JP3319500B2 - Impact wire serial recording device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus which mounts a wire dot recording head on a carriage and reciprocates in the width direction of a recording medium to perform printing. More specifically, the apparatus performs draft printing near upper and lower side edges. The present invention relates to a wire dot type serial recording device which can be used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A printing apparatus in which a print head having an impact wire as a printing element is mounted on a carriage and performs printing while reciprocating in the width direction of the print medium, an ink ribbon is interposed between the print medium and the print head. In order to prevent contamination of the recording medium due to rubbing of the ink ribbon by the recording head, the impact wire of the recording head can be exposed and the four corners are vertically and horizontally positioned. The printing is performed while a ribbon mask having a rectangular window is elastically contacted with a recording medium with a weak force.

[0003] For this reason, if the upper and lower ends of the recording medium are to be printed at full coverage, particularly in draft printing involving high-speed movement of the recording head, the corners of the recording medium are caught in the window of the ribbon mask, and the recording medium is removed. There are problems such as damage to the recording medium, and the impact of the impact wire on the recording medium protruding from the window to break the wire.

To solve such a problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
After the position of the recording head is positioned at the center of the width of the recording medium in the width direction of the recording medium as shown in 52490, the upper end or lower end of the recording medium is moved to a printable position,
Next, printing is performed toward one side, and when printing from the center to the other area, the recording medium is fed to the position where the recording medium deviates from the window of the ribbon mask, and then the window of the ribbon mask is again moved in the width direction of the recording medium. A method has been proposed in which the recording medium is moved to the center, and the upper end or lower end of the recording medium is moved to a printable position to perform printing in the other direction.

[0005] According to this method, the upper and lower corners of the recording medium are printed in the vicinity of the corners so that the corners are on the downstream side in the moving direction of the recording head. Since the corners pass while suppressing the turn of the portion, it is possible to prevent the recording medium from being caught in the window of the ribbon mask.

[0006]

However, when printing the upper and lower ends, it is necessary to position the recording head in the center of the recording medium, so that not only the operation of detecting the width of the recording medium is required, but also the center of the recording medium is required. Since one positioned character is printed in two printing processes, a printing process in one direction and a printing process in the other direction, misregistration occurs and print quality is reduced, Even when print data exists only in one area from the center, the same operation is performed, so that there is a problem that the throughput of draft printing is extremely reduced. The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to draft the recording medium at the upper and lower end regions without lowering the printing speed and causing the recording medium to be caught in the ribbon mask. An object of the present invention is to provide a wire impact type serial recording device capable of printing.

[0007]

According to the present invention, an impact wire type recording head having a ribbon mask on a side facing a platen is mounted on a carriage to solve such a problem. In a recording apparatus that reciprocates and prints a recording medium by feeding the recording medium to the recording head, at the stage where printing on the upper end or the lower end of the recording medium is required, the recording medium is moved to the upper end,
Or, feed the paper to a position where the lower end does not touch the window of the ribbon mask, and then move the recording medium to the position where the uppermost end of the print data, or the lowermost end can be printed, and move the carriage regardless of the print mode designation. The recording head is provided with control means for moving the recording head at a speed lower than the moving speed in the draft print mode and outputting dot pattern data having a density suitable for the print mode to the recording head.

[0008]

Since the recording head is moved at a low speed when printing the upper or lower corner area, it is possible to prevent the recording medium, which tends to be generated at the time of high speed movement, from being caught in the ribbon mask window as much as possible. In addition, printing in the draft mode becomes possible.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the present invention will be described below based on embodiments. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes a carriage, which is connected to a carriage drive motor 3 via a timing belt 2 and can reciprocate in parallel with the longitudinal direction of a platen 4. Is configured.

The carriage 1 has an impact wire type recording head 5, a side edge of the recording medium M, and a paper edge comprising a photo sensor for detecting upper and lower ends based on a difference in reflectance between the platen 4 and the recording medium M. The detector 6 is mounted.

