JPH0577502A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a printer capable of executing the feed of one line by operating an operation key within a definite time, page feed by operating said key for the definite time or more and the continuous feed up to a desired position by interrupting page feed by the key operation on the way of page feed by one operation key. CONSTITUTION:When it is confirmed that an operation key is pushed (301), one line is fed (302). At this time, a position register is increased by the quantity corresponding to the content of a line feed quantity register. A timer is started for one sec after line feed (303) and, when the operation key is released before the elapse of one sec, an initial state is restored (304) and, when the operation key is not released for one sec, page feed is executed (306).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper feeding operation of a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a serial printer, a paper feed function performed by a user through operation keys includes one-line line feed, continuous line feed, page break, and minute feed. If dedicated operation keys are provided for instructing the execution of these functions, the number of operation keys increases, the distance for moving the finger for the operation increases, and the operation is troublesome.

Therefore, in the conventional apparatus, Japanese Patent Publication No. 1-297 is used.
By adding a function to a combination operation of a plurality of keys as in Japanese Patent Publication No. 08, etc.
The key had multiple meanings.

[0004]

However, in a configuration in which a plurality of keys are operated at the same time, there is a possibility that the operation fails and only one key is operated, and an unintended operation is executed. .. Also, even if the user tries to operate multiple keys at the same time, there is always a time lag between the keys, so in order to absorb this, the execution start of the function assigned to the single key is delayed a little, and there is no operation of another key. You must consider whether to wait or not. This is perceived by the user as a poor reaction to the key operation. In addition, as in the above publication, the relationship between the combination of keys and the function executed by them is inevitable and hard to remember, such as simultaneous operation of the fixed-quantity feed key and the minute feed key for continuous feed. Often becomes.
Even when performing a combination operation with the shift key, the troublesome operation, the damage caused by the operation failure, and the difficulty in learning are the same.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to reduce the number of keys by aggregating functions highly related to one key without introducing a combination operation of a plurality of keys. More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide a printer that can execute line feed / continuous line feed / page break with a single operation key.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, a printer configured such that a paper feed motor can be rotated by an operation key via a control means, the key being operated. Then, a means for performing a fixed amount of feeding once, a means for starting a page break operation if a key operation continues even if a fixed time has elapsed after the end of the fixed quantity feed, and a key operation being interrupted during a page break operation A means for interrupting / stopping the page feed at that time was provided.

[0007]

With the above configuration, the operation key is operated within a fixed time to feed a line break, the page break is operated by a predetermined time or more, and the page break is interrupted by a key operation in the middle of the page break. Continuous feed to the position
Each can be executed.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of this embodiment. Paper feeding is performed by a stepping motor (not shown). An operation key 101 which is a non-lock type push switch provided on the operation panel, a control unit 102 including a CPU and a memory, a line feed amount register 103 for storing the paper feed amount for one line, and one page of paper A page length register 104 for storing the feed amount, a position register 105 for storing the paper feed amount from the top of the page to the current position,
A page break remaining amount counter 106 that counts down the remaining execution amount of the page break being executed step by step, a page break amount register 107 that stores the paper feed amount from the page break start position to the next page top position, and time can be set freely. After that, the timer 108 that outputs a time-up signal after the lapse of a set time, the paper feed motor drive data register 109 that stores the acceleration / deceleration / constant speed time data group of the paper feed motor drive, and the excitation phase of the paper feed motor according to the pulse signal input Of the paper feed motor driving means 110 for advancing one step.

The operation of each component in FIG. 1 will be described. The control means 102 can know whether the key is on (pressed) or off (released) as the output of the operation key 101, and manages the line feed amount register 103, the page length register 104, and the position register 105. The data can be referenced and the contents of the position register 105 can be updated. Further, the control means 102 uses the page length register 1
04 and the page break amount calculated from the contents of the position register 105 are written in the page break amount register 107. Further, the control unit 102 reads the time data of the paper feed motor drive from the paper feed motor drive data register 109, and the timer 1
08 is set and started, and upon receipt of the time-up signal, a phase switching pulse is sent to the paper feed motor driving means 110 at the timing measured by the timer 108 to feed the paper.
Remaining page break counter 10 when a switching pulse occurs
The content of 6 is decremented by 1 and the content of the position register 105 is decremented by 1 to manage the paper feed and the current position.

FIG. 5 illustrates the meanings of the paper feed / page management parameters 103 to 107. Line feed amount register 103
Of the page length register 104, the content of the page length register 104 is the length from the perforation to the perforation of the continuous form, and the content of the position register 105 is the length from the top line of the page to the current position. The contents of the page amount register 107 are
The length of the page break remaining counter 106 calculated from the page break start-up to completion is 10
The remaining unexecuted lengths of the 7 page break amounts are shown in units of the number of steps of driving the paper feed motor.

Here, it is assumed that the paper feed motor is activated by three-step acceleration control as shown in FIG. 2 and stopped by three-step deceleration control. In the figure, tA1 to tA3 are acceleration phase switching time, tC is constant speed phase switching time, tD1 to tD3 are deceleration phase switching time, and these data are stored in the paper feed motor drive data register 109.

Next, the operation of the control means 102 will be described. FIG. 3 shows the flowchart.

