JPH029660A - Manual printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform printing imparting uniform printing density by supplying a sufficient current to each resistor of a printing head by controlling an actual moving speed so as to become the proper speed within a tolerant max. moving speed set on the basis of inputted printing data. CONSTITUTION:When a character size is judged, an LED 8a flashes at the cycle of a fundamental pulse preliminarily stored in an ROM 42. In succession to the flashing of the LED 8a, the actual speed of a manual printer 1 is calculated from the detection result of a photointerruptor 32 for detecting the light passing through the slit 30a of a slit plate 30 and an LED 8b is allowed to flash on the basis of the actual speed. At each time when the LED 8b lights, a printing pulse signal is inputted to respective drivers D1-D48 from a printing strobe terminal T3 and a latch signal is inputted to the respective driver D1-D48 from a latch signal terminal T2. By this method, a current is supplied to the heating unit determined corresponding to the code signal of printing data through a booster circuit 70 and the recording material of a ribbon 24 is melted by the heat generated by the heating unit to be bonded to paper to perform printing.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an improvement in a manual printing device that is moved by manual operation and prints characters, figures, etc. at arbitrary positions on a printing medium. .

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in this type of manual printing device, when the moving speed due to manual operation changes, the typeface expands and contracts with respect to the printing direction, and the character spacing or printing density becomes uneven. Therefore, we have developed a technology that prevents the above-mentioned deterioration of printing quality by controlling printing timing according to the actual moving speed (hereinafter referred to as actual speed).
Techniques have been proposed to warn the user so that the actual speed determined by manual operation is appropriate (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 183355/1982 and 214764/1982).

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the above-mentioned conventional techniques are still not sufficient, and the following problems have been pointed out.

In manual printing devices, in order to fully utilize the function of being able to print anywhere on the paper, it is essential that the power source for the print head, etc. that performs printing is a cordless power source, and small and lightweight dry cell batteries are required. Primary batteries (hereinafter referred to as batteries) are used.

Generally, a battery has a large internal impedance, so when an overload is applied to the battery, the voltage of the battery itself decreases, and the amount of current obtained also decreases.

On the other hand, the print head is constructed by connecting a number of resistors in parallel (for example, a heating element in a thermal transfer method, a coil for driving a wire in an impact method, etc.), and a predetermined number of resistors are connected in parallel according to the shape of characters, etc. to be printed. Characters and the like are printed in a dot pattern by applying current from the battery to the resistor.

Therefore, the number of resistors that need to be energized increases by increasing the size of printed characters, and the resistance value of the print head, that is, the combined resistance value of the resistors decreases, and the amount of current from the battery decreases. will increase. Then, the battery is overloaded by this amount of current, and the amount of current obtained decreases as described above. For this reason, the amount of current flowing through each resistor decreases, and, for example, in a thermal transfer method, the heating element does not generate enough heat, resulting in uneven print density of printed characters and the like.

The present invention was made to solve the above problems, and its purpose is to supply sufficient current to each resistor of the print head corresponding to the characters to be printed, even if the number of resistors driven simultaneously changes. An object of the present invention is to provide a manual printing device that enables printing with uniform printing density.

[Means for solving the problem] The means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above object is as shown in the basic configuration diagram of FIG. A printing means M1 that prints the input print data on the printing medium, a moving speed detecting means M2 that detects the moving speed of the printing means M1 by manual operation, and a detection result of the moving speed detecting means M2. and a printing timing control means M3 for controlling the printing timing of the printing means M1 based on the printing data, the maximum allowable speed setting means for setting the maximum allowable movement speed for the printing means M1 based on the printing data. M4, and a moving speed deviation informing means M5 for notifying the deviation between the allowable maximum moving speed set by the allowable maximum speed setting means M4 and the moving speed detected by the moving speed detecting means M2. The gist is the printing device.