A paper guide 7 is provided on a surface of the recording head 5 facing the platen 4. As shown in FIG. 2, the paper guide 7 is provided with the recording medium M in the feeding direction and the recording head moving direction in the areas opposed to the impact wires 8, 8 of the recording head, at the corners 9 a, 9 b, 9.
The ribbon mask 10 having the windows 9 serving as c and 9d
Both sides are attached by being urged by leaf springs 12 so as to slightly project from Δ1 by ΔL.

Returning to FIG. 1, reference numeral 20 denotes a control device to be described later. The position of the recording head 5 is determined by a signal from the paper end detector 6 and an encoder 21 provided on the idler 14 of the timing belt 2. Is detected by the carriage drive motor 3 and the paper feed motor 13 based on the print data, and at a low speed corresponding to the response speed of the print head 5 during high-quality printing, and During draft printing, a drive signal corresponding to each print mode is output to the recording head 5 and printing is executed while controlling the speed to be high, for example, twice as fast as high quality printing.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the above-described control device. In the figure, reference numeral 30 denotes a reception buffer for storing character code data as print data from a host or the like. Is the high-density dot pattern data of the character corresponding to the character code signal when the high-quality printing mode is selected by the pattern generating means (FIG. 4).
(A)), and when the draft print mode is selected, low-density dot pattern data (FIG. 4 (b)).
(C)) is output to the print buffer 32, and a signal for driving the corresponding impact wire by the head driving means 34 is generated.

FIG. 4B shows a pattern in which the dots of the dot pattern data in the high-quality print mode are thinned out in half in the running direction of the recording head 5, that is, the high-quality print data is 360 dpi. In the case of the configuration, a pattern thinned out to 180 dpi is shown, and FIG. 10C shows a dot pattern of 120 dpi thinned out to 1/3.

Reference numeral 35 denotes a print control unit.
In printing the print data based on the print data input to the print medium M, whether the ribbon mask 10 faces the four corners of the recording medium M or not is detected. While reading dot data from the print buffer 32 in the print mode specified by the carriage control means 36 and the paper feed control means 37, the recording head 5 is reciprocated to feed the paper at the stage when one line has been printed. Is executed, and the ribbon mask 10 is
When it faces the corner end, it outputs a signal for activating the upper and lower end printing control means 38 described later.

Numeral 38 denotes upper and lower end printing control means for printing an area where the window 9 of the ribbon mask 10 faces any one of the four corners of the recording medium M, and when the draft printing mode is selected. The carriage control means 36 is controlled in the high-quality print mode, that is, the carriage control means 36 is driven at a lower speed than the draft mode, while the print data reading means 33 outputs data for the draft print mode or data for the high-quality print mode by thinning out. Things.

The operation of the apparatus having the above-described structure is shown in FIG.
A description will be given based on FIG. When the upper end U of the recording medium M is located between the lower end 9b of the window 9 of the ribbon mask 10 and the paper end detector 6 as shown in FIG.
By moving the carriage 1 from one end of the printing area to the other end,
The width of the recording medium M is detected based on a signal from the paper edge detector 6.

With the upper end U of the recording medium M positioned downstream of the window 9 of the ribbon mask 10 as described above, the paper width of the loaded recording medium is detected, whereby the window of the ribbon mask 10 is detected. In addition to detecting the paper width without involving the corners of the recording medium M in the recording medium 9, the recording medium does not need to be pulled back in the subsequent printing process,
Throughput can be improved.

Next, the print area is determined based on the data stored in the reception buffer 30, and the ribbon mask 1 is determined.
In the case where the top and left margins are set sufficiently to such a degree that no paper is stuck on 0, that is, the upper end U of the recording medium M is higher than the upper end 9a of the window 9 of the ribbon mask 10 as shown in FIG. Located above or at the lower end D of the recording medium M
Is located below the lower end 9b of the window 9 of the ribbon mask 10, or the left end L and the right end R of the recording medium M are located outside the left end 9c or the right end 9d of the window 9 of the ribbon mask 10. If the margin is such that printing ends, the designated print mode is executed by a normal printing operation.

