JPH0767844B2 - Ribbon shift control method - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ribbon shift control method for a serial printer, and more specifically, it determines the position of the band when the serial printer is powered on or after system reset. The present invention relates to a ribbon shift control method for starting printing by shifting the ribbon to a position different from the position of the band before cutting or before the system reset.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, a ribbon shift control method of a ribbon shift mechanism in a serial printer for color printing of this type will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a conventional ribbon cartridge, and FIG. 5 is a front view of a ribbon band stored in the ribbon cartridge shown in FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a cassette type ribbon cartridge mounted on a ribbon shift mechanism. In this ribbon cartridge 1
It has a wide ribbon 2 and the ribbon 2 has four bands so that the width corresponds to the height of the characters to be printed.
1, a band 2, a band 3, and a band 4 are respectively divided, and a multicolor ribbon in which the divided bands are respectively colored with, for example, yellow, magenta, cyan, and black ink is stored. 3 is a head (printing head).

Conventional ribbon cartridge 1 constructed as described above
When printing the desired color using
The band of ribbon 2 is shifted up and down with respect to
Color printing is performed.

However, even for serial printers that support color printing, if there is a great demand for black print processing, only the frequency of use of the black band will increase, and as a result, the life of the black band will end Despite the fact that the band can be used sufficiently, the ribbon needs to be replaced and the ribbon is wasted. Therefore, in order to eliminate such waste of the ribbon, a black single-color ribbon having the same width as the multicolor ribbon is used, and a plurality of bands are set in the width direction of the ribbon to print one line or several lines. By changing the band by shifting the ribbon each time the above is performed, the ribbon is used uniformly and the life of the ribbon is extended.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in the above-described conventional example, since the ribbon is shifted every time one line or several lines are printed, there is a problem that time loss occurs due to the shift and the throughput decreases. Therefore, in order to improve the throughput, shifting was performed at a long interval such as one page.
In a special use condition where the serial printer is frequently turned off / on and system reset is performed, the ribbon band is used only at the same place, resulting in light and shade of printing, leading to poor print quality. Atsuta

In view of the above problems, the present invention improves the printing quality without lowering the throughput and without causing the shading of the printing even in a special use state where the serial printer is frequently turned off / on and the system is reset. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a ribbon shift control method.

[Means for solving problems]

To achieve this object, the present invention divides the width of the ribbon into a plurality of bands, positions one of the divided bands at a position facing the print head of the printer, and performs printing. In the ribbon shift control method of shifting the ribbon so that the next band is positioned at the position facing the print head when the predetermined amount is reached, the position of the band that was used when the printer was powered off or before the system was reset. Information is stored in the storage means, and the ribbon in the shifted state is returned to the ribbon home position when the printer is turned on or after the system is reset, and the band position information and the ribbon stored in the storage means are set to 1
A second movement amount for shifting to a band different from the band indicated by the position information is obtained from the first movement amount required to move the band, and the second movement amount is calculated from the ribbon home position. Characterized by only shifting the ribbon.

[Action]

According to the present invention as described above, since the ribbon band used at the time of turning on the power of the printer or after the system reset can be made different from the band used at the time of turning off the power of the printer or before the system reset, The same band is not continuously used even in a use state in which the power of the serial printer is frequently turned off, turned on, or system reset is performed, and high-quality printing can be performed.

〔Example〕

A case where an example of the present invention is applied to a serial printer will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing the ribbon shift control of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the basic constitution when one example of the present invention is applied to a serial printer, and FIG. 3 is shown in FIG. 7 is an operation time chart of the serial printer of the illustrated embodiment. In the figure, the same reference numerals as those used above denote the same parts, and a description thereof will be omitted. Four
Is a shift mechanism for vertically shifting the ribbon 2. The shift mechanism 4 is driven by one rotating shaft 5a of a stepping motor 5 for driving the ribbon shift mechanism. On the other side of the rotary shaft 5b of the stepping motor 5 for driving the ribbon shift mechanism, a disc-shaped slit plate 7 having a slit 6 at a predetermined position is attached to detect the ribbon home of the ribbon shift operation. There is. Reference numeral 8 denotes a light emitting / receiving element, which has a structure in which a light emitting element (not shown) and a light receiving element (not shown) are arranged so as to face each other with a constant interval. The above-mentioned slit plate 7 is rotatably arranged between the light emitting element and the light receiving element of the light emitting and receiving element 8, and normally shuts off the light emitting element and the light receiving element. However, when the ribbon shift mechanism driving stepping motor 5 rotates and the hole 6 of the slit plate 7 is positioned between the light emitting element and the light receiving element, the light receiving element outputs a light receiving signal. The time when this light receiving signal is output is detected as the ribbon home position of the ribbon shift operation. The stepping motor 5 for driving the ribbon shift mechanism is driven by a motor drive circuit 9. The motor drive circuit 9 is provided with a CPU 1 according to a read-only memory 10 in which a program for controlling the stepping motor 5 for driving the ribbon shift mechanism is stored.
Operating through I / O port 12 than 1. Reference numeral 13 denotes a non-volatile memory, and in this embodiment, it serves as a storage means for storing and storing information indicating the ribbon band position at the completion of the shift of the ribbon 2 (the number of steps for rotating the stepping motor 5 for driving the ribbon shift mechanism). .

Ribbon shift control of the serial printer configured as described above will be described.

S1. First, power is turned on or system reset is performed.

S2. CPU11 operates and resets the ribbon position counter.

