JPH0557999A - Life control of printing head and dot impact printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable calculation of a printing area, setting of print density depending on character mode as well as integration of a print amount by multiplication of a print area by print density and the display of the integrated print amount, the accurate control of printing head life and the easy identification of printing head failure. CONSTITUTION:The value of a print amount stored in non-volatile memory in a head life control part 32 is indicated in a display part by the control of a CPU 2, when a power supply for a printer is turned on. Next, if a sheet is set, a sheet form and a sheet width are read using sensor groups 5, 10 and thereby a single line of the maximum number of characters to be printed is set. Simultaneously, information supplied from a printing mode changeover switch 14 and a printing speed changeover switch 15 on a control panel is read to set a print density. In addition, each time a code which initiates printing process as print data is received, print density x maximum number of characters to be prined are formed using a counter, then a recorded value in non-volatile memory is updated and a cumulative print amount is shown in the display part. Thus the life of a printing head is determined through this display.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print head life management method for a dot impact printer and a dot impact printer using the method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Since a print head used in a dot impact printer impacts the printing surface with dot pins, the dot pins are gradually worn, and if the wear amount exceeds a limit, the printing quality cannot be maintained. Or printing itself becomes impossible. Therefore, for the dot impact printer, it is necessary to manage the life of the print head. Conventionally, with respect to the life management of this type of print head, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-147329, the number of characters printed by the print head of the printer or the number of start-ups is controlled by a control device for controlling the printer. It was being counted. The count number is stored in the external file.

[0003]

In the conventional life management method, when the control unit for controlling the printer counts the number of print characters and the number of start-ups as described above, when the count number exceeds a certain number, It was judged that it was at the end of life, and the head was replaced. By the way, this method is effective in the case where one control device controls one or a plurality of printers, and when the print content is limited to characters. However, in recent years, the use of one printer shared by a plurality of control devices is increasing. In this case, it is not easy to count the number of characters printed by the printer for each printer, and thus it is difficult to accurately manage the life with the conventional life management method described above. In addition,
In a station, a personal computer, an office computer, etc., the printed contents are rather not limited to characters, and the use mainly for ruled lines and graphics is increasing. In the case of a printer used for such an application, it is difficult to accurately manage the life of the print head by the conventional management method of counting the number of printed characters.
That is, in the case of character printing, since the use frequency of each dot pin of the print head is averaged, it can be considered that the number of characters printed and the wear amount of the dot pin are substantially proportional. As a result, it becomes possible to manage the life of the print head by counting the number of print characters. However, when printing ruled lines or graphics, the received data from the printer
Since the amount of data and the amount of print data are not in a proportional relationship and there are many fluctuation factors between them, it is impossible to manage the life of the head based on the amount of received data. There is also a method of counting the number of impacts for each dot pin of the print head,
In a standard 1/180 inch pitch 24-pin head printer, the impact of a maximum of 2176 times / row is performed, resulting in an enormous storage capacity of count values, a high count speed, and a display area of the stored values. However, it was difficult to put it into practical use. An object of the present invention is to solve such a conventional problem and accurately manage the life of the print head even when the printer is shared by a plurality of control devices, and even when the printer is mainly used for graphic printing. It is an object of the present invention to provide a print head life management method and a dot impact printer that enable the life and failure to be distinguished easily.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, a method of managing the life of a print head according to the present invention is (a).
The print area was calculated by detecting the form of the set paper, the width of the paper, and the mode of the characters to be printed, and counting the number of lines to be printed, and the printing density was set by the mode of the characters to be printed. After that, the print amount is integrated by multiplying the print area and the print density, and the integrated result is stored and displayed. In the dot impact printer of the present invention, (b) the sensor means for detecting the paper width, the counting means for counting the number of print lines by identifying the input print data, and the sensor means for detecting. It has a means for calculating an approximate value of the printing amount from the paper width and the number of printing lines counted by the counting means, and is characterized in that the cumulative value of the approximate value of the printing amount is stored and displayed. Further, (c) a means for reading the form of paper designated by the print data, a sensor means for detecting the width of the paper, and a counting means for counting the number of print lines by identifying the input print data. It is also characterized in that it has means for reading the form of paper and means for calculating an approximate value of the printing amount from the paper width detected by the sensor means and the number of printing lines counted by the counting means. Also,
(D) In order to calculate the approximate value of the print amount, a switch means for changing the converted value of the print amount corresponding to the paper width is provided, and the print mode displayed by switching the switch means is referred to. Another feature is that the estimated value is calculated, and the cumulative value of the estimated values is stored and displayed. further,
(E) In order to calculate the approximate value of the print amount, the switch means for changing the conversion value of the print rhyme with respect to the paper width corresponding to the print character type is provided, and the print density displayed by switching the switch means is referred to. Then, the approximate value is calculated, and the cumulative value of the approximate values is stored and displayed.

