JPH082669B2 - Print line feed method in serial printer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of use] The present invention relates to a print line feed method in a serial printer, and particularly when there is a special character protruding above a normal character in the data of the next line to be printed. It relates to the print line feed method of.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view showing an example of a printing mechanism portion in a serial printer. In the figure, 1 is a platen, 2 is a wire dot type printing head with its front end face facing the platen 1, and this printing head 2 is Printing is performed based on the print data while moving along the axial direction of the platen 1.

3 is a print sheet, 4 is a sheet guide, 5a and 5b are press rollers, and 6 is a tractor feed mechanism. Here, the print sheet 3 passes between the platen 1 and the sheet guide 4,
It is guided to the position of the tractor feed mechanism 6 through the space between the platen 1 and the press rollers 5a and 5b, and is engaged with the tractor feed mechanism 6 by means of the sprocket hole and the sprocket pin for printing. .

In this configuration, normally, when one line of print data is printed on the print paper 3 by the print head 2 and then the print data of the next line is sent, the platen 1 and the tractor feed mechanism 6 are driven by the line feed motor. Is rotated positively and printing paper 3
Is forwarded by a fixed amount in the direction of the arrow α, and after this, a line feed is made at the preset line feed amount, and then the print data of the next line is printed on the print sheet 3 by the print head 2. I'm running.

On the other hand, in this type of printer, there is a case where vertically long characters, that is, vertically enlarged characters and special characters such as superscript characters that extend above normal characters exist in one line of print data. Since it may not be possible to print characters in one pass, a method is adopted in which print data is divided into two passes and printed.

The conventional print line feed method in this case will be described with reference to FIG. 3 and FIGS.

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing the positional relationship between ordinary characters and special characters to be printed, and shows the case where a vertically elongated vertical character "A" and a superscript character "2" exist on the second line. ing.

Further, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the arrangement of the print wires on the leading end surface of the print head 2 and the positional relationship of the print dots. Here, the case where a print head in which nine print wires are arranged in one vertical column is used is shown. ing.

Here, in order to make the explanation easier to understand, an example is shown in which the normal characters "A, B, C" on the first line shown in Fig. 4 are printed, and then the vertically enlarged characters "A" on the second line are printed. To explain,
First, the normal characters "A, B, C" on the first line of FIG. 4 are printed by the print head 2, and then the print paper 3 is forward-fed by the preset line feed amount in the direction of the arrow α.

As a result, the position of the print head 2 with respect to the vertically enlarged character "A" to be printed on the second line becomes the position of (I) shown in FIG. 5, but at this position, the pixel in the vertically enlarged character "A", that is, the dot. It is impossible to print d8 to d14.

Therefore, this time, the printing paper 3 is fed back by a certain amount in the direction of the arrow β, so that the printing head 2 is brought to the position (II) shown in FIG. 5, and the pixels d8 to d14 are moved by one pass at this position. Print as eye print data.

After that, the print sheet 3 is forward-fed in the direction of arrow α again,
The print head 2 is set to the position (I), and dots d1 to d7 are printed as print data for the second pass to form a vertically enlarged character "A".

In addition, the reverse feeding of the printing paper 3 in the direction of the arrow β is performed by the third
It is performed by rotating the platen 1 and the tractor feed mechanism 6 in the figure in reverse.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

As described above, in the conventional print line feed method, when printing vertically enlarged characters or superscript characters, that is, special characters that extend above normal characters, the print paper is forward-fed by the normal line feed amount, and then the print paper is fed. It takes a long time to feed the printing paper because the procedure is to feed the paper in reverse and then perform the first pass printing, and it is possible to obtain a high printing quality by causing an error in the line feed amount due to mechanical elements. It has the problem of being difficult.

The present invention has been made in order to solve these problems, and printing in a serial printer capable of shortening the feeding time of the printing paper when printing special characters and ensuring a high printing quality. The purpose is to realize the line feed method.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides a serial printer in which when one line of print data has a special character that extends above a normal character, the print data is divided into two passes and printed by a print head. In the print line feed method in, before a line feed from a certain line to the next line, which is the line next to the certain line, it is judged whether or not the special character is present in the print data of the next line. , If it exists, when printing the next line after printing the certain line, normal character printing is performed so that the printing position that is the highest position of the special character is at the highest position that is printed by the print head. After setting the line feed amount smaller than the line feed amount at the time of line feed, perform the first pass printing, and then perform the line feed at the position where the normal character of the next line is printed and perform the second pass printing. Characterize.