The ribbon position counter is set in a register in the CPU 11 and stores the number of steps by which the ribbon shift mechanism driving stepping motor 5 is rotated from the state where the ribbon 2 is at the ribbon home position.

S3. The CPU 11 reads the outputs of the slit 7 and the light emitting / receiving element 8 through the I / O port 12 and determines whether the ribbon is at the ribbon home position. That is, the holes 6 of the slit plate 7
If the light receiving signal of the light receiving element is detected when the light emitting element of the light emitting and receiving element 8 is located between the light emitting element and the light receiving element, it is determined that the ribbon 2 is at the ribbon home position. It is determined that it is not at the home position.

S4. When it is determined that the ribbon 2 is not at the ribbon home position, the CPU 11 sets the stepping motor 5 for driving the ribbon shift mechanism to 1 via the I / O port 12 and the motor drive circuit 9.
Rotate step. At this time, the ribbon position counter is 1
Since the step rotation value is counted, the process returns to step S2 and the ribbon position counter is reset again. This operation is repeated until the CPU 11 detects the ribbon home position.

S5. When the ribbon home position is detected in step S3, C
The PU 11 reads the value n of the ribbon band position before power-on, which is stored and stored in the non-volatile memory 13. Further, the CPU 11 adds the step number m of the stepping motor 5 for driving the ribbon shift mechanism as the first movement amount required to move the ribbon 2 for one band, and sets it after the power is turned on from the revolving position. The number of steps (n + m) of the stepping motor 5 for driving the ribbon shift mechanism up to the band of the ribbon 2 is calculated as the second movement amount.

S6. The CPU 11 compares the calculated step number (n + m) with the value of the ribbon position counter to determine whether they are the same.

S7. When the results of comparison in step S6 are not the same, the stepping motor 5 for driving the ribbon shift mechanism is rotated by one step.

S8. The current ribbon position counter value is incremented by 1 and the process returns to step S6 again, until the ribbon position counter value reaches n + m.
To rotate.

In the repetitive operation of steps S6 to S8, the ribbon shift mechanism driving stepping motor 5 is supplied with the drive signals φ _{1 to} φ ₄ shown in FIG. 3, which drives the ribbon shift mechanism 4 to drive the ribbon. At the same time as shifting, the value of the ribbon position counter is counted up.

S9. When the result of comparison in step S5 is the same, that is, when the band different from the band of ribbon 2 at the time of power-off is positioned at the position with respect to the head, CPU11 updates the value of the current ribbon position counter. Then, the data is stored and stored in the non-volatile memory 13, and the process proceeds to step S10 and ends.

The ribbon shift control method after the power is turned on has been described above.However, even after the system reset and during the serial printer operation, the value of the ribbon position counter should be stored in the nonvolatile memory 13 every time the ribbon shift is completed. As a result, the ribbon band position when the power is turned off is stored and stored, and it is possible to change the ribbon position when the power is turned on next time or after the system reset to start printing.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the position information of the band used when the power of the printer is turned off or before the system reset is stored in the storage means, and the band is shifted when the power of the printer is turned on or after the system reset. The ribbon in the state is returned to the ribbon home position, and the band indicated by the position information is determined from the position information of the band stored in the storage means and the first movement amount required to move the ribbon by one band. Since a second movement amount for shifting to a different band is obtained and the ribbon is shifted from the ribbon home position by the second movement amount, the ribbon band used when the printer is powered on or after system reset is selected. , It can be different from the band used when the printer was turned off or before system reset. Cutting, since up or system reset frequently it is no longer the same band continues to be used even in a use state to be performed, the effect is obtained that it becomes possible to high quality printing.

In addition, when the operator accidentally touches the ribbon cartridge while the power is off, carries the printer, or opens or closes the cover of the printer, vibration is applied,
Although the position of the ribbon may be displaced, in the present invention, the ribbon in the shifted state is returned to the ribbon home position when the printer is turned on or after the system is reset.
After that, since the ribbon is shifted from the ribbon home position by the second movement amount, it is not affected by the ribbon position displacement as described above, and is used when the printer power is turned off or before system reset. It is also possible to shift the ribbon to a band different from the band to be used, and to obtain an effect that a wide ribbon divided into a plurality of bands can be used uniformly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing ribbon shift control of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a basic configuration when one example of the present invention is applied to a serial printer, and FIG. 3 is shown in FIG. Operation time chart of the serial printer of the embodiment, FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a conventional ribbon cartridge, and FIG.
The figure is a front view of the ribbon band housed in the ribbon cartridge shown in FIG. 2 ... Ribbon, 4 ... Ribbon shift mechanism, 5 ... Ribbon shift mechanism driving stepping motor, 6 ... Hole, 7 ...
… Slit board, 8 …… Light emitting / receiving element, 9 …… Motor drive circuit, 10 …… Read only memory, 11 …… CPU, 12 …… I
/ O port, 13 ... Non-volatile memory

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A ribbon width is divided into a plurality of bands, and one of the divided bands is positioned at a position facing a print head of a printer for printing, and when the print amount reaches a predetermined amount. In the ribbon shift control method for shifting the ribbon so that the next band is positioned at a position facing the print head, the position information of the band used when the printer is powered off or before system reset is stored in the storage means. , When the printer is turned on or after a system reset,
The ribbon in the shifted state is returned to the ribbon home position, and is indicated by the positional information from the positional information of the band stored in the storage means and the first movement amount required to move the ribbon by one band. The ribbon shift control method is characterized in that a second movement amount for shifting to a band different from the current band is obtained, and the ribbon is shifted from the ribbon home position by the second movement amount.