JPH05112062A - Printer capable of changing-over power supply - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To drive a printing mechanism under the optimum condition by changing over the driving condition of the printing mechanism corresponding to the type of a power supply to be used by providing a means discriminating the type of the connected power supply and a control means controlling the operation of the printing mechanism corresponding to the driving condition of the printing mechanism set by a driving condition setting means. CONSTITUTION:At the time of printing, the output voltage of a power source pack supplied to a connection terminal is preliminarily detected by a power supply voltage detecting circuit 22 and a power supply to be used is discriminated on the basis of the detection result. A driving condition is selected according to the power supply by a driving condition selecting circuit 21 and the operation of a printing mechanism 9 is controlled on the basis of the driving condition by a control circuit 20 to perform printing operation. Therefore, the optimum driving condition is selected corresponding to the type of the power supply to be used and, especially, when a battery is used, printing is executed at a low speed under low copy pressure to enable long-time use and, when an AC power supply is used, printing is executed at a high speed under high copy pressure to enhance printing function.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer capable of switching power sources, to which a plurality of power sources having different models are selectively connected.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Some printers normally use an AC power source and can use a battery as needed.

In this type of printer, if the driving voltage of the motor for driving the printing mechanism is different depending on the type of the power source used, the operation of the printing mechanism cannot be normally controlled when the power source used is switched. The output voltage of the AC power supply is set according to the output voltage. Also, if the printing speed and copy pressure determined by the driving conditions of the printing mechanism are set according to the AC power supply, the usage time in a battery with a low power capacity will be shortened, so the printing speed and copying will be adjusted according to the power capacity of the battery. Pressure etc. is set.

[0004]

However, if the printing speed, copy pressure, etc. are set according to the power capacity of the battery, the printing speed, copy pressure, etc. will be much lower than the permissible range when the AC power supply is used. There was a problem that the printing efficiency was poor when the power supply was used.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a power source switchable printer capable of automatically changing the driving condition of the printing mechanism according to the type of power source used.

[0006]

The present invention is a power source switchable printer in which a plurality of power sources of different models are selectively connected, and a discrimination means for discriminating the type of the connected power source. Drive condition setting means for switching the drive condition of the print mechanism according to the type of the power source based on the result of the determination, and control means for controlling the operation of the print mechanism according to the drive condition of the print mechanism set by the drive condition setting means. It is characterized by having and.

[0007]

According to the present invention, the type of the power source used is discriminated by the discriminating means, and the driving condition setting means switches the driving condition of the printing mechanism according to the type of the power source based on the discrimination result. Accordingly, the operation of the printing mechanism is controlled by the control means.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A printer to which the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a power source housing portion 1a that is opened to the side is formed on the outer peripheral portion of the printer case 1. Inside the power source housing portion 1a, the power packs 3, 4, 5 having the same outer shape Can be selectively accommodated.

A connection terminal 6 is installed at the back of the power supply housing 1a, and is connected to the power supply through the connection terminal 6. The power packs 3, 4, and 5 are provided with power supply terminals 3a, 4a, and 5a that are electrically connected to the connection terminals 6 in a state of being housed in the power supply housing 1a.
The power pack 3 has a built-in rechargeable battery 3b and is used when the battery 3b is used as a power source of a printer. The power pack 4 is provided with a plug 4b for connection with a car battery (not shown), and is used when the car battery is used as a power source of a printer. The power pack 4 outputs a voltage slightly higher than that of the power pack 3. The power pack 5 is provided with a plug 5b for connection with an AC power supply (not shown), and is used when the AC power supply is used as the power supply of the printer. The power pack 5 has an AC / DC conversion circuit (not shown) and a transformer circuit (not shown) built therein to convert AC power into DC power and output a voltage slightly higher than that of the power pack 4. In this way, the power packs 3, 4, 5 having different types can be selectively used.

On the other hand, inside the printer case 1, a paper feed cassette 8 for accommodating the recording paper 7 is mounted and a printing mechanism 9 is provided. It can be fed and printed, and can be discharged to the outside of the printer case 1 after printing.