[0005]

In the present invention, (a) first, the paper form (continuous paper or cut paper) is discriminated, paying attention to the fact that the printing area and the wear amount of dot pins are proportional, and then the paper width and paper An average print amount / line (called a print density) is set according to the form, and then the number of print lines is counted. As a result, the life of the print head is managed by multiplying the average print amount / line and the number of print lines. Also, as (b) print mode, a draft mode that thins out some dots to increase the speed, and an ANK that prints only alphanumeric characters that have a lower print density than kanji
The mode and the graphic mode for printing the figure and the table are discriminated and these are switched. That is, in the life management method of the present invention, (a) the paper width is detected and (b) the number of print lines is counted, and (c) the maximum printable character number / line and print line corresponding to the detected paper width. The number is multiplied by the standard print density to perform the calculation, and the resulting value is managed as the number of print characters. The dot impact printer of the present invention is
A sensor group that detects the paper width for each of cut paper and continuous paper, a counter that counts the number of print lines, a paper width,
A circuit for calculating an approximate value of the printing amount from the number of print lines, a memory for storing the cumulative value of the approximate value, and a display for displaying the cumulative value are provided. The printing mode is switched by the operation panel switch, and the printing density is adjusted by reading the set switch information of the printing mode. Further, the print mode can be switched by receiving a switch code including print data from the host device, and the print density can be switched by the set print mode. .. The print density is
It is also possible to switch by a switch or the like regardless of the print mode.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a serial diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
It is sectional drawing of a wire dot impact printer. Reference numerals 1 and 8 in FIG. 1 denote paper feed paths for continuous paper and cut paper. 2 is a tension roller, 3 is a platen, 4 is a tractor, 5 is a sensor, 6 is a print head, 7 is an ink ribbon, 9 is a feed roller, 10 is a sensor group, 11 is a stacker, and 8a is stacked. It is cut paper. The printer shown in FIG. 1 can print two forms of paper, continuous paper and cut paper, and each paper passes through a separate paper feed path. In the paper set, both the continuous paper 1 and the cut paper 8 are inserted from the same side. The continuous paper 1 has an oblique path, and the continuous paper 1 inserted from the lower insertion port is conveyed via the tension roller 2, the platen 3 and the tractor 4, and then folded and stacked. The tractor 4 is a main drive, and the tension roller 2 is a secondary drive so as to prevent the sheet from becoming rough near the platen 3. Also,
A sensor group 5 for continuous paper detection near the tension roller 2
Is equipped with. These sensor groups 5 are arranged in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface, and, for example, four sensor groups 5 are attached at the same intervals. A print head 6 is arranged above the platen 3, and an ink ribbon 7 is arranged between the print head 6 and the platen 3. The continuous paper 1 is inserted and conveyed between the platen 3 and the ink ribbon 7, and printing is performed. On the other hand, the cut sheet 8 has a horizontal conveyance path and is fed from the front insertion port to the rear side. The sheets 8 conveyed by the rotational driving of the two pairs of feed rollers 9 arranged in front of and behind the platen 3 and finished being fed are stacked on the stacker 11 on the rear surface. A sensor group 10 for detecting the presence / absence of the cut sheet 8 and the upper end / lower end is installed near the feed roller 9. These sensor groups 10 are also arranged in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface, and, for example, six sensors are attached at the same intervals.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the printer in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the relationship between the width of continuous paper used in the present invention and the printing range. In FIG. 2, 5 is a sensor group for detecting continuous paper width, 10 is a sensor group for detecting cut paper width, 12 is an operation panel, 13 is a display unit, and 14 is a print mode.
And a reference numeral 15 is a print density changeover switch.
The continuous paper transport path is inserted from the front lower insertion port, and the cut paper transport path is inserted from the front upper insertion port. As shown in FIG. 3, the continuous paper has sprocket holes corresponding to the pin feed of the tractor 4 on the left and right, and the printable range is (paper width)-(1 inch). Here, the paper width is
5 to 16 inches, usually in 1 inch increments.
Therefore, in order to accurately detect the paper width, it is sufficient to have 12 sensors for 5 to 16 inches. The most commonly used paper width is 5/10/12/15 inch, and if there is at least four paper widths, the paper width can be detected. By the way, in the case of 10 inch wide paper, the printable range is 9 inches. On the other hand, cut sheets are generally used sizes of B5, B4, A5, and A4 size, and six sensors are required to detect the width of the sheet even if the respective vertical and horizontal sizes are taken into consideration. is there. Further, an operation panel 12 and a cumulative print amount display unit 13 are arranged on the front surface of the printer. As the switches in the operation panel 12, a print mode changeover switch 14 and a print density changeover switch 15 are arranged in addition to the switches arranged in the conventional printer.

