JPH0220351A - Dot matrix type printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To dispense with the printing data of a preceding printing line when a character having a different character height is printed and to miniaturize the memory capacity of a printed and an operation circuit for a line feed by a method wherein a printing element for printing the lowermost part of a character is arranged by the rotation of a dot matrix type printing head so that the leading end thereof is almost positioned on the extension line of the axis of a rotary shaft. CONSTITUTION:A printing head 4 is mounted on a carrier 5 through a rotary support part8 and a rotary means 9, and the rotary support part 5 is held so that the center line becomes vertical to the printing part of printing paper 6 and the printing head 4 is rotated around the center line being the center 2 of rotation. Printing elements 1 forming a printing element row 3 correspond to the leading end parts of printing wires 12 and the left end printing element is arranged so as to be positioned on the center line of the rotary support part 8, that is, on the center 2 of rotation of the printing head 4. Therefore, the center of rotation of the dot matrix type printing head when the magnification/contraction of a character or the alteration of dot density is performed coincides with the position of the printing element corresponding to the lowermost end of a printed character.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a dot matrix type printing device, and in particular, by rotating and tilting the print head, printing characters can be enlarged or reduced, and further relates to a dot matrix type printing device suitable for changing dot density.

[Prior Art] A printing method for enlarging/reducing printed characters or changing dot density by rotating and tilting a print head is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 45071/1983. Further, as a device for rotating and tilting the print head in the same manner, there is a device that uses the center of the print head as the center of rotation, as described in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 61-81947.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The above-described conventional technology makes it possible to enlarge/reduce printed characters and change dot density. However, no consideration has been given to the changing behavior of the printing paper when printing a text containing a mixture of characters of different sizes or when printing a mixture of printing patterns with different dot densities.

In other words, if the character size of the preceding print line and the character size of the print line to be printed are different, the printing is done so that the characters of the previous print line and the characters of the print line do not overlap or the line spacing becomes too large. The line feed amount of the printing paper must be controlled so that the line spacing is appropriate depending on the font size. Furthermore, if the character sizes differ within the same print line, the paper line feed amount must be controlled in order to adjust the print position in the character height direction so that the lower ends of the characters are aligned on a straight line. In the prior art described above, the above matters were not taken into consideration at all.

Next, the prior art will be explained using FIGS. 10, 11(a) and 11(b), FIG. 12, and 13(a) and 13(b).

Figures 10 and 11 (aL (b) show a conventional example in which the rotation center 2 of the print head is located at the center of the print head. Figures 10 and 11 (a), (b' )
Part A shown in FIG. 2 includes printing element rows 3a and 3b in which a plurality of printing elements 1 are arranged at regular intervals, a rotation center 2, and an angle θ1 . The relationship with θ2 is shown. Also,
Part B shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 (a) and (b) is
This shows an example of printing when printing is performed without moving the print head in the state shown in part A. Figure 10 shows the preceding print line (
In the N-1)th line, the print head is tilted by an angle θ1 to print characters with a character height Hl, and in the print line (N), the print head is tilted by an angle θ2 to print characters with a character height H2. This is the case. Advance print line (N-1) and print line (N)
When printing with a line spacing of X, the preceding printing line (N-1
) after printing, the printing paper line feed amount Y1 is ((H1+H2
) / 2 + Data must be saved. Therefore,
There are problems in that the printing device requires a large-capacity memory, the arithmetic circuit becomes large in order to calculate the line feed amount, and furthermore, the calculation requires a large amount of time.

FIGS. 11(a) and 11(b) show the case where characters of different sizes are printed within the same printing line. In other words, the case is shown in which a character with a character height Hl is printed with the print head tilted by an angle θ1, and a character with a character height H2 is printed with the print head tilted by an angle θ2 without line feed. ing. In this case, as shown in FIG. 11(a), since the rotation center 2 of the print head is located at the center of the print head, the lower end position of the character is at the distance Z1, that is, (Hl-H2)/
It shifts by 2. In order to eliminate this deviation Zl, the 11th
As shown in Figure (b), characters with character height Hl are printed with the print head tilted at an angle θ1, and then (Hl-H
2) It is necessary to perform the calculation of /2, insert a line break by this value, and then print a character with a character height H2 with the print head tilted at an angle θ2.

Conversely, if you print characters with a low character height first and then print characters with a high character height, the shift z
After calculating l, a reverse line feed must be performed by the calculated shift Zl.

In order to avoid this reverse line feed, it is necessary to set the printing order by printing in descending order of character height.

