JPH0898592A - Controller of stepping motor and recording system provided with that controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To make it possible to set an operation timing of a stepping motor to any value easily and securely. CONSTITUTION: An exciting signal is generated by a drive patten generating circuit 8 based on a drive pulse of a main control section and a stepping motor indexes on that signal. In this system, a delay counter 7 is provided which delays the drive pulse from the main control section and then outputs it to the drive pattern generating circuit 8. To this delay counter 7, the data of delay count values input with ten keys of an operating section is input. When the delay counter 7 receivers the drive pulse from the main control section, it starts counting synchronously with a delay clock signal input from the main control section. When the counted value reaches the set one, the input drive pulse is output to the drive pattern generating circuit 8.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is applied to, for example, a recording device or a document reading device in a facsimile machine, and relates to a stepping motor control device for imparting a feed to a recording paper or a document and a recording device including the same. Is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, for example, in a recording apparatus such as a facsimile machine, a recording head prints line by line on recording paper, and the recording paper is printed line by line in synchronization with the printing line by line. It will be sent. Usually, the recording paper is fed using a stepping motor, but in order to obtain a high quality printed image, the operation timing of the stepping motor should be
One of the important requirements is to set the timing from the start of printing one line to the start of printing the next line.

That is, for example, when the stepping motor is actuated at the same time when the printing of one line is started and the feeding of one line of the recording paper is started, the head and the recording paper are moved during the printing operation by the recording head. Relative movement will occur between them. Then, in such a case, the print line is likely to be disturbed, and it becomes difficult to obtain a high-quality printed image.

Therefore, conventionally, when the apparatus is designed, the operation timing of the stepping motor is set in advance so as to be an appropriate timing with respect to the printing timing. That is, since the stepping motor is rotated based on the drive pulse output from the control circuit, the output timing of the drive pulse is set to an appropriate timing with respect to the print timing.

[0005]

However, in reality, due to the inertia of the stepping motor itself, the feed roller for feeding the recording paper, and the transmission mechanism that operatively connects the roller and the stepping motor, the stepping motor is affected. The motor is not operated exactly in synchronization with the drive pulse, which causes a delay in the rising edge of the operation. For this reason, even though the operating timing of the stepping motor with respect to the printing timing is set to an appropriate timing by design, there is a delay in the operating timing of the stepping motor in actual operation, and high quality printed images can be obtained. Was difficult.

In order to solve this problem, it is possible to set the output timing of the drive pulse in consideration of the rising delay of the stepping motor when designing the device.
However, it is difficult to accurately predict how much the rise of the stepping motor will be delayed with respect to the output timing of the drive pulse, and how long the rise of the stepping motor will be delayed unless the device is actually manufactured. I didn't understand.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a stepping motor control device capable of easily and surely setting the operation timing of the stepping motor to an arbitrary timing. The present invention is to provide a recording apparatus including the.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 comprises an excitation signal generation means for generating an excitation signal based on an input drive pulse,
In a stepping motor control device for stepwise rotating a stepping motor by the excitation signal, setting means for setting a delay amount of a drive pulse, and delaying the drive pulse based on the set delay amount and outputting to the excitation signal generation means And a delay means for

According to a second aspect of the invention, the setting means is an operation section for inputting and setting the delay amount as a count value, and the delay means is synchronized with a pulse signal of a predetermined cycle when a drive pulse is input. Then, counting is performed, and when the count value reaches the set count value, the drive pulse is output to the excitation signal generating means.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a recording head is provided which prints line by line on the recording paper based on the input image data, and the stepping motor is rotated in synchronization with the line by line printing by the print head. 1 recording paper by
A control means is provided for feeding black lines by several lines by the recording head while changing the set count value by feeding each line.

