JPH0562075B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Technical Field) The present invention relates to a printing device equipped with a key means for instructing the conveyance of printing paper and a printing function.

(Prior art) Printing devices, such as serial printers installed in printer-equipped calculators, include mechanical printers that have a type wheel for printing, thermal printers that record on thermal paper, and printers that eject ink from small nozzles. There are ink jet printers that print on plain paper. In all of these methods, the printing head that performs printing moves linearly back and forth from side to side on journal paper, which is recording paper, to perform printing. In such serial printers, a set operation is performed to return the print head to its home position. For this purpose, a detection means is provided for detecting whether or not the print head is located at the home position, and this detection signal is used to move the print head to the home position, which is the reference position, each time printing is performed. is being reinstated. When such a reset operation to return to the home position is performed when the power is turned on and when the □C key (clear key) is operated, some kind of trouble may occur during arithmetic processing of a large amount of data, e.g. In cases such as when a load is applied to the roll paper and the return position shifts due to contact between the print head and the paper, or when the print head loses synchronization due to malfunction or foreign matter and does not return to the home position, etc. There is no other way than to turn off the power and then turn it on again, or to perform a reset operation using the □C key. In such a method, all the results in the middle of the calculation are cleared, so the disadvantage is that the same data must be input or the calculation must be performed again.

On the other hand, in order to simplify the printing section, a method has been considered in which the home position detection means is abolished and the print head is returned to the home position using a so-called step-out method. In this step-out method, if the number of digits to be moved from the home position of the print section to the upper digits is, for example, 20, first
In this method, the print head is moved 20 digits toward the upper digits, and then returned to the home position by moving the print head 20 digits toward the home position again. For example, if the print head is in the center position and is stopped at the 10th digit from the least significant digit, when moving to the first 20 most significant digits, moving 10 digits will result in the most significant digit, and the remaining 10 digits In the movement control, the print head remains stopped at the most significant digit, resulting in a so-called step-out state. Thereafter, the print head is returned to the home position by moving toward the home position by 20 digits. Similar problems may occur when performing such a return to the home position.

(Objective) In view of the above points, an object of the present invention is to determine the presence or absence of instruction information generated based on the operation of a key means for instructing the conveyance of paper, and to determine the presence or absence of instruction information that is generated based on the operation of a key means for instructing the conveyance of paper, and to determine the presence or absence of instruction information that is generated based on the operation of a key means for instructing the conveyance of paper. If it is determined that the instruction information continues to exist, the conveying means is controlled to start conveying the paper, and the printing means When the user deviates from the home position, instructions for returning to the home position can be easily given. The purpose is to provide a printing device.

(Example) The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to examples shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an external view of a printing device that is an example of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example of the present invention.

In the external view in Figure 1, KB is the numerical key,
function key and paper feed key according to the present invention,
□↑ is the keyboard section arranged as shown in the figure. DIS is a display device for displaying input data and calculation results. The TS section stores a serial printing device for printing out the above data, calculation results, etc.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the present invention, where the KB section is the same keyboard section as in FIG. 1, and the CPU is usually composed of a 1-chip LSI and consists of the following components. IC is the input control section, and the keyboard section
Outputs a key signal to the KB and determines which key was operated. Reference numeral U denotes an arithmetic control section which performs operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, paper feeding of the present invention, and reset operations by operating any key on the keyboard section KB. RA is RAM (random access memory) that stores numerical data, flags, counters, etc. RO is a ROM (read-only memory) section that stores control programs corresponding to each key operation on the keyboard section KB, and performs calculations and output control based on the programs.

DIS is a display unit that displays and outputs numerical data and the like based on signals from the arithmetic control unit U.

Printing part PR can be mechanical or thermal,
Alternatively, an inkjet or the like may be considered, but a thermal printing section will be described as an example. TH is a printing head, for example a thermal head, in which heating elements are arranged in one row of seven dots. By passing current through this thermal head, dots are printed on thermal paper, which is recording paper.

M is a pulse motor for reciprocating the thermal head TH to the left and right on the recording paper;
The area in which the head can move from the home position of the least significant digit to the most significant digit is fixed to 20 digits.
Further, by mechanically moving the head back and forth from the home position by the upper four digits, the recording paper is fed by one line (detailed explanation will be omitted). HC is a head control circuit for driving the thermal head TH, and the arithmetic control circuit section U
It consists of a character generator, etc. that converts the 6-bit data code sent from the printer into a print pattern. MC is a motor control circuit for controlling the pulse motor M, which generates pulses one by one to move the thermal head, TH, to the left or right. One digit consists of 7 pulses, so
Seven pulses are output by one digit movement control. MD,
HD is a drive circuit section for driving the pulse motor M and thermal head TH by amplifying current based on signals from the control circuits MC and HC.

Next, the operation of the present invention configured as described above will be explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG. still,
Although this embodiment will be described with reference to the case where the above-mentioned detection means for detecting the home position is not provided, it goes without saying that it can also be applied to the case where the detection means is provided.