Therefore, even when printing characters with different character heights on the same line, avoid calculations using the height data of characters printed in the preceding printing line and line feeds, reverse line feeds, or reverse line feeds according to the calculations. In order to do this, it is necessary to set the printing order. As a result, there are problems in that the printing device requires a large-capacity memory, the arithmetic circuit for calculating the line feed amount becomes large, and furthermore, the calculation requires a large amount of time.

12 and 13(a) and 13(b) show a conventional example in which the rotation center 2 of the print head is aligned with the position of the printing elements 1a, 1b corresponding to the upper ends of the characters to be printed.

Figure 12 shows that in the preceding printing line (N-1), the print head is tilted by an angle θ1 to print a character with a character height Hl, and then in the print line N, the print head is tilted by an angle θ2. This is a case where characters with a character height of H2 are printed. When printing with the line spacing between the preceding printing line (N-1) and printing line N as X, the printing paper line feed amount Y2 after printing the preceding printing line (N-1) must be (H1 + X). , even though the print line is printed, it is necessary to save data indicating the character size of the printed (N-1) line as data for calculating the line feed amount of the printing paper.

As a result, there are problems in that the printing device requires a large-capacity memory, the arithmetic circuit for calculating the line feed amount becomes large, and furthermore, the calculation requires a large amount of time.

FIGS. 13(a) and 13(b) show cases in which characters of different print character sizes are printed within the same print line. When printing a character with a character height Hl with the print head tilted at an angle θ1, and then printing a character with a character height H2 on the same line with the print head tilted at an angle θ2, assuming that no line feed operation is involved, As shown in Fig. 13(a), since the rotation center 2 of the print head is located at the position of the printing element corresponding to the upper end of the printed character, the lower end position of the character is at a distance x2, that is, (Hl-H
It shifts by 2). In order to eliminate this deviation x2, the first
As shown in Figure 3(b), the print head is tilted at an angle θ1.
After printing characters with character height Hl as (Hl-H2
) to find the deviation Z2, insert a line break by the deviation Z2, and then set the print head tilt to the angle θ2 and set the character height H2.
It is necessary to print the characters.

On the other hand, when a character with a smaller character height, that is, a character with a character height of H2, is printed in advance, the line feed described above becomes a reverse line feed. In order to avoid this reverse line feed, it is necessary to set the printing order by printing in descending order of character height.

Therefore, even when printing characters with different character heights on the same line, avoid calculations using the height data of characters printed in the preceding printing line and line feeds, reverse line feeds, or reverse line feeds according to the calculations. In order to do this, it is necessary to set the printing order. As a result, there are problems in that the printing device requires a large-capacity memory, the arithmetic circuit for calculating the line feed amount becomes large, and furthermore, the calculation requires a large amount of time.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the prior art described above, and when printing characters of different character heights, the memory capacity of the printing device can be reduced by eliminating the need for the print data of the preceding print line. Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a printing device that can miniaturize the arithmetic circuit for line feed and perform line feed arithmetic in a short time.

[Means for Solving the Problems] A first dot matrix printing device of the present invention includes a dot matrix print head having a structure in which a plurality of printing elements are arranged in a row, and an axis perpendicular to the printing surface. A rotation support means for a dot matrix print head that rotatably supports the dot matrix print head about the axis, a rotation means for rotating the matrix print head about the axis, and a rotation support means for rotating the matrix print head. and a supporting means, which is applied to the above-mentioned dot matrix type printing device, and in particular, among the plurality of above-mentioned printing elements, the tip of the printing element that prints the lowest part of the character by rotation of the dot matrix type print head is connected to the above-mentioned axis. It is characterized by being arranged so that it is positioned approximately on an extension of the axis of the.

Further, a second dot matrix type printing device of the present invention includes a dot matrix type print head having a structure in which a plurality of printing elements are arranged in a row, and an axis perpendicular to the printing surface, and the dot matrix type printing device is arranged around this axis. a dot matrix print head rotation support means for rotatably supporting the matrix print head; a rotation means for rotating the matrix print head about the axis; a rotation support means for the matrix print head; and the dot matrix print head. This is applied to a type printing device, and in particular, the tip of the printing element located at one end of the plurality of printing elements arranged in one row is approximately on the extension line of the axis of the shaft. The rotating means is characterized in that the rotating means rotates the matrix print head in a direction in which the tip of the printing element located at the one end prints the lowest part of the character.

