JPH02277682A - Printer control apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To set left and right margin spaces to the same pattern on both surfaces without conscious of surface/rear faces by simple constitution by performing perfecting printing on the basis of the data relating to a blank space. CONSTITUTION:Front surface printing is performed by a conventional printing control system and, in the case of rear printing, an operation result X of ['paper width data (i)'-'left margin printing impossible width data (m)'-'printing width data (b)'] is stored in a #3 register 13-5 and an operation result Y of ['paper width data (i)'-'left margin printing impossible width data (m)'-'left blank data (a)'] is stored in a #4 register 13-6. Printing is performed from the position corresponding to the above mentioned X to the position corresponding to the above mentioned Y on the basis of the contents of the #3 and #4 registers 13-5, 13-6. At the time of printing, character data is read from the b-column of a line buffer 15 to the a-column thereof reversely up and down in reverse order to perform the printing of one line. By this method, surface/rear faces printing can be performed so as to have the same left and right margin spaces.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Summary] A printer equipped with a paper reversing mechanism and configured to perform continuous printing on both the front and back sides of paper.

Regarding a printer control method that ensures that the left and right blank spaces on both the front and back surfaces are the same.

With a simple configuration, you can easily make the left and right blank spaces the same on both the front and back sides, and set binding margins on both sides, without having to be conscious of front/back sides when printing on two sides. Aimed at providing printers.

a paper width storage means in which paper width information is stored; first information representing a print start position when printing one surface; and second information representing a print end position during printing the first surface; - (predetermined left edge unprintable width information + said second information)]; and [contents of said paper width storage means - (predetermined left edge unprintable width information + said second information)]. information + fourth information representing a calculation result of the first information)].

When performing double-sided printing so that both sides have the same left and right blank areas, from the printing start position based on the content of the first information above to the printing end position based on the content of the second information above when printing on two sides. Each line is printed by repeating the printing of the range.

In addition, when printing the back side of the paper, each line is printed by repeating printing in the range from the printing start position based on the content of the third information to the printing end position based on the content of the fourth information. control and provide a margin on both sides, when printing on the back side, the fourth information is added to the first information from the printing start position based on the content obtained by adding the first information to the third information. The system is configured to control printing of each line by repeating printing in the range up to the printing end position based on the added information of .

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a printer control method for making the left and right blank spaces on both the front and back sides the same in a printer equipped with a paper reversing mechanism and configured to perform continuous printing on both the front and back sides of the paper.

In recent years, various printers have been developed that are capable of printing continuously on the front and back sides of paper.

The present invention has a simple and identical configuration so that there is no need to be conscious of the front/back side when printing on both sides (it is possible to make the left and right blank spaces have the same pattern on both the front and back sides, and to provide binding margins on both the front and back sides). To provide a printer that can be easily used.

[Conventional technology]

A conventional printer that continuously prints on the front and back sides of paper will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of the mechanism of a conventional printer.

FIG. 9 shows a flowchart for explaining the operation in the conventional example shown in FIG.

In FIG. 8, 5 numeral 1 is a print head, 2 is a platen, and a sheet of paper and an ink ribbon (not shown) are inserted between the platen 2 and the print head 1. The print head 1 is driven to print.

3 is a paper detection sensor 5 that detects the leading edge and trailing edge of paper when printing on the surface of the paper, and measures the period of presence and absence of paper by the number of feed pulses, respectively, and calculates a paper present count and a paper out count. Control.

4 is a paper feed roller, and 5 is a paper intake/discharge port.

6 is a paper guide, and 7 is a guide drum, which together with the paper guide 6 serves as a guide when reversing the paper.

A paper detection sensor 8 detects the leading edge and trailing edge of the paper when the paper is reversed, and similarly to the paper detection sensor 3, controls the paper count and paper out count.

A is the printing section, printing bend 1. Platen 2. Paper detection sensor 3. Paper feed roller 4. and a paper detection sensor 8.

Reference numeral B denotes a paper reversing section, which is composed of a paper feed roller 4°, a paper guide 6, and a guide drum 7.

The operation of the printer shown in FIG.
A line feed (LF) execution command is issued from the main unit (not shown), which will be explained in conjunction with the illustrated flowchart (71).

Based on this execution command, the excitation phase of the pulse motor for feeding the paper is switched, and feeding of the paper is started (72).

When the leading edge of the paper is detected by the paper detection sensor 3, the first paper is read from that position according to the format set by the main unit.
When the paper is fed to the line printing position, printing of the first line is started (73).

The paper out count is cleared by the ON signal of the paper detection sensor 3 (74).

