JP3264777B2 - Printer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer capable of recording a plurality of lines in a single recording operation, and more particularly to a printer capable of performing high-precision paper feed control in a final printing operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a paper feed mechanism of a printer transmits the rotation of a paper feed motor to a paper feed roller via a group of drive gears, and a predetermined amount of paper sandwiched between the paper feed roller and a pressure roller. Is formed so as to be conveyed only.
When a line feed operation is performed, the paper feed amount required for the line feed is calculated, and the rotation amount of the paper feed motor is obtained based on the outer peripheral length of the paper feed roller and the mechanism of the drive gear group. The feed motor is rotated.

However, in such a printer, the eccentricity of each gear constituting a driving gear group between the paper feed roller and the paper feed motor, the production error of the paper feed roller, a change in temperature, and the like cause the paper feed amount to be reduced. Variations occur, and particularly when graphic printing is performed, this variation in paper feed accuracy causes a reduction in print quality.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 4-193563 discloses a method for suppressing such a variation in paper feeding accuracy. In the publication, a reference roller is formed of a hard material having a small dimensional change with respect to temperature, and the reference roller is disposed so as to be in contact with a part of the sheet conveyed by a sheet feed roller, and the sheet feed speed and While making the rotation peripheral speed of the reference roller equal, a slit disk is provided coaxially with this reference roller, the rotation angle of the reference roller is detected by a photo sensor, and the detection result is fed back to the controller to feed the paper feed motor. The paper feed amount can be accurately determined by controlling the operation.

Further, there is a printer having a print head having a print element capable of recording a plurality of lines such as two or three lines in a recording operation by one carriage movement. In such a printer, recording is performed by one line feed. Paper feed was performed for a number of lines.

[0006]

However, when using a fixed-size sheet of paper in such a printer, the printable area is determined by the sheet to be used, so that printing is performed using all the printing elements in the last printing operation. There is a case where there is no space, and there is a problem that high-precision paper feeding control cannot be performed for paper feeding related to the last printing operation. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a printer which has a printing element capable of recording a plurality of lines by one carriage movement and which enables high-precision paper feeding.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer, comprising:
A carriage equipped with a print head having a print element capable of printing a plurality of lines (M lines) ; carriage driving means for reciprocating the carriage along a platen; and an outer periphery having a height of the print element of the print head. A paper feed roller which is formed to be substantially an integral multiple (n times) and makes one rotation by n line feed operations, a stepping motor for rotating this paper feed roller, and a moving direction of the carriage by rotation of the paper feed roller. Paper feed means for transporting the recording paper in a vertical direction, and an outer periphery formed to have a length corresponding to one line feed when printing, and rotatably abutting on the outer periphery of the paper feed roller via the recording paper. A reference roller, reference position detecting means for detecting a reference position of the reference roller, and a driving step per line feed of the stepping motor based on a signal from the reference position detecting means. And a storage means for sequentially storing the number of flops as data, a printable end portion of the recording sheet, the print data at the time of last movement of the carriage
When N rows (M> N) printed with, from said stored data in said storage means, said n times before a newline data (L
pn) together with read, the ratio of the print range of per print range and 1 newline last line of (R) determined, the recording by driving the stepping motor driving step number at (Lp-n * R) The paper is fed, and the print head is driven and printed so that the print element positioned at the lowermost end of the print head matches the print data to be printed on the end portion of the recording paper. Features.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer having a print head having a print element capable of printing a plurality of rows (M rows) by one movement operation, and the carriage along a platen. Carriage driving means for reciprocating, a paper feed roller having an outer circumference formed to be substantially an integral multiple of the height of the print element of the print head, a stepping motor for rotating this paper feed roller, and rotation of the paper feed roller Paper feeding means for transporting the recording paper in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the carriage, and
A reference roller formed to have a length corresponding to a line length, rotatably abutting on the outer periphery of the paper feed roller via the recording paper, and reference position detection means for detecting a reference position of the reference roller; a printable end portion of the recording sheet, the print data at the time of last movement of the carriage
When N rows (M> N) printed with, the number of print lines of the N lines at the time of the final movement is confirmed by a signal from the reference position detecting means, like a number of print lines of the N lines As described above, the stepping motor is driven by the amount of rotating the reference roller by N rotations to feed the recording paper ,
The print head is driven and printed so that the print element positioned at the lowermost end of the print head matches the print data to be printed on the end portion of the recording paper.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when printing with print data at the time of the final movement of the carriage, printing is performed in a print range smaller than the height of the print element for one line feed of the print head. de that even stored in the storage means
When the line feed data (Lp-n) n times before is read from the data,
In both cases, the ratio (R) between the printing range of the last line and the printing range per line feed is determined , and the stepping motor is set to (L p-n *
Do to put the paper feed by driving the number of drive steps of R)
Printing element and recording paper located at the bottom end of the print head
So that the print data to be printed at the end of
Print on the recording paper by driving the print head to print.
High-precision paper feeding can be performed up to the possible lower end.

