JPH0380115B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an electronic device such as a key-controlled electronic typewriter, and more particularly to an electronic device provided with means for printing according to a stored print start position.

[Prior art and problems to be solved by the invention] Hitherto, electronic devices such as electronic typewriters have been known, and such electronic typewriters are partially controlled electronically. However, it has not been possible to perform almost all of the major controls using digital control. However, with the advent of microprocessors in recent years, various new electronic devices with a wide variety of functions have been invented. However, some of these functions are difficult for operators to use. For example, a function that allows you to register or call up each print start position of the print target format,
That is, electronic devices equipped with a page formatting function are known. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 54-124638 discloses a method for obtaining a multi-column printout. In this case, print data for each column is searched from sequentially stored column text information and printed. Go. At this time, after printing of column n, the escapement of the carriage up to the printing start position of column n+1 is calculated and automatically inserted. However, such conventional techniques have the disadvantage that if the paper is inserted at a different position, printing cannot be performed in the correct format.

[Means for Solving the Problems] Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to eliminate such drawbacks, and to provide an electronic device that can print in a predetermined format regardless of the insertion position of the paper.

[Examples] Examples of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, the basic configuration of the electronic device of the present invention will be explained based on FIG. Reference numeral 1 denotes a platen knob, which is used when manually loading paper or finely adjusting the printing position in the vertical direction. Push knob 1 inward,
The structure is such that the knob 1 can be manually rotated by being disconnected from the internal drive pulse motor. The paper support 2 is a guide plate for paper, and is used to ensure that the printed side faces the operator even when thin paper is used. The page end indicator 3 is an indicator that indicates the length of the paper to the end line, and the operator adjusts the indicator 3 vertically as shown by the arrow in advance according to the vertical length of the paper, and then places the indicator 3 in the vertical direction to match the vertical length of the paper. When the top side of the paper that comes out reaches the scale position of the indicator 3, the length to the end line of the paper can be known. The release lever 4 is used to release a pinch roller located at the bottom of the platen from the platen and manually correct the inclination of the paper. The soundproof cover 5 is provided to suppress the impact sound of impact printing, and is made of transparent acrylic, so that the printed characters can be seen through the soundproof cover 5. When changing the typeface or replacing the ribbon cassette, open the upper cover 6 by rotating it backwards and replace the type wheel loaded in the carriage section or the ribbon cassette. This electronic typewriter has four types of horizontal printing pitch: 10, 12, and 15 characters per inch, and proportional spacing (hereinafter referred to as PS) in which the printing pitch changes depending on the size of the type. . The scale 8 has three scales engraved with 10 character pitches, 12 character pitches, and 15 character pitches, and the carriage indicator 12 is composed of 3 lamps such as LEDs.
A lamp mounted on the carriage and corresponding to the pitch specified from the keyboard 10 is lit to indicate the carriage position on the scale 8.

The keyboard 10 includes a character key group 10a for inputting and printing characters, and a control key group 10 arranged on both sides of the character key group 10a.
The input key signals are read in the keyboard control unit and sent to the main control unit including the MPU. If the input key is a key to be printed, related data is sent from the main control unit to the printer control unit. If the key is to be displayed, the data is sent from the main control unit to the control unit of the display 94 and displayed on the display 94. In the case of a key input that changes the illumination of a lamp on the keyboard 10, such as a print pitch change, a line feed pitch change, or an illuminated key, data for controlling the lighting of the lamp is sent from the main control unit to the keyboard control unit. .

FIG. 2 is a front view of the operation panel of the electronic typewriter of this embodiment. In the figure, the Pitch key specifies the number of characters to be printed per inch, as described above. Each time the Pitch key is pressed, the display section L1, which is made up of lamps such as LEDs related to Pitch, lights up in the order of 10, 12, 15, and PS in a cyclical manner. 10, 12, and 15 are the number of characters per inch, but for PS, the number of characters per inch varies depending on the characters printed. The Line Space key indicates the line feed amount, and the basic unit length 1 of the feed amount is 1/6 inch. As before, the lamp L2 is lit cyclically by pressing the key. KB
The select key specifies uppercase, lowercase, etc.
This gives an alternative meaning to a key that cannot be selected even with the SHIFT key, that is, a single key like K that corresponds to three types of letters. When the KBI lamp L3 is lit, select "〓" or "〓", and then select either one using the SHIFT key. Also
When the KB lamp is lit, the vertical line character "1" is selected. Each time you press the KBSelect key, one of the lamps lights up.