That is, the character code output from the host and stored in the reception buffer 30 is converted into a dot pattern having a density corresponding to the print mode specified by the pattern generation means 31 and stored in the print buffer 32. When the carriage driving motor 3 is driven at a speed corresponding to the designated print mode and the recording head 5 reaches the printing position, the data in the print buffer 32 is output to the recording head driving means 34 and the recording head 5 is output. Of the impact wire 8 is operated. Thereby, the impact wire 8 hits the recording medium M from above the ink ribbon (not shown) to form dots on the recording medium M.

On the other hand, a margin where the corners C1 to C4 of the recording medium M may be caught in the window 9 of the ribbon mask 10, that is, the upper end U of the recording medium M is positioned at the upper end of the window 9 of the ribbon mask 10 as shown in FIG. 9a and below the window 9
Or the lower end D of the recording medium M is located above the lower end 9b of the window 9 of the ribbon mask 10;
In addition, the printing is performed in a state where the left end L and the right end R of the recording medium M are located inside the left end 9c or the right end 9d of the window 9 of the ribbon mask 10 and are opposed to the window 9. If the margin is to end, the print control unit 35 outputs a signal to the upper and lower end print control unit 38.

The upper and lower end printing control means 38 retracts the recording head 5 to a region where the window 9 of the ribbon mask 10 does not catch on the recording medium M even when the recording medium M moves, that is, a position where normal printing can be performed. The recording medium M is moved by the paper feed control means 37, and the upper end U of the recording medium M is moved to the window 9 of the ribbon mask 10.
(FIG. 7 (I)). Next, the edge print control means 38 pulls the recording medium M back to a position where the uppermost end of the print data can be printed, and moves the recording head 5 to the home position (FIG. 7 (I
I)).

Next, the upper and lower print control means 38 controls the carriage control means 3 irrespective of the designated print mode.
6 shows the carriage 1 according to the control data of the high-quality print mode.
To accelerate or decelerate or to run at a constant speed. Thus, even if the corner C1 of the recording medium M faces the window 9 of the ribbon mask 10, the running speed is low, so that the recording medium M is prevented from being caught.

When printing in this area is performed in the draft print mode, the carriage 1 is moved by the control data in the high-quality print mode, while the dot pattern data ( A pattern obtained by thinning out FIG. 4A so as to correspond to the dot pattern of draft printing (FIG. 4B,
(C)) is output.

Accordingly, the recording head 5 forms dots each time it reaches the position where the character dot pattern for draft printing is formed while moving at a low speed Vs in the high-quality printing mode. 9 shows recording medium M
Can be executed in the draft mode without involving the.

When the printing of the area where the corner of the recording medium M is likely to be wound around the window of the ribbon mask is completed,
In the case of the designated print mode, for example, the draft print mode, the print control unit 35 moves the recording head 5 at a high speed Vf suitable for the draft print, and executes the print in the same manner as the normal draft print ( FIG. 7 (IV)) prevents the printing speed from decreasing.

In the high-quality print mode, the recording head 5 is driven at a low speed Vs, so that the recording medium M does not get caught in the window of the ribbon mask 10.

When the printing proceeds and reaches the lowermost line, the print control unit 35 outputs a signal to the upper and lower end print control unit 38 as in the case of the uppermost line. Upper and lower end printing control means 38
Causes the carriage control means 36 to accelerate or decelerate or run at a constant speed according to the control data of the high-quality print mode regardless of the designated print mode. Accordingly, even when the corners C3 and C4 of the recording medium M face the window 9 of the ribbon mask 10, the recording medium M is prevented from being caught because the traveling is at the low speed Vs.