FIG. 4 is a detailed block diagram of a serial dot impact printer showing an embodiment of the present invention.
In FIG. 4, the same symbols as those in FIGS. 1 and 2 represent the same parts. The printer of this embodiment controls an interface control unit 21 for a higher-level control device, a CPU 22 for executing various controls and processes, a buffer memory 23 for temporarily storing print data, and a CPU 22. A program memory 24 for storing a program for storing a character, a character generator 25 for generating a character by a dot pattern using a code as a key, an input / output control unit 26 for performing input / output control related to a printing mechanism, and a plurality of dot pins. The print head 6 provided, a head drive circuit 27 that drives the print head 6, a carriage motor 29 that performs spacing, and a carriage motor 2 thereof.
A carriage motor drive circuit 28 for driving the motor 9, a motor 31 for feeding the continuous paper and the cut paper, and a paper feed motor drive circuit 30 for driving the motor. These are common components in conventional printers. In addition to this, in the present embodiment, the head life management unit 32 that manages the head life and the cut sheet sensor group 10 that detects the width of the cut sheet.
And a continuous paper sensor group 5 for detecting the continuous paper width, and a print mode.
Switching switch 14 and printing density switching switch 15
And are added. The print mode selector switch 14 is a draft mode for thinning and printing some dots to increase the speed.
Mode, ANK mode that prints only alphanumeric characters whose print density is lower than Kanji, and graphic mode that prints figures and tables.
The mode is determined and these are switched and set.

The print processing operation in FIG. 4 is the same as the conventional one. That is, the interface controller 21 receives print data from an external host device, and the received print data is stored in the buffer memory 23 line by line under the control of the CPU 22. The CPU 22 is the program memory 2
According to the program stored in 4, the print data stored in the buffer memory 23 is sent to the character generator 25 to develop the character code into a dot pattern, and the head is passed through the input / output control unit 26. Printing is performed by the print head 6 by sending it to the drive circuit 27. That is, by driving the dot pin of the print head 6,
Impact printing is performed on continuous paper or cut paper. Also,
In synchronization with printing, the motors 29, 31 are driven by the motor drive circuits 28, 30 to feed the print head 6 and feed continuous paper or cut paper. When the print data is a character, the character generator 25 is used to perform dot pattern expansion. Further, signals are exchanged between the sensor groups 5, 10 and the operation switches 14, 15 and the CPU 22 via the input / output control unit 26.