The R.MControl key in the upper right corner controls the electronic typewriter's function in the right margin. Either JUST, AUTO, or OFF is R.
Selected each time the MControl key is pressed. This is also indicated by the lighting of lamp L4. When the JUST lamp is lit, the light alignment function is selected, and when the AUTO lamp is lit, the auto line hood is selected. OFF literally does not indicate anything. The OPcontrol key is used to determine the print mode of an electronic typewriter. As before, each time you press a key, C, W, L,
One of the STORE lights up to indicate the print mode. C means printing every character, W means printing every word, L means printing every line, STORE means registration in the internal storage device, and when STORE, the mode becomes L printing every line.

SSW1 on the left edge is related to the decimal tab function and is related to the 3-digit scale. In other words, SSW1
When specifying SP, a 3-digit scale is used with a space, and when specifying ``,'', a 3-digit scale is used with a ``,''. If "XX" is specified, 3-digit scale is not performed. SSW2 indicates the type of character. In other words, it relates to bold printing, underlined printing, etc. "XX" is printed in bold and has a continuous underline, " × × " is printed in bold and has an underline for each word, "XXXX" is simply printed in bold, and " 〓〓 " is printed as normal. Continuous underlining, ` `〓 〓 '' indicates normal printing, with word-by-word underlining, and ``〓〓〓 indicates normal printing. The DECTAB key is used to specify decimal tabs, etc. The LAYOUT key has a lamp and is used to specify column layout, etc. The INDENT key also has a lamp and is used to specify automatic indent mode, etc. The FORMAT key is directly related to the present invention. The MEMORY key also has a lamp and is used when it is related to memory, and the MARREL key is used when operating beyond the left and right margins.
NONPRT key is used when referring to text memory, REPEAT
When printing or inputting the same character continuously, the key or keys move the cursor position on the display 94.
Use the SPACE key to move the print position toward the left margin, and the <× key to erase characters.
The INDEX key is used to advance the printing paper one line, the REVINDEX key is used to advance the printing paper one line in the reverse direction, and the CODE key is equipped with a lamp.
When using in conjunction with other keys to give special instructions,
The CENT key is equipped with a lamp and is used to instruct centering printing, while the ☆ key is used to instruct to stop printing, etc.
The LM key sets the left margin, the RM key sets the right margin, the SET key sets the tab stop,
The CLR key is used to erase the tab stop, the RELOC key is used to move the carriage to the final print location, etc. It is used in conjunction with the left SHIFT key to enter lowercase letters or to specify special functions.
The LOCK key is used to lock the SHTFT key. The BACK/TRACE key is used to correct printing by moving to the previous line.

The character key CK is inside the dotted line. The SPACE key is executed every time the carriage is pressed to the right to set a blank digit. The RETURN key returns the carriage to the left margin and feeds one line of printing paper. As shown in the figure, the RETURN key and SPACE key are included in the character key CK.

FIG. 3 shows its control block diagram. 44 is a microprocessor MPU,
It interprets key signals from the keyboard 10 according to control sequences stored in the read-only memory ROM 53, and controls the printing mechanism 41, display 94 or text memory 54, speaker 42, etc. 45 is an address decoder, which receives control AB from MPU44.
SELROM, SELBF, SELREG, SELM2,
SELFF, SELM1, SELKEY, SELPRT,
Generate SELDSP and SELBZ signals, respectively.
ROM 53, row buffer 52, register group 51,
Auxiliary memory 57, flag group 50, text memory 5
4. Specify and control the keyboard control unit 24, printer control unit 16, display control unit 9L, and alarm control unit 49. Note that addresses are assigned to the keyboard display, printing mechanism, memory, ROM, etc. for MPU processing.

Reference numeral 50 denotes a group of flags, which stores the specified state of the typewriter, various modes, and the like. A group of registers 51 is used to store intermediate results of processing operations. Reference numeral 52 stores information regarding characters that have already been printed in a line buffer, and stores emotions to be printed during printing operations on a word-by-word or line-by-line basis. MPU44
When making corrections, etc., the character that has already been printed is known by searching this line buffer 52 in the reverse direction, and the carriage is controlled to automatically reach the final printing position of the line that has already been printed. . 54 is a character string or sentence memory that stores character strings, sentences, information, tab group information, etc. registered by the operator according to appropriate procedures with a title or without a title as the case may be. . Since the memory 54 is backed up by the battery 23, the information in the memory 54 is not lost even if the power switch is turned off. The battery 23 is connected to a power supply sensor 56 and a battery monitoring unit 5
5' is monitored as long as the power switch is turned on, and when a voltage drop occurs due to battery life or the like, a warning is given to the operator. Like the memory 54, the auxiliary memory 57 is backed up by 23 batteries, and stores various auxiliary modes and the like immediately before the power switch is turned off.

