JPH04310780A - Printing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To properly adjust a gap without applying needless gap adjustment by a method wherein a control section gives a gap adjustment instruction only when the amount of displacement in a medium varies for a specified duration from the reference amount of displacement. CONSTITUTION:As an interruptible instruction is given by a sensor control circuit 9a to a control section 2, a judgement is made by the control section 2 by comparing the amount of displacement in a medium detected by a paper thickness sensor 9b with the reference amount of displacement and duration of the displacement stored in a base data storage section 3c. In the case where the judgement indicates the increase in the thickness of the medium, operation for setting an appropriate gap for the medium is made by turning a head gap motor 8a in reverse until the amount of displacement becomes identical with the initial amount of displacement for the medium stored in the sensor control circuit 9a. In the case where the decrease in the thickness of the medium is judged, a judgement is made to know the existence of real printing data for a column concerned. In the case of non-existence of the real printing data for the said column because it is for a space or the like, setting of the gap for the medium is restrained. When the real printing data exist, setting of an appropriate gap for the medium is made by turning the head gap motor 8a in normal rotation. Thereby appropriate gap adjustment can be made in accordance with physical properties of the media.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a printer device.
In particular, the present invention relates to a printer device equipped with a printing mechanism having a gap adjustment mechanism, which is suitable for using a printing medium having an uneven thickness.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, printer devices, such as wire dot serial printers, are provided with a gap adjustment mechanism that automatically adjusts the gap between a print head and a platen in order to obtain appropriate print quality. This gap adjustment mechanism is a mechanism that sets a predetermined gap by using a motor as a driving source to bring the tip of a print head into contact with paper, which is a print medium, before a printing operation, and then returning a certain amount. The gap adjustment method using such a gap adjustment mechanism measures the gap at one appropriately determined location, and there is a problem that the gap may not always be appropriate for printing media with uneven thickness. In order to improve these problems, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-31527
As described in Japanese Patent No. 6, a printer device has been proposed that is equipped with an automatic gap adjustment mechanism that detects an increase in the thickness of a print medium as the print head moves and can perform gap adjustment sequentially.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the above-mentioned conventional printer devices, consideration is not given to the characteristics of the printing medium and the throughput.
When the thickness of the printing paper changes, the gap must be adjusted each time. For this reason, gap adjustment is performed as a change in the thickness of the print medium, even if the change is not an actual change in paper thickness, such as wrinkles in the print medium, and there is no data to actually print. Also, gap adjustment is performed when it is detected that the print medium has become thinner. As described above, in the conventional printer device, there is a problem in that the gap adjustment of the print medium is performed more than necessary. Furthermore, since the detection mechanism that detects changes in the print medium is always in contact with the medium, there is a problem that the contact portion of the detection mechanism is easily worn out, resulting in low reliability.

[0004] The purpose of the present invention is to solve the above problems,
In a printer device equipped with a printing mechanism having a gap adjustment mechanism, the printer device is provided with a control unit that appropriately adjusts the gap without unnecessary gap adjustment when using a printing medium having an uneven thickness. Our goal is to provide the following.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the printer device of the present invention includes a medium state detection unit that detects a change in the state of printing paper as the print head moves, and a medium state detection unit that detects changes in the state of printing paper as the print head moves. a control unit that compares and calculates the amount of displacement and a reference displacement amount and instructs to set a medium interval according to the state of the medium; and a medium interval setting unit that sets a gap between the medium and the print head based on the medium interval setting instruction of the control unit. It is characterized by having the following.

The printer device further includes a medium detection drive control section that controls the state of contact of the medium condition detection section with the surface of the medium, a medium condition storage section that stores the calculation results of the control section, and a medium condition storage section that stores the calculation results of the control section. The present invention is characterized by being provided with an operation section for selecting and controlling the type.

[Effect]

According to this, the printer device is provided with a medium condition detection section, a control section, and a medium interval setting section. The medium state detection unit measures and detects the amount of displacement of the state of the print medium as the print head moves. The control unit determines the adjustment setting amount of the medium interval setting unit according to the medium condition based on the displacement amount from the medium condition detection unit, the displacement time, the reference displacement amount which is the operational characteristic data of the print head, and the presence or absence of print data. and control. A medium spacing setting section controlled by the control section adjusts and sets the distance between the print head tip and the print medium surface. Further, the printer device is further provided with a medium detection drive control section, a medium state storage section, and an operation section. The medium detection drive control section controls the contact state of the medium state detection section to the medium surface in order to enable the medium state detection section to operate. The medium state storage unit stores the medium interval setting state as a result of calculation by the control unit. The operation unit inputs the type of medium, characteristics of the medium, reference displacement data which is characteristic data of the print head, etc., and selects and controls each characteristic data.