[Function] The manual printing device according to the present invention detects the moving speed of the printing means M1 that is actually moving manually on the printing medium using the moving speed detection means M2, and detects the detection result, that is, the speed of the printing means M1 that is actually moving by manual operation on the printing medium. The printing timing of the printing means M1 is controlled by the printing timing control means M3 based on the actual moving speed, and the printing means M1 is caused to execute printing. Further, the deviation between the actual moving speed of the printing means M1 detected by the moving speed detecting means M2 and the maximum allowable moving speed of the printing means M1 set by the maximum allowable speed setting means M4 based on the input printing data is referred to as a moving speed deviation. The notification means M5 determines and reports the result. Therefore, the manual printing device of the present invention allows the user to perform actual movement so that the actual movement speed determined by the user's operation is an appropriate speed within the allowable maximum movement speed set based on the input printing data. Let the speed be adjusted. Specifically, when the maximum allowable moving speed is set to a low speed based on the print data, the user is prompted to adjust the actual moving speed to a low speed.

[Embodiment] Next, an embodiment of a manual printing device according to the present invention will be described based on the drawings. ) FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the manual printing device 1 of this embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a front sectional view thereof.

The manual printing device 1 has a keyboard 4 for inputting characters, symbols, etc. on the front of a box body 2 that can be easily operated manually and has a highly portable size. In addition to disposing a liquid crystal display 6 for displaying characters, symbols, etc., LEDs 8a and 8b whose lighting is controlled by the electronic control device 40 mentioned above are installed on the top surface of the box body 2.
It forms the main external structure. Further, the keyboard 4 is provided with a font size key, which is operated to switch the size of the characters to be printed between 10.5 points and 21 points. . At the bottom of the box body 2, there is a roller 10a (not shown) that moves along the surface of the paper.

10b is installed with its outer periphery partially exposed so that it can be moved freely, so the manual printing device 1 moves smoothly on the paper in the direction indicated by the arrow in the figure via the rollers 10a and 10b.
Printing is performed on paper according to a predetermined program. Between the rollers 10a and 10b is a print head 22 which will be described later.
protrudes from the bottom end surface of the box body 2, and the print head 22
A thermal transfer ribbon (hereinafter referred to as
(simply referred to as a ribbon) 24 is arranged while maintaining a predetermined tension. The ribbon 24 is coated with a recording material that is melted by the heat transmitted by the print head 22, and the melted recording material is attached to the paper.

A printing member 201 having a printing head 22 and the like, which will be described later, is placed at the lowermost part of the interior of the box 2 (see FIG. 3). Above the printing member 20 is a slit plate 30 which has a plurality of slits 30a on the same circumference and rotates at the same speed in conjunction with the roller 10b via a belt 31, with this slit plate 3o interposed. A photointerrupter 32 is installed which outputs a pulse signal based on the rotational speed of the slit plate 3o by the light passing through the slit 30a with the light emitting/light receiving elements facing each other. Furthermore, an electronic control device 4, which will be described later, is connected to the LEDs 8a, 8b, the printing member 20, and the photointerrupter 32 via lead wires, respectively, and controls each device.
0 and the electronic control device 4o are also installed inside the box body 2. Note that the perforation interval of the slits 30a of the slit plate 30 is a predetermined printing character interval (hereinafter referred to as
The slit plate 30 rotates at the same speed as the roller 10b as described above. Therefore, each time one slit 30a passes through the photointerrupter 32, printing is performed at predetermined intervals.

The printing member 20 has the configuration described below.

A print head storage recess 21 is located at the center of the lower end of the print member 20.
is recessed in this print head storage recess 21.
A print head 22 is inserted along the side surface of the print head 22, which can be opened vertically in the figure.

Further, above the print head storage recess 21, a ribbon supply and take-up device 23 is disposed that supplies and takes up the ribbon 24 using a pair of ribbon rollers 23a and 23b, and the ribbon supply and take-up device 23 is arranged to supply and take up the ribbon 24 by a pair of ribbon rollers 23a and 23b. A ribbon 24 is supplied in between.

Note that since the print head 22 is always pressed toward the top surface of the paper P by the spring 25, the print head 22
The tip is always in close contact with the bong 24.

The print head 22 has 48 heating elements R1 to R4 installed at its tip at right angles to the direction of movement indicated by arrows in the figure.
This is a well-known thermal transfer type thermal head that melts and adheres the recording material of the ribbon 24 to the paper P by the heat generated by the printer 8.

The heating elements R1 to R48 are provided at a pitch of 1/180 inch and are connected to the electronic control unit 140, respectively. For this reason, by controlling the heat generation of 24 of the 48 heating elements, it is possible to print at a 10.5 point character size, and by using all 48 heating elements, 21 point characters suitable for titles, headings, etc. In other words, it is possible to print in a character size that is twice as large as 10.5 points. Note that control of the heating elements R1 to R48 will be described later.