The keyboard control unit 24 generates key information via a matrix 88 having lattice points corresponding to each input key, and also generates key information via a cathode driver 64 for displaying lamps or pitch indicators of illuminated key switches on the keyboard 10, operating mode, etc. It also controls the lighting of the lamp 89. The printer control unit 16 controls the printing mechanism 41 via the MD to perform printing. A display control unit 9L of the display section 9 controls information displayed on the display 94. The alarm control unit 49 generates an alarm sound through 42 speakers according to instructions from the MPU 44. As mentioned above, 13 is a power supply unit that supplies power to each part.

Each unit, memory, register group, flag group, etc. is connected to the MPU 44 via a data bus DB, receives control from the MPU 44, and sends various data to the MPU 44, where predetermined calculation control is performed.

FIG. 4 shows the internal structure of the flag group 50.
The role of each flag is as follows.

KB2 is set when the KB Select key is pressed (KB2=1). Therefore, when KB2=1, K in FIG. 2 becomes effective as a character key for the vertical line character "1". KB
2 is cleared when the KB Select key is selected. INDENT sets INDENT=1 when automatic indent mode is started. When moving the carriage back in the left merge direction, it is always monitored, and if INDENT=1, the temporary left margin will be used as the left margin. INDENT is cleared when automatic indent mode is canceled.

When STORE is selected using the Op Control key, STR is set to 1, and when a selection other than STORE is selected, STR is set to 0. TR is set to 1 when the title name is entered using a character string reference operation and the RETURN key is pressed, and TR becomes 0 when the character string reference is canceled. NP is set to 1 when the NONPRT key is pressed, and NP is set to 0 when the reference to the character string is released. SC indicates that a search character string has been input, such as by character string reference. Therefore, when the reference string is entered
When SC = 1 and references to character strings etc. are released,
SC=0. When the centering mode (one of the four types) is established, CMV=
1, and at the same time the centering is released.
CMV=0. TCNT becomes 1 when centering between tabs is specified, and MCNT becomes 1 when centering between margins is specified.
PCNT becomes 1 when centering between specified positions is specified, and WCNT becomes 1 when centering between words is specified.

FIG. 5 shows the internal structure of the register group 51. Register PRTEPT indicates the final point of characters stored in row buffer 52. register
PRTEPT indicates the printing end point within the characters stored in the line buffer 52. The register CRGPT used in the present invention stores the distance traveled by the carriage from the leftmost printable end. For register DCRGPT, the carriage does not move immediately when a character key is input during word-by-word printing, line-by-line printing, etc. Therefore, it is necessary to know and monitor the temporary carriage position. At this time, DCRGPT is used,
The actual quantity to be moved is stored. PITCH is
When the PITCH key is pressed to specify the character size, that is, character pitch, information on each character pitch is stored. MPU44 knows the character pitch PITCH
Please refer to . Like PITCH, LNSP stores the current paper feed amount, that is, the operating state of the Line Space key. RMC is the RMControl key, OPCNT is
Remember the state of the OP Control key. LM, RM are
It stores the positions of the left margin and right margin at that point in the same unit as CRGPT, etc. SSW1 and SSW2 store the states of SSW1 and SSW2 on the operation panel, respectively. DLM is a save register for the left margin LM when in automatic indent mode.

TAB1 to TABn store the position of the tab stop at that time, and have the same dimensions as LM, etc.
WORK is temporary storage of information during control or processing.
Used for saving information, etc. CPT refers to a certain point on the line buffer 52, corresponds to the character where the carriage is located, and is used when making corrections. That is, for each character printed, the state of the printed character type, printing pitch, etc. at that time is memorized, and when correction is necessary, this is stored in order from the oldest character digit to the youngest character digit, like a first-in-first-out stack.
The MPU 44 decodes the characters in the order in which they are taken in and reversely reproduces the past carriage movement state and printing paper feeding state, thereby making it possible for the carriage to reach the final character position of the line printed in the past.

