JPH07223338A - Printing position adjusting method in printer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a printing position adjusting method of a printer device capable of shortening a time therefor and reducing an area of paper to be used. CONSTITUTION:As a line registering recognition pattern, a line of NLQ characters is outputted (s4). Paper is fed (s5). A signal from a panel switch is read by a CPU 13 (s6). If a rightward correction switch is operated (s7) and the line is not maximum rightward (s8), a delay timer value is corrected rightward (s9). If a leftward correction switch is operated (s10) and the line is not maximum leftward (s11), a delay timer value is corrected leftward (s12).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing position adjusting method for a printer device for correcting a printing misalignment in a line direction which occurs during bidirectional printing of the printer device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Normally, a printer device capable of bi-directional printing prints while moving the print head in the line direction, feeds the print paper by a predetermined amount, and then moves the print head in the opposite direction to the previous line. However, when printing is performed, a print position shift may occur between the previous line and the next line in the line direction.

As one of the factors that cause the print position deviation, the drive belt for moving the carriage carrying the print head is loosened to a constant tension set at the time of assembly due to the use environment of the printer device, aging due to mechanical drive, and the like. May occur, and this looseness may prevent the carriage from being accurately transferred.

In order to solve such a problem, in a typical prior art, it is confirmed whether or not a print position shift occurs in the line direction at the time of bidirectional print output of a printer device, and if so, it occurs. In this case, a printing position correction mode is provided to enable the user to correct the positional deviation while allowing the user to recognize the positional deviation, and the operation of the printer device while outputting the recognition pattern. It is possible to adjust the misregistration correction value for bidirectional printing output using a switch on the panel.

As the recognition output pattern, there is a ruled line output pattern as shown in FIG. 18, which is constituted by vertically outputting three lines of ruled lines printed at a predetermined interval in one line. FIG. 18A shows an output example in which the backward pass printing is shifted to the right with respect to the forward pass printing, FIG. 18B shows the case where there is no printing position shift, and FIG. 18C shows the forward pass printing to the forward pass printing. An example of output shifted to the left is shown. The printing direction of each pattern will be described with reference to FIG. 19. The ruled lines of the first pass are printed from left to right.
The line is broken and the ruled line for the second pass is printed in the reverse direction from right to left. The line is broken for one line, and the ruled line for the third pass is printed in the opposite direction from left to right. Go.

Further, referring to FIG. 20, one ruled line is formed by nine dots d1 to d9 arranged vertically, and these dots d1 to d9 are vertically arranged on the print head 4 as shown in FIG. It corresponds to the print wires w1 to w9 provided side by side, and the ink of the ink ribbon 5 is struck by the print wires w1 to w9 to attach the ink to the paper 2 to form dots d1.
Printing of 9 is performed.

[0007]

In the output pattern as described above, it is necessary to print out as many as three lines including the paper feed in the vertical direction, and it takes time and output on the paper to form the recognition pattern. There is a problem that it takes too much area.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a printing position adjusting method for a printer device which can reduce the time and can reduce the area of paper used.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a print head for forming a plurality of dots arranged in a row is used to perform forward printing along a paper width direction at a predetermined printing timing, and then a dot pitch. In the printing position adjusting method of the printer apparatus having a printing mode in which the paper is fed by half the number of times and printing is performed on the backward path based on a predetermined printing timing, and printing for one character is performed. A second step of printing with a predetermined dot pattern, and a third step of changing the printing timing by detecting a mutual positional deviation between forward printing and backward printing from the printed characters
A printing position adjusting method for a printer device, comprising the steps of: adjusting the printing position deviation by repeating the second and third steps.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the predetermined dot pattern has a vertical dot row extending over the entire height of the character.

[0011]

According to the present invention, a printing mode such as an NLQ (near letter quality) mode is set, printing is performed with a predetermined dot pattern, and the forward printing and the backward printing are performed from the printed characters. Detecting the positional deviation in the direction, changing the printing timing so as to correct this positional deviation, further performing the same printing, and if the correction is not completed yet, change the printing timing again. This operation is repeated to adjust the print position deviation.

