JPH0146315B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a printing speed control method, and more particularly to a printing speed control method that allows alphanumeric characters and kana characters on the same line as kanji characters to be printed at high speed.

For example, in a dot matrix serial printer that uses the tip of a wire to print dots as pixels in a matrix, A/N characters, alphanumeric characters, and kana are printed with 7 dots vertically and 9 dots horizontally, or 9 dots vertically and 9 dots horizontally. is sufficient, whereas
Kanji characters have a large number of strokes, so a matrix of at least 14 dots vertically and 16 dots horizontally is required.

As shown in FIG. 1, the horizontal direction of the A/N character matrix consists of 5 main dots (solid lines) and 4 half dots (dotted lines) that are struck during scanning in the head movement direction H. In the vertical direction, as shown in FIG. 2, it is composed of seven (or nine) dot wires D1 to D7 arranged vertically. and,
As the head equipped with seven dot wires moves along the printing line, the dot magnet is energized when it reaches the position marked ○ or ⓓ in FIG.
Print by driving the tip of the dot wire into the paper.

The character matrix used for printing is explained using the letter "A" shown in Fig. 3. Within the horizontal dots printed by the same wire, adjacent main dots 〇 and half dots 〓 are both printed. There is always a gap of one dot. However, this is due to the time limitation that occurs when printing at a printing speed of 100 to 160 characters/second, such as an A/N printer.
By printing at a low speed of characters per second, the horizontal bar of the letter "A" can be printed adjacent to each other with the main dot and half dot being the same, as shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 shows a matrix in the case of deletion.

Incidentally, conventionally, a printer system has been proposed in which A/N characters in a matrix of 7×9, 9×9, etc. and Kanji characters in a matrix of 14×16, etc. are mixed and printed in one line. For example, in the method shown in Figure 6a, there are 7 additional dots below the 7 vertical dots for A/N.
Add dots to form 14 dots for kanji, first print the upper half of kanji and each character of A/N characters along the printing line from left to right with 7 vertical dots, then print the last of the printing line. After finishing, insert a line break by one A/N character, move the head in the opposite direction from right to left, and print only the lower half of the kanji. In this method, the sizes of the kanji characters and A/N characters in one line become uneven.

Next, in the method shown in Figure 6b, 7 dots are inserted between each of the 7 vertical dots of the A/N character to form 14 dots for kanji, and the 7 dots (main dots) are first printed. Kanji and A/N characters are printed from left to right along the line, and after printing the last character of the print line, the recording paper is fed and the mark is printed between the first dot and the second dot (main dot). 1st to
The excitation of the step pulse motor for feeding the recording paper is controlled so that the dot (half dot) is positioned, the head is moved in the opposite direction from right to left after a line break, and the head is moved in the opposite direction from right to left to match the previously printed character. Kanji and A/N characters are printed in 14 x 16 dots by overprinting.

In addition, in FIGS. 6a and 6b, instead of sequentially printing the upper half and the lower half, it is also possible to print only the upper half first and then print the lower half all at once. In other words, as shown in Fig. 7, if 〓 is the upper half and 〇 is the lower half, then all 〓 are printed the first time, and all 〇 are printed the second time to form an interlaced matrix. A method can also be used.

However, with this method, if even one kanji character is mixed in one line, it is necessary to print one line at a lower printing speed (for example, at a speed of 60 characters/second) to increase the resolution of the matrix. Because of this detailed pattern (kanji, etc.), other A/N characters must also be printed at a low speed, which takes a considerable amount of time compared to the conventional printing time for only A/N characters. ing.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems in the conventional printing speed control method, and to solve the problem when A/N characters and fine patterns (kanji etc.) are mixed in one line. To provide a printing speed control method in which the printing speed is reduced in order to increase resolution, but in the case of only other characters, the effective printing speed is increased without reducing the printing speed as much as possible.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a line buffer for one line according to the present invention.

In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 8, a buffer 2 for printing one line is provided, and the data input to this buffer 2, DATA IN, is processed by a decoder 1 to distinguish information such as kanji characters and A/N characters. are input sequentially from That is, at the time of input into the buffer 2, information identified as kanji characters and A/N characters is stored in the buffer 2. The identification bit 12 is
For example, 〇 is an A/N character, and 〓 is a kanji. Also,
The character code 22 is stored in an area corresponding to the identification bit 12. Furthermore, the decoded contents are line feed LF and carriage return.
In the case of a function code such as CR, the information is not input to the line buffer 2, but is input to the function operation control circuit 3, which controls the operation of each function.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of the main parts of the printer of the present invention.

FIG. 9 shows a print control circuit 6, a character generator 7, a position signal generation circuit 8, a solenoid drive circuit 9, a speed control circuit 10, and a space generator.
In addition to the motor drive unit 11 installed, there are also a buffer organizing circuit 4, a counter 5, a speed memory 14,
An initial speed memory 13 is newly installed.

The data stored in line buffer 2 is
Immediately before printing starts, the buffer organizing circuit 4 sequentially organizes the data. That is, the buffer organizing circuit 4 sequentially reads out the identification bits 12 in the buffer 2 to determine whether it is an A/N character or a kanji character, and if it is a kanji character, stores low-speed printing information in the speed memory 14, and also stores information about low-speed printing in the space SP. If so, the counter 5 counts how many consecutive SPs there are, and the point at which the series of SPs ends is regarded as the end of one block.

