JP4282647B2 - PRINT CONTROL DEVICE, PRINT CONTROL METHOD, AND THERMAL PRINTER - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a print control device, a print control method, and a thermal printer, and more particularly, a print control device, a print control device method, and a thermal printer that perform multi-gradation (including binary) printing by controlling the energization time for a heating element. About.

  In recent years, various advertisements and messages related to sales improvement are often displayed in addition to the usage details for the contents of receipts issued by a small thermal printer. For this reason, there is a limit to the expressiveness in binary printing (for example, white / black) printing as in the past, and multi-gradation (multiple gradations) technology that is monochrome (single color) but rich in expressiveness is required. Therefore, higher printing quality is required.

  Also, in order to increase the printing speed, a printing operation while carrying a printing medium is also a mainstream in a thermal printer.

  If all the heating elements on the same line are energized to perform a printing operation, very large power consumption is required, resulting in an increase in the size and cost of the power supply device. For this reason, heating elements on the same line are divided into a plurality of block units, and divided printing control is performed so that application times do not overlap, thereby suppressing an increase in the size and cost of the power supply device (see, for example, Patent Document 1). ).

  Also, in the conventional technology, when performing multi-gradation printing with a general and inexpensive print control device using a thermal head, the energization time to the heating element is changed for each gradation, and a density difference is produced in the printing result. This is generally expressed (for example, see Patent Document 2).

  Since the application signal (strobe signal) of the thermal head is not prepared for each heating element, it is often prepared for one or a few blocks for all elements. It is impossible to change the energization time.

  Therefore, in order to express the density difference for each gradation, when printing one line, the print data is transferred to the thermal head a plurality of times, and the application signal (strobe signal) is controlled for each print data. The energization time for each heating element is changed to express the density difference for each gradation. For example, when 16 gradations are taken up as the print data elements of multiple times, there are 5 elements of the minimum required coloring energy element of the print medium, bit0 element, bit1 element, bit2 element, and bit3 element obtained by converting the gradation data into binary numbers. Conceivable. The transfer order of these elements is based on the gradation data after first transferring and applying the necessary minimum coloring energy element in consideration of the coloring property of the printing medium (thermal paper, etc.), and then setting it to the state just before coloring. Each element data is transferred and applied.

  Further, when the same line is divided and printed in the prior art, the data transfer order to the thermal head in divided units is that the data is transferred to the thermal head in the same manner in any block and the printing operation is performed. For example, when printing data of 16 gradations is divided into two parts, the data transfer order of the first half block is the data transfer for the minimum coloring energy element necessary for color development on the printing medium, the bit 0 of the gradation data (16 gradations in binary) Data transfer for the element, data transfer for the bit1 element, data transfer for the bit2 element, and data transfer for the bit3 element, and in the same way the required minimum coloring energy element, bit0 element, bit1 element, Data was transferred in the order of bit2 element and bit3 element. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a transfer sequence at the time of two-division printing of the same line in the prior art. In this case, the color development position in each block unit is in the vicinity where the data corresponding to the minimum color development energy element is applied from the thermal head to the print medium. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the divided printing color development position of the same line in the prior art. In this method, since the latter half of the application operation is performed after the first half application operation (data transfer + application) is completed, the color development time is delayed by at least the application time of the bit0 element, bit1 element, bit2 element, and bit3 element of the first half part. It will be.

  Thermal printers that perform high-speed printing perform the printing operation without stopping the printing medium conveyance, so this color development time difference is the difference between the print positions divided and divided in the first and second half, regardless of the same line printing. , Resulting in unevenness in printing or gradation printing, leading to deterioration in printing quality. When the speed was further increased, these appeared remarkably, and the print quality was lowered.

JP-A-4-173156 (page 3-5, FIG. 1) JP-A-4-220358 (page 2-3, FIG. 3)

  In the above-described conventional thermal printer apparatus, since the latter half of the application operation is performed after completion of the first half application operation (data transfer + application), the step generated in the same line becomes large, and the print quality is deteriorated. there were.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a print control device, a print control method, and a thermal printer that solve the problem that the step generated in the same line, which is a problem of the above-described conventional thermal printer device, becomes large and the print quality deteriorates. There is to do.

The print control apparatus of the present invention controls the energization time by transferring print data including preliminary application time data and gradation data to a plurality of heating elements included in a line-type thermal head, thereby controlling gradation printing on a print medium. A printing control device for performing characters,
The heating element is divided into a first half part and a second half part, and has transfer means for transferring the print data for the second half part after transferring the print data for the first half part,
The transfer means transfers the preliminary application time data after the gradation data transfer in the first half print data transfer, and transfers the preliminary application time data before the gradation data transfer in the second half print data transfer. It is characterized by that.