In the print mode, after the forward pass printing, the paper feed of half the dot pitch is performed to perform the backward pass printing and the printing for one character is performed. Therefore, the forward pass printing and the return pass printing are performed by this one character. It is possible to detect misalignment in the row direction of
Therefore, it is possible to reduce the time and the area of the used paper.

Further, according to the invention, since the predetermined dot pattern has a vertical dot row extending over the entire height of the character,
Adjustment becomes easy.

[0014]

1 is a perspective view showing an example of a printing mechanism of a printer device to which a position adjusting method according to the present invention can be applied.

In a printer device 1 such as a serial printer, a carriage 3 that reciprocates along the width direction of a sheet 2, a print head 4 mounted on the carriage 3 and having a plurality of print wires, and a print wire. An ink ribbon 5 that transfers ink to the paper 2 by impact, a platen 6 that conveys the paper 2 by a predetermined amount, guide stays 7 and 8 that guide the reciprocating movement of the carriage 3, and a drive belt 9 that is connected to the carriage 3. Have.

The drive belt 9 is wound around a pulley 10 and a carriage motor 11 while being kept at a constant tension, and plays a role of transporting the carriage 3 by rotationally driving the carriage motor 11.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the electrical construction of a printer device to which the printing position adjusting method according to the present invention can be applied. The printer device 1 includes a CPU (central processing unit) 13 that performs data processing such as data transfer and data calculation according to a predetermined program, and a control program of the CPU 13 and data such as a bit-mapped character pattern of various characters. Stored ROM (Read Only Me
mory) 14 and a RAM (Random Acc) for storing data generated according to the program operation of the CPU 13.
ess Memory) 15, a non-volatile memory 16 capable of storing data to be stored even when the main power is turned off, a print command and print data from an external host device 17 such as a computer, and the printer device 1 Interface 18 for sending the status data of the printer to the host device 17, an operation panel 19 for taking in the data from the switches operated by the user, the print head 4 which is the printer device output section according to the instruction of the CPU 13, It has a line feed motor 20 and a control circuit 22 for driving the carriage motor 11.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the RAM 15. RAM
A print buffer 24 for head output for developing a dot image when the printer device 1 outputs a character pattern on paper, and a work processing register area for temporarily storing data processed by the CPU 13. 25, a non-volatile memory copy area 26 for copying the contents stored in the non-volatile memory 16 as they are for use in the processing of the CPU 13, and an interface 18.
An input data buffer 27 for temporarily storing print data sent from the host device 17 via the CPU 13, a CPU 13 stack area 28 for temporarily storing data processed by the CPU 13, and the like are provided.

The printing operation of the printer device 1 will be briefly described. A print command and print data from the host device 17 are taken into the CPU 13 via the interface 18 and temporarily stored in the input data buffer 27 of the RAM 15. Next, the CPU 13 uses the input data buffer 27
The print data stored in (1) is analyzed line by line, for example, the corresponding font is extracted from the character dot pattern stored in the ROM 14, and the dot image is developed again in the print buffer 24 of the RAM 15. The dot pattern for one row thus developed is transferred to the print head 4 via the control circuit 22, the print wire is driven according to the presence / absence of dots, and the print head 4 is driven by the platen 6 by the drive of the carriage motor 11. The ink ribbon 5 is struck while moving along the longitudinal direction, and when the printing of one line is completed, the line feed motor 20 is driven to feed the paper 2 by a predetermined amount, and subsequently the same method is performed in the opposite direction to the preceding line. The next line is printed while moving the print head 4. By repeating such a printing operation, a series of print data is printed on the paper 2.
Recorded above.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing the operation panel 19. The operation panel 19 has a font (FONT) switch 30 for switching the typeface of characters, a pitch (PITCH) switch 31 for line feed, a paper (PAPER) switch 32 for page break, and a host computer connection. Online (ON-LI) to enable / disable
NE) switch 33. By operating the font switch 30, the lamps 34a, 34b, 34c, 34d indicating the font of the characters are turned on, which setting mode is selected is displayed, and by operating the pitch switch 31, a lamp 35a indicating the line feed amount is displayed. , 35
b, 35c, and 35d are turned on, and which setting mode has been selected is displayed. Further, the power (POWER) lamp 36 lights up to indicate that the printer device 1 is operating, and the lamp 37 indicates to output online.