[Work]

According to the present invention having the above-mentioned means, when printing a special character, it is possible to print the special character together with the normal character by the two-pass printing while feeding the printing paper with the shortest line feed amount, and the conventional printing is performed. Since it is not necessary to reverse feed the paper, it is possible to shorten the feed time of the printing paper when printing special characters, and eliminate the error in the line feed amount due to mechanical elements to ensure high printing quality. It will be possible.

〔Example〕

 Embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing an embodiment of a print line feed method in a serial printer of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a serial printer which carries out the print line feed method of FIG.

First, the structure of FIG. 2 will be explained.
CPU (microprocessor), 8 is a ROM (read only memory) that stores programs and pattern data such as characters and symbols, 9 is a RAM (random access memory) that temporarily stores print data received from the outside, 10 is I / O
A driver, 11 is an interface circuit for exchanging data with an external device (not shown), 12 is a line feed motor for rotating the platen 1 and tractor feed mechanism 6 shown in FIG. 3, and 13 is a print head 2 for the platen 1 A spacing motor 14 for reciprocating along the axial direction is an address bus line, and the address bus line 14 connects the CPU 7, ROM 8, RAM 9, and I / O driver 10 to each other.

In this configuration, the CPU 7 receives the interface circuit 11 from the external device based on the program stored in the ROM 8.
And print data (character code) and control data (control data) via the address bus line 14,
The received print data is temporarily stored in RAM9, and the data converted based on the print data is used as an address for RO.
The character dot pattern is read from M8 and output to the I / O driver 10 via the address bus line 14, and also outputs to the I / O driver 10 a signal instructing an operation necessary for printing.

Therefore, the print head 2, line feed motor 12, spacing motor 13, etc. are all connected to the CPU via this I / O driver.
Controlled to 7.

Further, the CPU 7 has a function of determining whether or not there is a special character such as vertically enlarged characters or superscript characters for each line of the received print data, and if there is, the print data is processed in two passes. It also has the function of dividing into print data.

Next, the print line feed method of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

However, the movement of the print head 2 and the print operation are performed by the CPU 7 described above.
Is controlled by the head drive circuit and the spacing motor 12 via the I / O driver 10, and the feeding of the printing paper 3 is also controlled by the CPU 7 via the I / O driver 10 for the line feed motor 12. 1 and the tractor feed mechanism 6, so that their details will be omitted.

Also, here the normal amount of line feed is as shown in FIG.
48/288 = 1/6 inch, normal character vertical length is 24/288 inch, and vertically expanded character "A" protrudes 28/288 inch above the upper end of normal character, and superscript character The "2" is normally 12/288 inches above the top of the letter.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the number of print wires in the print head 2 is 9, and the tips are arranged in one vertical line, and the distance between the print wires is 4/288 = 1/72 inch. Shall be

Now, when printing now, as shown in Fig. 4, the first line contains only normal characters such as "A, B, C", and the second line contains normal characters such as "D, E, F". Consider a case where one or both of vertically enlarged characters “A” and superscript characters “2” exist in addition to characters.

In this case, the print head 2 is used first to read "A, B,
Normal characters such as C "are printed on the printing paper 3.

During the printing shown in S1 (S is step) in FIG. 1, it means that the printing of the first line is being performed, and during this printing, the print data of the next line, that is, the second line is normally printed. Print data is received and temporarily stored in RAM 9.

Further, the processing of S2, S3, and S4 is performed until the printing of the first line is completed, that is, until S5 is reached.

That is, in S2, the CPU 7 determines whether or not the print data of the next line, that is, the second line has been received, and in S3, it also determines whether or not there is a vertically enlarged character in the print data of the second line. It is determined by the CPU7, and in S4, it is determined whether or not the super-script character exists in the print data of the second line.
It is judged by.

If the print data of the second line has not been received in S2, the process of S2 is repeated. However, if it is determined that the vertically enlarged character does not exist in S3 after the print data has been received, the process of S4 is performed. If it is determined in S4 that there is no superscript character, that is, the second
If it is determined that the special characters do not exist in the print data of the line, wait for the end of printing in S5, and in the next S6, feed the printing paper 3 forward so that the line feed amount is 48/288 inches in the direction of arrow α. After that, the process proceeds to S13 and the printing head 2 prints the characters of the second line on the printing paper.

However, if it is determined in S3 that, for example, the vertically enlarged character “A” exists, the process proceeds to S7 after the printing in S5 ends.