1 when the paper cannot be detected by the paper detection sensor 3.
Amplify the paper out count (75).

A comparison is made to see if the out-of-paper count is greater than a specified out-of-paper count (76).

If the paper out count is greater than the specified paper out count, paper out processing is performed (77).

Clear the out-of-paper count (74), and if the out-of-paper count is not greater than the specified out-of-paper count, return to 1 and repeat the next execution (78).

After the front surface of the paper is printed, the paper is reversed by the reversing unit 9, and the leading edge of the paper is detected by the paper detection sensor 8.

The subsequent operation is similar to the above-described paper surface printing.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the conventional printer as described above, when printing on the back side, the definitions of the left and right sides and the top and bottom of the paper are exactly opposite to those when printing on the front side. Therefore, in the case of back side printing, by reversing the top and bottom of the single character pattern data and also reversing the left and right of a part of the data, the left and right and top and bottom definitions of the paper in the case of two side printing and back side printing are made to match. It is known to do so.

However, the blank spaces provided on the left and right sides differ between the case of printing on one side and the case of printing on the back side. Also,
When a binding margin is provided, there is a problem that the position of the blank space of the binding margin is not the same in the case of two-sided printing and the case of back-sided printing.

As a means of solving this problem, consideration has been given to creating a document in such a way that the blank spaces provided on the left and right sides correspond to the front-side printing document and the back-side printing document. Ru.

Alternatively, consideration should be given to providing sufficient consideration in the software. However, the former method has a problem in that document creation is complicated, and the latter method has a problem in that control is complicated.

The present invention provides a printer control method that allows blank spaces to be easily matched without being aware of front/back sides during single-sided printing, and that performs 0-sided printing by providing blank spaces for binding. The purpose is to

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a paper width storage means in which paper width information is stored, first information representing the print start position when printing one surface, and first information representing the print end position when printing the first surface. 2, the content of the paper width storage means - (predetermined left edge unprintable width information + the second information), third information representing the calculation result, and the content of the paper width storage means - ( and a means for storing a predetermined left edge unprintable width information (first information above) and fourth information representing the calculation result, and perform double-sided printing so that both the front and back sides have the same left and right blank areas. In this case, when printing the front side, each line is printed by repeating printing in the range from the printing start position based on the content of the first information to the printing end position based on the content of the second information, In addition, when printing the back side of the paper, each line is printed by repeating printing in the range from the printing start position based on the content of the third information to the printing end position based on the content of the fourth information. When the $8 margin is provided on both sides, the fourth information is added to the fourth information from the printing start position based on the first information added to the third information when printing on the back side. Control is performed so that each line is printed by repeating printing in the range up to the print end position based on the added information of 1.

[Effect]

In the present invention, 1
Since double-sided printing is possible, with a simple configuration, there is no need to be conscious of front/back sides when printing on one side, and it is also possible to use the same pattern for left and right blank spaces on both front and back sides, and to set binding margins on both front and back sides. We can provide a printer that makes it easy to do this.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a mechanical explanatory diagram of an embodiment of a printer according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a printer according to the present invention, and FIGS. 3A and 3B are explanations of paper feed control in the present invention. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of the printing mode according to the present invention, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining character pattern conversion of the print buffer during back side printing of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the printing process of the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, and FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of another embodiment of the printing mode according to the present invention.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is the same as the conventional example shown in FIG. 8, except that the paper detection sensor 8 is removed, and the other mechanical configurations are basically the same as the conventional example shown in FIG. 8.

The basic operation of the printer according to the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. Note that the code 9 in Figure 1 is paper, and 10
1 is a CPU, 11 is a main unit, 12 is an interface for connecting the CPU 10 and the main unit 11, and 13 is a paper count 13-1. Paper width storage section 13-2. Data storage RAM 1 having registers 13-3 to 13-6
4 is a program storage ROM that stores printer control programs or characters, 15 is a line buffer that can store a portion of printing, 16 is a hammer driver that drives the hammer of the print head 1, 17 is a motor driver, and 18 is for carrier movement. Motor, 19 is LF (line feed)
The motor 20 is a reversing part motor, and each motor 1 to 20 is driven by a motor driver 17. 21 is a career.

22 represents a paper width detection sensor, and other symbols correspond to those in FIG.

In response to an execution command from the main unit W11, the CPU 10 rotates the paper feed roller 4 and sends the paper 9 sucked in from the paper suction/discharge port 5 to the printing section A.

After the paper 9 passes the paper detection sensor 3, the number of pulses sent is started to be counted by a counter 13-1 built in the data storage RAM 13.