[Function] According to the first and second dot matrix type printing devices of the present invention, the center of rotation of the dot matrix type print head and the bottom edge of the printed character when enlarging or reducing the character or changing the dot density. Since the positions of the printing elements corresponding to are the same, the origin of the character height is the bottom dot of the printed character. Therefore, by changing the inclination of the dot matrix print head, even if the character size or dot density is changed, the position of the lowest dot will remain constant without shifting in the character height direction, and the character will always be at the highest position. It becomes larger or smaller above the dot at the bottom. That is, the reference for determining the line spacing is the position of the lowest dot, regardless of the character size or dot density. Therefore, the line feed amount when changing lines is determined only by the data of the character size or dot density printed in the preceding print line and the data of the arbitrary line spacing, regardless of the size or dot density of the characters printed in the preceding print line. can be determined. Therefore, there is no need to store character size data of previously printed lines and perform calculations using that data, and the memory capacity and calculation circuit do not become large.

Moreover, the processing time for this can also be shortened.

In addition, when printing characters of different sizes in the same print line, the rotation center of the print head rotation to change the character size coincides with the position of the printing element corresponding to the bottom edge of the character, so any character size Even if a character is printed, the position of the dot at the bottom of the character remains constant, and there is no need to perform a line break to align the print position. Therefore, there is no need to store data of other character sizes for which printing has been completed and to calculate the line feed amount for print alignment and line feed, and the memory capacity and calculation circuit do not become large. Moreover, the processing time for this is also no longer necessary.

[Example code] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the vicinity of the print head of a printing device embodying the present invention. The print head 4 is mounted on the carrier 5 via a rotation support 8 and rotation means 9. The rotation support part 8 is held so that its center line is perpendicular to the printing part of the printing paper 6, and holds the print head 4 so that the print head 4 can rotate about the center line as the rotation center 2. There is.

The rotating means 9 consists of a motor 11 and a pinion 10, and is connected to the motor 11 via a rack 15 fixed to the print head 4.
The rotation causes the print head 4 to rotate around the rotation center 2. Therefore, by controlling the amount of rotation of the motor 11, the inclination of the print head 4 can be arbitrarily changed using the rotation center 2 as a fixed point.

Inside the print head 4, a plurality of print elements 1 are arranged in a row to form a print element row 3.

In this embodiment, the printing element 1 corresponds to the tip of the printing wire 12. The printing element array 3 of this embodiment is arranged such that the leftmost printing element is located on the center line of the rotation support 8, that is, on the rotation center 2 of the print head 4. Therefore, when the pinion 10 is rotated in the direction of arrow E by the rotation means 9 and the print head 4 is rotated in the direction of arrow C, the printing element 3 is centered around the leftmost printing element IL, and the leftmost printing element IL becomes the lower end. tilt like this. The printing wire 12 has an armature 13 at its rear end, flies toward the printing paper 6 by selectively driving an electromagnetic mechanism (not shown), and prints dots via an ink ribbon (not shown). The carrier 5 carrying the print head 4 runs laterally on support rails 7 provided parallel to the print paper 6. By selecting each printing element 1 in the printing element array 3 in this state, characters or patterns are printed on the printing paper 6. A line feed operation is performed by moving the printing paper 6 in the vertical direction by a line feed means (not shown).

Next, the printing operation will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. In FIGS. 2 and 3, part A is a part for explaining the relationship between the printing element row 3, the rotation center 2, and the print head rotation angle, and part B is a part for explaining the relationship between the printing element row 3, the rotation center 2, and the print head rotation angle, and the part B is a part for explaining the relationship between the printing element row 3, the rotation center 2, and the print head rotation angle. This is an example of printed characters when printed.

FIG. 2 shows a case where characters of different sizes are printed in the preceding print line (N-1) and the print line (N). A plurality of printing elements 1 are arranged in a line with equal intervals P and a length a to form a printing element row 3a. The leftmost printing element IL in this printing element row 3a is positioned on the center line of the rotation support part 8, and forms the rotation center 2. The printing element row 3a is rotated in the direction of the arrow by an angle θ1 from the horizontal with the rotation center 2 as the center so that fiXsinθ1 is equal to the size of the character printed on the (N-1)th line, that is, the character height Hl. The rotation is tilted. Therefore, in this state, in order to selectively operate the printing element 1 without moving in the horizontal direction, the characters shown in section B are printed, for example, and the rotation center 2
The printing element 1 corresponding to 1 will print the bottom dot. To tilt the printing element row 3a by an angle θ1 is as follows:
This can be done arbitrarily by controlling the rotation means described above.

Next, when printing N lines, QXsinθ2 is N
The printing element row 3b may be tilted by 02 in the direction of the arrow from the horizontal so that the character height H2 in the row is obtained.