In step S7, the print sheet 3 is forward-fed in the direction of the arrow α so as to have a line feed amount of 20/288 inches, and the print head 2 is fed so as to be at the position (II) shown in FIG. That is, the highest print position of the vertically enlarged character "A" is the print head 2
Insert a line feed so that it is at the position of the highest dot d14 printed by the print wire of.

After that, the process shifts to S8, and the print data of the first pass of the second line read from the RAM 9 by the CPU 7 in S8, that is, the dots d8 to d14 above the vertically enlarged character "A" and the super-split characters included in this dot. The dots on the upper part of "2" are printed on the printing paper 3 by the printing head 2, and after printing, the process proceeds to S9, and this time the printing paper 3 is forward fed so that the line feed amount is 28/288 inches in the direction of the arrow α.

As a result, the printing paper 3 has the normal characters "A, B, C" on the first line.
Since a total of 48/288 inch line feed has been made from the print position of, the print head 2 is at the position of (I) shown in Fig. 5, that is, the normal characters "D, E, F" on the second line. Since the line is placed so that the uppermost printing position of "is at the position of the highest dot d7 printed by the printing wire of the printing head 2,
In next step S13, the print head 2 prints the normal characters "D, E, F" on the second line shown in Fig. 4 as the print data for the second pass, and the dots at the bottom of the vertically enlarged character "A". Print the dots under d1 to d7 and the superscript character "2".

On the other hand, it is determined that there is no vertically enlarged character in S3,
When it is determined in S4 that the super-script character is present, after the printing in S5 is completed, the process proceeds to S10.

In this S10, the paper is fed forward so that the line feed amount is 36/288 inches in the direction of the arrow α, so that the uppermost printing position of the superscript character "2" is printed by the printing wire of the printing head 2. The line is broken so that it is at the dot position.

Then, in the next S11, as the first pass of the print data of the second line, the dots above the superscript character "2" are printed by the print head 2, then the process proceeds to S12, and the print paper 3 is printed. After forward feed in the direction of arrow α with a line feed amount of / 288 inches, the process moves to S13 and the print head 2 is used to print data for the second pass, that is, the normal character "D, E, F" and the lower part of the superscript character "2" Print the dots.

Although the number of the print wires of the print head 2 is nine in the above-described embodiment, it is possible to perform line feed and print with the same procedure even if the number of print wires is 18.

Needless to say, the printing head 2 is not limited to the wire-dot type printing head, and can be similarly applied to, for example, an ink jet type printing head.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, before a line feed is performed from a certain line to the next line which is the line next to the certain line, the special character protruding above the normal character is included in the print data of the next line. It is judged whether or not it exists, and if it exists, after printing the certain line, when printing the next line, the printing position which is the uppermost position of the special character is printed by the print head. Set a line feed amount that is smaller than the line feed amount when printing normal characters so that the line is placed, start the first pass, and then perform a line feed to the position where the next line of normal characters is printed and
I am trying to print the pass.

Therefore, according to this, it is possible to print special characters that extend above normal characters such as enlarged characters and superscripts without feeding the print paper in the direction opposite to the normal line feed direction, that is, without feeding backwards. As a result, it is possible to shorten the feed time of the printing paper at the time of printing the special character, and to obtain the high printing quality by eliminating the line feed amount error caused by the mechanical element.

Also, since the line feed position of the second pass is the position for printing normal characters, the position after printing the second pass will be the same position as after normal line feed, so when moving to the printing of the next line, It is also possible to obtain an effect that processing is easy because it is not necessary to perform processing such as extra line feed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing an embodiment of a print line feed method in a serial printer of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a serial printer embodying the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an outline of a print mechanism section of the serial printer. FIG. 4 is a side view, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the positional relationship between normal characters and special characters, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the positional relationship between print heads and print dots. 1 ... Platen, 2 ... Printing head, 3 ... Printing paper,
6 ... tractor feed mechanism, 7 ... CPU, 8 ... ROM,
9 ... RAM

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Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A print line feed method in a serial printer when a special character protruding above a normal character exists in one line of print data and the print data is divided into two passes and printed by a print head. Before a line feed from a certain line to the next line, which is the next line after the certain line, it is judged whether or not the special character is present in the print data of the next line. After printing a certain line, when printing the next line, the print position that is the uppermost position of the special character is less than the line feed amount during normal character printing so that the printing position becomes the uppermost position printed by the print head. A line printer is characterized in that after setting a line feed amount and performing a line feed, a first pass is printed, and then a line feed is made at a position where the normal character of the next line is printed and a second pass is printed. Print line feed method.