The heating elements R1 to R48, the keyboard 4, the liquid crystal display 6, the ribbon supply and take-up device 23, and the photointerrupter 32 are connected to an electronic control unit 40 and controlled by the electronic control bag @40.

As shown in FIG. 4, the electronic control device 40 includes a CPU 41. ROM 42 in which the control program and initial data are stored in advance. RAM 43 for storing input print data. It is configured as a logic operation circuit centering on a font ROM 44 storing character fonts, a clock 45, etc., and is interconnected with each port that performs input/output via a common bus 46. A keyboard 4 and a photointerrupter 32 are connected to the board for inputting and outputting, and print data such as characters and symbols to be printed that are input on the keyboard 4 and data that input pulse signals of movement speed from the photointerrupter 32 are connected. The input boat 47, the ribbon supply and take-up device 23, the output port 48 to which the liquid crystal display 6 and LEDs 8a and Bb are connected and output drive signals to each device, and the heating elements R1 to R48 of the print head 22 that match the print data. There is also a print data output port 49 to which input terminals of a drive circuit 60 to be described later are connected to generate heat from a heating element. One of the outputs (PO) of the drive signal output boat 48 is
It is connected via a resistor 51 to the base of a switching transistor 50 of a booster circuit 70 (described later) that supplies current to the heating elements R1 to R48 of the print head 22, and the transistor 50 is turned on by the control output of the drive signal output port 48. The current is supplied to the heating element based on the print data via the booster circuit 70. Incidentally, when the main switch 52 is turned on, the electronic control device 40 receives current from the power source battery 53 and operates.

The shift register 61 of the drive circuit 60 is connected to the clock terminal TO and the print data terminal T1 of the print data output port 49, and shifts the print data output from the print data terminal T1 in synchronization with the clock signal from the clock terminal TO. It is stored in the elements L1 to L14B of the register 61. The data latch circuit 62 has one input terminal connected to the output terminals of the elements L1 to 148 of the shift register 61, and the other common input terminal connected to the latch signal terminal T2 of the print data output port 49. is,
When the latch signal from the latch signal terminal T2 is input, the print data stored in each of the elements L1 to L48 of the shift register 61 is stored in the elements Ral to Ra4B of the latch circuit 62. Simultaneously with this storage, the print data is output to each driver D1 to D48 of the print driver circuit 63 connected to the output terminal of each element Ra1 to Ra48 of the data latch circuit 62. Further, the inverter 64 whose input side is connected to the printing strobe terminal T3 of the printing data output port 49 is connected in common to the output terminal of the inverter 64 when a logic rOJ printing pulse signal is input from the printing strobe terminal T3. A print pulse signal of logic "1" is output to each driver D1-[)48 of the print driver circuit 63. Each of the drivers D1 to D48 whose output terminals are connected to each heating element R1 to R4B of the print head 22 outputs a logic "1" from the 1 inverter 64.
input the printing pulse signal of the data latch circuit 62.
When the print data of logic "1" is input from , the logic on the output side becomes rOJ, so the booster circuit 7 is connected to the heating elements R1 to R48.
Apply current from 0. That is, only the heat generating elements corresponding to the respective elements of the shift register 61 storing the logic "1" generate heat by the driver circuit 60.

The booster circuit 70 is a well-known smoothing circuit that boosts and smoothes the voltage of the power supply battery 53 to obtain a required voltage vl when the switching transistor 50 is turned on, and is composed of a transistor 72, a transistor 73, and the like.

Next, among the processes performed by the electronic control unit 40 of the manual printing device 1 of this embodiment having the above configuration, the processes according to the present invention will be described based on the flowchart of the print control routine shown in FIG.

The printing control routine is repeatedly executed after the main switch 52 of the manual printing device 1 is turned on.
Initial processing such as clearing the internal register of Step 1 is performed (Step 1, hereinafter simply referred to as Sl).

(others as well). Next, it is determined whether or not there is any key force on the keyboard 4 (S2), and if there is no key force, the system waits without performing any processing. If there is human power, the input print data (including data regarding character size) is converted into a code signal and stored in the RAM 43, and the input characters, symbols, etc. are displayed on the liquid crystal display 6 (
S3).