LC stores the number of print paper feed digits.

In such a system configuration, the control sequence begins when power is applied to the electronic typewriter. Immediately after turning on the power, the control units 24, 16, 9L, 49, etc. shown in FIG. 3 are initialized. After this, all the registers 51 in FIG. 3 are cleared, the row buffer 52 is cleared, and the flags 50 are cleared. After this, all the information in the register group 51 is saved in the non-volatile memory 57 shown in FIG. 3 in order to reproduce the previous usage state, so it is recalled to the register group 51. At this time 5
1, the second pitch according to the information of each register,
The Line Space, R.MControl, and Operating Cont lamps will be lit again, and the carriage indicator lamp will also be lit. Also flag KB
Since 2 is also stored in the auxiliary memory 57, the KB Select lamp can be lit in the same way.

Next, registration and calling of page formats according to the present invention will be explained. For example, even if the entry points of the printing paper P are different for each line as shown in Fig. 6, all of these entry points
It would be convenient if EP1 to EP11 could be registered and the carriage could be automatically moved to the entry point during printing and paper feeding. In order to satisfy such functions, this example further includes a page format registration function and a call function.

To register the page format, as shown in Figure 7, the first operation is to operate the OP.CONTROL key.
Make the STORE lamp light up. next
Press the FORMAT key to declare the start of page format registration. At this time, the FORMAT key lamp lights up, indicating FORMAT-related registration. Next, enter the title name for the page format. The delimiter for inputting a title name is the press of the RETURN key. After that, the title name is printed, and the printing paper is fed one line to indicate that the input title name has been received. However, if the same title name is registered elsewhere, a warning will be given and the application will not be accepted. First, the operator moves the carriage to the entry point on the first line of the printing paper using the SPACE key, etc.
Press the ☆ key to specify the entry point.
When you have finished inputting all the entries in one line in this way, press the RETURN key to instruct the memory of all entry points in one line, and continue from the second to the nth line (n=6 in the example in Figure 6). Repeat this process, and when the page format has been memorized, press the FORMAT key to register it, turn off the FORMAT key lamp, and indicate to the operator that the page format has been accepted.
In addition, in Figure 6, from entry point EP10 to EP
One blank line is set between 11, but in this case, following the RETURN key after setting EP10, press ☆
Just press the RETURN key without any keys. The operating procedure for calling up the registered page format is shown in FIG. First, OP.CONTROL
Operate the key so that the STORE lamp does not light up. Then press the FORMAT key. At this time, the FORMAT key lamp lights up just like when registering a page format. Then enter the title name
Press the RETURN key to finish entering the title name. The page format registered at this point is recalled, so each time the ☆ key is pressed, the carriage moves to the next tab stop position.
Therefore, by inputting the character string to be printed after pressing the ☆ key and repeating this process, a document in the format shown in FIG. 6 can be created many times.
To exit, just press the FORMAT key. At this time, the FORMAT key lamp turns off.

The operation by key operation will be explained below.

First, as shown in Figure 9, to register the format, first enter the title name of buffer 52 in WORK.
Save to register and display. Move the carriage to the entry point position using the SPACE key, press the ☆ key, and save the contents of CRGPT, that is, the carriage position information (the distance traveled from the leftmost printable reference point) to the WORK register. If there are multiple entry points as shown in Figure 6 EP2, 3, and 4, press the SPACE key and the ☆ key repeatedly.
Store the contents of CRGPT in the WORK register in order. When you have finished registering one line of entry points, press the RETURN key. The flag TR is now set to 1, so proceed to YES, set the line counter LC from 0 to 1, and read its contents.
Store correspondingly in the entry point storage section of the WORK register. The above operation is repeated for the number of lines in the page format, and the entry point information for each line is stored in the WORK register.
By pressing the FORMAT key, the contents of the WORK register, that is, the title name, number of lines for each line, and entry point information for each line, are registered in the text memory 54.
The FORMAT lamp turns off and page format registration is complete.