The paper feed cassette 8 can be pulled out from and attached to the loading port 1b formed in the printer case 1 so that the recording paper 7 can be replenished as needed. The paper feed cassette 8 is provided with a hopper plate 8a at the bottom, and the recording paper 7 is accommodated on the hopper plate 8a. The hopper plate 8a is biased upward by a biasing means (not shown), and the recording paper 7
The uppermost recording paper 7 is always positioned at a predetermined position regardless of the number of stored sheets.

As shown in FIG. 3, the print mechanism 9 includes a print head 11, a carrier 13 that is driven to run by a carrier motor 12, a paper feed roller 15 and a paper discharge roller that are driven to rotate by a paper feed motor 14. 16
And a picking roller 18 that is rotationally driven by a picking motor 17.

An impact type print head 11 is applied to the print head 11, and the copy pressure can be changed by setting drive conditions. As shown in FIG. 2, a platen 19 is disposed below the print head 11 so as to face it, and the recording paper 7 is fed between the platen 19 and the print head 11 for printing. Is becoming Platen 19
Are extended in a direction orthogonal to the paper feeding direction (direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 2) via a fixing means (not shown). An ink ribbon (not shown) is arranged between the platen 19 and the print head 11, and the impact type print head 11 prints on the recording paper 7 via the ink ribbon.

The carrier 13 is guided by guide shafts 13a, 13a and is driven to run parallel to the platen 19 in a direction orthogonal to the paper feeding direction. Carrier 13
The print head 11 is mounted on the printer and is used for driving the print head 11. The paper feed roller 15 is provided upstream of the print head 11 and is used for feeding the recording paper 7 between the print head 11 and the platen 19. The paper discharge roller 16 is provided downstream of the print head 11 and is used for discharging the recording paper 7. A discharge port 1c formed in the printer case 1 is located downstream of the discharge roller 16, and the printed recording paper 7 is discharged to the outside of the printer case 1 through the discharge port 1c. There is. The picking roller 18 is provided above the paper feed cassette 8 so as to face it, and is used for taking out the recording paper 7 from the paper feed cassette 8.

The operation of the printing mechanism 9 configured as described above is controlled by the control circuit 20. That is, the print head 11, the carrier motor 12,
The paper feed motor 14 and the picking motor 17 are connected to the control circuit 20.

A drive condition selection circuit 21 as drive condition setting means for setting drive conditions for the printing mechanism 9 is connected to the control circuit 20, and the printing mechanism is selected according to the drive conditions set by the drive condition selection circuit 21. It is designed to control the operation of 9. That is, the impact force of the print head 11, the rotation speed of the carrier motor 12, the paper feed motor 14, and the picking motor 17 are set according to the drive conditions set by the drive condition selection circuit 21.

The drive condition selection circuit 21 is connected to a power supply voltage detection circuit 22 as a discrimination means, and the drive condition of the printing mechanism 9 is set based on a signal from the power supply voltage detection circuit 22. .. The power supply voltage detection circuit 22 can detect the output voltage of the power supply pack supplied to the connection terminal 6 and determine the type of power supply used. As this type of power supply voltage detection circuit 22, an A / D converter, a comparison circuit, or the like can be applied.

The drive condition selection circuit 21 determines whether the power supply voltage detection circuit 22 determines one of the first drive condition, the second drive condition, and the third drive condition which are preset according to the type of power supply used. It is designed to be selected based on. The first driving condition is selected when the power supply voltage detection circuit 22 detects that the power supply used is the battery 3b, so that the printing speed and the printing pressure are the lowest as compared to when the car battery or the AC power supply is used. Printing mechanism 9
Is designed to control the operation of. The second drive condition is selected when the power supply voltage detection circuit 22 detects that the power supply used is a car battery, the printing speed and printing pressure are higher than when the battery 3b is used, and when the AC power supply is used. The operation of the printing mechanism 9 is controlled so as to be lower than that. The third drive condition is selected when the power supply voltage detection circuit 22 detects that the power supply to be used is an AC power supply, so that the printing speed and printing pressure are the highest compared to when the battery 3b or the car battery is used. The operation of the printing mechanism 9 is controlled.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. At the time of printing, the output voltage of the power pack supplied to the connection terminal 6 in advance is detected by the power supply voltage detection circuit 22 (step 26), and the power supply to be used is determined based on the detection result (step 27).