The font switch 30, the pitch switch 31, and the paper switch 32 (hereinafter referred to as switches)
5 also serves as a switch for correcting the print position deviation between the previous line and the next line, which occurs when a bidirectional printing operation is performed as shown in FIG. The switch 31 instructs to correct the backward printing to the left when the backward printing is shifted to the right side with respect to the forward printing, and the switch 32 to the right side when the backward printing is shifted to the left side with respect to the forward printing. Instruct to correct the backward print in the direction. Also switch 30
Is operated when ending these instructions.

As described above, the printer device 1 includes a character consisting of a combination of print output dots and non-output dots formed on a bitmap in which a plurality of dots are arranged in a matrix in the vertical direction and the row direction. R for pattern data
Although stored in the OM 14, a pattern of NLQ (Near Letter Quality) characters (hereinafter abbreviated as NLQ) is mounted in the character type. The 9-dot matrix printer according to this embodiment has a standard function shown in FIG.
It is possible to output the constituent characters shown in FIG. 2 and a plurality of wires w1, w2, ...
F1, F2, F3 at each output timing while feeding the print head 4 having
A character corresponding to, for example, an "A" character pattern is formed by driving a wire corresponding to the output dot with ..., but the function of the printer device 1 is to output a character of higher quality than this character pattern. It is the NLQ character pattern that makes possible.

FIG. 7 shows an example of character patterns by NLQ. Of the dots output corresponding to the wires w1-1, w1-2, to w1-9 formed in the print head 4 whose vertical position is H1 form the character "A" in the figure. "●" part of the print head, and in addition, the print head 4 at the H1 position
A character pattern having a higher quality than that of the output example of FIG. 6 is configured by further setting the character configuration output dot “◯” in each of the wires W2-1, w2-2 to w2-9 in the vertical direction. The output of the "○" dot is obtained by moving the print head 4 itself at the H1 position in the vertical direction by half the distance between the wires,
It means outputting as two positions, and this is executed by feeding the output print paper in the vertical direction. That is, in order to obtain the characters of FIG. 8 (1), the pattern shown in FIG. 8 (2) as the first pass is output onto the paper while moving the carriage 3 in the direction A19 from FIG. After the dot pitch is moved by half in the vertical direction, the data of the second pass is output to a19 to a1 while moving the carriage 3 in the direction opposite to the line of the first pass.

Such an NLQ character pattern is mounted separately in the first pass and the second pass as shown in the EP-ROM block diagram of FIG. Also, as shown in FIG.
The wire w2-1 of the “◯” output head in FIG.
In the vertical direction from the wire w1-1, for example, 1/144 inc
It is located at the h distance position, and the other wires have the same relationship.

Referring again to FIG. 8, for example, FIG. 8 (1)
To get N15 columns in the character composition pattern in
It is necessary to output the pass A15 and the second pass a15 in the bidirectional printing without causing the misalignment in the line direction, and if the bidirectional printing is misaligned in the line direction, high quality is obtained. As a result, the NLQ character pattern cannot be output clearly. Therefore, this 1st pass and 2
In the NLQ character output in which the pass is configured by bidirectional printing, it can be used as a deviation correction recognition output pattern in the print position correction mode by utilizing the effect of whether or not the output character is clearly output. Become.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the shift recognition output pattern. Accurate correction of pattern 42 deviation and NLQ
It is a figure in which characters are clearly obtained, and patterns 41, 4
Reference numeral 3 shows an output example in which a print position shift occurred and NLQ characters were not clearly obtained. In addition, each pattern 41,
One output character in 42 and 43 is extracted, and further this character is illustrated in a dot configuration of "●" in the first pass and "○" in the second pass. One character in pattern 41 is shown in FIG. One character is shown in FIG. 13, one character of the pattern 43 is shown in FIG. 14, FIG. 12 is in the right row direction with respect to the first pass data string, and FIG. 14 is in the left row with respect to the first pass data string. An example in which the output of the second pass deviates in the direction is shown.

