a of the standard form paper 6 to the print head.
Move to the position corresponding to 16 and space motor
The print head 16 is moved to the print frame 6a by 14 to the print start position.

Here, the control unit 12 of the printer 3 drives the platen gap adjusting motor 25 to bring the front end surface of the print head 16 into contact with the standard form paper 6 on the platen, and the detection frame (not shown) causes the print frame to move as described above. The paper thickness at the print start position in 6a is detected, and the detection result is stored in the BBRAM 22 in association with the print start position data of the print frame 6a.

Then, the platen gap is adjusted by the platen gap adjusting motor 25 according to the paper thickness at the print start position, and the print head 16 is moved by the space motor 14 while the print head 16 prints on the print frame 6a. .

By repeating the same operation for the print frames 6b to 6e, the print data is printed on the standard form paper 6 corresponding to the print frames 6a to 6e as shown in FIG.
Paper thickness data for all print start positions in 6a to 6e is BBRA
Stored in M22.

When the input end key 8b is pressed after the input of the print format data including the print start position data and the paper thickness data at the position is completed in this way, the pressed signal is the control unit 11 of the print format input device 1. Is detected, and an input end signal is sent from the control unit 11 to the control unit 12 of the printer 3.

As a result, the mode of the printer 3 is returned by the control unit 12 from the print format data input mode to the normal data receiving / printing mode.

Thus, the print format data input process is completed. However, after the print format is once set in this way, the print format input device 1 is disconnected from the printer 3 or the printer 3 is powered off. The print format also set is BB by battery 21
Since it is held in the RAM 22, it can be used as long as the power of the printer 3 is turned on.

After that, when performing printing on the print frames 6a to 6e of the standard format paper 6, the control unit 12 of the printer 3 prints the print format stored in the BBRAM 22, that is, the print start position data corresponding to the print frames 6a to 6e and the paper. By referring to the thickness data, the printing frames 6a to 6e are sequentially printed while adjusting the platen gap as needed from the paper thickness data.

FIG. 5 is a time chart at the time of printing operation of the above-described first embodiment and the conventional example. FIG. 5A shows this embodiment and FIG. 5B shows the conventional example, both of which are shown in FIG. An example in which the print data shown in is printed is shown.

As is clear from this figure, in this embodiment, each printing frame 6a
Since the paper thicknesses of 6 to 6e are known in advance, it suffices to obtain the platen gap corresponding to the changed paper thickness by the platen gap adjusting motor 25 only when the paper thickness changes in printing on the print frames 6a to 6e. On the other hand, in the case of the conventional example, the printing frame 6a
Each time printing is performed on ~ 6e, the print head 16 is brought into contact with the standard form paper 6 by the platen gap adjusting motor 25 before the printing to detect the paper thickness at the print start position. It is necessary to perform the operation of obtaining the corresponding platen gap.

That is, when the paper thickness of the print frame 6a is different from that of the print frames 6b, 6c, 6d and the print frame 6e, in the conventional example, the platen gap adjustment motor 25 is used to move the print head 16 to the standard format paper after each line feed operation by the line feed motor 18. While it is necessary to bring the sheet into contact with No. 6 to detect the paper thickness at the print start position and further adjust the platen gap, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. Print frame 6a, 6
It is only necessary to adjust the platen gap by the platen gap adjusting motor 25 based on the paper thickness data stored in the BBRAM 22 immediately before printing on b and 6e.

As described above, in the present embodiment, it is not necessary to detect the paper thickness for each print frame as in the conventional example, and only the platen gap adjusting operation may be performed only when the paper thickness changes.
The operating time will be significantly shorter, and the total printing time will be significantly shorter than before.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention and is a front view showing a state when the print format data is input by the print format input device 1.

In this embodiment, instead of inputting the paper thickness data of each of the print frames 6a to 6e by test printing, the paper thickness data is input by a key, and therefore the number of papers is designated in the print format input device 1 as shown in the figure. The operation keys 8d to 8h are provided.

Here, the operation keys 8d to 8h are used to specify the paper thickness of 1 to 5 sheets, and the print start position is pressed by the touch pen 26 from the touch panel 7 of the print format input device 1 to start the print by the coordinate value. While inputting the position data, the number of sheets can be input as the sheet thickness data by pressing the operation keys 8d to 8h.