[0011]

Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, only by setting the delay amount of the drive pulse by the setting unit, the drive pulse is delayed by the delay unit based on the set delay amount, and the excitation signal is generated. Is output to the means. For this reason,
The input timing of the drive pulse to the excitation signal generation means is delayed, and accordingly, the timing at which the excitation signal is generated by the generation means and the stepping motor is rotated is also delayed. That is, it is possible to delay the operation timing of the stepping motor and set the operation timing to an arbitrary timing by setting the drive pulse delay amount by the setting means.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the user inputs and sets the count value from the operation unit. When the drive pulse is input to the delay means in this state, counting is performed in synchronization with the pulse signal of a predetermined cycle by the delay means, and when the count value reaches the input set count value,
The drive pulse is output to the excitation signal generation means. That is,
Since the driving pulse is delayed by the user only inputting and setting an arbitrary delay amount as the count value, the operation timing of the stepping motor can be easily set to an arbitrary timing.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the black line is printed by the recording head by several lines while the set count value is changed by the control of the control means. Therefore, the user can easily recognize that the set count value when the print result of the black lines for several lines is the most beautiful is the optimum count value by looking at this print result. Therefore, the count value may be input and set from the operation unit.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is embodied in a recording device of a facsimile machine will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the circuit configuration of the recording apparatus of this embodiment.
The main controller 1 as a control means is for controlling the operation of the entire apparatus. The recording head 2 is, for example, a line print type thermal head, and prints one line at a time on recording paper based on input image data such as received image data. The drive control circuit 3 generates an excitation signal based on a drive pulse having a predetermined frequency output from the main control unit 1 and supplies it to the stepping motor 4. The stepping motor 4 is, for example, a four-phase stepping motor, and is rotationally driven step by step by an excitation signal from the drive control circuit 3. Then, by the rotation of the stepping motor 4, the recording paper is fed line by line via a transmission mechanism, a feed roller and the like, which are not shown. The operation unit 5 as setting means includes various operation keys such as a ten-key 5a and a trial mode execution key 5b. The operation of these operation keys 5a and 5b will be described later.

Next, the structure of the drive control circuit 3 will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 2, the pulse selection circuit 6 has 100, 200, 400 or 8 input from the main control unit 1.
A drive pulse having a required frequency is selected from drive pulses having a frequency of 00 pps (pulse / second), and the drive pulse having the selected frequency is output to the delay counter 7. In addition, which frequency the drive pulse is selected is
An appropriate drive pulse should be selected according to the time interval from the start of printing of one line by the recording head 2 to the start of printing of the next line, the type of motor used, the applied excitation method, etc. Is set in advance.

The delay counter 7 as delay means is
This is for delaying the drive pulse input from the pulse selection circuit 6 and outputting it to the drive pattern generation circuit 8 as the excitation signal generation means. That is, the delay counter 7 receives the delay count value data from the main controller 1. This delay count value is
The input is set by operating the ten-key 5a of the operation unit 5. When the delay count value is input and set by the ten-key 5a, the main control unit 1 transfers the data of the set count value to the delay counter 7. Output.

A delay clock signal is input from the main controller 1 to the delay counter 7. The delay clock signal is a pulse signal having a period of, for example, 160 μs or 80 μs, and has a very short period as compared with the drive pulse. The rising edge of the delay clock signal is synchronized with the rising edge of the drive pulse.

Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the delay counter 7 receives the drive pulse from the main controller 1,
Similarly, counting is performed in synchronization with the delay clock signal input from the main control unit 1. Then, when the count value reaches the count value input and set by the ten keys 5a, the input drive pulse is output to the drive pattern generation circuit 8.

As shown in FIG. 2, the drive pattern generation circuit 8 generates an excitation signal for rotationally driving the stepping motor 4 based on the drive pulse input from the delay counter 7. The drive pattern generation circuit 8 is configured to generate an excitation signal according to the type of motor used and the excitation method applied. For example, when the motor used is a 4-phase stepping motor, the motors A to
An excitation signal according to the applied excitation method is applied to each phase of D.

The step number counter 9 is preset with a value of the number of steps of the stepping motor 4 required to feed the recording paper by one line based on the step number setting signal from the main control section 1. The number of steps is
An appropriate value is set according to the resolution in the sub-scanning direction, the type of motor used, the applied excitation method, and the like. Then, when a drive pulse is output from the main control unit 1 and the stepping motor 4 is operated, the sequencer 10 notifies the drive pattern generation circuit 8 of the value of the number of steps set in the step number counter 9. Then, the drive pattern generation circuit 8 rotates the stepping motor 4 by the notified number of steps, and the rotation feeds the recording paper for one line.