Next, it is determined whether or not printing should be started using the 0N10FF of the printing start switch or a predetermined key on the keyboard 4 manually (S4). If it is determined that printing is not to be started, the process returns to 82, and it is stored in the RAM 43 that printing is to be started. The dot #turn in the font ROM 44 corresponding to the code signal of the printed data is set in the shift register 61 (S5). After that, it is determined whether the size of the characters, symbols, etc. to be printed, that is, the character size is 10.5 points or 21 points (S6), and if it is determined that the character size is 10.5 points,
Generates a basic pulse with a period t1 according to the basic pulse generation table stored in the ROM 42 in advance (
S7). On the other hand, if it is determined in S6 that the character size is 21 points, a basic pulse with a period t2 according to the basic pulse generation table is generated in the same manner as in S7 (S
8). Then, at the basic pulse period t1 or t2, LE
Blink D8a (S9).

The above basic pulse generation table is based on the maximum number of heating elements R1 to R48 that generate heat during printing, in order to obtain appropriate printing quality that does not change the printing density even if the character size changes. This is used to set the print timing, and is defined as follows.

That is, when printing, the voltage Vl boosted by the booster circuit 70 is applied to the maximum number of heating elements (10
, 24 pieces for 5 points, 4 pieces for 21 points
8) for a predetermined period of time to sufficiently raise the temperature of each heating element to a predetermined temperature. The next print is the booster circuit 7 whose voltage has dropped due to energization of the heating element.
This is performed after the voltage of 0 has recovered to a predetermined voltage.

Since the degree of this voltage drop differs based on the character size, that is, the combined resistance of the heating elements depending on the total number of heating elements that are energized at the same time, the time required for voltage recovery also differs depending on the character size. Specifically, when energizing each of the 48 heating elements to print 21 points, the degree of voltage drop is greater and the recovery time is longer than in the case of 10.5 points. The period t2 is set to approximately twice the period t1 of 10.5 points. For this reason, the recovery time corresponding to the character size, that is, the period of the basic pulse which is the print timing, is set in advance, and the character size and the period of the basic pulse are stored at a predetermined address in the ROM 42 as a basic pulse generation table. There is.

Following S9 to blink the LED 8a, the slit plate 3
The actual speed of the manual printing device 1 is calculated from the detection result of the photointerrupter 32 that detects the light passing through the 0 slit 30a (510), and the LED 8b is blinked based on the calculated actual speed (S11). In this embodiment, as mentioned above,
Since it is set so that printing is performed at predetermined intervals every time the slit 30a passes the photointerrupter 32, the LED 8b is turned on every time the photointerrupter 32 detects the passage of the slit 30a. Next, at the actual printing timing according to the actual speed of the manual printing device 1, that is, every time the LED 8b lights up, a logic "0" is output from the printing strobe terminal T3.
A print pulse signal of 1 is outputted to the inverter 64 to input a logic "1" print pulse signal to each driver D1 to [) 48, and a latch signal is outputted from the latch signal terminal T2 to the data latch circuit 62 to input a logic "1" print pulse signal to each driver D1 to [)48. 61 print data is transferred to the data latch circuit 62 and each driver D1
~[) The print data is input into 48 (312). In this way, the logic rOJ is output only from the driver that inputs the print data of logic "1" from the data latch circuit 62, and is determined in accordance with the code signal of the print data set in the corresponding heating element, that is, in the shift register 61. The heating element is energized via the booster circuit 70, and the recording material of the ribbon 24 is melted and adhered to the paper by the heat generated by the heating element to perform printing (S13). In addition, in this S13, the code signal of the print data for - characters is sequentially transferred to the shift register 61.
, and prints - characters.

Next, determine whether there is print data to be printed.
14) If there is no print data, this routine ends; if there is print data, the process from S5 is repeated.

According to the manual printing device 1 of this embodiment having the configuration described above, the following effects are obvious.