Specifically, the medium condition detection unit is mounted on a carriage carrying a print head, contacts the surface of the print medium, and detects changes in the thickness of the print medium as the carriage moves as a displacement amount to the control unit. It is a contact sensor that conveys information. The control unit determines, based on the amount of displacement detected by the medium condition detection unit, a value that requires adjustment of the distance between the tip of the print head and the surface of the print medium as a reference value based on the operational characteristic data of the print head. A comparison calculation is made with the calculated reference displacement amount, and based on the result, it is determined whether the medium has become thicker or thinner. When the period during which the printing medium has changed continues for a predetermined time or more, it issues a gap setting instruction to the medium interval setting section and operates to store the state of the medium change in the medium state storage section. Also,
When the control unit detects that the print medium has become thin, it determines whether there is print data in the print area of the print medium and suppresses the gap setting instruction if there is no data to actually print. and issues an instruction to control the medium detection drive section. The medium spacing setting unit operates to set the distance between the print head tip and the print medium surface based on instructions from the control unit. The medium detection drive section prevents the medium state detection section from coming into contact with the surface of the print medium, and is controlled to be in contact or non-contact based on instructions from the control section. The operation section is composed of various key switches, and functions to enable setting and changing of the type of medium, the reference displacement amount of the print head, and the duration of displacement amount from the medium condition detection section based on the setting information of the switches. In this way, the minimum head gap adjustment is performed according to the medium condition such as a change in the thickness of the printing medium by the operations of the medium condition detecting section, the medium spacing setting section, and the control section. Furthermore, by using the operations of the medium detection drive section, the operation section, and the medium condition detection section in combination, the period during which the contact sensor of the medium condition detection section is brought into contact with the printing medium can be reduced to the minimum necessary period depending on the condition of the medium. can do.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of main parts of a printer device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the configuration of the printer device shown in FIG. 1, an interface control section 1 controls input/output signals between the control section 2 and a host device (not shown). The control unit 2 centrally controls each unit of the printer device according to a control program in a ROM (read only memory) 4. Note that the ROM 4 also functions as a character pattern generator. The memory 3 stores a work memory 3a that stores input data, a medium storage section 3b that stores medium thickness change data, and basic data that stores data of a reference displacement amount, displacement amount duration time, and medium detection period. It consists of a basic data storage section 3c. The input/output control section 5 includes a print head 6, a carriage section 7, a medium interval setting section 8, a medium condition detection section 9, and a medium detection drive section 10.
, the paper feeding section 11, the operation panel section 12, and the limit switch section 13. The carriage section 7 is composed of a carriage motor 7a and a carriage mechanism 7b, and is equipped with a print head 6, a medium condition detection section 9, and a medium detection drive section 10, and receives signals from the control section 2 via the input/output control section 5. Follow the instructions to move left and right. The medium interval setting section 8 is composed of a head gap motor 8a and a head gap adjustment mechanism 8b, and controls the movement of the carriage section 7 in the front-back direction according to instructions from the control section 2. The medium condition detection section 9 is composed of a sensor control circuit 9a, a paper thickness sensor 9b, and a detection mechanism 9c.The sensor control circuit 9a compares the output of the paper thickness sensor 9b with its temporary memory, and if the comparison result is different. It has an interrupt control function that interrupts the control unit 2 when necessary. Medium detection drive section 1
0 is composed of a medium detection motor 10a and a drive mechanism 10b, and the medium detection motor 10a is driven by instructions from the control section 2 to move the medium state detection section (contact sensor) 9. The paper feeding section 11 is composed of a paper feeding motor 11a and a paper feeding mechanism 11b, and controls the feeding of continuous paper or cut paper as media according to instructions from the control section 2. The operation panel section 12 is composed of switches, indicators, etc., and includes a reference displacement amount, which is the displacement amount of the medium thickness that requires setting of the head gap based on the print head characteristics, and a continuous displacement amount, which is the change period of the print medium thickness. time, and medium detection to 1
Control information such as a medium detection period for selecting whether to perform the process for one line or one page is input from the operation panel unit 12, and the input control information is stored in the basic data storage unit 3c. Note that the limit switch section 13 is composed of various sensors that detect various states of the printer device, and for example, changes in the state of the printer such as the presence or absence of printing paper are detected by the control section via the input/output control section 5. Send to 2.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing the overall configuration of the printer mechanism section, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the detailed configuration of the detection mechanism of the medium condition detection section and the medium detection drive section. Figure 2
3, 6 is a print head, 7b is a carriage mechanism, 8a is a head gap motor, 9b is a paper thickness sensor, 9c is a detection mechanism, 10a is a medium detection motor, 21 is a platen, 22 is a printing paper, 23 is an eccentric shaft, 24
is a shaft, and 25 is an ink ribbon. Further, 31 is a forward stopper, and 32 is a reverse stopper.

