JP3059998U - Printer carriage and feed drive - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To shorten the printing operation time by advancing the paper feed timing by a feed motor without affecting the printing operation. When a printing direction of a print head is a main scanning direction and a feeding direction of a recording paper is a sub-scanning direction, a carriage motor for reciprocating a carriage on which the print head is mounted in the main scanning direction; The control unit 12 includes a feed motor 11 for moving the paper in the sub-scanning direction and a control unit 12 for individually controlling the carriage motor and the feed motor. In the print mode, the control unit 12 controls the print head for one line. After the printing is completed, the feed motor 11 is driven to control the recording paper to move a predetermined length in the sub-scanning direction until the carriage moves to the end of the line.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

[Technical field to which the invention belongs]

 The present invention relates to a carriage and a feed driving device for a printer having a carriage motor and a feed motor.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printer in which drive control of a carriage motor and a feed motor can be performed at a stable timing is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-214376.

This printer performs one-way printing control in which printing is performed when the carriage is moved in one direction, and printing is not performed when the carriage is moved in the opposite direction (return direction). Therefore, when moving in the opposite direction, the feed motor is in-phase excited during the carriage motor run-in period, and when the carriage motor is in the constant speed state, the feed motor is driven to rotate, thereby returning the carriage. The paper is fed stably during the operation.

[0004] Since the printer performs one-way printing without performing printing at the time of return, paper feeding can be performed at the time of return. However, when printing on recording paper by the print head is bidirectional printing, such paper feed control cannot be performed. Therefore, in the case of bidirectional printing, conventionally, the carriage motor and the feed motor are controlled at the following operation timing.

That is, as shown in FIG. 7, first, the carriage motor is driven to rotate forward, and when the carriage enters the constant speed state from the acceleration state (time t21), a printing operation is performed in the right direction. The rotation of the carriage motor is decelerated to decelerate the carriage, and when the carriage is completely stopped (time t22), the rotation drive of the feed motor is started, and the recording paper is moved upward by a predetermined length to feed the paper. Do. During the paper feeding (time T11), the carriage that has moved to the right end enters a standby state. Then, at the time when the paper feeding is completed (time t23), the carriage motor is driven in reverse rotation this time, and when the carriage enters the constant speed state from the acceleration state, the printing operation in the left direction is started. Control.

[0006]

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

 As described above, in the conventional printer that performs bidirectional printing, the waiting time of the time T11 is required after the carriage that has completed the printing operation for one line moves to the right end and then moves to the left end side. Has occurred. The waiting time T11 similarly occurs when the carriage moves to the left end and then moves to the right end side. This time T11 is substantially the paper feed time by the feed motor. Therefore, there is a problem that the waiting time of the carriage at the left end and the right end becomes long, and the printing operation takes time.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and its purpose is to advance the paper feed timing by the feed motor without affecting the printing operation, thereby achieving a total It is an object of the present invention to provide a carriage and a feed drive device for a printer which can shorten the printing operation time.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 When the printing direction of the print head is the main scanning direction and the recording paper feed direction is the sub-scanning direction, the carriage equipped with the printing head moves in the main scanning direction. A carriage motor for reciprocating; a feed motor for moving the recording paper in the sub-scanning direction; and control means for individually controlling the drive of the carriage motor and the feed motor. By moving the recording paper by a predetermined length in the sub-scanning direction while reciprocating the recording paper, the control means is controlled by the print head in a printing mode in which one line of printing is sequentially performed by the print head. After the printing of one line is completed, the feed motor is driven to drive the recording paper until the carriage moves to the end of the line. It is configured to move a predetermined length in the sub-scanning direction.

Further, in the carriage and the feed driving device of the printer according to the present invention, in the printing mode in the above configuration, the control means controls the feed motor when the printing of one line is completed by the printing head. Is driven to move the recording paper a predetermined length in the sub-scanning direction. Further, the carriage and the feed driving device of the printer according to the present invention, in each of the above-described configurations, perform bidirectional printing on the recording paper by the print head.

