JPH0250875A - Printing controller in line printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically execute a test printing adaptive to a paper loading state by every fixed number of lines by providing a line counter circuit, a paper width detection mechanism, a test printing control circuit, and a test data generation circuit. CONSTITUTION:When a line counter circuit 1 reaches the predetermined number of lines, a test printing request is added to a test printing control circuit 2 through a signal line 1a, and the line counter circuit 1 is reset to zero. On the other hand, a paper width detection mechanism 13 detecting the (horizontal) width of printing paper 11 set to a line printer adds this paper width information to the test printing control circuit 2 through a line 13a. Then, the test printing control circuit 2 instructs the generation of a printing data code based on the paper width information to a test data generation circuit 4 through a signal line 2a. The test data generation circuit 4 generates a printing data code and a blank code and transmits them to a printing data memory 5 via a signal line 4a. When the data for one line is transmitted to the printing data memory 5, a printing action is executed only on printing digits loaded with the printing paper.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a print control device for a line printer, and more particularly to a print control device for a line printer having a test printing function.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in print control devices for line printers, test printing operations have been prohibited during execution of printing operations.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

For this reason, printing defects (missing characters, 2
When errors (such as missing characters, etc.) occur, it is difficult to know where to start the recovery process, and the user has to retype everything from the beginning, causing a great deal of damage to printing paper and computer usage time.

The present invention provides a print control device for a line printer that can count the number of printed lines and automatically execute test printing when a certain number of lines is reached.

[Means to solve the problem]

The print control device for a line printer according to the present invention includes a line counter circuit that counts the number of printed lines, a test print control circuit that starts test printing based on the contents of the line counter circuit, and a test print control circuit that starts test printing based on the contents of the line counter circuit. It has a paper width detection mechanism for detecting paper width, and a test data generation circuit for generating test data to be printed based on the contents of the paper width detection mechanism and instructions from the test print control circuit.

〔Example〕

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention.

The line printer receives 1 data from an external data source 3.
Print data for a line is stored in the print data memory 5 via the signal line 3a. On the other hand, the type drum 15 rotates at a constant speed, and periodic pulses output in synchronization with the moving position of the type are detected by the synchronous pulse detection mechanism 14 and applied to the type code generation circuit 6 via the signal line 14a. As a result, the printed character code generating circuit 6 always holds the printed character code corresponding to the printed character that is in front of the printing hammer 10. Upon receiving one line of print data, the comparison circuit 7 compares the output 5a of the print data memory 5 with the output 6a of the printed code generation circuit 6, and sends the comparison result to the shift register 8 via the signal line 7.a. Add. The shift register 8 stores the comparison results for each print digit, and its output is applied to the hammer drive circuit 9. The printer drive circuit 9 drives the printer printer 10, and the printer printer 10 hits the characters on the printer F ram 15 via the printing paper 11 and the ink ribbon 12 to perform printing.

The line counter circuit 1 is reset to zero when the power is turned on, and is incremented by one every time one line is printed thereafter.

The line counter circuit 1 has a predetermined number of lines (for example, 1
000 row), a test print request is applied to the test print control circuit 2 via the signal line 1a, and the line counter circuit 1 is reset to zero.

On the other hand, the width (
) in the horizontal direction is detected by the paper width detection mechanism 13. For example, a line printer has 13 characters from 1 digit to 132 digits.
It has two printing hammers 10. Now 304.8
mm (12 inch) wide printing paper 11 is printed by printing hammer 1
Assuming that the paper is installed from the 10th digit to the 12020th digit of 0, the paper width detection mechanism 13 applies this paper width information to the test print control circuit 2 via the line 13a. The test print control circuit 2 generates a blank code for the 1st to 9th digits and 121st to 132nd digits and a print data code for the 10th to 120th digits as test print data based on the paper width information. A command is given to the test data generation circuit 4 via 2a. The test data generation circuit 4 generates blank codes for the 1st to 9th digits, print data codes for the 10th to 120th digits, and blank codes for the 121st to 132nd digits. send to

When one line of data is sent to the print data memory 5, a printing operation is performed in the same manner as in the case of printing described above.

In this case, the printing operation is executed only on the printing digits with printing paper attached, and printing on the printing digits with no printing paper attached is prohibited by the blank code, so blank printing can be prevented and the printing paper attached state The most suitable test printing is performed. In this way, test data printing is automatically executed every time the travel number is printed.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention includes a line counter circuit that counts the number of printed lines, a paper width detection mechanism that detects the width of printing paper installed in a line printer, a test print control circuit, and a test data generation circuit. By providing this, test printing adapted to the paper loading condition is automatically executed every fixed number of lines, and recovery work when printing defects such as omitted characters occur can be minimized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. 1...Line counter circuit, 2...Test print control circuit, 3...External data source, 4...
...Test data generation circuit, 5...Print data memory, 6...Print code generation circuit, 7
・・・Comparison circuit, Shift register,
9... Hammer drive circuit, 10... Printing hammer, 11... Printing paper, 12...
Ink ribbon, 13...Paper width detection mechanism, 14
....Synchronous pulse detection mechanism, 15.....Type drum. Agent Patent Attorney Susumu Uchihara

Claims (1)

[Claims] A line printer that successively compares the print data code sent from the data storage means with the print code corresponding to the moving position of the print in response to a print command from the host device, and if they match, drives the print hammer of the relevant digit to print. A line counter circuit that counts the number of printed lines, a test print control circuit that starts test printing based on the contents of the line counter circuit, and a paper width detection mechanism that detects the width of printing paper installed in the line printer. A print control device for a line printer, comprising: a test data generation circuit that generates test data to be printed based on the contents of the paper width detection mechanism and the commands of the test print control circuit.