To call up this registered page format, set OP.CONTROL to something other than STORE, so when you press the FORMAT key with flag STR=0, STR=1 in Figure 9? Proceed to NO and see Figure 10.
Performed by FMRD. Enter the title name of the desired page format, use LBFSTR to display the title name, and press the RETURN key to set TR=1?
The process is the same as the previous example until the result is NO. The corresponding page format in the text memory 54 is transferred to the WORK register, and the flag TR is set to 1.
Thereafter, when the ☆ key is pressed, the entry point information in the WORK register is taken in by the MPU 44, and the carriage is automatically moved to and set at the entry point. In the example in Figure 6, EP1 to EP11
By pressing the ☆ key 11 times without using the RETURN key, the carriage will be automatically set and the printing paper will be automatically fed. This is because the text memory 54 stores the carriage return command, paper feed amount, etc. by pressing the RETURN key at the end of each line when registering the page format.

Also, when calling from this text memory 54, the settings are made on the keyboard 10 at that time.
PITCH, LINE SPACE, and OP CONTROL are ignored, and the content at the time of registration in the text memory 54 takes priority. For example, even if OP CONTROL is set to print every word W, if you call up the page format and set the carriage to the entry point with the ☆ key, then press one of the letter keys, as shown in Figure 10.
The BFPRT routine in LBFSTR operates in character-by-character printing, that is, in the OP CONTROL=C mode.

As a result, printing from the entry point is 1
Printing can be executed each time a character key is input, which is extremely convenient.

However, in the embodiment described above, the contents of CRGPT are simply stored at the time of registration and simply called at the time of execution, and the entry point of each line is treated as an absolute position from the leftmost printable end, which causes unreasonableness. In other words, the printing paper P at the time of execution
When the entry point of each line is set to a different position than when it was registered, the entry points of each line that have already been stored become useless, and this may even lead to printing problems. Therefore, the following example is a modification of this, and when the ☆ key is pressed in Figure 9 during registration, the left margin LM is calculated from the contents of CRGPT.
The content of is subtracted and saved in the WORK register, and during execution, when the ☆ key is pressed in Figure 10, the entry point is the sum of the left margin LM and the carriage position information in the WORK register, and the carriage is moved to that position. Just move on. This can be illustrated in figures 11 and 12.
It becomes a diagram.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the electronic device of the present invention, there is provided a margin setting means for setting a margin at a desired position, a carriage means equipped with an output section for outputting a pattern, and a longitudinal direction of the carriage means. An instruction means for instructing determination of a reference position, a position specifying means for specifying a plurality of positions at which the carriage means should be positioned, a plurality of positions at which the carriage means should be positioned specified by the position specifying means, and the margin setting means. of the carriage means determined based on the horizontal relative position with respect to the margin position set by the position designation means, a plurality of positions at which the carriage means should be positioned designated by the position designation means, and an instruction from the designation means. This configuration has a storage means for storing the relative position in the vertical direction with respect to the reference position, and stores the horizontal position in which the carriage should be positioned as a relative position in the horizontal direction from the left margin, and from the indicating means. The apparatus is characterized in that the vertical position at which the carriage should be positioned is stored as a relative position from the vertical reference position of the carriage determined based on the instruction.

As a result, for example, page formatting can be performed accurately no matter where the printing paper is placed on the platen, rather than based on the absolute position of the leftmost edge, greatly increasing the degree of freedom in paper setting. It is possible to obtain the excellent effect of being able to improve printing speed and to perform accurate printing.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an overall overview of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a detailed arrangement of a keyboard example, FIG. 3 is an overall block diagram, and
The figure is a detailed explanatory diagram of the flag group, Figure 5 is a detailed explanatory diagram of the register group, Figure 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of printing paper, and Figure 7 is the key operation flow when registering a page format. Chart diagram, Figure 8 is a key operation flowchart when calling the page format, Figure 9 is a flowchart for explaining the operation when registering the page format position, and Figure 10 is the operation when calling the page format position. FIG. 11 is an explanatory flowchart diagram for explaining the operation at the time of page format position registration according to the present invention, and FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram for the operation at the time of page format position calling according to the present invention. 10...Keyboard, 50...Flag group, 9
4...Indicator.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Margin setting means for setting a margin at a desired position; Carriage means equipped with an output section for outputting a pattern; Instruction means for instructing determination of a reference position in the vertical direction of the carriage means; a position specifying means for specifying a plurality of positions at which the carriage means should be positioned; and a horizontal relative position between the plurality of positions at which the carriage means specified by the position specifying means and the margin position set by the margin setting means. storing a relative position in the vertical direction between a plurality of positions at which the carriage means should be positioned specified by the position specifying means and a reference position of the carriage means determined based on an instruction from the instruction means; An electronic device characterized by having a storage means.