[0010]

[Embodiment of the invention]

 Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing a mechanism portion of a printer equipped with the carriage and the feed driving device of the present invention. A carriage 2 on which a print head 1 is mounted is opposed to a rubber roller 4 for feeding the recording paper 3 upward (sub-scanning direction). The carriage 2 is moved along a guide shaft 5 in the main scanning direction (in the figure). , Left and right directions indicated by arrows a and b). The carriage 2 is driven via a gear belt 6 when the carriage motor 10 rotates forward or backward.

On the other hand, the rubber roller 4 is rotationally driven by a feed motor 11 in a direction indicated by an arrow c in the figure, and the rotational driving causes the inserted recording paper 3 to move in the sub scanning direction (upward). To be sent out. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electric configuration of the carriage and the feed driving device of the present invention.

A carriage motor drive circuit 13 and a feed motor drive circuit 14 are connected to the control unit 12 that controls the carriage and the feed, and the carriage motor drive circuit 13 performs software control by the control unit 12. With this, the carriage motor 10 is driven to rotate forward or reverse. The feed motor drive circuit 14 rotates the feed motor 11 under software control by the control unit 12. The control unit 12 includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like (not shown). FIG. 1 shows only the main part of the present invention, and does not show other functional blocks such as a print control unit.

Next, the driving operation of the carriage and the feed driving device having the above configuration will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. 3 and a timing chart shown in FIG. Prior to the start of the operation, the carriage motor 10 is driven to move the carriage 2 to the printing start position (the position indicated by reference numeral 2a in FIG. 2) (step S1). Then, from this position, the printing operation is started at time t1.

That is, when the carriage motor 10 is driven to rotate forward and the carriage 2 enters the constant speed state from the acceleration state (time t2), the carriage 2 moves rightward from the printing position designated in advance (the direction of arrow a in FIG. 2). ) Is started (step S2). Then, when the printing operation for that line is completed at time t3 (when the determination in step S3 is Yes), a printing completion interrupt signal is sent from the printing control unit (not shown) to the control unit 12 (step S3). ).

The control unit 12 controls the feed motor drive circuit 14 based on the interrupt signal to start the rotation drive of the feed motor 11 (Step S6). That is, the rubber roller 4 rotates by a predetermined angle in the direction of the arrow c in FIG. 2, and accordingly, the recording paper 3 moves by a predetermined length in the upward direction in FIG. 2 to feed the paper. That is, the feed operation starts at time t3 and ends at time t4.

At this time, the carriage 2 that has completed the printing operation at the time t3 moves further rightward while continuing the constant speed state, and when it comes to the deceleration position, the rotation of the carriage motor 10 is reduced and the carriage 2 is moved. When the carriage 2 is decelerated and reaches the rightmost stop position (the position indicated by reference numeral 2b in FIG. 2) at time t4, the carriage 2 is completely stopped. In other words, after time t3, the movement of the carriage 2 to the right and the upward movement of the recording paper 3 by the rotation of the rubber roller 4 (feed operation) are performed simultaneously.

When the feed operation is completed at time t4 (when the determination in step S7 is Yes), a feed operation end interrupt signal is sent to the control unit 12 (step S8). The carriage motor drive circuit 13 is controlled based on this interrupt signal, and the carriage motor 10 is driven in reverse rotation this time (step S2). That is, the carriage 2 that has stopped moving rightward at time t4 immediately starts moving leftward (in the direction of the arrow b in FIG. 2) without waiting at that position, and moves from the acceleration state to the constant speed. When the state is entered (time t5), a printing operation to the left from the designated printing position is started.

Hereinafter, bidirectional printing is executed while repeating steps S2 to S8 in the same manner. When the printing of the last line is completed, the operation proceeds from step S4 to step S9, the recording paper 3 is discharged, and the printing operation is completed. As described above, according to the carriage and the feed driving device of the present invention, even when the carriage 2 is moving, the interruption to the control unit 12 is generated at the time when the printing operation is completed (time t3), and the interruption is performed. In response to this, the control unit 12 starts the feed operation, so that the carriage and the feed can be operated simultaneously, and the waiting time of the carriage 2 can be reduced (in the present embodiment, the waiting time becomes zero). As a result, the printing speed is improved.