  The printing control apparatus of the present invention may be characterized in that the preliminary application time data is necessary minimum coloring energy application time data of a printing medium.

  In the printing control apparatus of the present invention, the transfer unit may transfer the gradation data as bit element data obtained by converting the gradation data into a binary number.

In the printing control method of the present invention, gradation printing is performed by controlling energization time by transferring printing data including preliminary application time data and gradation data to a plurality of heating elements of a line-type thermal head. A printing control method,
The heating element is divided into a first half and a second half, and after the first half print data is transferred, the second half print data is transferred,
In the first half print data transfer, the preliminary application time data is transferred after the gradation data transfer, and in the second half print data transfer, the preliminary application time data is transferred before the gradation data transfer. .

  The printing control method of the present invention may be characterized in that the preliminary application time data is necessary minimum coloring energy application time data of a printing medium.

  The print control method of the present invention may be characterized in that the gradation data is transferred as bit element data converted into binary numbers.

The thermal printer of the present invention controls the energization time of the heating element by transferring print data including preliminary application time data and gradation data to the line type thermal head having a plurality of heating elements and the heating element. A printer having a print control unit for performing gradation printing,
The print control unit includes a transfer unit that divides the heating element into a first half part and a second half part, and performs print data transfer for the second half part after transferring the print data for the first half part,
The transfer means transfers the preliminary application time data after the gradation data transfer in the first half print data transfer, and transfers the preliminary application time data before the gradation data transfer in the second half print data transfer. It is characterized by that.

  The thermal printer according to the present invention may be characterized in that the preliminary application time data is necessary minimum coloring energy application time data of a print medium.

  The thermal printer of the present invention may be characterized in that the transfer means transfers the gradation data as bit element data converted into binary numbers.

  The thermal printer of the present invention may be a direct thermal system that performs thermal recording on a thermal printing medium.

  The thermal printer of the present invention may be a thermal transfer system that transfers ink of an ink film to a print medium.

  In the divided printing of the same line, the present invention transfers the data for the minimum minimum coloring energy element of the first half application part after transferring each element of the gradation data, so the coloring position of each dot applied in the first half part is: The position is closer to each dot applied in the second half (near the boundary divided in the first half). Accordingly, there is an effect that the level difference and the printing unevenness of the printing result become inconspicuous and the printing quality is improved.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the thermal printer of the present invention. The thermal printer includes a thermal head 10, a platen 20, a print medium transport unit 30, and a print control device 40. In the thermal head 10, a plurality of heating elements are linearly arranged on a line orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the printing medium 50, and when the heating elements are energized, the printing medium 50 that is thermal paper develops color. The platen 20 applies a constant pressure to the thermal head 10 and the print medium 50. The print medium transport unit 30 transports the print medium 50 using a stepping motor or the like. The print control device 40 controls the entire thermal printer such as transfer of print data to the heating elements of the thermal head 10 and control of the print medium transport unit 30.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a transfer sequence at the time of two-division printing of the same line according to the embodiment of the present invention. A schematic configuration of data transfer performed by the print control device 40 will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, one line is divided into first half and second half blocks, and data to be transferred to the thermal head 10 is distinguished. A common data latch signal and applied signal (strobe signal) are used for both blocks. The gradation data is converted into binary numbers and used as bit element data. The order of each element of the print data transferred to the thermal head 10 is as follows: the first half block is in the order of bit3 element data, bit2 element data, bit1 element data, bit0 element data, and preliminary application time data. Data, bit0 element, bit1 element, bit2 element, and bit3 element are in this order, indicating that the data is transferred in the reverse order in the first and second half blocks. As the preliminary application time data, necessary minimum coloring energy element data that is a time for energizing the heating element until the print medium 50 is about to be colored is appropriate.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing divided print color positions on the same line according to the embodiment of the present invention. An outline of printing when data transfer in FIG. 2 is performed will be described with reference to FIG. 3 and FIGS.

  FIG. 3 shows the printing result while showing the relationship between the ruled line application signal (strobe signal) limited to the gradation data “1” and the three dots in the first half block and the three dots in the second half block.

  When the data transfer is performed by the conventional technique shown in FIG. 4, the heating element is energized to the printing medium 50 just before the coloring as shown in FIG. The end point of the signal) is the color development start position of each heating element in the first half block. Similarly, in the latter half block, the end point of the application signal for the minimum required coloring energy element is the coloring start position.

