JP2872136B2 - Serial dot printer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a serial dot printer, and more particularly to a dot impact serial printer controlled by a processor such as a computer or a work station and capable of printing ruled lines.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional serial dot printer, the ends of printer wires are arranged in a vertical line on a print head, and the print wires are used not only for printing characters but also for printing ruled lines.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-174274 discloses a serial dot printer which prevents concentration of wear due to the use of a specific print wire for printing ruled lines.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of such a conventional serial dot printer.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 41 denotes a print head,
Reference numeral 2 denotes a control circuit for generating a print data signal to be printed, a paper feed signal, and a head movement signal; 43, a head drive circuit for driving a print head according to a control signal from the control circuit 2; 44, a paper feed drive circuit; 45 is a horizontal ruled line control circuit.

The operation of the serial dot printer will be described.

In FIG. 4, a print head movement signal (left or right movement) output from a control circuit 42 and a print data signal corresponding to a print wire of the printer head 41 are guided to a head drive circuit 43 and are fed into the print head 41. Drive the coil. As a result, the print wire pops out corresponding to the left-right movement position of the head, and characters are printed on the paper via the ink ribbon. When the horizontal ruled line is not printed, a paper feed signal is output from the control circuit 42 for a predetermined line interval, and the print paper is fed by the paper feed drive circuit 44. When a horizontal ruled line is printed after printing one line, a paper feed amount and a print wire selection signal for horizontal ruled line printing are output from a horizontal ruled line control circuit 45, and a head drive circuit 43 and a paper feed drive circuit 44 are output via a control circuit. Is operated, and paper feed and horizontal ruled line printing are performed.

[0008]

The first problem is that, when printing ruled lines, the control of the printer is complicated because all the print wires are used, and the frequency of use of the print wires increases the wear. However, the life of the print head is short.

The reason is that a horizontal ruled line control circuit is provided so as not to use a specific print wire for printing ruled lines, and a control is performed to control paper feed and print using all print wires on average. Becomes complicated. Further, even if all print wires are used on average for printing ruled lines, the frequency of use of all print wires increases when many ruled lines are printed.

The second problem is that when a ruled line is printed,
The printing speed is the same as when printing characters other than ruled lines.
The point is that printing one line of ruled line requires the same time as printing one line of characters.

The reason is that each dot of the ruled line is printed with a single selected print wire.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a print head with a plurality of print wires dedicated to ruled lines to extend the life of the print head and to reduce the time required for printing ruled lines.

[0013]

A serial dot printer according to the present invention comprises a plurality of dot printing elements (18A to 18A in FIG. 3) dedicated for printing a plurality of ruled lines in the running direction of a print head (11 in FIG. 3).
18L), a set of dot printing elements dedicated to ruled line printing (a set of 18A to 18C, a set of 18D to 18F in FIG. 3, 1
8G to 18I and 18J to 18L), including a plurality of sets having different positions in a direction perpendicular to the running direction of the print head. There is a tip of the wire.

A serial dot printer according to the present invention is a dot printing element exclusively for ruled line printing in which a plurality of dot printing elements (18A to 18L in FIG. 3) are arranged in the running direction of the print head (11 in FIG. 3). Set (18A-
18C to 18F, 18G to 18I, and 18J to 18L), and each time a ruled line is printed, the selection of the ruled line printing dot printing element set is sequentially shifted. It is characterized by.

[0015]

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in the block diagram of FIG. 1, the serial dot printer 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention has an interface control section 3 for controlling the transfer of data to and from a computer 12, and a microprocessor for controlling the entire printer. 2, a receiving buffer 4 for temporarily storing data received from the computer 12, a ruled line determining circuit 5 for determining whether print data in the received data sent from the receiving buffer 4 is character data or ruled line data. A control register 7 for storing a control code in the received data, a memory 6 for storing data for each line from the received data, a character pattern memory 8 for storing character pattern data, A ruled line printing circuit 9 for controlling printing and a character pattern memory 8 according to data stored in the memory 6 A head driver 10 that drives the print head 11 in accordance with the read signal, and a plurality of ruled line printing print wires used only for ruled line printing (here, 12 (3 × 4 sets)) in addition to the character printed wire. And a print head 11 having

As shown in FIG. 2, the print head 11 includes a print wire 15 for transferring ink striking an ink ribbon onto paper, a head tip 16 for positioning the tip of the print wire 15, and a print wire 15. A metal plate armature 14 holding a rear end, and a magnet coil 19 and a permanent magnet 13 for driving the armature 14 and the print wire 15 to pull out and retract the tip of the print wire 15 from the head tip 16. Is done.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing the position of the tip of the print wire 15 at the head tip 16.

In the figure, reference numerals 17A to 17X denote printer wires for character printing, and 18A to 18L denote print wires dedicated to ruled line printing. 24 print wires 1 for character printing
7A to 17X are printing dots for one row in the vertical direction (row direction, that is, a direction perpendicular to the running direction of the print head 11), and the tips of the character printing print wires 17A to 17X are arranged in two rows. Printed wire 1 in one row
7A to 17L and the position of the tip and print wire 1
The positions of the tips of 7M to 17X are shifted by one dot in the vertical direction. Printed wire 18A-1 for ruled line printing
8L tip is print wire 17A-17X for character printing
4 sets of 3 sets (18
A set of A, 18B, 18C, 18D, 18E, 18
F, a set consisting of 18G, 18H, 18I and a set consisting of 18J, 18K, 18L). Thus, the positions of the tips of the print wires dedicated to ruled line printing of each set are shifted by one dot in the vertical direction.