At this time as well, it is natural that the printing element IL corresponding to the rotation center 2 prints the dot at the bottom of the printed character. In this way, when the leftmost printing element IL is aligned with the rotation center 2, by rotating so that the inclination direction of the printing element row 3 is always in the direction of the arrow, no matter what size characters are printed, the bottommost The dot position is constant, and the height of the character expands and contracts upward from the bottom dot position as a base point. That is, the dot at the bottom of the preceding line, which serves as the reference for the line spacing X from the next printed line, can be regarded as a fixed position regardless of the character size. Therefore, (N-1)
The line feed amount Y3 of the printing paper 6 when moving from the printing line to the Nth line only needs to be set to a value that is the sum of the arbitrary line spacing X and the character height H2 for printing on the Nth line. Therefore, (N-
1) Because of the line feed after the printing of a line has finished, it is necessary to save the character height data of the ('N -1) line where printing has finished, and also to perform calculations using that data. can be omitted.

FIG. 3 shows a case where characters of different sizes are printed within the same print line. In this case as well, the printing element row 3 is tilted in the direction indicated by the arrow around the rotation center 2 by angles θ1 and θ2 from the horizontal, respectively, so that the character heights Hl and H2 are achieved, resulting in the states 3a and 3b. . First, a character with a character height Hl is printed in the printing element array 3a, and then a character with a character height H2 is printed in the printing element array 3b. Or, conversely, the characters with the character height H2 may be printed first, and then the characters with the character height H1 may be printed. In either case, since the rotation center 2 of the printing element row 3 coincides with the position of the printing element IL that prints the bottom end of the character, the state of the printing element row 3a changes from the state of the printing element row 3b, or Print element row 3b
When transitioning from to the state of the printing element row 3a, the lower end positions of the characters match even if the characters are of different sizes, without changing the printing paper 6. Therefore, even when printing characters of different sizes on the same line, there is no need to align the bottom edge of the characters, and for that reason, it is possible to save the character height data of other sizes that have been printed and use that value. It is possible to omit the calculation and furthermore, the change operation based on the calculation result.

In the case of this embodiment, the rotation center 2 is made to coincide with the position of the leftmost printing element 1 of the printing element row 3, but it may be made to coincide with the position of the rightmost printing element 1 of the printing element row 3. . This can be realized by rotating and inclining the print element array 3 in the direction opposite to the direction indicated by the arrow in the figure.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the invention. In this case, the rotation support part and the rotation means are not directly connected to the print head 4, but are connected to the head holding member 14 on which the print head 4 is mounted. In this case as well, the operation, function, and effect are the same as those in the embodiment shown in FIG. be.

Furthermore, other embodiments of the present invention are shown in FIGS. 5 to 7.

In FIG. 5, the rotating means 9 is composed of a cam 17,
By rotating the cam 17 in the direction of arrow F, the printing element row 3 is rotated and tilted in the direction of arrow C about the rotation center 2. Therefore, the printing element 1 whose position coincides with the rotation center 2 will print the dot at the bottom of the printed character. 6th
The figure shows an example in which the rotating means 9 is composed of a worm 16. Furthermore, FIG. 7 shows that the rotating means 9 is connected to a solenoid 18. This is a case where the latch spring 19 and the latch arm 20 are used.

It should be noted that the same effects as the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 can be obtained in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 5 to 7 as well.
Needless to say.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are diagrams illustrating printing operations in still another embodiment. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the printing element rows 3 are arranged in two rows, and in this case as well, the rotation center 2 for rotating and tilting the printing element row 3 is located at the bottom of the printed character. This is to match the printing element IL corresponding to a dot. 8th
The figure shows the case where the character size or dot density is different between the preceding print line (N-1) and the print line (N), and the 9th
The figure shows an example of printing when the character size or dot density differs within the same line. It goes without saying that even when the printing element rows 3 are arranged in two rows, the same effects as those of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 to 7 can be obtained ().