  When the data transfer of FIG. 2 according to the present invention is performed, the application of the gradation data (bit 0 element, bit 1 element, bit 2 element, bit 3 element) element in the first half block part alone does not lead to color development. With respect to the tone data “1”, since the color is not developed until the application signal of the next necessary minimum color development energy element after the bit 0 element, the color development position of each heating element in the latter half block is approached.

  The difference in color development position (difference in color development time) between the first half block portion and the second half block portion is as follows. In the prior art, the energization time of the bit0 element, the bit1 element, the bit2 element, and the bit3 element of the first half block and the energization time of the necessary minimum coloring energy element of the second half block are obtained. In the present invention, it is the energization time of the minimum required coloring energy element of the latter half block. Therefore, the difference in the color development position of the present invention is shortened compared to the prior art by the total energization time of the bit0 element, the bit1 element, the bit2 element, and the bit3 element.

  Since the print medium is conveyed even during printing, if the difference in color development position (color development time difference) becomes short, the print positions of the first half block and the second half block will approach, and the step and unevenness of the print result will not be noticeable. Therefore, it is possible to improve the printing quality in the divided printing.

  The order of data transfer to the thermal head 10 of the present invention is not limited to that described above. In the example described above, an example in which the transfer order is reversed in the first and second half has been described. However, the point of interest of the present invention is the position of the application signal (strobe signal) of the minimum required coloring energy element in the first and second half blocks. That is, the application signal of the necessary minimum coloring energy element is transferred last in the first half block and transferred first in the second half block. Therefore, the transfer order of the other elements (bit0, bit1, bit2, and bit3) does not affect the step of the printing result and the printing unevenness, so that various combinations can be considered.

  In the present embodiment, a direct thermal type thermal printer that performs thermal recording on a thermal printing medium such as thermal paper has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the direct thermal type, and the ink of the ink film is used for plain paper or the like. It may be a thermal transfer type thermal printer that transfers to a printing medium.

1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a thermal printer of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the transfer sequence at the time of 2 division | segmentation printing of the same line of embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the division | segmentation printing color development position of the same line of embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the transfer sequence at the time of 2 division | segmentation printing of the same line of a prior art. It is a figure which shows the division | segmentation printing color development position of the same line of a prior art.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Thermal head 20 Platen 30 Print medium conveyance part 40 Print control apparatus 50 Print medium

Claims (11)

A print control device that controls the energization time by transferring print data including preliminary application time data and gradation data to a plurality of heating elements of a line-type thermal head to perform gradation printing on a print medium. There,
The heating element is divided into a first half part and a second half part, and has transfer means for transferring the print data for the second half part after transferring the print data for the first half part,
The transfer means transfers the preliminary application time data after the gradation data transfer in the first half print data transfer, and transfers the preliminary application time data before the gradation data transfer in the second half print data transfer. A print control apparatus characterized by the above. 2. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the preliminary application time data is necessary minimum coloring energy application time data of the print medium. 3. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transfer unit transfers the gradation data as bit element data converted into binary numbers. A print control method for performing gradation printing by controlling energization time by transferring print data including preliminary application time data and gradation data to a plurality of heating elements included in a line-type thermal head,
The heating element is divided into a first half and a second half, and after the first half print data is transferred, the second half print data is transferred,
In the first half print data transfer, the preliminary application time data is transferred after the gradation data transfer, and in the second half print data transfer, the preliminary application time data is transferred before the gradation data transfer. Print control method. 5. The print control method according to claim 4, wherein the preliminary application time data is necessary minimum coloring energy application time data of the print medium. 6. The print control method according to claim 4, wherein the gradation data is transferred as bit element data converted into binary numbers. A line-type thermal head having a plurality of heating elements, and printing that performs gradation printing by controlling energization time of the heating elements by transferring printing data including preliminary application time data and gradation data to the heating elements. A printer comprising a control unit,
The print control unit includes a transfer unit that divides the heating element into a first half part and a second half part, and performs print data transfer for the second half part after transferring the print data for the first half part,
The transfer means transfers the preliminary application time data after the gradation data transfer in the first half print data transfer, and transfers the preliminary application time data before the gradation data transfer in the second half print data transfer. A thermal printer characterized by that. 8. The thermal printer according to claim 7, wherein the preliminary application time data is necessary minimum coloring energy application time data of a printing medium. 9. The thermal printer according to claim 7, wherein the transfer means transfers the gradation data as bit element data converted into binary numbers. 10. The thermal printer according to claim 7, wherein the thermal printer is a direct thermal system that performs thermal recording on a thermal printing medium. 10. The thermal printer according to claim 7, wherein the thermal printer is a thermal transfer system that transfers ink of an ink film to a printing medium.

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