[0010] According to the configuration described in claim 2, serial
When the printing by the print data at the time of last movement of the carriage in the printable end portion of the recording sheet, when performing printing with less print range than the height of one line of printing elements of the print head, the final movement based on the number of print lines in operation
Confirmed by a signal from the position detecting means, rows that have a paper feed by driving the amount corresponding stepping motor for rotating the reference roller <br/> same Kunar so as the number of print line, the print head
Printing at the bottom of the printing element and the end of the recording paper
Drive the print head so that the print data matches
By moving and printing, the paper can be fed with high accuracy to the lower end of the recording paper.

[0011]

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a printer according to the present invention. First, in order to perform printing with a print head such as a thermal head (not shown), the paper 1 is transported in a very small number of steps, and stepping is performed as a driving source. A motor 2 is provided. As a power transmission mechanism group for the stepping motor 2, a drive gear 4 directly connected to a rotation shaft 3 of the stepping motor 2, and a paper feed roller 6 meshed with the drive gear 4 are provided. A rotating gear 8 directly connected to the rotating shaft 7 is provided. The paper feed roller 6 has its rotating shaft 7 arranged in parallel with the rotating shaft 3 of the stepping motor 2 so that the paper 1 inserted from an insertion opening (not shown) of the paper 1 is fed forward of a platen (not shown). It has become.

The paper feed roller 6 is set to be substantially an integral multiple (n times) of the height of the print element of the print head.
Further, a paper feed detection roller 9 is disposed in parallel with the rotation shaft 7 of the paper feed roller 6 so that the paper feed detection roller 9 rotates at a peripheral speed equal to the speed at which the paper 1 is fed. Therefore, the paper 1 rotates freely in the transport direction of the paper 1 and is in contact with a part of the paper 1 so as to pinch the paper 1 together with the paper feed roller 6, and the outer peripheral length thereof corresponds to one line feed when printing. It is set to the corresponding length.

A decoding plate 11, which is a portion to be detected, is connected to a rotating shaft 10 of the paper feed detection roller 9 so as to rotate coaxially with the paper feed detection roller 9. A slit 12 is formed on the outer periphery of the decoding plate 11 as a portion to be detected.
Is provided, and a photosensor 13 which is a detector for transmitting the signal to the controller 14 is provided.

In the present embodiment, the paper 1 is inserted into a portion to be joined to the paper feed roller, and the stepping motor 2 is driven to transmit the drive gear 4, the transmission gear 5, the rotary gear 8, and the like. By rotating the paper feed roller 6 via a mechanism, the paper 1 is transported by a predetermined amount and a line feed is performed.

Next, the control method according to the present invention will be briefly described.
Line), if there is not enough space to print using all the printing elements in the last printing operation at the end of the paper, that is, even though M lines can be printed, N lines Only (M> N) when printing is possible.

Next, a description will be given of a first embodiment of a control method using the printer having the above configuration.

Since the actual amount of paper feed is determined by measuring the rotation of the paper feed detection roller 9 as the reference amount of paper feed for one line feed, the line feed at the time of performing the last printing operation is determined by the paper feed. N / M of the outer circumference of the detection roller 9 is obtained.

However, since the outer peripheral surface of the paper feed roller 6 for actually feeding the paper is not a perfect circle due to eccentricity or the like, the number of steps of the stepping motor 2 for rotating the paper feed roller 6 by one line feed for each line feed. Will be slightly different. Therefore, the outer periphery of the paper feed roller 6 is formed so as to be substantially an integral multiple (n times) of the line feed amount, and the number of steps required for one line feed is represented by data (L1, L2... L _Pn ,
.. L _P-1 ) are sequentially stored. And the last mark
When paper is fed in preparation for the BR> character operation, _LPn is read from this stored data as line feed data n times before.

However, as shown in FIG. 2, the number of printable lines in the last printing operation is not M lines but only N lines (M> N). (L _Pn ), that is, if the paper is fed by an amount corresponding to M lines, the lower end portion of the paper 1 will be blank. Therefore, the number of steps (L _P ) necessary for paper feeding in the last printing operation Can be determined by L _Pn * N / M. And After performing the number of steps required for paper feed (L _P) an amount corresponding paper feed in the last printing operation, driving a print head as the print element 15 of the lowermost and the lowermost end of the print data matches And print.

In this embodiment, for the sake of explanation, in a printer capable of printing a plurality of lines (M lines) by one carriage movement operation, all the printing elements are used in the last printing operation at the end of the paper. Has been described where there is not enough space to print the data, that is, only N lines (M> N) can be printed despite the fact that M lines can be printed. In a possible printer, if there is not enough space to print using all the printing elements in the last printing operation at the end of the paper, that is, only N dots (M> N ) A similar control method can be used for cases where printing is not possible.