FIG. 5 is a detailed block diagram of the head life management unit in FIG. The head life management unit 32 includes a counter 33 that integrates the print amount, a non-volatile memory 34 that stores the integrated value of the print amount, and a display unit 13 that displays these values. When the power of the printer is turned on, the nonvolatile memory 3 is controlled by the CPU 22.
The value of the print amount stored in 4 is displayed on the screen of the display unit 13. FIG. 6 is an operation flowchart of the head life management unit in FIG. When the printer is ready or paper is loaded (step 1
01), the paper form and the paper width are read by the sensor groups 5 and 10 (steps 102 and 106), and the maximum printable number of one line is set (step 107). In a normal printer,
In order to prevent print quality and jams, a range excluding about 10 mm from the paper edge and perforations is set. In addition, since the unit of the character greatly changes between full-width Kanji and half-width alphanumeric, half-width alphanumeric is used in this embodiment. At the same time, the print mode selector switch 14 and the print density selector switch 1 on the operation panel
The information from 5 is read (step 104), and the print density is set (step 108). When a code for designating the print mode is sent from the host device as the received data, the print mode of the received data is used instead of the read information of the operation panel switch 14. Is read (step 103) and the print density is set accordingly (step 108).

Each time a code that triggers printing is received as print data (step 105), (print density) × (maximum printable line number) is counted by the counter 33 (step 1
09), and the stored value in the non-volatile memory 34 is updated (step 110). In this way, the value in the non-volatile memory 34 indicates the cumulative print amount, which is displayed on the display unit 13 (step 111). The value of the display unit 13 may be updated at power-on, when the ready flag is turned on, or after printing line by line. The display on the display unit 13 may display a digital number as the number of characters, or may indicate whether or not the cumulative value exceeds the nominal value of the head life. Since this display value is not counted for each dot, it is not accurate when viewed line by line, but when viewed as a cumulative value, the print amount can be almost understood. And, normally, the life of the print head is sufficiently margined with respect to the nominal value.
This display value is the life of the print head and is sufficiently practical as a management standard for replacing with a new head before print blurring or print dot omission occurs.

FIG. 7 is an operation flow chart of the head life management section showing another embodiment of the present invention. 1 and 6 is an example of a printer that sets only one of continuous paper and cut paper.
Shows an example of a printer capable of simultaneously setting two types of continuous paper and cut paper. That is,
In this embodiment, as the reception data, a code instructing the form of the paper is received before the reception of the print data (step 20).
1,202). Each time the code for instructing the sheet form is received, one of the sensor groups 5 and 10 of the sheet is discriminated (step 206) and the sheet width of the sheet is read (steps 207 and 208). By determining this, the maximum printable number / line is set (step 209,
210). Other operations are the same as those in FIG. That is, information is read from the print mode changeover switch 14 and the print density changeover switch 15 on the operation panel (step 20).
4) The print density is set (step 211). In addition,
When a code for designating the print mode is transmitted from the host device as the reception data, the operation panel switch 1
Instead of the read information of 4, the print mode of the received data is read (step 203) and the print density is set accordingly (step 211). Each time a code that triggers printing is received as print data (step 205),
(Print density) × (maximum printable line number) is counted by the counter 33 (step 212), and the value stored in the non-volatile memory 34 is updated (step 213). In this way, the value in the non-volatile memory 34 indicates the cumulative print amount, which is displayed on the display unit 13 (step 214).