Next, the operation of the serial dot printer according to the embodiment will be described. Computer 1 shown in FIG.
When print data is sent from the receiving buffer 4, the receiving buffer 4
After that, the ruled line determination circuit 5 determines whether the data is a character or a ruled line. When the print data is characters, the print head 1 is controlled by the microprocessor 2.
While moving 1 in the left-right direction, the characters are printed on the sheet on which the ink ribbon is beaten with the print wires for character printing 17A to 17X shown in FIG. If the print data is a ruled line,
The ruled line determination circuit 5 shown in FIG. 1 notifies the microprocessor 9 that ruled lines are to be printed, and the microprocessor 9 further notifies the ruled line printing circuit 9 and the microprocessor 2
The ruled line printing circuit 9 moves the print head 11 in the row direction, and prints the ruled line dedicated print wire 18 shown in FIG.
A set of three lines A to 18L is selected, and the ruled lines are printed on a sheet of paper striking the ink ribbon while the print wires dedicated to ruled line printing are sequentially shifted one by one corresponding to each dot. I do.

For example, when the print head 11 is traveling from right to left in FIG. 3 and a set of ruled line print wires 18A to 18C is selected, the ruled line print wires 18A → 18B → 18C → 18A are selected. The printing wire is driven in accordance with each dot by repeating shifting in order, and printing is performed.

Each time a ruled line is printed, the ruled line printing circuit 9 sequentially shifts the selection of the set of printed wires dedicated to ruled line printing, so that all the dedicated printed wires 18A for ruled line printing are shifted.
18L to 18L are used uniformly, and the position of the print head 11 is corrected from the position of the dot to be printed in accordance with the position of the leading end of the print wires 18A to 18L dedicated to ruled line printing. Control.

In order to print a thick ruled line, a plurality of sets (for example, a set of 18A to 18C and a set of 18G to 18C) of print wires dedicated to ruled line printing in one run of the print head 11 are provided.
I set) can also be driven.

Further, a print wire 18 dedicated to ruled line printing is provided.
A, 18B, and 18C may be driven simultaneously, and this may be repeated each time the print head 11 moves a distance three times the pitch of the print wire dedicated to ruled line printing. In this case, the print wire 1 dedicated to ruled line printing is further added.
8G, 18H, 18I and printed wires 18A, 18
A print head is manufactured in which the vertical positions of the tips of B and 18C are the same, and the print wires 18G, 18H, and 18C are manufactured.
Print wires 18G, 18H, 1 between print positions of I
The printing position of 8I may be set.

The present invention is not limited to a serial dot printer using a print wire, but can also be applied to a case where an ink jet head or a thermal head is used for a serial printer.

[0026]

The first effect is to prevent the wear of the print wire for character printing in ruled line printing and extend the life of the print head.

The reason is that by providing a print wire dedicated to ruled line printing, a ruled line is not printed with a print wire for character printing. Further, by increasing the number of print wires dedicated to ruled line printing, the use frequency of each dedicated print wire for ruled line printing is averaged and reduced, thereby extending the life of the print head.

The second effect is that the time required for printing ruled lines can be reduced.

The reason is that a plurality of print lines dedicated to ruled line printing are arranged in the running direction of the print head, and one ruled line is printed using the plurality of print wires dedicated to ruled line print. For example, to print the ruled line by moving the print head while shifting the drive of a plurality of ruled line print wires, one print wire prints a dot by striking the ink ribbon and returning to the original position while returning to the original position. This is because the print wire strikes the ink ribbon and prints dots, so that the time between printing of dots can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a serial dot printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a mechanism diagram showing details of a print head 11 in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view showing a head tip portion 16 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a conventional serial dot printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Serial dot printer 2 Microprocessor 3 Interface control part 4 Receiving buffer 5 Ruled line judgment circuit 6 Memory 7 Control register 8 Character pattern memory 9 Ruled line printing circuit 10 Head driver 11 Print head 12 Computer 13 Permanent magnet 14 Armature 15 Print wire 16 Head tip Unit 17A to 17X Print wire for character printing 18A to 18L Print wire dedicated for ruled line printing 19 Magnet coil 41 Print head 42 Control circuit 43 Head drive circuit 44 Paper feed drive circuit 45 Horizontal ruled line control circuit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B41J 2/255 B41J 2/24 B41J 21/00 B41J 29/26 G06F 3/12

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] A plurality of ruled lines are provided in a running direction of a print head.
Dots for ruled line printing with dot printing elements for printing
The set of printing elements is perpendicular to the running direction of the print head.
Multiple sets including those with different positions in different directions
A serial dot printer. 2. A plurality of ruled lines in a running direction of a print head.
Dots for ruled line printing with dot printing elements for printing
A plurality of sets of printing elements are provided, and each time a ruled line is printed,
The selection of the set of dot printing elements dedicated to the ruled line printing is sequentially shifted.
A serial dot printer. 3. A set of dot printing elements dedicated to the ruled line printing.
In each case, they are arranged in the direction of print head travel.
A plurality of dot printing elements dedicated to ruled line printing are sequentially
To print the dots that make up the ruled line
The serial dot pre-print according to claim 1 or 2,
Nta. 4. A dot printing element is a tip of a print wire.
4. Syria according to claim 1, wherein
Rudot printer.