In each of the above embodiments, a wire dot type impact type printing device has been described, but the present invention can be similarly applied to a thermal type printing device or an inkjet type printing device. In the case of a thermosensitive type, the printing element 1 is a heating element, and in the case of an inkjet type, the printing element 1 is an ink jet nozzle.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, the rotation center of the rotational inclination of the printing element array for enlarging/reducing characters or changing the dot density coincides with the position of the printing element where the lowest dot of the printed character is printed. Therefore, even if characters of any size or dot density are mixed and printed, the lower end position can always be regarded as fixed, which eliminates the need to store, calculate, and store extra data for line breaks or print alignment. Since the basic changeover operation can be omitted, it is possible to realize an inexpensive printing device with a small memory capacity and arithmetic circuit, and a high processing speed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially sectional perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention;
FIGS. 2 and 3 are explanatory diagrams showing the shapes of characters printed according to the inclination of the printing elements in the embodiment shown in FIG.
FIGS. 4 to 7 are partially sectional perspective views showing other embodiments of the present invention, and FIGS. 8 and 9 show the printing elements when two rows of printing elements are provided in this invention. Explanatory diagrams showing the shapes of characters printed according to the inclination, Figures 10 and 11 (aL (b) and Figures 12 and 13 (a)
, (b) is an explanatory diagram showing the shape of characters printed according to the inclination of printing elements by a conventional print head. 1, la, IL...Printing element, 2...Rotation center, 3
3a, 3b...Print element row, 4...Print head, 6...Print paper, 8...Rotation support section, 9...Rotation means, 10...Pinion, 12... printing wire,
14... Head holding member, 16... Worm, 17
...Cam, 18...Solenoid, 19...Latch spring. Agent Patent Attorney Masami Akimoto”: rtsu-3271

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A dot matrix print head having a structure in which a plurality of printing elements are arranged in one row, and an axis perpendicular to the printing surface, making the dot matrix print head rotatable around this axis. A rotating means for supporting the dot matrix print head, a rotation means for rotating the dot matrix print head around the axis, and a moving means for moving the dot matrix print head parallel to the printing surface. In the dot matrix type printing device, the tip of the printing element that prints the lowest part of the character by rotation of the dot matrix type print head among the plurality of printing elements is positioned approximately on the extension line of the axis of the shaft. A dot matrix printing device characterized by being provided with a dot matrix type printing device. 2. The dot matrix type printing device according to claim 1, wherein the printing elements are provided in a plurality of rows. 3. The dot matrix type printing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the rotation support means is provided via a holding member connected to the dot matrix type print head. 4. The dot matrix printing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the rotating means is provided via a holding member connected to the dot matrix printing head. 5. The dot matrix printing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the rotation support means and the rotation means are provided via a holding member connected to the dot matrix print head. . 6. The dot matrix type printing device according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, wherein the rotating means is constituted by a cam. 7. The dot matrix type printing device according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, wherein the rotating means is constituted by a worm. 8. The dot matrix type printing device according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, wherein the rotating means comprises a solenoid and a latch mechanism. 9. The dot matrix printing device according to claim 1, wherein the printing element is composed of a wire. 10. Claim 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6, wherein the printing element is comprised of a heating element.
Or the dot matrix type printing device according to 7 or 8. 11. Claim 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5, wherein the printing element is comprised of a liquid jet nozzle.
Or the dot matrix printing device according to 6, 7 or 8. 12. A dot matrix print head having a structure in which a plurality of printing elements are arranged in a row, and a dot matrix print having an axis perpendicular to the printing surface and supporting the dot matrix print head rotatably around this axis. In a dot matrix type printing device, the dot matrix type printing device includes: a head rotation support means; a rotation means for rotating the dot matrix type print head around the axis; and a moving means for moving the dot matrix type print head in parallel to a printing surface. , the tip of the printing element located at one end of the plurality of printing elements arranged in one row is arranged so as to be positioned approximately on an extension of the axis of the shaft, and the rotation means A dot matrix type printing device, characterized in that the dot matrix type printing head is rotated in a direction in which the leading end of the printing element located at one end prints the lowest part of the character. 13. The dot matrix type printing device according to claim 12, wherein the printing elements are provided in a plurality of rows. 14. The dot matrix type printing device according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the rotation support means is provided via a holding member connected to the dot matrix type print head. 15. The dot matrix printing device according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the rotating means is provided via a holding member connected to the dot matrix printing head. 16. The dot matrix printing device according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the rotation support means and the rotation means are provided via a holding member connected to the dot matrix print head. . 17. The dot matrix type printing device according to claim 12, 13, 14, 15, or 16, wherein the rotating means is constituted by a cam. 18. Claim 12 or 13 or 14 or 1, wherein the rotating means is constituted by a worm.
17. The dot matrix printing device according to 5 or 16. 19. The dot matrix type printing device according to claim 12, 13, 14, 15, or 16, wherein the rotating means comprises a solenoid and a latch mechanism. 20. Claim 12 or 13 or 14 or 15 or 1, wherein the printing element is composed of a wire.
20. The dot matrix printing device according to 6 or 17 or 18 or 19. 21. The dot matrix printing device according to claim 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, or 19, wherein the printing element is constituted by a heating element. 22. Claim 12 or 13 or 14 or 1, wherein the printing element is comprised of a liquid jet nozzle.
20. The dot matrix printing device according to 5 or 16 or 17 or 18 or 19.