Next, a second embodiment of the control method will be described. The configuration of the printer according to the present embodiment is the same as the above-described configuration except that the outer periphery of the paper feed detection roller 9 is formed to be substantially the same height as one line of the print head, and thus the description of the configuration is omitted.

As shown in FIG. 3, since the outer peripheral surface of the paper feed roller 6 for actually feeding the paper is not a perfect circle due to eccentricity or the like, a stepping motor for rotating the paper feed roller 6 by one line feed for each line feed. The number of steps of 2 will be slightly different. However, if the paper feed amount per line feed is M lines, the number of rotations of the paper feed detection roller 9 in one line feed is always M rotations. A line feed amount for M lines can be obtained irrespective of the eccentricity of 6 and the like. However, since the paper feed amount in the last printing operation needs to be fed by N lines, the number of rotations of the paper feed detection roller 9 in one line feed is set to N, and after the paper is fed, the lowermost printing element 15 The print head is driven and printing is performed so that the print data at the bottom end matches the print data.

[0023]

As described above, in the present invention, the key
A printer for printing by a single multiple lines movement of the printing can print device according Yarijji, recording
Final carriage movement at the printable end of the paper
When printing with print data during the moving operation, the storage means
Line feed data n times before the data stored in (p-n)
As well as the print range of the last line and
And the stepping motor
(Lp-n * R) drive steps to drive paper
The print element located at the bottom end of the print head.
The print data to be printed at the end of the recording paper matches
The print head is driven and printed as described above,
The printable area is determined by the recording paper.
Perform printing using all printing elements in a later printing operation
At the bottom edge of the print head, even if there is not enough space
Print element to be printed and print data to be printed at the end of recording paper.
Data, so that the printable end of the recording paper
Paper feed can be performed with high accuracy. Also, recording paper
Movement of the carriage at the printable end of the carriage
When printing with print data at the time of operation, the final movement operation
The number of print lines at the time is determined by the signal from the reference position detection means.
And turn the reference roller so that the number of printed lines is the same.
Drive the stepping motor by the amount
Print and print element located at the bottom of the print head
Make sure that the print data to be printed at the end of the paper matches
The print head is driven and printed to
The number of lines printed by the roller is the rotation speed of the reference roller.
Storage means as a waste in the printing by printable range single more accurate paper feeding even shorter than the printable range in the recording operation at the end of the printout operation in sheet lower part Can be secured.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a main part showing a paper feeding unit of a printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a first embodiment of a control method according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a first embodiment of a control method according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 paper 2 stepping motor 4 drive gear 6 paper feed roller 9 paper feed detection roller 11 decoding plate 12 slit 13 photosensor 14 controller 15 bottom printing element

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 13/00-13/32

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A carriage equipped with a print head having a printing element capable of printing a plurality of rows (M rows) by one movement operation, and carriage driving means for reciprocating the carriage along a platen; periphery is formed substantially integral multiple (n times) of the height of the printing elements of the print head, a paper feed roller for one revolution at n times the line feed operation, a stepping motor for rotating and driving the paper feed roller, wherein Paper feed means for transporting recording paper in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the carriage by rotation of the paper feed roller; and an outer periphery formed to have a length corresponding to one line feed when printing, and an outer periphery of the paper feed roller. A reference roller rotatably abutting on the recording paper, reference position detection means for detecting a reference position of the reference roller, and a step from a signal from the reference position detection means. And a storage means for sequentially storing the number of driving steps per newline Ngumota as data, a printable end portion of the recording paper, N rows by using the print data at the time of last movement of the carriage (M >
The ratio of the time of N) printing, from said stored data in the storage means, along with reading the n times before a newline data (Lp-n), the printing range of the print range and 1 per line break the last line (R), and the stepping motor is set to (Lp-
n * R) for the recording
The paper is fed, and the print head is driven and printed so that the print element positioned at the lowermost end of the print head matches the print data to be printed on the end portion of the recording paper. Characterized printer. 2. A carriage equipped with a print head having a print element capable of printing a plurality of rows (M rows) by one movement operation, and carriage driving means for reciprocating the carriage along a platen; A paper feed roller having an outer circumference formed to be substantially an integral multiple of the height of the print element of the print head, a stepping motor for rotating the paper feed roller, and a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the carriage due to the rotation of the paper feed roller. Paper feeding means for transporting the recording paper in any direction, and the outer periphery is formed to a length corresponding to one line when printing,
A reference roller rotatably abutting on the outer periphery of the paper feed roller via the recording paper; and a reference position detection unit for detecting a reference position of the reference roller . Using the print data at the time of the final movement of the carriage, N rows (M>
When N) printed, the number of indicia <br/> shaped rows of the N rows in the time the final movement is confirmed by a signal from the reference position detecting means, also made as a number of print lines of the N lines Then, the stepping motor is driven by an amount corresponding to the rotation of the reference roller by N rotations to feed the recording paper , and printing is performed on the printing element located at the lowermost end of the print head and the end portion of the recording paper. A printer characterized in that the print head is driven and printed so that the print data matches.