That is, in this embodiment, if the value of the number of steps of the stepping motor 4 required for feeding one line of the recording paper is set in the step number counter 9, the main controller 1
When a drive pulse is output from the stepping motor 4, the stepping motor 4 is automatically rotated by the set number of steps to feed the recording paper for one line. Therefore, the main controller 1
When the stepping motor 4 is operated to feed the recording paper by one line, it is not necessary to manage the number of steps of the stepping motor 4 required for feeding the one line, and the control operation is simplified.

When image data is input to the recording apparatus having the above-described structure, the recording head 2 prints line by line on the recording paper based on the input image data. The recording paper is fed line by line by the rotation of the stepping motor 4 in synchronization with the printing line by line.

Here, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, it is assumed that "3" is input and set as the delay count value by the ten keys 5a. In this case, when the drive pulse output from the main control unit 1 is input to the delay counter 7, the delay counter 7 also counts in synchronization with the delay clock signal output from the main control unit 1.
Then, when the count value reaches the delay count value “3” set by the numeric keypad 5 a, the input drive pulse is output from the delay counter 7 to the drive pattern generation circuit 8. As a result, the drive pattern generation circuit 8 generates an excitation signal based on the input drive pulse, and the stepping motor 4 is rotated stepwise by the excitation signal.

At this time, since the delay count value is set to "3", the drive pulse generated at the time shown by the solid line in FIG. 3 is actually the delay clock signal as shown by the chain line in FIG. It is input to the drive pattern generation circuit 8 with a delay of three. That is, in the drive pattern generation circuit 8, the excitation signal is generated with a delay of three delay clock signals from the actual drive pulse generation timing.

In FIG. 3, the number of steps of the stepping motor 4 required to feed the recording paper by one line is set to "1". In the counting operation by the delay counter 7, the initial value "0" is set at the time when the drive pulse is output to feed the recording paper by one line, and the drive pulse is sent next to feed the recording paper by one line. The upper limit value "n" is set to the time immediately before the output. That is, the drive pulse can be delayed by about the recording paper feed time interval.

FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the print timing of the recording head 2 and the operation timing of the stepping motor 4. In the figure, the number of steps of the stepping motor 4 required to feed the recording paper for one line is set to "1", and the drive pulse is generated at the same time as the start of printing for one line. In the figure, when the delay count value is set to "0", the excitation signal is given to the stepping motor 4 at the same time when the printing of one line is started, and the motor 4 is operated. However, in this case, during the printing operation by the recording head 2,
Since relative movement occurs between the head 2 and the recording paper, the print line is likely to be disturbed.

On the other hand, when the delay count value is set to "N", the excitation signal is given to the stepping motor 4 at a timing delayed by a predetermined time from the start of printing one line. In this case, the stepping motor 4 is operated and the recording paper is fed until the printing operation for one line by the recording head 2 is completed and the printing operation for the next line is started. , The print line is not disturbed.

As described above, in this embodiment, the numeric keypad 5 is used.
By inputting and setting the delay count value by a, the drive pulse can be delayed from the actual output timing by the amount corresponding to the set delay count value and input to the drive pattern generation circuit 8. Therefore, the operation timing of the stepping motor 4 can be delayed by an arbitrary time from the actual output timing of the drive pulse, and as a result, the operation timing of the stepping motor 4 can be set to an arbitrary timing.

Therefore, even when the operation timing of the stepping motor 4 is not appropriate with respect to the print timing of the recording head 2, the delay count value is input and set to delay the operation timing of the stepping motor 4 by a predetermined time. Thereby, the operation timing can be easily and surely set to an appropriate timing. That is, even when it is difficult to accurately predict how much the rise of the stepping motor 4 is delayed with respect to the output timing of the drive pulse when designing the device, the operation timing of the stepping motor 4 may be changed after the device is manufactured. It is easy to set the proper timing. As a result, it is possible to obtain a high-quality printed image without disturbing the printing line during printing by the recording head 2.

Further, the setting can be performed very easily because the user only has to input an arbitrary delay amount as a count value with the ten keys 5a. Whether or not the operation timing of the stepping motor 4 is proper is
It can be easily identified by looking at the printed image on the recording paper. In other words, the optimum delay count value may be set while observing the print result so that a clean image without disturbance can be printed on the recording paper.