The appropriate actual speed of the manual printing device 1 based on the print data corresponding to the character size, that is, the appropriate speed VS within the maximum movement speed allowed for each character size, is changed according to the character size, and the changed appropriate speed ■ S is displayed by blinking the LED 8a at a period corresponding to the speed (36 to S9). On the other hand, the printing timing according to the actual speed of manual printing bag @1 is displayed by flashing LED 8b ($10~51
1) The user can easily determine whether the actual speed is faster or slower than the appropriate speed vs from the difference in the flashing cycle of LED 8a and LED 8b, and by synchronizing the flashing of LED 8a and LED 8b, manual printing can always be performed at the appropriate speed. It becomes possible to move the bag W11. Therefore, even if the character size is changed, the actual speed can be easily changed from the time of the change, so the temperature of the heating element always rises to the specified temperature, allowing for proper printing without any change in print density before and after the change. Quality printing becomes possible. Moreover, since printing is performed after the voltage applied to the heating element is restored, the battery used as the power supply battery 53 is not overloaded, and its lifespan is improved.

Furthermore, since the perforation intervals of the slits 30a are made to match the predetermined intervals, and the slit plate 30 rotates at the same speed as the roller 10b, printing is performed at a predetermined interval every time the LED 8b lights up (SIO-313). The following effects are obvious.

First, since the actual speed of the manual printing device 1 can be easily calculated, the time required to calculate the speed can be shortened, and high-grade arithmetic elements are not required.

Second, even if the actual speed V1 is different from the appropriate speed Vs, printing can be performed while maintaining a predetermined interval.

For example, even if the actual speed v1 is smaller than VS, the time t for one slit 30a to pass through the photointerrupter 32 becomes longer, so the moving distance determined by VIXt, that is, the printing interval becomes equal to the predetermined interval.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and can be implemented in various forms without departing from the gist of the present invention.

For example, instead of the CPU 41, a frequency generator that generates pulses at a predetermined frequency may generate pulses at a flashing cycle of the LED 8a that indicates the appropriate speed for appropriate printing quality. In this case, the CPU 41 can be effectively used for various calculations in other controls. Also,
Of course, the present invention can be applied not only to thermal transfer type manual printing apparatuses but also to dot printing type, inkjet type, and other manual printing apparatuses.

In addition, the CPU of the electronic control unit can be provided with a text creation function to provide a manual printing device with increased added value.

In this case, it goes without saying that editing information for the text creation function is displayed on the liquid crystal display. Moreover, a data reading line may be installed in place of the keyboard 4 to read print data from an external storage device. Furthermore, the CPU 41 compares the actual speed and the appropriate speed,
The result can also be displayed by lighting an LED indicating "slow", "appropriate", or "fast". In this case,
The user can more easily recognize the moving speed.

It is also possible to notify by sounding a buzzer or the like.

Note that the signal that determines the blinking of the LED may be divided into an appropriate frequency to make it easier to see the blinking of the LED. Further, the power source battery and each heating element may be directly connected without using a booster circuit. In addition, the perforation interval of the slits 30a is set to a pitch such that an integral number of the slits 30a pass through the photointerrupter 32 during a period ts during which the manual printing device 1 moves at a predetermined interval at an appropriate moving speed Vs. Also good. In this case, the actual speed can be easily calculated, which is preferable.

As described in detail including the embodiment, the manual printing device of the present invention changes the maximum travel speed allowed during printing based on the print data, and performs manual printing at the changed maximum travel speed. Since the device can be moved, sufficient current can be supplied to each resistor in the print head regardless of the number of resistors being driven at the same time, making it possible to print with uniform print density. It becomes a manual printing device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the basic configuration of a manual printing device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the manual printing device of the embodiment,
FIG. 3 is a front sectional view thereof, FIG. 4 is a block diagram of each component including the electronic control unit, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the printing control routine. 1... Manual printing device 4... Keyboard 8a, 8b-LED 22... Print head 24... Thermal transfer ribbon 30
...Slit plate 30a...Slit 32...
Photointerrupter 40...Electronic control device agent Patent attorney Tsutomu Sadate (2 idiots) Figure 2 Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Printing means that moves manually on a print medium and prints input print data on the print medium, and a moving speed that detects the speed of movement of the printing means when manually operated. In a manual printing device comprising a detection means and a print timing control means for controlling the printing timing of the printing means based on the detection result of the movement speed detection means, the maximum allowable maximum allowable for the printing means is determined based on the printing data. A maximum permissible speed setting means for setting a travel speed; and a travel speed deviation notification means for reporting a deviation between the maximum permissible travel speed set by the maximum permissible speed setting means and the travel speed detected by the travel speed detection means. A manual printing device characterized by: