JPH08230266A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To eliminate an error in the printing length which becomes a problem when a continuous display label or the like is formed. CONSTITUTION: A pitch correction cumputing section 16 is provided on a print control section 3 of a tape printer. The printing pitch of printing result is observed, and an observed value is input from a keyboard 1 into a print control section 3. A pitch correction data is computed by a pitch set value and the input observed value by the pitch correction computing section 16, and the computed result is stored in a memory section 5 together with a cassette discrimination data. A tape feed motor 10 is controlled by correcting the pitch set value based on the pitch correction data at the time of printing to eliminate an error between the printing pitch and the set value.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer device, and more particularly to print pitch control for a serial printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A printer device equipped with a thermal head or a wire dot impact head feeds a sheet in a Y direction by a sheet feeding device and reciprocally moves the printing head in an X direction by a printing head feeding device to print on the sheet.

A tape printer for printing on an adhesive tape with release paper or the like prints by a print head arranged across a print width in the Y direction while feeding the tape in the X direction by a tape feeding device. The above-mentioned feeding device is driven in synchronization with the print head driver circuit, and printing is executed according to the settings of the character pitch and the line pitch.

[0004]

In a printer device for printing while feeding paper or tape, the feeding amount with respect to a set value depends on the processing accuracy of the paper feeding roller and the power transmission mechanism, slippage between the paper and the feeding roller, and the like. It may cause an error. These errors are usually not a problem,
The following cases are disadvantages that cannot be ignored.

For example, in order to display a terminal number on a terminal board or the like of electric equipment in which terminal terminals are arranged at regular intervals,
When printing a large number of characters on the adhesive tape at a fixed pitch, 1
When making a lettering tape with a total length of 500 mm by printing the numbers of 50 blocks at a set pitch of 0 mm, for example, if a feed error of -1.2% occurs, the total length will be 494 mm, and at the end of the printed tape it will be a terminal terminal. This causes a problem that the display number is significantly deviated.

Further, the error in the feed amount differs depending on the width of the tape or the tube, and as the width dimension becomes smaller, slippage tends to increase and the error in pitch tends to increase. Conventionally, such a case has been dealt with by changing the print pitch of the tape printer or the pitch setting of the character block unit, but since the unit of the pitch is usually 0.1 mm or more, as described above, for example, 50 When performing continuous printing of blocks, 0.
Even with a tape printer in which the pitch can be set in units of 1 mm, the total length of the print result changes in units of 0.1 mm × 50 = 5 mm. Therefore, if the feed change amount due to the pitch setting and the actual feed amount error match, the error is eliminated, but in such a case, there is almost no case, and it is difficult to obtain a print result of a desired print length. .

Therefore, there is a technical problem to be solved in order to eliminate the error in the feed amount of the print medium or the print head, and the present invention aims to solve the above problem.

[0008]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention is proposed in order to achieve the above object, and one or both of a print medium such as paper or tape and a print head are moved by a feeding device, In a printer device that controls a feeding device based on a set value of a print pitch and prints on a printing medium by synchronously driving the feeding device and a print head, a pitch comparison data input section, and the set value. (EN) A printer device characterized in that a printing pitch correction function is constituted by an arithmetic unit for calculating a control amount of a feeding device based on pitch comparison data.

[0009]

When the print pitch of the tape or paper printed according to the format setting has an error with respect to the set value, the measured value of the print pitch is input to the printer device as pitch comparison data, and the set value is compared with the pitch. The pitch correction data is calculated based on the data and. Then, at the next printing, the set pitch is corrected based on the pitch correction data to control the feeding device. As a result, the error between the actual print pitch and the set value is eliminated as much as possible.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. For convenience of description, technical matters that are conventionally known will be described at the same time. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an adhesive tape with release paper housed in a tape cassette or a tape printer that prints characters and symbols on electric wire tubes housed in a tube cassette. Input of character data and printing operation are performed via the keyboard 1, and an output signal of the keyboard 1 is input to the CPU 4 of the print control unit 3 via the interface 2 and written in the memory unit 5, and the CPU 4 displays the display unit. The driver circuit 6 is driven to display the input contents on the LCD 7.

Identification information such as the type and width of the tape or tube contained in the tape cassette or tube cassette is recorded by means such as an identification hole or an identification code display label provided in the cassette body. A known printing medium identification mechanism is constituted by a limit switch provided on the cassette holder section and a cassette identification sensor 8 such as a photo sensor.

The CPU 4 controls the motor driver circuit 9 in response to a print command from the keyboard 1 and drives the tape feed motor 10 which is a step motor to feed the tape or the tube for electric wire and transfer the print data to the thermal head 11. To do. Then, a control signal is output to the head driver circuit 12 to synchronously drive the thermal head 11 and the tape feed motor 10, and the characters are thermally transferred from the ink ribbon to the tape or the tube for electric wire.

At the end of printing, the tape cutter 13 is manually operated to cut the tape or tube at a predetermined cutting position. In addition, an automatic half-cutting function that cuts only the adhesive tape with release paper on the border of each print block, or cuts the wire tube in half, and a border line print that prints a vertical line at the border of each print block. Functions are provided. These functions can be turned on / off by operating the keyboard 1. CP is selected when the automatic half-cut function is selected
U4 controls the cutter driver circuit 14 to cut the tape or the tube for electric wire halfway in the middle of each print block. By performing the half-cutting process, it is possible to easily perform the work when the print blocks printed on the tape are separately attached and attached, or when the electric wire tube is attached to the end of the electric wire.

Formatting of character size, character spacing, number of print lines, pitch of character strings, etc., setting of continuous printing, serial number printing, and print pitch correction data are input via the keyboard 1. In the print setting operation using the keyboard 1, first, a format setting mode is entered, and after setting according to a setting menu displayed on the LCD 7, character data is input and continuous printing or serial number printing is set. Setting data such as formats and character data are stored in the memory unit 5, and when printing is executed, CP
The character data is converted into dot data according to the setting by the format control unit 15 of U4.

Further, the CPU 4 has a pitch correction calculation unit 16
When the pitch comparison data is input from the keyboard 1, the correction coefficient is calculated based on the set pitch and the pitch comparison data. Then, the obtained correction coefficient is stored in the memory unit 5 together with the cassette identification information.

When the number of continuous prints is set by the keyboard 1, the CPU 4 repeatedly outputs the same print data according to the continuous / serial number print program a set number of times, and the continuous print is executed. Further, serial number printing is performed by setting serial number printing and designating a start character and an end character of a numeral or alphabet.

When the printed pitch of the printed tape or the tube for electric wire and the set value are made to coincide with each other, the correction operation is performed in the procedure shown in FIG. First, the type of tape cassette or tube cassette loaded in the cassette holder is read through the cassette identification sensor 8 (101). Next, enter the format and character data manually (10
2) The printing is executed (103). Then, the print result is measured (104), and if the measured value is 97 mm where the print length should be 100 mm, the pitch comparison data input mode is selected and the measured value is input (105). As a result, the pitch correction calculator 16 compares the set value with the pitch comparison data, and calculates the set value correction data from the difference (106). If the input pitch comparison data exceeds the error range, an error will occur. The obtained correction data is stored in the memory unit 5 together with the identification data for each type of cassette (107), and the correction operation is completed (10).
8).

By the above operation, the pitch correction data peculiar to the cassette is stored. When printing next time,
When a tape cassette or a tube cassette is loaded in the cassette holder portion, the type of cassette is identified by the cassette identification sensor 8 and the corresponding correction data is read from the memory portion 5. Then, the number of driving steps of the tape feed motor 10 with respect to the set pitch is corrected by the CPU 4, and the set pitch and the actual print pitch match.
The error of the print pitch varies depending on whether it is a tape or a tube, and the width dimension, but by performing the above correction operation and storing the correction data of each cassette, each time the cassette is loaded The print pitch is corrected based on the correction data.

The means for calculating the correction value is not particularly limited, and various modifications can be made, and it goes without saying that the present invention extends to those modifications.

[0020]

As described in detail in the above embodiment, the present invention calculates deviation correction data between a set value and an actual feed amount by inputting print pitch comparison data, and based on the correction data. Since the control amount of the feeding device is corrected, the pitch error with respect to the set value is eliminated as much as possible, the printing accuracy is improved, and it is possible to contribute particularly to the performance improvement of the printer device that creates a long display label or the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a tape printer showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a print pitch correction operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Keyboard 3 Print Control Section 4 CPU 5 Memory Section 8 Cassette Identification Sensor 9 Motor Driver Circuit 10 Tape Feed Motor 11 Thermal Head 12 Head Driver Circuit 15 Format Control Section 16 Pitch Correction Calculation Section

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A printing medium such as paper or tape and one or both of a print head are moved by a feeding device, and the feeding device is controlled based on a set value of a printing pitch. In a printer for synchronously driving and printing on a printing medium, a print pitch is provided by an input unit for pitch comparison data and an arithmetic unit for calculating a control amount of a feeding device based on the set value and pitch comparison data. A printer device having a correction function.