Next, the trial mode execution key 5 on the operation unit 5
The operation when b is operated will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, when the trial mode execution key 5b is operated in step S1, the main controller 1 proceeds to step S2 and sets the delay count value to a predetermined value. This value may be, for example, a value currently input and set by the ten keys 5a, or may be automatically set to "0" as an initial value. Next, in step S3, the main control portion 1 causes the recording head 2 to print several black lines while the recording paper is fed by the stepping motor 4 one line at a time.

Subsequently, the main control section 1 judges in step S4 whether or not the printing operation has been executed a predetermined number of times, and if the predetermined number of times has not been reached, the main control section 1 executes the step S4.
2, the delay count value is changed and set to a value different from the set value. Then, the main control section 1 prints several black lines again in step S3. When changing and setting the delay count value, the current set value may be sequentially counted up or may be sequentially counted down.
Further, the count up or count down may be performed "1" at a time, or a plurality of such "2" or "3" may be performed at a time.

Then, in step S4, if the printing operation has been executed a predetermined number of times, the main control portion 1 ends the processing. The number of times may be set by inputting the ten keys 5a, or may be set in advance.

Then, the user looks at the print image obtained as a result of the execution of the trial mode as described above, and the set count value when the print result of the black line for several lines is the most beautiful is the optimum. It can be easily recognized as a count value. Therefore, if the count value is input and set by the ten-key 5a, the operation timing of the stepping motor 4 can be more easily set to the optimum timing.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the configuration of each part can be modified and embodied as follows. (1) The present invention is embodied in a document reading device instead of a recording device. In this case, a reading head may be provided in place of the recording head 2 in FIG. When embodied in a document reading device, the operation timing of the stepping motor can be easily and surely set to an appropriate timing with respect to the reading timing of the reading head, without disturbing the image on the document. Can be read accurately and reliably.

(2) When executing the trial mode, the count value currently set at the right end or the left end of the black line to be printed is printed as a number. By doing so, it is possible to easily determine the printing result of the black line corresponding to the set count value.

(3) The present invention may be embodied in an ordinary printer in addition to the recording device in the facsimile machine. (4) The present invention may be applied as a motor control device in various devices including a stepping motor other than the recording device and the document reading device.

[0038]

As described in detail above, the present invention has the following excellent effects. According to the invention of claim 1, by setting the delay amount of the drive pulse by the setting means,
By delaying the operation timing of the stepping motor, it is possible to easily and reliably set the operation timing to an arbitrary timing.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the operation timing of the stepping motor can be easily set to an arbitrary timing only by the user inputting and setting an arbitrary delay amount as a count value.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the optimum count value can be easily recognized while observing the print result.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit configuration diagram showing an embodiment in which a stepping motor control device of the present invention is embodied in a recording device.

FIG. 2 is a circuit configuration diagram showing details of a drive control circuit.

FIG. 3 is a time chart for explaining a delay of a drive pulse.

FIG. 4 is a time chart showing the relationship between the print timing of the recording head and the operation timing of the stepping motor.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation when a trial mode execution key is operated.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Main control section as control means, 2 ... Recording head, 3 ...
Drive control circuit, 4 ... stepping motor, 5 ... operating unit,
Reference numeral 5a ... Numeric keypad, 5b ... Trial mode execution key, 7 ... Delay counter as delay means, 8 ... Drive pattern generation circuit as excitation signal generation means.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A stepping motor control device, comprising: an excitation signal generating means for generating an excitation signal based on an input drive pulse; and a stepping motor control device for stepwise rotating a stepping motor by the excitation signal, for setting a delay amount of a drive pulse. And a delay means for delaying the drive pulse based on the set delay amount and outputting the delayed drive pulse to the excitation signal generating means. 2. The setting means is an operation section for inputting and setting a delay amount as a count value, and the delay means performs counting in synchronization with a pulse signal of a predetermined cycle when a drive pulse is input. The stepping motor control device according to claim 1, wherein when the count value reaches the set count value, a drive pulse is output to the excitation signal generating means. 3. A recording head that prints line by line on the recording paper based on input image data is provided, and the recording paper is rotated by the stepping motor in synchronization with the printing by the recording head for each line. 3. A recording apparatus equipped with a stepping motor control device according to claim 2, further comprising a control means for controlling the printing head to print a black line by several lines while changing the set count value by feeding each line. apparatus.