FIG. 15 is a timing chart of wire dot output. The carriage motor 11 is driven, the print head 4 moves from the left to the right, wire dot output is performed as shown by a waveform 45, forward printing is performed, paper feed of half the dot pitch is performed, and the carriage is further moved. The motor 11 is driven, the print head 4 moves from right to left, wire dot output is performed, and reverse pass printing is performed. At this time, the delay timer value in the backward printing of the waveform 46 is the time interval T from the start time T0 of the delay timer.
When the value is 1, it coincides with the wire dot output timing of the forward pass printing of the waveform 45, and the pattern 42 is printed.
Also, the delay timer value in the backward printing of the waveform 47 is
At time interval T2 from time T0, the delay timer value is shifted to the left as compared with waveform 46, and in such a case, pattern 43 is obtained. The delay timer value in the backward printing of the waveform 48 is the time interval T3 from the time T0.
Thus, the delay timer value is shifted to the right as compared with the waveform 46, and in such a case, the pattern 41 is obtained.
Therefore, in the case of the waveform 47, that is, the pattern 43,
The delay timer value is moved to the right to reach T1, and in the case of the waveform 48, that is, the pattern 41,
The delay timer value is moved to the left so that it becomes T1.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 16, there is a limit to the correction by the delay timer value, and the delay timer value is corrected between the rightward maximum value and the leftward maximum value.

For example, if the switch 32 is pressed once,
The delay timer value is corrected, and the distance is changed, for example, the median value 0 is moved to the right by +1 and 8/360 inc
h becomes 7/360 inch, and the backward print position shifts to the right. Conversely, for example, when the switch 31 is pressed once, the delay timer value is corrected, and the distance is shifted, for example, by -1 to the left from the median value 0, 8 / 360i
The nch becomes 9/360 inch and the backward print position shifts to the left.

FIG. 17 is a flow chart for explaining the operation for correcting the print position deviation in the printer device 1 configured as described above. First, the misregistration correction start routine is started from step s1, the start message 40 shown in FIG. 11 is printed out on the paper 2 in step s2, and the process proceeds to step s3. In step s3, a predetermined amount of paper is fed, and then step s4 is executed.
Alignment recognition pattern, for example "H" NLQ
One line of characters is printed out. In step s5, the paper is fed again, and then step s6 is entered. By operating the switches 30 to 32 on the operation panel 19 shown in FIG. 5, signals from these switches 30 to 32 are sent to the CPU 13.
Read by In step s7, it is determined whether or not the switch 32 for correcting in the right direction is pressed, and if the second pass is displaced to the left of the first pass as in the pattern 43 of FIG. 14, the user The switch 32 is pressed, and the process proceeds to step s8. In step s8, it is determined whether or not the delay timer value is maximum in the rightward direction. If it is maximum, correction is impossible and the process directly returns to step s4. If it is not maximum, the process proceeds to step s9, and the delay timer value is set in the rightward direction. After being corrected to, the process returns to step s4.

If the switch 32 for correcting the rightward direction is not pressed in step s7, the process proceeds to step s10, and it is judged whether or not the switch 31 for correcting the leftward direction is pressed, and the pattern of FIG. When the second pass is shifted to the right from the first pass as in 41, the user presses the switch 31 and the process proceeds to step s11. In step s11, it is determined whether or not the delay timer value is maximum to the left. If it is maximum, correction is impossible and the process directly returns to step s4. If it is not maximum, the process proceeds to step s12 and the delay timer value is left. After the direction is corrected, the process returns to step s4.

If the switch 31 for correcting leftward is not pressed in step s10, the process proceeds to step s13, and it is judged whether or not the switch 30 for ending correction is pressed, and the pattern 42 of FIG. Like 2
If there is no deviation between the first pass and the first pass, the user presses the switch 30 to move to step s14, the delay timer value at that time is registered in the nonvolatile memory 16, and the process moves to step s15 to end the correction. . When the switch 30 for ending the correction is not pressed in step s13, the process returns to step s6.