As shown in FIG. 2, the head gap motor 8a is attached to one end of the eccentric shaft 23.
The rotation of the head gap motor 8a rotates the eccentric shaft 23, and the carriage mechanism 7b moves back and forth. This makes it possible to adjust the distance between the print paper 22 and the print head 6. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the detection mechanism 9c moves back and forth as a medium detection motor 10a mounted on the carriage mechanism 7b rotates. A forward stopper 31 and a reverse stopper 32 provided on the carriage mechanism 7b function as corrections in the moving direction of the detection mechanism 9c and maximum movement stops in the forward or backward direction, and prevent movement beyond a specified limit. Further, the forward stopper 31 and the reverse stopper 32 are provided with a fitting portion to prevent the detection mechanism 9c from floating up, and the forward stopper 31 has a structure that also serves as a mounting mechanism for the print head 6. The paper thickness sensor 9b is a detection mechanism 9c.
When the carriage mechanism 7b moves back and forth,
The paper thickness is detected by contacting the printing paper 22.

Next, the operation of the printer device according to this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. When the printing paper 22 is fed to the printing start position by the operation of the paper feeding unit 11 based on the paper presence/absence information of the limit switch unit 13, the media interval is The head gap motor 8a of the setting section 8 is driven, and the eccentric shaft 23 is rotated until the carriage mechanism 7b comes into contact with the printing paper 22 by the head gap adjustment mechanism 8b. After that, the head gap motor 8a
By rotating the carriage mechanism 7b backward by a predetermined amount and returning the carriage mechanism 7b, the medium interval is set so that an appropriate interval is obtained between the print head 6 and the printing paper 22.

Furthermore, since the control section 2 also issues a driving instruction to the medium detection motor 10a of the medium detection drive section 10, the medium detection motor 10a is driven and the detection mechanism 9c is activated when the platen 2
Moved to side 1. When the movement of the detection mechanism 9c is prevented by the forward stopper 31, the medium detection motor 10a stops driving, and becomes in a state in which the medium state can be detected by the paper thickness sensor 9b. At this time, since the setting of the media spacing has already been completed, the output of the paper thickness sensor 9b in the proper media spacing state is stored in the sensor control circuit 9a as the initial media displacement amount, and furthermore, the initial position on the printing paper is The line information and the digit information are stored in the medium storage unit 3b.

Next, the carriage motor 7a is driven based on the input data stored in the work memory 3a,
The carriage mechanism 7b is moved. Carriage mechanism 7b
As the paper thickness sensor 9b moves, the output values of the paper thickness sensor 9b are sequentially input to the sensor control circuit 9b, and the sensor control circuit 9a compares them with the previously stored initial medium displacement amount, and if the comparison results are different, the control An interrupt is issued to section 2. Control part 2
When the interrupt is detected, the output information (medium displacement amount) of the paper thickness sensor 9b and the basic data storage section 3c are processed by the interrupt processing.
The reference displacement amount and the displacement amount duration time stored in are compared to determine whether the current amount of medium displacement is worth resetting the medium interval. That is, if the displacement difference between the current medium displacement amount and the immediately previous medium displacement amount stored in the medium storage section 3b is equal to or greater than the reference displacement amount, and this state continues for the displacement amount duration time or longer, the medium It is determined that it is worth resetting the interval, and a determination is made as to whether the medium thickness should be increased or decreased depending on the displacement situation. At this time, it is stored in the medium storage unit 3b together with the relevant digit information as the latest paper thickness information at the present time.