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, a method of receiving a code for instructing the form of paper before printing data is used.
Instead, a method may be used in which a continuous paper / cut paper changeover switch is provided in the printer and only one signal of the sensor group 5 or 10 is output. In the embodiment, continuous paper /
Although it is intended for a printer that also uses cut sheets, when it is intended for a continuous paper dedicated machine and a cut sheet dedicated machine, only the corresponding sensor group is used and the other sensor groups are unnecessary. The print density is about 30% for an average sentence, but it varies considerably depending on the print mode (kanji printing, alphanumeric printing, and thinning printing for each printing).
The print density value is switched by the mode (print mode selector switch). Also, graphic figures, table printing,
The print density can be set with an input switch (print density changeover switch) from the operation panel to support applications such as bar code printing, which is mainly used for printing with high dot density. .. As described above, according to the present invention, even when the printer is shared by a plurality of control devices, various patterns can be obtained depending on the print character type and the print mode.
Whether you are printing a printer or a printer that uses continuous paper and cut paper at the same time, whether it is a printer for continuous paper or a printer for cut paper,
It is possible to accurately manage the life of the print head.

[0014]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In dot impact printers, whether the printer is shared by multiple control devices or mainly for graphic printing, the life of the print head is accurately managed and life and failure can be easily distinguished. It is possible to

[0015]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a serial wire dot impact printer showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the printer in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a relationship between a width of continuous paper used in the present invention and a print range.

FIG. 4 is a detailed block diagram of the impact printer shown in FIG.

5 is a block diagram of a head life management unit in FIG.

FIG. 6 is an operation flowchart of a head life management unit showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an operation flowchart of a head life management unit showing another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Continuous Paper 8 Cut Paper 2 Tension Roller 3 Platen 4 Tractor 5, 10 Sensor Group 6 Print Head 7 Ink Ribbon 9 Feed Roller 11 Stacker 12 Operation Panel 13 Display 14 Print Mode Change Switch 15 Print Density Switch Switch 21 Interface control unit 22 CPU 23 Buffer memory 24 Program memory 25 Character generator 26 Input / output control unit 27 Head drive circuit 28 Carriage motor drive circuit 30 Paper feed motor drive circuit 31 Paper feed motor 29 Carriage motor -Ta 32 Head life management section

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A serial impact printer detects the form of a set paper, the width of the paper and the mode of characters to be printed, and counts the number of printing lines to calculate the printing area. After setting the printing density by the mode of the characters to be printed, the printing amount is integrated by multiplying the printing area and the printing density, and the integrated result is stored and displayed. Head life management method. 2. A dot impact printer for performing impact printing by means of dot pins provided in a print head, wherein the number of print lines is counted by identifying the sensor means for detecting the paper width and the input print data. It has a counting means and a means for calculating an approximate value of the printing amount from the paper width detected by the sensor means and the number of printing lines counted by the counting means, and stores the cumulative value of the approximate value of the printing amount. Dot impact printer that is characterized by displaying and displaying. 3. A dot impact printer for performing impact printing by means of dot pins provided in a print head, a means for reading a paper form designated by print data, and a sensor means for detecting a paper width are input. Counting means for counting the number of printing lines by identifying the printing data, width of the paper detected by the means for reading the form of the paper and sensor means, and rough estimation of the printing amount from the number of printing lines counted by the counting means. A dot impact printer, comprising: a means for calculating a value. 4. The dot impact printer according to claim 2, further comprising switch means for changing a conversion value of the print amount corresponding to the paper width in order to calculate the approximate value of the print amount. A dot impact printer characterized in that the approximate value is calculated with reference to the print mode displayed by switching the switch means, and the cumulative value of the approximate values is stored and displayed. 5. The dot impact printer according to claim 2 or 3, further comprising a switch means for changing a conversion value of a print rhyme with respect to a paper width corresponding to a print character type in order to calculate an approximate value of the print amount. A dot impact printer, comprising: a print density displayed by switching the switch means, calculating the approximate value, storing a cumulative value of the approximate value, and displaying the cumulative value.