JPH04189151A - Thermal printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To carry out clean printing generating no collapse of a printed character by preliminarily investigating the dot constitution of printing data and controlling the same on the basis of the drive pulse width corresponding to the continuous driving number of times of each dot. CONSTITUTION:When data is inputted to a data input means 1, a central control means 2 converts the printing data of one line to dot data to store the same in a dot data memory means 9 and investigates the continuous driving number of times of each resistant heater to store the same in a dot continuous driving number-of-time memory means 10. Further, the central control means 2 reads the head driving pulse width corresponding to the continuous driving number of times from a head driving pulse width table memory means 12 to store the same in a head driving pulse width memory means 11. A printing control means 4 drives a thermal head 8 by the pulse width quantity of the head driving pulse width memory means 11 through a thermal head driving means 7 according to the printing timing of a printing timing pulse generating means 3 to drive each resistance heater.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention is capable of printing characters and letters on thermal paper by moving a thermal head in which resistive heating elements are arranged by a head carrier and driving the head according to the movement timing of the head. Regarding thermal printers that print shapes.

[Conventional technology]

Conventional thermal printers print characters and figures on thermal paper by moving a thermal head in which resistive heating elements are arranged using a head carrier and driving the head in accordance with the movement timing of the head.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, with conventional thermal printers, certain dots (
When the resistive heating element (resistance heating element) was continuously driven, heat accumulated in the thermal head, which could cause the printed characters to become distorted. For this reason, in conventional thermal printers, when continuously driving the head, a method has been adopted in which the driving time for the second and subsequent times is slightly shortened.

However, even with this method, when printing graphics etc. continuously or when printing characters with a large number of dots, heat accumulation in the head is unavoidable, resulting in the print being distorted or blurred.

The present invention is intended to solve these problems, and its purpose is to check the dot configuration of print data in advance and control the drive pulse width corresponding to the number of times each dot is continuously driven, thereby improving the print quality. The objective is to provide a thermal printer that can print cleanly without being crushed.

[Means to solve the problem]

The thermal printer of the present invention includes a data input means, a central control means, a head moving means, a paper feeding means, a print timing pulse generation means, a print control means, a dot data storage means, and a dot continuous drive number storage. The present invention is characterized by comprising: a head drive pulse width storage means, a head continuous drive pulse width table storage means, a thermal head drive means, and a thermal head.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail based on examples.

The first part is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

The central control means 2 converts the input data from the data input means 1 into print data, and controls the print control means 4ζ and the paper feed means 6 to feed the paper.

The print timing pulse generating means 3 generates a print timing pulse based on the signal from the head moving means 5 and sends it to the print control means 4. The print control means 4 drives the thermal head 8 via the thermal head drive means 7 in accordance with the timing of the print timing pulse to print the print data and print characters and figures on the thermal paper.

Now, suppose that data is input to the data input means 1 and characters and figures are to be printed. The central control means 2 converts the print data for one line into dot data and stores it in the dot data storage means 9. wife? Character data is converted into font data to be actually printed, and figure/graphic data is stored as binary data of O or 1. The dot data storage means 9 stores the number of dots on the thermal head (the number of resistance heating elements) x
One line shall be prepared. After storing one line of dot data, the central control means 2 controls each means and starts a printing operation. First, the central control means 2 controls the head moving means 5 to move the head, and print timing pulse generation means 3
This generates a print timing pulse. Next, the central control means 2 reads the data from the dot data storage means 9, and stores the number of times each resistance heating element is continuously driven in the dot continuous drive number storage means 10.

At this time, if the head is not driven, O is stored.

Further, at this time, the central control means 2 reads out the head drive pulse width corresponding to the number of continuous drives from the head continuous drive pulse width table storage means 12 and stores it in the head drive pulse width storage means 11. Note that the dot driving number storage means 10 and the head driving pulse width storage means Pjll are dot@
It is assumed that the number of memories is prepared for (the number of resistance heating elements of the thermal head 8).

The subsequent printing operation will be described as step 1.2.

The print control means 4 controls the head drive pulse width storage means 1 according to the print timing of the print timing pulse generation means 3.
The thermal head driving means 7 drives the thermal head 8 by one pulse width to drive each resistance heating element.

(Step 1) After this, the central control means 2 decreases the number of continuously driven dots in the data in the number of consecutively driven dots storage means 10. At this time, for dots whose number of consecutive drives became 0 (including those whose number was 0 from the beginning without being driven), the data in the dot data storage means 9 is checked,
The next number of continuous drives is stored in the dot continuous drive number storage means 10, and the head drive pulse width corresponding to the number of continuous dots is read from the head continuous drive pulse width table storage means 12 and stored in the head drive pulse width storage means 11, respectively. For dots for which the number of consecutive drives is not 0, the previous head drive pulse width is used as is. (Step 2) Thereafter, the operation of step 1.2 is repeated to print one line of data.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, by preparing a table of head drive pulse widths corresponding to the number of continuous drives of each resistive heating element of the thermal head, it is possible to print cleanly without blurring the print. This has the effect that a thermal printer can be provided.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. 1...Data input means 2...Central control means 3...Print timing pulse generation means 4.
...... Print control means 5 ... Head moving means 6 ... Paper feeding means 7 ... Thermal head driving means 8 ...・・・
...Thermal head 9...Dot date storage means 10...
...Dot continuous drive number storage means 11...
...Head drive pulse width storage means 12...
Head Continuous Drive Pulse Width Table Storage Means Above Applicant: Seiko Epson Co., Ltd. Representative Patent Attorney Kizobe Suzuki (1 other person)

Claims (1)

[Claims] data input means, central control means, head movement means, paper feeding means, print timing pulse generation means, print control means, dot data storage means, dot continuous drive number storage means, head drive pulse width A thermal printer comprising: a storage means, a continuous head drive pulse width table storage means, a thermal head drive means, and a thermal head.