While counting the number of pulses mentioned above, feed the paper 9 to the first line printing position (see ■ in FIG. 3A).

By the mechanism shown in FIG. 2, printing and line feeds are repeated on the front side of the paper 9 (control modes for front side printing and back side printing will be described in detail later in connection with FIGS. 4 to 7). , and continues counting until the paper 9 no longer exists on the paper detection sensor 3.

The result is stored in the data storage RAM 13 (see ■ in FIG. 3A).

Printing on the surface of paper 9 continues until the last line (third
(See ■ in Figure A).

The paper 9 on which the surface printing has been completed is reversed by the 9 reversing unit B (see ■ in FIG. 3A), enters the printing unit A again, and the paper 9 is fed until the paper detection sensor 3 detects the leading edge of the paper 9. (See ■ in Figure 3B).

Since the distance between the paper detection sensor 3 and the print head 1 is predetermined and known, the paper 9 is sent back by a predetermined count number and set at the first row position on the back side (the third
[Refer to ■ in iUB).

Printing and line feed are repeated while counting the number of pulses that sent the paper 9 using the count 13-1.

When the count reached the number counted in ■ in Figure 3A above (printing on the back side is completed), transfer the paper 9 to the paper intake/ejection port 5.
(See ■ in Figure 3B).

The basic operations of the two printers according to the present invention have been explained above, and the manner of controlling the front surface printing in (■) in FIG. 3A and the back surface printing in (■) in FIG. Each will be explained in conjunction with an example.

First, the print control mode in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4 will be explained in conjunction with FIGS. 2, 5, and 6. In addition, Figure 4 (A) shows the front side, Figure 4 (B) shows the back side, and the left blank space and right blank space are provided in the same way on both the front and back sides, and (A) shows the left blank space. , (b) is the right blank space, (c) is the printing width, (
D) is the paper width.

(e) is the left end unprintable width, (f) is the right end unprintable width,
(g) indicates the printable width. Also, Figure 5 (A)
2 shows a storage B of character data for one line in the line buffer 15 having a capacity of n columns, and FIG. 5(B) shows a character data conversion mode when printing on the back side.

Paper width storage section 1 in the data storage RAM 13 shown in FIG.
3-2 shows the paper width data i (corresponding to the paper width (d) above).
i is the number of columns corresponding to "Paper width (D) - Left edge unprintable width (E)"), and the left blank space (
Left blank data a corresponding to b) (a is the number of columns corresponding to "left blank space (a)" - "left end unprintable width (e)").

#2 Register 13-4 contains print width data b corresponding to print width (c) (b corresponds to "left blank space (a)" + "print width (c)" - "left edge unprintable width (e)") number of columns) and in #3 register 13-5 [“paper width data i”-
The calculation result of "Left end unprintable width data m (m is the number of columns corresponding to the left end unprintable width (E))" - [Print width data bJ) is stored in #4 registration disk 13-6 as ["Paper width data i"]
- “Left end unprintable width data mJ-r left blank data aJ)
The calculation results are stored in advance. As shown in FIG. 5(A), the line buffer 15 includes #rugisters 13-3. One line of character data is sequentially stored based on the contents of the #2 register 13-4.

The surface printing shown in FIG. 4(A) is performed using a conventional printing control method. That is, Fig. 6 (A
), left blank data a is stored in the # register 13-3 (61A), and the left blank data a is stored in the #2 register 13-4.
Printing width data b is stored in (62A), and printing is started from the position corresponding to the left blank data a based on the contents of the #register 13-3 and #2 register 13-4 (63A), as shown in FIG. Character data is sequentially read from the n column to the b column of the line buffer 15 shown in (A), and printing for one line is performed (64A).
The character data up to the b column is read and printing for one line is completed (65A), and after the line feed operation (66A), the printing of the first line is performed in the same way.

The reverse printing shown in Figure 4(B) is similar to that shown in Figure 6(B).
), the #3 register 13-5 is set to [“
The calculation result X of "paper width data i" = "left end unprintable width data m" - [printing width data bJ] is stored (61B),
The calculation result Y of [[paper width data i] - "left end unprintable width data m" - "left blank data aJ" is stored in #4 register 136 (62B). Then, the above #3 register 13-5 and Based on the contents of the #4 register 13-6, printing is performed from the position corresponding to the above X to the position corresponding to the above Y (63B). The character data is read out in reverse order from column b to column n of the line buffer 15, and upside down as shown in FIG. 5(B), and printing for one line is performed (64B). The character data is read out and the printing for one line is completed (65B), and the line feed operation (
The printing of the primary line after 66B) is performed in the same manner.

