JPH0195085A - Serial printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow no printing to continue beyond the limits of the width of printing paper by mounting a sensor to detect whether paper is loaded on a horizontally moving carrier and controlling the printing action of a printing head according to its detection signal of the sensor. CONSTITUTION:A sensor 11 is provided on both ends of a printing head 5 mounted on a horizontally moving carrier, and 'no loaded printing paper' detection signal is output, when no printing paper 4 is loaded between a platen 3 and the sensor 1. A printing control part checks the existence of printing paper in front of the sensor 1. When the printing control part detects the non- existence of printing paper, the former suspends the printing action by the printing head 5. Subsequently, printing is not performed beyond the width of printing paper.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a serial printer, and more particularly to a serial printer that performs printing while moving a carrier on which a print head is mounted from side to side.

In conventional serial printers, the printing width is set using a dip switch or the like before printing. In this way, with conventional serial printers, the printing width is set in advance, and the printing width is determined only by the setting value, so if there is an error in the setting,
There was a drawback that printing continued beyond the width of the printing paper.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a serial printer that does not continue printing beyond the width of the printing paper.

According to the present invention, a print head, a sensor that detects the presence or absence of paper, a carrier that carries the print head and the sensor and moves left and right, and a print operation by the print head based on the detection signal. There is obtained a serial printer characterized in that it has a printing control means for controlling the printing.

Friend iff Next, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings showing one embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, one embodiment of the present invention includes a sensor 1 that detects the presence or absence of paper and generates a detection signal, and controls whether to continue or stop printing based on the detection signal obtained from the sensor 1. It has a printing control section 2 that performs the following operations.

As shown in FIG. 2, the sensors 1 are installed on both sides of the print head 5 mounted on a carrier that moves left and right, and detect the absence of paper when there is no printing paper 4 between the platen 3 and the sensor 1. Output a signal.

The print control unit 2 controls the print operation based on the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, the presence or absence of printing paper (presence of printing paper in front of sensor 1) is investigated based on the detection signal from sensor 1. When it is detected that there is no printing paper, the printing operation by the print head 5 is stopped. This prevents printing from exceeding the width of the printing paper.

As explained above, in the present invention, by detecting the presence or absence of printing paper, even if the printing width is mistakenly set wider than the printing paper, the printing operation can be performed beyond the width of the printing paper. can be prevented from continuing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a layout diagram of the vicinity of a sensor in this embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of this embodiment. Explanation of symbols of main parts 1...Sensor 2...Print control unit 3...Platen 4...Print paper 5...Print head Applicant: NEC Corporation (1 other person)

Claims (1)

[Claims] The present invention includes a print head, a sensor that detects the presence or absence of paper, a carrier that carries the print head and the sensor and moves left and right, and print control means that controls printing operations by the print head based on the detection signal. A serial printer with special features.