In Figure 3, in step 1, select ``Turn on other keys''.
The judgment command “Is it true?” is executed, and this is the paper feed (PF)
This is a command to determine whether a key other than the key is being operated. If a numeric key or function key is being operated, the command will proceed to YES and the key corresponding to each key operated in step 2 will be displayed. Processing is executed. It goes without saying that the various data inputted from the keys may be inputted from an external device. If the above key is not operated, proceed to NO, then step 3
It is determined whether the paper feed key of "PF key" is pressed. If the PF key is pressed, proceed to YES and proceed to step 4 "F _FP =
1", the PF key press start flag F _FP is determined, and if you start pressing the PF key now, F _FP has been reset, so proceed in the direction of NO, and proceed to step 5 "TH20 digits, upper digits. "Move to" process is executed. This is to move the thermal TH to the most significant digit, and from the motor control circuit MC, 20×
7=140 pulses, pulses are output. Through this process, no matter where the thermal head TH is stopped, it is moved to the most significant digit. Next step 6
By processing "TH20 digits, move to lower digits",
By reversing the pulse motor by 140 pulses,
Return the thermal head to its home position. The processing in steps 5 and 6 is a so-called reset operation. At the same time, a one-line paper feed operation is executed. Next, in step 7 "1→F _FP ", the flag F _FP is set to "1" and it is recorded that the PF key has not been pressed at the beginning. After that, the process in step 1 is executed again, and if the PF key is still pressed, the process goes to NO, and in the next step,
Proceed to YES, and since the flag _FFP in step 4 has been determined and set to "1" in step 7, this time proceed to YES, and do not perform the reset operation in steps 5 and 6 from the previous time. First, in step 8, the head is moved to the upper 4 digits, and then, in step 9, the head is moved to the lower 4 digits, and returned to the home position. Through the processing of steps 8 and 9, paper feed control for one line is executed. After that, clear the counter CT at step 10, jump to step 1 again, and as long as the PF key is held down, step 1 → 3 → 4 → 8 →
9→10→1 is repeated and paper feeding continues.
After that, when the PF key is released, NO will be selected in step 3.
Then, the instruction for determining "F _FP =1" in step 11 is executed. Since _FFP is still set to "1", the process advances to the YES direction and the "CT+1→CT" command in step 12 is executed. This is a process of adding "1" to the CT counter. 0+1 is executed and the CT counter becomes 1. In the next step 13, it is determined whether the CT counter is 100 or not. Until the CT counter becomes 100, step 1 → 3 → 11 → 12 → 13 → 1 is repeated.
The processing time for steps 1 to 13 is set to 400μS (microseconds), and this routine
If it is repeated 100 times, 100 x 400 μS = 40 mS (milliseconds), and if the PF key is released for 40 mS, the process advances to YES in step 13, the CT counter is cleared to "0" in step 14, and the flag is cleared in step 15. Reset F _FP to “0”. When the PF key is pressed again due to this F _FP being reset, steps 1 → 3 → 4 → 5 → 6 are performed in the same way as above.
→Processed in the order of 7, the reset operation is performed first, then steps 1 → 3 → 4 → 8 → 9 →
Paper feeding is performed by repeating the process 10→1.

If the PF key is released and steps 1 → 3 → 11
→12→13→1 is being counted repeatedly, and if the key is pressed again before the count reaches 100, F _FP is executed in steps 1→3→4.
Since it is still "1", proceed to YES, perform the next change operation from step 8 to 9, and clear the count CT in step 10 to the initial "0". As mentioned above, when the PF key is momentarily OFF for less than 40 mS, key-specific OFF bounce is detected, and at that time, processing is performed to prevent the reset operation from being executed.

As is clear from the above explanation of the operation, even if the print head loses synchronization and deviates from the home position, it is possible to clear various data in the middle of calculation without using any additional keys such as a reset key. By providing the paper feed key with a reset function that does not exist previously, an inexpensive and convenient printing device can be provided.

(Effects) As described in detail above, according to the present invention, the presence or absence of instruction information generated based on the operation of the key means for instructing paper conveyance is determined, and the home position for moving the printing means is determined. If it is determined that the instruction information continues to exist, the conveying means is controlled to start conveying the paper, and the printing means An advantageous effect is that it is possible to provide a printing device that can easily instruct a return process to the home position when the printer deviates from the home position.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a printing device that is an example of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram that is an example of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the present invention. KB...Keyboard section, CPU... 1 chip LSI,
U...Arithmetic control unit, RO...ROM unit, TH...Thermal head, M...Pulse motor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Performs arithmetic processing based on input information,
A generating means for generating data to be printed; a printing means for printing the data to be printed generated by the generating means while moving a print head relative to the printing paper; and a conveyor for conveying the printing paper. means, a key means for generating instruction information for instructing the conveyance of the printing paper by the conveyance means, a determination means for determining the presence or absence of the instruction information obtained based on the operation of the key means, based on the determination means. and if it is determined that the instruction information exists, the printing means is controlled to start a return process to the home position related to the movement of the printing means, and based on the determination means, the instruction information is continued. A printing apparatus comprising: a control means for controlling the conveyance means to start conveyance of the printing paper by the conveyance means when it is determined that information exists.