JPH06246954A - Method of controlling thermal printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To displace a plurality of printing media, and effecting the stabilization of printing quality and shortening a period of printing by rendering the transportation speed of printing media and a period of electrification of a thermal head variable on the basis of sorts of set printing media and detected temperature of the thermal head. CONSTITUTION:Prior to the commencement of printing, a sort of media to be printed this time is read out of a medium inputting part, and a table on the ROM is selected corresponding to a sort of media (102). In an initiation of printing, an interruption is made every printing one line at an interval of period according to the transportation speed, and a data of the temperature of a thermal head is read out of an A/D converter, and next, a data of transportation corresponding to the temperature data and a data of electrification of the thermal head are read out of a table of medium sorts (table of media (a), (b), and the like) on ROM selected prior to the commencement of printing procedure (104). The thermal data and an electrification period of the thermal head respectively are set in a transportation control part and thermal head electrification time control part. This procedure is carried out every one line till the end of printing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal printer control method for handling a plurality of types of print media.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a thermal printer, in order to stabilize its printing quality, it is necessary to change the energization time to the thermal head according to the temperature of the thermal head and the characteristics of the printing medium.

As prior arts relating to the above-mentioned prior art, JP-A-3-5167 and JP-A-1-249 are cited.
There is the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 367.

[0004]

In the above prior art, when the energizing time of the thermal head is variable,
It is necessary to match the transport speed of the print medium to the maximum time for energizing the thermal head. Therefore, there is a problem that the transport speed of the print medium becomes slow, and as a result, the print speed becomes slow.

Further, when a plurality of types of print media are handled, it is necessary to change the print energy determined by the energization time and the medium transport speed according to the characteristics of the print media in order to ensure print quality. Here, the characteristics of the print medium refer to the surface roughness of the print medium, the adhesive strength of the ink ribbon to the print medium, and the like, for example, when the thermal head performs printing by a thermal transfer method, and prints on thermal paper. In this case, for example, the relationship between the temperature of the thermal head and the coloring intensity is referred to. However, the above-mentioned conventional technique does not consider such characteristics of the print medium and has a problem that the print quality is not stable depending on the type of the print medium.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and provide a thermal printer control method capable of improving the printing quality and shortening the printing time regardless of the type of printing medium.

[0007]

According to the thermal printer control method of the present invention, the type of print medium is set, the temperature of the thermal head is detected, and the set type of print medium and the detected temperature of the thermal head are detected. Based on the above, the printing speed of the print medium and the energization time to the thermal head are varied to perform optimum printing on the print medium.

[0008]

According to the present invention, the medium conveying speed and the thermal head energization time can be optimized according to the temperature of the thermal head and the type of print medium, and a plurality of types of print medium can be handled and the print quality can be improved. Stabilization and shortening of printing time can be achieved.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a thermal printer control unit to which the present invention is applied. In FIG. 1, the medium type input unit 1 is configured to be able to set the type of print medium by a medium type setting switch (not shown), and the CPU 4 takes in the medium type set in the medium type input unit 1. Here, the medium type may be set by a command from a host device (not shown). Further, the CPU 4 uses the temperature data detected by the temperature sensor 2 provided in the thermal head 10 as A
Captured via the / D converter 3. Furthermore, ROM5
In FIG. 2, optimum transport speed data and thermal head energization time data corresponding to the print medium type and the thermal head temperature are registered in advance in the format shown in FIG. Further, the CPU 4 can set the thermal head energization time of an arbitrary value in the thermal head energization time control unit 6. Further, the CPU 4 can set an arbitrary value of the conveyance speed in the conveyance speed control unit 7 that controls the speed of the conveyance motor 8.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the operation of the thermal printer control section shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, which will be described below. In step 100 of FIG. 3, the CPU 4 reads the type of medium to be printed this time from the medium input unit 1 before starting printing. Next, in step 101, the CPU 4 executes the R corresponding to the medium type.
Select the table on OM5.

Next, at the start of the printing process in step 102, an interrupt occurs every time one line is printed at a time interval corresponding to the transport speed. Next, in the interrupt processing, step 1
In 03, the thermal head 1 from the A / D converter 3
The temperature data of 0 is read. Then, step 104
In the table, the transport speed data and the thermal head energization time data corresponding to the temperature data are stored in the ROM 5 in the table of the medium type selected before the printing start process (medium a,
b) table). Next, step 1
At 05, the transport speed data and the thermal head energization time data are set in the transport speed control unit 7 and the thermal head energization time control unit 6, respectively.

The above steps 103 to 105 are carried out line by line until the printing is completed (step 106), and the conveying speed and the thermal head energizing time are optimized.

As is apparent from the above description, according to the above-described embodiment, the table information registered in advance is referred to on the basis of the temperature of the thermal head at the time of printing and the type of the print medium, and the medium transport speed and By variably controlling the thermal head energization time for each line printing, the optimum medium conveyance speed and the optimum thermal head energization under each condition when the temperature of the thermal head changes and when the type of print medium changes You can set the time.
Therefore, it is possible to improve the printing quality and shorten the overall processing time during printing.

In the above embodiment, the CPU 4 reads the medium type and temperature data and selects the transport speed data and the thermal head energizing time from the table on the ROM 5, but the dedicated control is not performed via the CPU 4. It may be configured to be implemented by a circuit.

Further, the medium transport speed data and the thermal head energization time data are not individually tabulated, but for example, the thermal head energization time data is tabulated, and the transport speed is determined from the thermal head energization time, or vice versa. With the method, the same effect as that of the present embodiment can be obtained.

[0016]

According to the present invention, the medium conveying speed and the thermal head energizing time can be easily optimized according to the temperature of the thermal head and the characteristics of the printing medium, and a plurality of types of printing medium can be handled. , Stabilization of print quality,
The printing time can be shortened.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a thermal printer control unit to which the present invention is applied.

2 is a diagram showing an example of a table stored in a ROM shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the thermal printer control unit shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Medium type input unit, 2 ... Thermal head temperature sensor, 3 ... A / D converter, 4 ... CPU, 5 ... ROM,
6 ... Thermal head energization time control unit, 7 ... Transport speed control unit, 8 ... Transport motor, 9 ... Printing control unit, 10 ... Thermal head.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location B41J 3/20 115 Z

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A thermal head comprising at least a thermal head having a means for detecting a temperature, an energization time control means for controlling an energization time to the thermal head, and a transportation speed control means for controlling a transportation speed of a print medium. In the printer, the type of print medium is set, the temperature of the thermal head is detected, and based on the set type of print medium and the detected temperature of the thermal head, the conveyance speed of the print medium and the thermal head A method for controlling a thermal printer, wherein the energization time is varied to perform optimum printing on the print medium.