JPH01218879A - Printer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a plurality of kinds of ribbon cassettes to be used without causing a lowering in printing quality, by discriminating the kind of the ribbon cassette, and driving a carriage based on acceleration and deceleration data preset according to a carriage driving load of each kind of ribbon cassette. CONSTITUTION:Tables T1-T3 in a ROM 20 store acceleration and deceleration data set according to carriage loads of three kinds of ribbon cassettes A, B, C, respectively. A ribbon-discriminating switch constituted of, for example, a microswitch is provided on a carriage. The ribbon cassette A is provided with such a protrusion as to turn ON the switch when the cassette is mounted on the carriage, whereas the ribbon cassette B is provided with such a protrusion as to turn ON the switch when the cassette is turned to a predetermined position from a home position after being mounted on the carriage, and the ribbon cassette C is not provided with any such protrusion. With this construction, a ribbon-discriminating circuit 19 can discriminate the three kinds of ribbon cassettes from each other. A CPU 11 drives the carriage at an acceleration and a deceleration which are suitable for the ribbon cassette mounted on the carriage.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a printer device that can use multiple types of ribbon cassettes, and particularly to a printer device that can drive a carriage depending on the type of ribbon cassette. Regarding.

(Prior art) Generally, wire dot printers capable of color printing are
Three types of ink ribbons can be used: color ink ribbon, fabric ribbon, and film ribbon. A color ink ribbon is an ink ribbon formed by dividing a wide nylon fabric into multiple regions in the width direction and impregnating each divided region with a different ink.
Used for color printing. The fabric ribbon is an endless ink ribbon formed by impregnating nylon fibers with ink, and can be used multiple times until the ink becomes thin. A film ribbon is an ink ribbon with an ink layer formed on one side of a strip-shaped film, and since the ink peels off from the film after one printing, the same part of the film cannot be used twice. Printing results using this film ribbon are of higher quality than printing results using a fabric ribbon.

Actual printing is performed by mounting a ribbon cassette containing such an ink ribbon on a carriage.

That is, when printing starts, the carriage carrying the ribbon cassette moves in the axial direction of the platen, and as the carriage moves, the printing pins built into the print head protrude toward the platen. The protruding printing pin contacts the paper on the platen through the ink ribbon exposed from the ribbon cassette. Due to the contact of this printing pin,
Ink from the ink ribbon is applied to the paper to form dot characters.

In this type of printer device, the carriage driving load of the ribbon cassette mounted on the carriage has a large relationship with print quality. That is, since the carriage moves with the ribbon cassette mounted thereon, the start-up timing at the start of printing is influenced by loads such as fffffi of the ribbon cassette. In this case, as shown in Figure 4, the carriage drive load is greater in the order of fabric ribbon, color ink ribbon, and film ribbon, and the timing of carriage start-up (that is, the time until the carriage speed stabilizes) differs depending on this load. .

In conventional printer devices, acceleration/deceleration data for driving a carriage is set in accordance with a certain carriage driving load. Therefore, as shown in Figure 5, if a ribbon cassette with a carriage drive load suitable for the set acceleration/deceleration data is mounted on the carriage and printing is performed, the printing pin will be placed at the correct position on the paper. However, if a ribbon cassette with a carriage drive load different from the above-mentioned ribbon cassette is installed, the timing of the rise of the carriage will be shifted, making it impossible to hit the printing pin in the correct position. This method has the disadvantage that printing quality deteriorates due to dot misalignment, etc.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, in conventional printer devices, when handling multiple types of ribbon cassettes, the carriage was driven using a single acceleration/deceleration data. Due to the difference in load, there is a drawback that printing quality deteriorates due to dot misalignment, etc.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printer device that can print without causing deterioration in print quality such as dot misalignment even when handling multiple types of ribbon cassettes. .

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) That is, a printer device according to the present invention is a printer device in which a ribbon cassette is mounted on a carriage and performs printing, in which a plurality of types of ribbon cassettes, each of which can be mounted on the carriage, are provided. Using a ribbon cassette of The configuration is such that the data is read out and the carriage is driven.