Then, when the power source used is the battery 3b, the first drive condition is selected by the drive condition selection circuit 21 (step 28), and when the power source used is the car battery, the second drive condition is selected by the drive condition selection circuit 21. The condition is selected (step 29) and the power source used is AC.
When it is a power source, the drive condition selection circuit 21
Is selected (step 30), and the control circuit 20 controls the operation of the printing mechanism 9 based on these driving conditions to perform the printing operation (step 31).

Here, when the first driving condition is selected, the operation of the printing mechanism 9 is controlled so that the printing speed and the copy pressure are the lowest as compared to when the car battery or the AC power supply is used, and the second driving condition is selected. When the driving condition is selected, the operation of the printing mechanism 9 is controlled so that the printing speed and the copy pressure are higher than when the battery 3b is used and lower than when the AC power source is used, and the third driving condition is selected. When this happens, the operation of the printing mechanism 9 is controlled so that the printing speed and the copy pressure are the highest compared to when the battery 3b or the car battery is used.

Therefore, the optimum driving condition is selected according to the type of power source used, especially when the battery 3b is used, printing at low speed and low copy pressure can be executed to enable long-term use, and when the AC power source is used. The printing function is improved by performing printing at high speed and with high copy pressure.

In the above embodiment, the power supply voltage detection circuit 22 detects the voltage of the power supply to be used, which is supplied to the connection terminal 6, to determine the type of the power supply to be used, but the invention is not limited to this. A connector that is selectively connected to the power packs 3, 4, and 5 may be provided in the portion 1a, and a signal line for determining the type of power supply may be provided in this connector to determine the type of power supply used. Further, the power packs 3, 4, and 5 may be provided with protrusions, and the power supply accommodating portion 1a may be provided with a switch that is actuated by the protrusions when the power pack is accommodated to determine the type of power source used. In these cases, the type of power supply used can be determined without changing the output voltage of the power packs 3, 4, and 5.

In the above embodiment, the case where a plurality of power sources can be used by using the power pack has been described, but it is of course applicable to the case where a plurality of power sources can be used by other means. is there. For example, the present invention is also applicable to the case where a battery is built in the printer case and is connected to an AC power source via an AC power source adapter as needed.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where three types of power sources can be used has been described, but it is of course applicable to the case where two types or four or more types of power sources can be used. In this case, two types or four or more types of drive conditions are set according to the type of power supply used.

Further, in the above embodiment, the driving conditions of the printing mechanism 9 are switched so as to change both the printing speed and the copy pressure according to the type of power source, but either one of the printing speed and the copy pressure is changed. It is also possible to switch the driving condition of the printing mechanism 9 so as to change only the driving condition according to the type of the power source.

[0027]

As described above, in the printer capable of switching the power source according to the present invention, the determination means for determining the type of the connected power source, and the drive condition of the printing mechanism based on the determination result of the determination means Of the power source to be used, since it has drive condition setting means for switching according to the model of the printing mechanism and control means for controlling the operation of the printing mechanism according to the driving condition of the printing mechanism set by the driving condition setting means. According to the above, there is an excellent effect that the driving condition of the printing mechanism can be switched to drive under the optimum condition.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a printer to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the printer of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a circuit block diagram of the printing mechanism of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a printing operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 9 printing mechanism 20 control circuit (control means) 21 drive condition selection circuit (drive condition setting means) 22 power supply voltage detection circuit (determination means)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A printer capable of switching a power source, in which a plurality of power sources having different models are selectively connected, and a discrimination means for discriminating the type of the connected power source, and printing based on the discrimination result of the discrimination means. Drive condition setting means for changing the drive condition of the mechanism according to the type of power supply, and control means for controlling the operation of the print mechanism according to the drive condition of the print mechanism set by the drive condition setting means. A power switchable printer. 2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the discriminating unit discriminates the type of the power source based on the output voltage of the connected power source.