JP2686378B2 - Thermal transfer printer controller - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control device for controlling a printing mechanism of a thermal transfer printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a thermal transfer printer mounted on a Japanese word processor, one line is printed by a carriage moving operation (carriage motor drive), a head down operation (head motor drive), and a printing operation (while driving a carriage motor). , A heating element of the print head is energized) and a head-up operation (driving of a head motor) is performed. A motor lock period is provided to stop the motor at the end of each operation. For example, a carriage motor lock period is provided to stop the carriage motor after executing the carriage moving operation, and the head motor is not driven during this period.

Following the end of the carriage movement operation,
Normally, the head-down operation is executed, but when the carriage moving operation is the carriage return operation after printing one line, the head-down operation is not executed and the next carriage moving operation is executed. In some cases.

[0004]

The conventional thermal transfer printer as described above does not drive the head motor until the carriage motor lock period ends even when the head down operation is executed subsequent to the carriage moving operation. Therefore, there is a problem that the printing speed cannot be increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer printer control device that solves the above-mentioned conventional problems and can improve the printing speed.

[0006]

Thermal printer <br/> control device SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention, in order to achieve the above object, following the movement of the carriage by the carriage motor Kyarijjimo
Of the carriage motor provided to stop the motor
A means for determining whether or not the head down operation by the head motor should be executed within the motor lock period, and the means for deciding whether or not the head motor operation is performed by the carriage motor following the movement of the carriage.
When it is decided to execute the head-down operation within the lock period, the carriage movement follows the carriage movement.
And a means for driving the head motor to execute the head-down operation within the motor lock period of the motor .

[0007]

When the head down operation is performed to perform the printing operation immediately after the carriage movement operation such as the carriage return operation, the head down operation is performed repeatedly during the motor lock period for stopping the carriage motor . Following the movement of the carriage, the carriage motor
Current is supplied to the coil of the head motor to execute the head-down operation within the motor lock period . As a result, the printing speed can be increased as compared with the case where the head down operation is executed after the carriage motor lock period ends.

[0008]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail. FIG.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a printing mechanism portion of a thermal transfer printer using the control device of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a carriage on which a print head 2, a ribbon cartridge 5, a sensor 3 for reading the presence or absence of a recording paper 12 by a barcode, and the like are mounted. The carriage 1 includes a belt 8, pulleys 9 and 10.
Thus, the slide shaft 7 can be guided to the left and right by being guided by the guide shaft 6. Recording paper 12 is roller 1
3, the paper is fed along the guide plate 14 by the platen 11.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of the control device of the present invention. In the figure, 31 is a CPU (central processing unit) that controls the entire apparatus by a control program stored in a ROM (read-only memory) 35, and a RAM (random access memory) that temporarily stores data necessary for printing operation. ), And an I / O (input / output) port 37.

The microcomputer 31 displays, via the I / O port 37, an input unit 39 for generating a key input signal necessary for controlling the printer when a key is pressed, and information necessary for operating the printer. The display unit 32, the heating element energizing circuit 38 that supplies a current to the heating element of the print head based on the printing signal, the printer driving circuit 33 that drives a carriage motor and a head motor (not shown), and the sensor 3 that detects the recording paper. It is connected.

Next, the printing operation of the thermal transfer printer having the above control device will be described with reference to the flow chart of FIG. When printing is started, it is determined in step S1 whether or not a head down instruction is present after the carriage return instruction. If a head down instruction is present, the overlap flag is set in step S2, and if not present, in step S3. The overlap flag is reset and the process proceeds to step S4. The carriage return operation is executed in step S4, and the presence or absence of the overlap flag is determined in the next step S5.

If the overlap flag is present, the head down operation is executed within the motor lock period after the carriage return operation in step S6. If the overlap flag is not present, the head down operation in step S8 is performed after the motor lock period of step S7 is completed. After executing, the process proceeds to step S9.

The printing operation is executed in step S9, the head-up operation is executed in step S10, and it is further determined in step S11 whether printing of all lines is completed. If all lines have not been printed, the process returns to step S1 and the above steps are repeated.

FIG. 4 shows the carriage motor coils Q1 to Q4 and the head motor coils Q1 to Q4 when the head-down operation is repeatedly executed during the carriage motor lock period.
The waveform of the current supplied to Q4 is shown. As shown in the figure,
A pulse current is sequentially supplied to each coil of the head motor within the carriage motor lock period, so that the carriage motor lock and the head down are simultaneously performed.

FIG. 5 shows waveforms of currents supplied to the coils of the carriage motor and the head motor of the conventional printer that executes the head-down operation after the carriage motor lock period ends. As shown in the figure, the coil of the head motor is supplied with current after the carriage motor lock period ends.

As described above, in the printer of the above embodiment,
Since the head-down operation is repeatedly executed during the carriage motor lock period after the carriage return, the printing speed is increased.

[0017]

[Effect of the Invention The thermal transfer printer control apparatus of the present invention, as described above, when performing a head-down operation following the movement of the carriage is continued pulling after movement of the carriage
In addition, since the head-down operation is repeatedly performed within the carriage motor lock period provided to stop the carriage motor, there is an effect that the printing speed becomes faster than when the head-down operation is performed after the carriage motor lock period ends. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a thermal transfer printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a printing mechanism of the thermal transfer printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a thermal transfer printer controller of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a waveform diagram of currents supplied to a carriage motor and a head motor of the thermal transfer printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a waveform diagram of currents supplied to a carriage motor and a head motor of a conventional thermal transfer printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Carriage 2 Printing Head 3 Sensor 5 Ribbon Cartridge 6 Guide Shaft 7 Slide Stand 8 Belt 9, 10 Pulley 11 Platen 12 Recording Paper 13 Roller 14 Guide Plate 31 Microcomputer 32 Display 33 Printer Drive Circuit 34 CPU 35 ROM 36 RAM 37 I / O port 38 Heating element energizing circuit

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A control device for controlling a drive mechanism of a thermal transfer printer having a carriage motor and a head motor, for stopping the carriage motor subsequent to the movement of the carriage by the carriage motor.
Motor lock period of the carriage motor provided in
Means for determining whether to execute the head-down operation by the head motor within, Motaro' of the carriage motor said means following the movement of the carriage
Movement of the carriage when it is decided to execute the head-down operation within the clock period.
And a means for driving the head motor to execute a head-down operation within a motor lock period of the motor .