(Function) According to the above configuration, when the ribbon cassette is mounted on the carriage, the carriage is driven with acceleration/deceleration data according to the gear ridge driving load of the ribbon cassette.

Therefore, even when handling multiple types of ribbon cassettes with different carriage loads, printing can be performed without causing deterioration in print quality such as dot misalignment.

(Embodiment) Hereinafter, a printer device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration thereof, and includes a control circuit (hereinafter referred to as MPU) 11 that controls the entire device.
The system bus 12 connected to the
B, motor drive circuit 17, head drive circuit 18, ribbon identification circuit 19, and ROM 20 for storing acceleration/deceleration data.
are connected to each other.

The interface circuit 13 transmits and receives data to and from an external device (not shown). The data buffer 14 stores print data etc. obtained through the interface circuit 13. The CG circuit 15 stores pattern data such as characters and graphics. The print buffer 1B develops the pattern data taken out from the CG circuit 15 into data necessary for printing.

The motor drive circuit 17 connects the carriage motor 21. It drives various motors such as the paper feed motor 22 and the ribbon motor 23. Each motor 21, 22, 23 is constituted by a pulse motor. Head drive circuit 18 drives print head 24 . The print head 24 is a head for forming dot characters that includes a plurality of print pins.

This print head 24 has a ribbon cassette mounted on a carriage (not shown), and causes print pins to protrude from the ink ribbon stored in the ribbon cassette to form dot characters on paper. The ribbon identification circuit 19 identifies the type of ribbon cassette mounted on the carriage, and the identification method will be described later.

The ROM 20 is a memory that stores acceleration/deceleration data serving as drive data for the carriage motor 21, and has three tables T1 to T3. Tables T1 to T3 each store acceleration/deceleration data set according to carriage loads of a plurality of types of ribbon cassettes. The acceleration/deceleration data is pulse cycle data given to the carriage motor 21 made up of a pulse motor. In this case, it is assumed that 3 Fn type ink ribbons, color ink ribbon, fabric ribbon, and film ribbon, are used, and the table T1 has a rise curve a corresponding to the carriage drive load of the fabric ribbon as shown in FIG. Acceleration/deceleration data having the following values are stored. Similarly, table T2 contains acceleration/deceleration data having a rising curve b corresponding to the carriage driving load of the color ink ribbon, and table T3 contains acceleration/decelerating data having a rising curve C corresponding to the carriage driving load of the film ribbon. remembered.

Here, the ribbon identification method of the ribbon identification circuit 19 will be explained.

The printer device of this embodiment is a printer device in which a ribbon cassette is mounted on a carriage to perform printing, and three types of ribbon cassettes can be exchanged. The three types of ribbon cassettes are color ink ribbon,
This is a ribbon cassette that stores fabric ribbons and film ribbons.

In order to identify these three types of ribbon cassettes, a ribbon identification switch made of, for example, a microswitch is provided on the carriage. On the other hand, a ribbon cassette containing a film ribbon is provided with a protrusion that turns on a ribbon identification switch when the cassette is mounted on a carriage. In addition, the ribbon cassette containing the color ink ribbon is mounted on the carriage.
A protrusion is provided to turn on the ribbon identification switch when the ribbon is rotated from the home position to a predetermined position. As a result, for example, when a film ribbon cassette is mounted on the carriage, the identification switch is turned on at that point. Furthermore, when a color ink ribbon cassette is installed, the identification switch is turned on when the cassette is rotated. Furthermore, when a fabric ribbon cassette is mounted, the identification switch is always in the off state without being turned on. The ribbon identification circuit 19 identifies the type of ribbon cassette mounted on the carriage based on the on/off state and the timing of turning on the identification switch.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the ribbon type identification operation. First, when the power is turned on, MPU 11 moves to the ribbon position (
The position of the ribbon cassette on the carriage is set to the color ribbon home position (step A1), and the state of the ribbon identification switch is checked (step A2). At this point, if the ribbon identification switch is on, the MP
U1l determines that a film ribbon cassette is mounted on the carriage and sets film ribbon information in the ribbon identification circuit 19.