For example, after inputting the print start position data of the print frame 6a, if the number of sheets of paper in the print frame 6a is the number in [] shown in FIG. 2, one operation key is designated.
Press 8d.

Similarly, input the print start position data of the print frames 6b to 6d, press the operation key 8f that specifies three sheets for each input,
Further, after inputting the coordinate data of the print start position of the print frame 6e, the operation key 8e for designating two sheets is pressed.

That is, the standard format paper 6 has a partially different paper thickness, for example, by inserting a carbon paper for copying only in a part of the paper, or a partially different number of papers, and the thickness is partially Since they are different from each other, in this embodiment, the number of sheets of paper in each of the printing frames 6a to 6e is input by the operation keys 8d to 8h, and the control unit 11 determines
To recognize the paper thickness.

In this way, when the print format data including the print start position data and the paper thickness data at the position is input, these print format data are read by the control unit 11 according to the input order and the control unit 12 of the printer 3 is read.
The print format data is sent to the print start position of the print area by the print head 16 by the control unit 12 and stored in the BBRAM 22.

Thereafter, based on this print format data, printing can be performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the data input device is connected to the printer, the reference point of the standard form sheet and the input position reference point of the data input device are made to coincide with each other, and the printing of each print format on the standard form sheet is started. By inputting coordinate values from the reference point of the position, test printing is performed by the printer at the print start position of each print format on the standard format paper, and at the time of this test printing, the paper at the print start position is printed by the paper thickness detecting means. The thickness is detected, and the data of the detected paper thickness is stored in the storage unit in association with the coordinate value of the print start position, or from the reference point of the print start position of each print format on the standard format paper. And the paper thickness data at the print start position are input, and the paper thickness data is recorded in correspondence with the coordinate value of the print start position. According to the present invention thus configured, the print start position and the paper thickness of each print format of the standard format paper are stored in advance in the storage unit of the printer. The printer itself can judge whether or not the platen gap is adjusted based on the paper thickness data, and can adjust the platen gap as necessary to perform printing.

Therefore, according to this, when printing on the standard format papers with partially different paper thicknesses, it is only necessary to adjust the platen gap only when the paper thickness at the next printing position changes. Since it is not necessary to detect the paper thickness and adjust the platen gap immediately before printing each time when printing in the print format, it is possible to minimize the platen gap adjustment and significantly increase the total printing time. The effect that it can be shortened is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of the first embodiment of the present invention at the time of inputting print format data, FIG. 2 is a view showing a print example of a standard format sheet, and FIG. 3 is each used in the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the device, FIG. 4 is a block diagram of each device in FIG. 3,
FIG. 5 is a time chart of the printing operation of the first embodiment and the conventional example, and FIG. 6 is a front view of the second embodiment of the present invention when the print format data is input. 1: Print format input device 3: Printer 6: Standard format paper 6a to 6e: Print frame 7: Touch panel 8a to 8h: Operation keys 16: Print head 22: BBRAM 25: Platen gap adjustment motor

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for inputting print format data of a printer for printing on a standard format sheet on which a print format is printed by a printer having a sheet thickness detecting means, wherein a data input device is connected to the printer, Match the reference point of the form sheet and the input position reference point of the data input device, input the coordinate value from the reference point of the print start position of each print format in the standard form sheet, and in the standard form sheet. Test printing is performed at the print start position of each print format by the printer, the paper thickness at the print start position is detected by the paper thickness detecting means at the time of the test print, and the data of the detected paper thickness is used as the print start position. A print format data input method for a printer, characterized in that the data is stored in a storage unit in association with the coordinate values of. 2. A print format data input method for a printer for printing on a standard format paper on which a print format is printed, by a printer having a platen gap adjusting mechanism for adjusting a gap between a print head and a paper support. A data input device is connected to the printer, the reference point of the fixed form sheet and the input position reference point of the data input device are matched, and the coordinate value of the print start position of each print format on the fixed form sheet from the reference point And inputting paper thickness data at the print start position, and storing the paper thickness data in the storage unit in association with the coordinate values of the print start position. .