If it is determined that the medium thickness has increased, the head gap motor 8a is rotated in the opposite direction by an amount corresponding to the displacement difference, that is, until it becomes the same value as the initial medium displacement amount stored in the sensor control circuit 9a. and set the appropriate media spacing. In addition, when it is determined that the media thickness has decreased, the presence or absence of actual print data in the relevant digit is determined, and if the relevant digit is not actual print data such as a space, the media interval setting is suppressed,
If there is actual printing data, head gap motor 8a
Rotate in the forward direction to set the appropriate media spacing. The above operations are repeated until the printing of the relevant line is completed. This makes it possible to set appropriate media spacing for the row.

[0016] Also, at the end of printing of the line, it is determined whether the detection is by line or by page based on the information of the medium detection period stored in the basic data storage section 3c, and if the detection is by page, one page is detected. The above-mentioned operation is repeated until the printing operation is completed. After the medium detection period for one line or one page ends, the medium detection motor 10a is driven to move the detection mechanism 9c back to the reverse stopper 32, thereby inhibiting the operation of the medium state detection section 9. This results in
After the medium state detection unit 9 is inhibited, it becomes possible to set an appropriate medium interval based on the medium displacement information (the row, column, and amount of medium displacement) stored in the medium storage unit 3b.

[0017] Here, the reference displacement amount, displacement amount duration time,
Although the basic data storage unit 3c stores the values of the medium detection time and the medium detection time, these may be set in either the operation panel unit 12 or the sensor control circuit 9a. In addition, although the medium detection period includes two detection periods, one for each line and one for each page, various types of detection periods may be further provided depending on the type of medium. Further, the storage information of the medium storage unit 3b is determined without providing a detection period,
The inhibition control of the medium state detection unit 9 may be performed by automatic determination by detecting the medium state. The inhibition control of the medium state detection section 9 is not limited to the medium detection motor 10a, and any method may be used as long as the paper thickness sensor 9b does not come into contact with the medium.

[0018]

As explained above, according to the printer device of the present invention, by setting the reference displacement amount and displacement time, it is possible to match the operating characteristics of the print head and to adjust the gap appropriately according to the physical properties of the medium. can. Furthermore, since unnecessary gap control is suppressed, it is also effective for high-speed printing. Furthermore, since the medium state detection section is movable, reliability is improved. These reference displacement amounts and displacement time settings can be changed in various settings using the operation panel, making it easy to adjust and absorb differences in the physical properties of various media and the characteristics of print heads and devices. Can be done.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of main parts of a printer device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing the overall configuration of a printer mechanism section.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the detailed configuration of a detection mechanism and a medium detection drive section of a medium state detection section.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 Control section 3 Memory 4 ROM 5 Input/output control section 6 Print head 7 Carriage part 8 Media interval setting section 9 Medium condition detection section 10 Medium detection drive unit 12 Operation panel section 21 Platen 22 Printing paper 23 Eccentric shaft 24 Shaft 31 Forward stopper 32 Reverse stopper

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A medium condition detecting section that detects changes in the condition of printing paper as the print head moves, and a displacement amount of the medium condition detecting section and a reference displacement amount are compared and calculated to set the medium interval according to the medium condition. 1. A printer apparatus comprising: a control section for giving instructions; and a medium spacing setting section for setting a gap between a medium and a print head based on a medium spacing setting instruction from the control section. 2. A medium interval setting section that adjusts the gap between the print head and the surface of the print medium, a medium condition detection section that measures changes in the thickness of the medium due to movement of the print head, and the medium condition detection section. A printer apparatus comprising: a control section that controls a gap adjustment instruction based on data on a change in the thickness of the medium detected by the method and data on operating characteristics of the print head. [Claim 3] The control section is configured to, for a predetermined period of time, when the amount of displacement of the medium condition detection section reaches a value equal to or greater than the reference amount of displacement,
The printer device according to claim 1, further comprising an instruction to set a medium interval. 4. The control section is characterized in that when it is detected that the medium has become thinner due to a change in the amount of displacement of the medium condition detection section, the control section controls a medium interval setting instruction depending on the presence or absence of print data in the control section. The printer device according to claim 1. 5. Further, a medium detection drive control section that controls the state of contact of the medium state detection section with the surface of the medium, a medium state storage section that stores calculation results in the control section, and selectively controls the type of the medium. Claim 1 characterized in that an operation section is provided.
The printer device described in . 6. The printer device according to claim 5, wherein a reference displacement amount, a displacement amount duration time, and a medium detection time, which are basic data for medium detection, can be set by an operation unit. 7. The printer device according to claim 1, further comprising a carriage mechanism provided with a print head fixing portion that serves to correct the moving direction of the medium detection mechanism, a movement stopper, and a print head fixing portion that also serves to prevent floating.