On the other hand, if the ribbon identification switch is in the OFF state in step A2, the MPU 11 rotates the ribbon cassette (step A4) and checks the state of the ribbon identification switch again (step A5).

At this time, if the ribbon identification switch is turned on, the MPUI
I determines that a color ink ribbon cassette is mounted on the carriage, and sets color ink ribbon information to the ribbon identification circuit 19 (step A6). On the other hand, if the ribbon identification switch is in the OFF state in step A5, the MPU II determines that a fabric ribbon cassette is mounted on the carriage, and sets fabric ribbon information in the ribbon identification circuit 19 (step A7). .

In this manner, when the type of ribbon cassette mounted on the carriage is identified before printing starts, printing is performed according to the flowchart of FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the printing operation. First, the MPU 11 reads ribbon information set in the ribbon identification circuit 19 (step Bl). Then, if the read information is color ink ribbon information, the MPU 11 (step B2)
Refer to table T2 of ROM2G, and if it is film ribbon information (step B3), table T2
3, and if the information is not image information but fabric ribbon information, table T1 is also referred to (steps B4, B5, and B6). Thereafter, the MPU II performs carry/deceleration data based on the acceleration/deceleration data stored in the referenced table.
The printing motor 21 is driven to execute printing.

In this case, the table T1 stores acceleration/deceleration data having a rising curve a according to the carriage driving load of the fabric ribbon as shown in FIG.
2 shows acceleration/deceleration data having a rising curve b according to the carriage drive load of the color ink ribbon, table T3.
Acceleration/deceleration data having a rise curve C corresponding to the film ribbon carriage drive load is stored in each of them. Therefore, the carriage is driven at a speed that corresponds to the carriage drive load of the ribbon cassette currently mounted on the carriage. Therefore, even when handling multiple types of ribbon cassettes with different carriage loads, the print head 20
The printing pins protruding from the ink ribbon always come into contact with the paper at the correct position via the ink ribbon, making it possible to form high-quality dot characters without dot misalignment.

In this embodiment, it is assumed that each of the ribbon cassettes storing three types of ink ribbons, that is, a color ink ribbon, a fabric ribbon, and a film ribbon, has a different carriage driving load. Although we have prepared acceleration/deceleration data for each type of ink ribbon, for example, if the carriage drive load is the same between ribbon cassettes, even if the stored ink ribbon types are different, even if the same acceleration/deceleration data is used. The key point is to drive the carriage using acceleration/deceleration data that corresponds to the carriage drive load of the ribbon cassette.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, in a printer device that carries out printing by mounting a ribbon cassette on a carriage,
Using multiple types of ribbon cassettes, each of which can be mounted on the carriage, multiple acceleration/deceleration data are set according to the carriage drive load for each ribbon cassette, and from now on the ribbon cassettes mounted on the carriage are set. Since the type is identified, predetermined acceleration/deceleration data is read out, and the carriage is driven, printing is possible even when handling multiple types of ribbon cassettes without causing deterioration in print quality such as dot misalignment.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are flowcharts for explaining the operation of the same embodiment, and FIG. 4 shows carriage speed vs. ribbon type. The characteristic diagram of the carriage position, FIG. 5, is a diagram for explaining dot misalignment. 11...MPU, 12...system bus, 13...
・Interface circuit, 14... data buffer,
15... CG circuit, 16... Print buffer, 17.
...Motor drive circuit, 18...Head drive circuit, 19
...Ribbon identification circuit, 20...ROM, 21...
Carriage motor, 22...Paper feed motor, 23...
・Ribbon motor, 24...Print head. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a printer device that performs printing by mounting a ribbon cassette on a carriage, a plurality of types of ribbon cassettes, each of which can be mounted on the carriage, and a printer according to the carriage driving load of each of the plurality of types of ribbon cassettes are provided. storage means for storing a plurality of acceleration/deceleration data set by the above-mentioned carriage; identification means for identifying the type of the ribbon cassette mounted on the carriage; A printer device comprising: reading means for reading acceleration/deceleration data; and carriage driving means for driving the carriage based on the acceleration/deceleration data read by the reading means.