Clearance circuit 4 is a continuous space within the buffer.
An internal code F indicating the start of a series of SPs, the contents of the counter 5, and the contents of the speed memory 14 are written at both ends of the SP. By repeating this process many times for each block, the organization in the buffer is completed. Further, speed information at the time of starting printing is input into initial speed memories 13, 13'. 13 is an initial speed memory when printing starts from the left, and 13' is an initial speed memory when printing starts from the right.

FIG. 10 shows an example of the output result of the buffer organizing circuit 4. In FIG. In the figure, B1 indicates the first block, B2 indicates the second block, and blocks other than the first block (for example, block B
Regarding 2), the space before and after is included. Also, A, B, ... are the above blocks B1, B.
2. Replace the non-space parts of a, b,...
indicates the continuous space portion between the blocks B1, B2, . . . , and A, B, .

In FIG. 10, 15 is the above-mentioned speed information, 16 is the F code indicating the start of the space, 17 is the content of the counter 5, that is, the number of consecutive spaces, and 13, 13 are the numbers of the first spaces. It is speed memory. In order to be able to handle printing from either the left or right side, these speed information, etc. are written redundantly in the continuous space parts a, b, ... before and after the non-space parts a, b, .... ing. Further, the speed information at the start of printing is stored in the initial speed memories 13, 13' as 2 bits.

Next, when performing a printing operation, in FIG.
The organized data in the buffer 2 is sequentially read out from the left end or right end by the print control circuit 6, a character pattern is generated from the character generator 7 according to the read character code, and the solenoid is driven in synchronization with the position signal generation circuit 8. Printing is performed by energizing the circuit 9.

For example, when printing from the left, after the initial speed is determined by the initial speed memory 13, the part A is first printed at that speed, and when the F code 16 is read, the speed information RO and the space SP are printed. number 17
The carriage is controlled to the starting position. The printing speed of the part B is determined by the speed information B read earlier.

11 and 12 are time charts of the speed control in FIG. 9, respectively.

When data is sequentially read from the buffer 2 by the print operation and an F code 16 is detected in the data, the speed control circuit 10 reads the data based on the speed information 15 and the number of spaces 17 written in the buffer 2. Then, the printing speed and printing position of the next block are calculated, and the space motor drive unit 11 is controlled.

For example, when the contents of the buffer 2 are as shown in FIG. As shown in figure b, the low speed V _L is determined, the data in the buffer (A/N characters, Kanji K) is printed sequentially, and the speed begins to be controlled by the F code written at the beginning of the continuous space. . The speed of the continuous space portion C is determined by the number of spaces SP and increases in the case of FIG. 11b to the skip speed _VSK . The printing speed after skipping is determined by the first speed information 19 of the space, and the printing speed is determined by the data B part (A/N
characters) are printed at high speed _VH . The speed information 20 determines the speed after skipping when printing from the right.

In the case of the data content shown in Figure 12a, after the data on the left side (A/N characters, Kanji K) is printed at the low speed V _L determined by the initial speed memory, the space part is controlled to the high speed V _H12 . , the data after the skip (A/N characters) is printed at high speed _VH based on the speed information.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, one line is divided into a plurality of areas based on the information in the line buffer, and the printing speed of the area containing kanji is changed to the printing speed of the area not containing kanji. In addition to controlling the printing speed to be lower than that of , the printing speed is changed using the space area.

As described above, according to the present invention, even when kanji and alphanumeric characters are mixed on one line, the printing speed can be variably controlled in units of blocks separated by spaces, so high-speed printing is possible as a whole. becomes.

Furthermore, since the printing speed is changed using the space area determined by the space information in the buffer, it is possible to prevent blurred printing.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a horizontal dot configuration diagram of a conventional A/N dot printer, Figure 2 is a wire configuration diagram of a conventional A/N dot printer, and Figure 3 is a conventional A/N dot printer. A diagram showing a dot matrix when printing "A" with a printer, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a dot matrix in the case of low-speed printing in a conventional printer, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the matrix in the case of deletion. Fig. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the conventional printing method when A/N characters and kanji are mixed, Fig. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the interlaced printing method, and Fig. 8 is an explanatory diagram of the line buffer method showing an embodiment of the present invention. 9 is a block diagram of the main parts of a printer showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the buffer contents after arrangement of FIG. 8, and FIGS. 11 and 12 are respectively FIG. 9. This is a time chart of the speed control operation in . 1: Decoder, 2: Line buffer, 3: Function operation control circuit, 4: Buffer organizing circuit, 5: Counter, 6: Print control circuit, 7: Character generator, 8: Position signal generation circuit, 9: Solenoid Drive circuit, 10: Speed control circuit, 11: Space motor drive section, 12: Kanji, A/N character identification bit, 13, 13': Initial speed memory, 14: Speed memory, 15: Speed information,
16: F code, 17: Number of spaces, 18: Initial speed information, 19: Speed information after skipping when printing from the left, 20: Speed information after skipping when printing from the right, 22: Character code information ,
PRT/P: Print position, K: Kanji, V _SK : Skip speed, V _H : High speed, V _L : Low speed.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Print a character pattern as a collection of dots using the printing head that moves along the print line according to the character information including alphanumeric characters, kana, and kanji in the line buffer, and also print according to the space information in the line buffer. In a printer that moves the print head without moving, the character information in the line buffer is divided into multiple areas based on space information, and the space area determined by the space information in the line buffer between each area is used. A printing speed control method characterized in that the printing speed of an area including kanji is controlled to be lower than the printing speed of an area not including kanji.