When the printing of this area is executed in the draft print mode, the carriage 1 is caused to travel by the control data of the high-quality print mode, while the print data reading means 33 outputs the high-quality print mode. A pattern (FIGS. 4B and 4C) obtained by thinning out the dot pattern data (FIG. 4A) so as to correspond to the dot pattern of the draft printing is output. Recording head 5
Forms a dot when it reaches a position where a dot pattern for draft printing is formed while moving at a low speed Vs in the high-quality printing mode.
The printing in the draft mode can be executed without involving the recording medium M in the printer.

When the printing of the area where the corner of the recording medium M is likely to be wound around the window 9 of the ribbon mask 10 is completed in this way, the print control unit 35 sets the designated print mode, for example, in the case of the draft print mode. The recording head 5 is moved at a high speed Vf suitable for draft printing, and printing is performed in the same manner as in normal draft printing (FIG. 7 (VI)), thereby preventing a decrease in printing speed.

In the high-quality print mode, the recording head 5 is driven at a low speed Vs, so that the recording medium M does not get caught in the window of the ribbon mask 10.

In the above-described embodiment, when the carriage is moved at a low speed, the carriage driving motor 3 is controlled by the control data in the high-quality printing mode. Even if it is prepared, the same operation is achieved.

[0033]

As described above, in the present invention,
In a printing apparatus that mounts an impact wire type recording head having a ribbon mask on the side facing the platen on a carriage and reciprocates in the width direction of the recording medium, and also feeds the recording medium to the recording head and prints. When printing on the upper or lower end of the recording medium is required, the recording medium is fed to a position where the upper or lower end does not hang over the window of the ribbon mask, and then the uppermost end of the print data.
Alternatively, move the recording medium to a position where the bottom end can be printed, move the carriage at a speed lower than the moving speed of the draft print mode regardless of the print mode specification, and print a dot with a density suitable for the print mode on the print head. With control means to output pattern data,
Or it is possible to move the recording head at a low speed when printing the corner area at the lower end, while preventing as much as possible the winding of the recording medium into the window of the ribbon mask of the corner of the recording medium which is likely to occur at the time of high speed movement. Printing can be performed in draft mode.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of an impact wire type serial recording device of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are a front view and a cross-sectional view, respectively, showing a structure near a recording head.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a control device.

FIGS. 4A to 4C are diagrams schematically showing dot pattern data used in a high-quality print mode and a draft print mode, respectively.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the vertical positional relationship between the ribbon mask and the paper edge detector and the recording medium M when the width of the recording medium M is detected by the above apparatus.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are diagrams showing upper and lower margins and left and right margins when performing upper and lower end printing according to the present invention in relation to a ribbon mask.

FIGS. 7 (I) to (VI) are diagrams showing a printing operation of an upper end area of a recording medium M by the above device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Carriage 3 Carriage drive motor 4 Platen 5 Recording head 6 Paper end detector 7 Paper guide 8, 8 Impact wire 9 Window 10 Ribbon mask

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-11-34421 (JP, A) JP-A-5-330143 (JP, A) JP-A-8-318659 (JP, A) JP-A-3-3 180377 (JP, A) JP-A-7-52490 (JP, A) JP-A-3-2069 (JP, A) JP-A-5-112035 (JP, A) JP-A-59-182755 (JP, A) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 2/24 B41J 19/00

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] An impact wire type recording head having a ribbon mask on a side facing a platen is mounted on a carriage and reciprocated in the width direction of the recording medium, and the recording medium is fed to the recording head. In a recording apparatus that prints at the upper end of the recording medium, or at the stage when it is necessary to print on the lower end, the recording medium is fed to a position where the upper end or lower end does not hang over the window of the ribbon mask, and then Move the recording medium to a position where the uppermost end or the lowermost end of the print data can be printed, move the carriage at a speed lower than the moving speed of the draft print mode regardless of the designation of the print mode, and move the carriage to the printhead. An impact wire type serial recording apparatus including a control unit for outputting dot pattern data having a density suitable for a print mode. 2. The impact-wire serial recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the movement at a speed lower than the movement speed in the draft print mode is executed by control data in a high-quality print mode.