In the figure, "1 line feed" in step 302 and "acceleration" and "deceleration" used in the subsequent flow.
Since simple step drive of the paper feed motor such as "paper feed execution" and position management for "feeding the paper to the top of the next page" page break are widely known, detailed description thereof will be omitted. In the following explanation, "acceleration" and "deceleration"
What is not particularly referred to as "constant speed" is complete paper feed including acceleration to deceleration. To explain the outline of the paper feed drive, the phase switching time data of the paper feed motor drive stored in the paper feed motor drive data register 109 is read in order, and the timer 10 is used as a time count.
8 is started, and when the time is up, the paper feed motor driving means 1
Send 1 pulse signal to 10. Paper feed motor drive means 11
When 0 advances the phase excitation pattern by one, the paper feed motor is rotated. The control unit 102 recognizes that it has returned to the top of the page when a page break is performed or the position data exceeds the page length due to a line feed, and the position register 1
05 is cleared to 0, and the paper feed motor driving means 110 is set to 1
When sending one pulse, the content of the position register 105 is incremented by one. Since the acceleration / deceleration of 3 steps is included, it is assumed that the feed amount of 6 steps or less is not set as the line feed amount.

In FIG. 3, first, the operation key 101 is waited for being pressed (step 301), and when it is pressed, a line feed is executed (step 302). This result position register 1
05 is increased by the content of the line feed amount register 103. Timer 1 so that the time is up 1 second after the end of line feed
08 is activated (step 303), and the operation key 101 is scanned (step 304). If the operation key 101 is released before 1 second has elapsed (step 305), the initial state is restored. If the button has been pressed for 1 second, execution of page break is started (step 306). After the page break process ends, the initial state is restored. FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of this "page break". First, the paper feed amount from the current position for page break is calculated by (contents of page length register 104)-(position register 1
(Contents of 05) and stored in the page break amount register 107 and the page break remaining counter 106 (step 40).
1). When the calculated value is smaller than the content of the line feed amount register 103 (step 402), or when the calculated value is smaller than the number of acceleration / deceleration steps of the paper feed motor (step 40).
3) That is, when the page break is near the bottom of the page, it is not necessary to stop the page break, and the paper is fed by the calculated value (step 418) and the paper feed is completed. Then, the position register 105 is cleared (step 419) and the operation key 101 is released (step 411).

In steps 402 and 403, when the calculated value is sufficiently large, a page break operation is started while reading the operation key 101. First, three-step acceleration drive is performed (step 404). As a result, page break counter 1
06 is decremented by 3 and position register 105 is incremented by 3. Next, a signal is output to the paper feed motor driving means 110 to advance the excitation phase of the paper feed motor by one step (step 40
5), the page break remaining amount counter 106 is decremented by 1 (step 406) and the position register 105 is incremented by 1 (step 407). A constant speed phase switching time tc is set and a timer is started (step 408). Page break counter 1
If the result of subtraction 06 is 3 (step 409), deceleration drive is started (step 410), and the position register 105 is cleared after deceleration is completed (step 41).
9) Wait until the operation key 101 is released (step 4)
11). In this case, as in step 418 described above, since the operation key 101 has been pressed to the end and a page break has been executed, do not move to the next operation until the operation key 101 is released. This scan is necessary to make sure that the user knows that he has reached the top of the page and stopped.

On the other hand, when the page break remaining amount counter 106 is not yet 3 at step 409, the operation key 1
Enter scan for 01 released (step 4
12) If it is not released, it is checked whether the time is up (step 413). If the time is up, the next phase switching is started (step 405). Further, if it is detected that the operation key 101 is released before the time is up, after confirming the time up (step 414), X = line feed amount × {INT (page feed execution amount / line feed amount) +1} -page feed execution Amount X, which is the page break execution amount = page break amount−page break remaining amount, is calculated (step 415), and after constant speed driving of step (X−3) is performed (step 416), deceleration is performed by 3 steps ( Step 417) ends. The calculation in step 415 is a process for stopping the paper feeding at a position where it becomes an integral multiple of one line feed. This is a process in which the position after continuous feeding does not deviate from the ruled line of the continuous paper, but such a consideration is not necessary, and in a device that may be stopped anywhere, steps 415 and 416 in FIG.
Processing and setting the page break amount in step 401,
The page break amount register 107 may be omitted.

Further, steps 412 and 414 to 4 of FIG.
If you omit 17 and start the page break operation, the operation key 10
It is also possible to simplify so that the page break is always completed regardless of the operation of 1. At this time, the operation key 101 serves as a key having two functions of line feed and page break.

Further, for a short feed amount for which acceleration / deceleration control cannot be performed in three steps, the line feed amount register of this embodiment can be set by slowing the feed rate to reduce the acceleration / deceleration step, or by driving at a constant speed. It is also possible to use 103 as a register for minute feed amount.

[0020]

According to the present invention, it is possible to combine the functions of fixed-line feed, continuous feed, and page feed such as line feed into one operation key and reduce the number of operation keys.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a paper feed motor speed control according to the embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 3 is an overall flowchart of control means according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a page break of control means according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of paper feed / page management parameters according to the embodiment of this invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 ... Operation key 102 ... Control means 103 ... Line feed amount register 104 ... Page length register 105 ... Position register 106 ... Page break remaining counter 107 ... Page break amount register 108 ... Timer 109 ... Paper feed motor drive data register 110 ... Paper feed Motor drive means

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A printer configured so that a paper feed motor can be rotated by an operation key through a control means, and means for performing one fixed amount feed when the key is operated, and the fixed amount feed end. A means for starting a page break operation if the key operation continues after a certain time has elapsed, and a means for interrupting / stopping the page feed at the time when the key operation is interrupted during the page break operation A printer characterized by the above. 2. The printer according to claim 1, further comprising: stop position determining means for making the interrupted page feed amount an integer multiple of the fixed amount feed amount. 3. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the means for interrupting / stopping page feed is omitted.