JPH0235680B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to improvements in pen up-down control for X-Y plotters.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an outline of an X-Y plotter. In FIG. 1, 1 is an X-Y plotter main body, 2 is a recording surface, 3 is a recording pen drive mechanism, 4 is a pen cartridge, and 5 is a recording pen. Recording pen 5
is driven by the recording pen drive mechanism 3 and the carriage 4 via a motor or the like that operates in accordance with an external control signal. Note that this carriage 4 is provided with a pen up/down mechanism (not shown).

Therefore, this X-Y plotter is appropriately driven and up-down driven based on external control signals (pen drive signal and up-down signal) to achieve desired drawing. In this case, the drawing speed is determined by the recording pen driving speed and pen up-down speed. The object of the present invention is to increase the drawing speed by increasing the efficiency of this pen up-down operation.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the pen up/down operation of this type of X-Y plotter.
The time taken by the recording pen 5 to reach the paper surface position from the pen-up position is t ₁ , and the decay time at the paper surface position is t ₂
Therefore, the combined time of t ₁ and t ₂ cannot be recorded. Therefore, the most efficient pen up-down operation can be achieved by stopping the pen drive signal for only the combined time of _t1 and _t2 (hereinafter referred to as waiting time).

However, in conventional X-Y plotters, the distance from the recording pen tip to the paper surface is not constant, and due to variations in the flatness of the recording surface 2 or the newly assembled mechanism, in the worst case, the distance can be around 50%. It was happening. Therefore, it was necessary to allow for a difference of about 50% in the time from the pen-up position to the paper position. Therefore, in this conventional device, the above-mentioned waiting time is about twice as long as the ideal value.

The present invention has been made in view of this point, and uses a sensor to measure the arrival time from the pen-up position to the paper surface position, and determines the waiting time based on this arrival time.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to one embodiment of the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a pen up-down mechanism diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 11 is a pen holder that holds a recording pen, 12 is a pen arm, and 13 is a pen holder that holds a recording pen.
14 is a slide bearing; 15 is a slide bearing 14;
16 is a base, 17 is a Hall element, and 18 is a magnet. A pair of bearings 19 are provided on the front and back sides of the pen arm 12 to prevent the pen arm 12 from rotating.

Here, the base 16 is attached to the paint cartridge 4, and therefore, as the paint cartridge 4 moves, the respective components also move.

The Hall element 17 is attached to the carriage side, and its position is fixed.

Recording pen 5 held in moving part pen holder 11
When the pen is lowered from the pen-up position to the paper surface position by the pen-up-down means 13, the pen arm 12 is also lowered by a certain distance. Therefore, the magnet 18 provided at the rear end of the pen arm 12 also falls down. The movement distance from the pen up position to the paper surface position is measured by the action of the fixed Hall element 17 and this moving magnet. The arrival time is determined by appropriately processing this moving distance by an internal electric circuit. This arrival time is stored in the memory of the internal electrical circuit and is a factor in determining the waiting time. In this embodiment, this waiting time is updated every predetermined range (for example, the recording surface is divided into a grid of 5 cm). Therefore, the arrival time is measured by the first pen up-down operation when the recording pen enters a different range, and the waiting time is determined.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an outline of the electrical configuration for realizing this operation. In Figure 4, 20
21 is an interface, 22 is a control circuit, 23 is a pen drive circuit, 24 is a pen up/down drive circuit, 25 is an arrival time measurement circuit, 26 is a memory, and 27 is a waiting time generation circuit. It is.

When the drawing signal from the control signal generator 20 is received via the interface 21, the control circuit 22 performs predetermined processing and generates command signals to the pen drive circuit 23 and pen up/down drive circuit 24. At this time, the control circuit 22 also controls the arrival time measuring circuit 25, the memory 2, and the
A command signal is generated at 6. Arrival time measurement circuit 25
Now, receive this signal, start measurement, and store memory 2.
Update 6. The arrival time stored in the memory 26 is determined by the waiting time generating circuit 27, which calculates the decay time of the recording pen (this decay time is assumed to be constant in this embodiment, as shown in _FIG . ) and is input to the control circuit 22. The control circuit 22 processes this as a waiting time.

In this case, the control circuit 22 includes means for dividing the recording surface 2 into several predetermined ranges (for example,
ROM), and the waiting time is updated for each range.

As explained above, according to the present invention, the waiting time can be determined efficiently, which has the advantage of improving the drawing speed, and is particularly effective in dotted line recording.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the general outline of a general X-Y plotter, Figure 2 is a diagram of pen up-down operation, and Figure 3
The figure is a diagram of a pen up-down mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the electrical configuration of the present invention. 1...X-Y plotter, 2...recording surface, 3...pen drive mechanism, 4...pen cartridge, 5...recording pen, 1
3... Pen up-down means, 17... Hall element,
18... Magnet, 22... Control circuit, 25... Arrival time measuring circuit, 26... Memory, 27... Waiting time generation circuit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. The recording pen can be positioned at a pen-up position that is a predetermined distance from the recording surface and a pen-down position that is in contact with the recording surface, and when a drawing command is issued, the recording pen is moved to the pen-up position. setting a predetermined waiting time as a so-called pen-down waiting time until the recording pen comes to rest at the pen-down position;
In an X-Y plotter configured to issue a movement command to the recording pen to obtain a predetermined record after the waiting time has elapsed, when the first drawing command is issued, the recording pen moves from the pen-up position to the pen-down position. an arrival time measurement circuit having a sensor for measuring the actual arrival time of the recording pen; and the actual arrival time measured by the measurement circuit and the time for the damped vibration to subside when the recording pen lands, which is assumed to be constant in advance. and a waiting time generation circuit that generates a predetermined waiting time by adding the above, and executes the second or subsequent drawing command following the drawing command for the predetermined waiting time output from the waiting time generating circuit. An X-Y plotter comprising a control means for setting a waiting time for a pen to descend when the printer is used. 2. The control means has a ROM that defines areas for dividing the recording surface on which the recording pen moves into predetermined ranges, and when the first drawing command is issued within the predetermined area defined in the ROM. When the arrival time measurement circuit and the waiting time generation circuit are activated, a waiting time is generated in the area, and this waiting time is used for the second and subsequent drawing commands following the first drawing command in the area. The X-Y plotter according to claim 1, which serves as a pen lowering wait time when executing the X-Y plotter.