By performing front/back printing as explained above,
As illustrated in FIG. 4, front/back printing can be performed with similar left and right blank spaces.

In the printing mode shown in FIG. 7, a blank space is provided for binding. Although this printing mode is slightly different from the above-described printing mode shown in FIG. 4 in the printing on the back side, it can be basically realized by the same printing control as in the case of the printing mode shown in FIG. 4. That is, the binding margin width W1 shown in FIG.

It corresponds to the left blank space (a) in Figure 4,
The print width W2 corresponds to the print width (c) in FIG.

When printing in the printing mode shown in FIG. 7, the paper width storage section 13-2 in the data storage RAM 13 shown in FIG. Data i is stored, and binding margin width data a' (FIG. 5(A)) corresponding to lI margin width W1 is stored in #register 13-3.
The #2 register 13-4 stores print width data d (corresponding to the left blank data a shown in the figure), and the print width data d (corresponds to the print width W2) is stored in the #2 register 13-4.
5(A) corresponding to the illustrated print width data b) is stored. And in #3 register 13-5.

The calculation result of [Paper width data i - Left end unprintable width data m - Print width data b'10+ binding margin width data d] is stored in #4 register 13-6 [Paper width data i - Left end unprintable width data m] is stored.

In this way, by setting the contents of the data storage RAM 13 and performing front/back printing according to the procedure of the flowchart shown in FIG. 6, printing in the printing mode shown in FIG. 4 can be performed.

Although it has been explained that the paper width data i is stored in advance in the paper width storage section 13-2 in the data storage RAM 13 shown in FIG. 2, the paper width detection sensor provided on the carrier 21 shown in FIG. 22 may be used to detect the paper width and store the paper width data in the paper width storage section 13-2. By doing so, the paper width data i can be detected without inputting the paper width data i each time. The paper width data is automatically stored in the paper width storage section 13-2.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, since single-sided printing is performed based on information regarding blank spaces, the left and right blank spaces can be It is possible to provide a printer in which it is possible to easily make a portion have the same pattern on both the front and back sides, and to provide a same margin on both the front and back sides.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a mechanical explanatory diagram of an embodiment of a printer according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a printer according to the present invention, and FIGS. 3A and 3B are explanations of paper feed control in the present invention. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of the printing mode according to the present invention, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining character pattern conversion of the print buffer during back side printing of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4. 6 is a flowchart of the printing process of the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of another embodiment of the printing mode according to the present invention, FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of the mechanism of the printer in the conventional example, and FIG.
This figure shows a flowchart for explaining the operation in the conventional example shown in FIG. In the figure, l is the print head, 2 is the platen, 3 is the paper detection sensor, 4 is the paper feed roller, 5 is the paper intake/ejection port, 6
is a paper guide, and 7 is a guide drum. 9 is paper, 10 is a CPU, 11 is a main unit, 12 is an interface, and 13 is a data storage RAM. 13-1 is paper count, 13-2 is paper width storage unit,
13-3 to 13-6 are registers, 14 is a program storage ROM, and 15 is a line buffer. 16 is a hammer driver, and 17 is a motor driver. 1st is a carrier moving motor, 19 is an LF (line feed) motor, and 20 is a reversing part motor. 21 represents a carrier, and 22 represents a paper width detection sensor. Patent applicant Pfn Co., Ltd. Agent Patent attorney Hiroshi Mori (2 others) Ne#! R+4 A・11 Tsugawa Gifu'Peng・1 width Tsumeiku 3rd figure (B) Character 11° noon 7ゅ゛L closed pノ] G co No., 5 ro →

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a printer equipped with a paper reversing mechanism and configured to print on both the front and back sides of paper, there is a paper width storage unit that stores paper width information, and a first memory unit that indicates the print start position when printing on the front side. information, second information representing the printing end position when printing the front side, and the calculation result of [contents of the paper width storage means - (predetermined left end unprintable width information + second information)] and means for storing fourth information representing the calculation result of [contents of the paper width storage means - (predetermined left edge unprintable width information + the first information)]. In preparation, when printing the front surface, each line is printed by repeating printing in the range from the printing start position based on the content of the first information to the printing end position based on the content of the second information, and When printing on the back side, each line is controlled to be printed by repeating printing in the range from the printing start position based on the content of the third information to the printing end position based on the content of the fourth information. A printer control method characterized by: (2) In the printer control method according to claim (1) above, in the case of back side printing, the fourth information is changed from the printing start position based on the content obtained by adding the first information to the third information. A printer control method characterized in that the printer is controlled to print each line by repeating printing in a range up to a print end position based on the content added with the first information.