The above-mentioned operation will be briefly described with reference to FIG. 11 by way of example. If one line of NLQ characters is output and the pattern 43 is output, the second pass is shifted to the left. When the rightward correction switch 32 is pressed once and the delay timer value is moved to the right, the distance in FIG. 16 changes from 9/360 inch to 8/3, for example.
Move to 60 inches. Next, when another line is output, it is detected that the second pass is still shifted to the left side, and when the switch 32 is pressed once again and the delay timer value is moved to the right side, the distance in FIG. 16 becomes 8/360 inch. From 7 to 360 inch, and when one line is further output, the pattern 42 is output, it is recognized that there is no print position deviation, the correction end switch 30 is pressed, and the correction ends.

As described above, the NLQ characters are used to correct the line-direction print misalignment that may occur during bidirectional print output, so that the paper at the time of output occupied by one pattern such as the patterns 41, 42, and 43. The area is smaller than the conventional method, and the larger the number of times the pattern is output, the larger the paper saving.

Further, as for the paper feeding of the paper necessary for constructing the pattern, the minute feeding of half the dot pitch is sufficient, which leads to the reduction of the paper feeding time at the time of outputting the pattern.

Although the character form "H" is used among the NLQ character typefaces in the above-mentioned embodiment, the character is not limited to this as long as the character requires the same printing method, and it is preferable. Has a vertical line that spans the entire height of the character, eg B, D, E, F, I, K, L, M, N,
English letters such as P, R, T, Greek letters such as Γ, Π, 1
It may be a number such as.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, bidirectional printing is performed by using a dot pattern in a printing mode, such as NLQ mode, in which a half-pitch paper is fed to print one character back and forth. Corrects the print position deviation in the line direction between the forward pass printing and the backward pass printing at the time of printing output. In this way, the printing position shift can be detected by the one character, so that the area of paper to be used can be saved, the time required for pattern output can be shortened, and the workability is improved.

Further, since the printing mode which is normally functioning is used, it is not necessary to configure the pattern output dedicated processing relating to the correction mode, and the processing program relating to this can be easily configured.

Further, according to the present invention, since the predetermined dot pattern has an example of vertical dots extending over the entire height of the character,
Adjustment is easy and workability is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a printing mechanism of a printer device to which a printing position adjusting method according to the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of an electrical configuration of a printer device to which a printing position adjusting method according to the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 3 is a detailed configuration diagram of a RAM 15.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing an operation panel 19.

5 is a front view showing an operation panel 19. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing constituent characters output by a standard function.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of an NLQ character pattern.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a process of forming an NLQ character pattern.

FIG. 9 is an EP-ROM block diagram.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the vertical interval between the first pass and the second pass of the wire of the output head.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an output pattern for deviation correction recognition.

FIG. 12 is a diagram schematically showing one character in a pattern 41 in a dot configuration.

FIG. 13 is a diagram schematically showing one character in a pattern 42 in a dot configuration.

FIG. 14 is a diagram schematically showing one character in a pattern 43 in a dot configuration.

FIG. 15 is a timing chart of wire dot output.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a limit of a delay timer value.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart for explaining an operation for correcting a print position deviation in the printer device 1.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a typical prior art ruled line output pattern.

FIG. 19 is an enlarged view of a part of the ruled line output pattern of FIG.

FIG. 20 is a diagram schematically showing the ruled line of FIG. 19 in a dot configuration.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing correspondence between dots forming ruled lines and printing wires.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Printer Device 3 Carriage 4 Print Head 11 Carriage Motor 13 CPU 14 ROM 15 RAM

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A print head, which forms a plurality of dots arranged in a row, performs forward printing along a paper width direction at a predetermined print timing, and then feeds paper at half the dot pitch. In a print position adjusting method of a printer device having a print mode in which a return pass is printed based on a predetermined print timing and one character is printed, a first step of setting the print mode and printing with a predetermined dot pattern A second step; and a third step of changing the printing timing by detecting a positional deviation between the forward printing and the backward printing in the row direction from the printed character, and the second and third steps described above. A printing position adjusting method for a printer, wherein the printing position deviation is adjusted by repeating the steps. 2. The predetermined dot pattern has a vertical dot row that extends over the entire height of the character.
A printing position adjusting method for the printer device described.