In the above embodiment, the timing at which the carriage 2 having printed one line has moved to the right end and stopped, and the end timing of the feed operation are both coincident with the time t4. Are not necessarily the same. For example, when the text of the line to be printed ends in the middle, as shown in FIG. 5, the time t6 at which the printing operation ends is the time t3 shown in FIG. 4 (also shown in parentheses in FIG. 5). In this case, the feed operation ends (time t7) at time t7 before time t8 when the carriage 2 stops. However, in this case, the timing of driving the carriage motor 10 in the reverse rotation (time t8) is the same as the timing of driving the carriage motor 10 in the reverse rotation (time t4) shown in FIG.

When the text of the line to be printed is long, as shown in FIG. 6, the time t9 at which the printing operation ends is the time t3 shown in FIG. 4 (also shown in parentheses in FIG. 6). In this case, even if the carriage 2 stops at time t10, the feed operation continues for a while (until time t11). Therefore, in this case, a waiting time of the time T2 occurs between the time when the carriage 2 stops and the time when the operation is restarted. However, the waiting time T2 is equal to the waiting time T11 described in the related art. This is a very short time compared to. In other words, even in this case, the printing speed is improved as a result as compared with the operation described in the related art. Also, from this point, even if the feed operation is started at an arbitrary time before the carriage 2 moves to the end of the line after the printing operation is completed, the operation described in the related art may be performed. As a result, the printing speed is improved as a result.

The carriage and the feed drive device of the present invention can be mounted on a so-called CR (carriage return) printer such as an ink jet printer, an ink dot printer, and a thermal transfer printer.

[0022]

[Effect of the invention]

 When the printing direction of the print head is the main scanning direction and the recording paper feed direction is the sub-scanning direction, the carriage equipped with the printing head moves in the main scanning direction. A carriage motor for reciprocating movement, a feed motor for moving recording paper in the sub-scanning direction, and control means for individually controlling the drive of the carriage motor and the feed motor are provided. After the printing of one line is completed by the print head and before the carriage moves to the end of the line, the feed motor is driven to move the recording paper a predetermined length in the sub-scanning direction. . In addition, the carriage and feed drive device of the printer according to the present invention drives the feed motor to set the recording paper in the sub-scanning direction at the time when printing of one line is completed by the print head in the print mode. The length is moved. In other words, even when the carriage is moving, by starting the feed operation at the time when the printing operation is completed, the simultaneous operation of the carriage and the feed becomes possible, and as a result, the printing speed can be improved. Further, when the carriage and the feed drive device of the present invention are applied to a printer for bidirectional printing, the printing speed can be more effectively improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of a carriage and a feed driving device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing a mechanism portion of a printer equipped with the carriage and the feed driving device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining a carriage and feed driving operation in the carriage and feed driving device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart for explaining a carriage and feed driving operation in the carriage and feed driving device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a timing chart for explaining a carriage and feed driving operation in the carriage and feed driving device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a timing chart for explaining a carriage and feed drive operation in the carriage and feed drive device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a timing chart for explaining a carriage and feed drive operation in a conventional carriage and feed drive device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Print head 2 Carriage 3 Recording paper 4 Rubber roller 10 Carriage motor 11 Feed motor 12 Control part 13 Carriage motor drive circuit 14 Feed motor drive circuit

Claims (3)

[Utility model registration claims] 1. A carriage motor for reciprocating a carriage equipped with a print head in the main scanning direction when the printing direction of the print head is the main scanning direction and the feeding direction of the recording paper is the sub scanning direction. A feed motor for moving the paper in the sub-scanning direction; and control means for individually controlling the drive of the carriage motor and the feed motor. The recording paper is sub-scanned while the carriage is reciprocated in the main scanning direction. In the print mode in which the print head sequentially prints one line by moving the print head by a predetermined length in the direction, the control unit, after finishing the printing of one line by the print head, moves the carriage to the line. The feed motor is driven to move the recording paper a predetermined length in the sub-scanning direction until the end of the recording paper is moved to the end. Carriage and feed drive of printer. 2. In a print mode, the control means drives the feed motor to move a recording sheet in a sub-scanning direction by a predetermined length when printing of one line is completed by the print head. Item 2. A carriage and a feed driving device of the printer according to Item 1. 3. The carriage and feed drive device of a printer according to claim 1, wherein the printing operation of the printing head on the recording paper is bidirectional printing.