JPH09300723A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer capable of always obtaining a normal printing result even if printing is performed in any direction among up and down and left and right directions by performing printing control corresponding to a sweep direction. SOLUTION: A drive part 17 driving an ink jet head 45, a switch 4 for designating a sweep direction and a memory part (RAM) 16 for storing the printing data inputted from an interface part 3 are connected to a control part 14 and the control part 14 controls the reading order of the printing data from the memory part 16 corresponding to the sweep direction designated by the switch 4 to transmit the printing data to the drive part 17 and the drive part 17 drives an ink jet head 45 to print an image.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus which prints on a recording medium by being swept manually or automatically.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a manually swept printing apparatus, the speed of movement on a recording medium is not constant.
As shown in JP-A-48-17630,
A position detecting device is provided for detecting a change in the relative position of the print head with respect to the recording medium. In the case of this position detection device, the change in the relative position caused by the movement of the print head on the recording medium is performed by detecting the state in which the roller moving together with the print head makes contact rotation on the recording medium. . That is, by detecting the rotation angle of the roller, a change in the relative position between the print head and the recording medium is detected, and the position of the print head is detected.

According to such a method, it is necessary that at least two parts, that is, the roller and the print head, are always formed at positions facing the recording medium. Further, such a conventional printing apparatus is configured to perform printing by sweeping from left to right for horizontal writing characters and from top to bottom for vertical writing characters. In other words, when the printing device is swept in the opposite direction, the printing device is forcibly stopped or the printing is not performed.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned printing apparatus can easily perform horizontal left-aligned printing or vertical vertical top-aligned printing, but can perform horizontal right-aligned vertical writing bottom-aligned printing. It takes time and labor for the user to calculate the print start position in consideration of the length of the print image, and it is difficult to easily obtain the print result desired by the user. Further, there is a problem that it is also difficult to print in a language in which character strings are arranged from left to right, such as Arabic characters. Further, when the user has a right-handed hand, it is easy to operate the print scanning from the left to the right direction, but in the case of the left-handed user, it is difficult to perform the print scanning from the left to the right. There is also a problem that the printing device is difficult to use.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and by performing printing control in accordance with the sweep direction, it is always possible to print in any direction up, down, left or right. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing device that can obtain various printing results.

[0006]

In order to achieve this object, a printer according to claim 1 of the present invention comprises a printing means for printing an image such as characters and figures on a recording medium,
The recording medium includes storage means for storing image information for forming the image, and control means for reading the image information stored in the storage means and controlling the printing means based on the image information. By manually or automatically sweeping on the medium, the one configured to print the image by the printing means at an arbitrary position on the recording medium, particularly, the sweeping direction of the printing means. The control means includes a designating means for designating, and controls the order of reading the image information from the storage means based on the sweep direction designated by the designating means. Therefore, by designating the sweep direction of the printing means by the designating means, the control means
Based on the sweep direction designated by the designating means,
The order of reading the image information from the storage means is controlled.
Therefore, it is possible to easily obtain a normal printing result regardless of the direction of printing up and down or left and right.

Further, the printing apparatus according to a second aspect of the invention is provided with notifying means for notifying the user of the sweep direction designated by the designating means. Therefore, since the notifying means informs the user of the sweep direction designated by the user, it is possible to reliably prevent the user from making a mistake in the sweep direction and making a printing error.

[0008]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is an external view showing the external appearance of the printing apparatus of this embodiment. The body portion 1 of the printing apparatus is formed in a cylindrical shape, and has an appropriate thickness so that the user can easily grab or hold it by hand. The roller 42 is rotatably provided at the lower end of the body 1. The surface of the roller 42 is formed of an elastic material such as rubber. On the side of the roller 42, an inkjet head 45 as a printing means of the present invention is arranged. An interface section 3 for infrared communication for transmitting / receiving print data to / from an external device (not shown) is provided at the upper end of the body section 1.
Further, a switch 4 for designating the sweep direction in the data input mode and the print mode is provided on the side surface of the body portion 1. The switch 4 is turned on / off.
It also has an off function. The switch 4 constitutes the designating means of the present invention.

In the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment, the user holds the body portion 1 by hand with the print data and the like input from an external device, and the roller 42 is contact-rotated on the recording medium (paper or the like). The device is capable of performing predetermined printing on the recording medium by sweeping by manual operation while performing the above.

FIG. 2 is an internal configuration diagram for explaining the internal configuration of the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment. This Figure 2 below
The internal configuration of the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to.

A roller 42 is rotatably supported on the lower end of the body 1 about a shaft 8. An inkjet head 45 is arranged beside the roller 42. The nozzle at the lower end of the inkjet head 45 is arranged at an upper position with a certain gap from the surface of the recording medium.

An ink tank 7 for supplying ink to the inkjet head 45 is arranged above the inkjet head 45. A pulley 9 is arranged on the rotation center shaft 8 of the roller 42 so as to rotate as the roller 42 rotates. An endless belt 10 is stretched around the pulley 9, and is configured to transmit the rotational force of the pulley 9 that rotates with the rotation of the roller 42 to a rotating disk 12 of an encoder 11 described later. The encoder 11 is arranged near the center of the body 1 in the longitudinal direction. The rotating disk 12 is provided with slits 12a and 12b on the circumference at predetermined intervals, and the photo interrupter 13 of the encoder 11 is turned on / off by the rotation of the slits 12a and 12b.
Thus, the rotation speed of the rotating disk 12 is converted into an electric pulse signal, and this pulse signal is input to the control unit 14 described later. The slit 12b is formed with a 90 ° phase shift with respect to the slit 12a.

A control unit 14 for inputting an electric pulse signal of the photo interrupter 13 and controlling the ink jet head 45, the interface unit 3 and the like is arranged on the upper side of the body unit 1. The control unit 14 corresponds to a so-called CPU of a microcomputer and constitutes the control means of the present invention. Further, a power supply 15 for supplying electric power to each functional block described later is arranged adjacent to the control unit 14. The power supply 15 is composed of a power supply unit such as a small primary battery or a secondary battery and a device for stabilizing these power supplies.

Next, a method of detecting the amount of movement and the direction of movement of the encoder 11 when the printer of this embodiment is swept by manual operation will be described with reference to FIG.

By sweeping the printer, the roller 4
2 rotates. FIG. 3 is for explaining the detection waveform of the photo interrupter 13 when the roller 42 is rotating in the right and left directions. In the case of the right rotation, as shown in the figure, the slit 12b is formed. The detection waveform of is detected with a 90 ° phase delay with respect to the slit 12a. Further, in the case of counterclockwise rotation, the detection waveform of the slit 12b is detected in a state in which the phase leads the detection waveform of the slit 12a by 90 °. Therefore, the rotational direction of the roller 42 can be detected by detecting the phase shift between the two waveforms.
Further, by counting the number of pulses of the detection waveform of the photo interrupter 13, the movement amount of the printing device can be detected.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing the electrical construction of the printing apparatus of this embodiment. In the figure, the control unit 14 is connected to a storage device 20 (ROM) containing a control program for controlling each functional block according to a predetermined program. Control unit 1
4 includes the interface unit 3 and the switch 4 described above.
Is connected. Further, the signal after the rotation speed of the encoder 11 is converted into the electric pulse signal is input to the control unit 14. A storage unit (RAM) 16 for storing print data input from the interface unit 3 is connected to the control unit 14. The drive unit 17 that drives the inkjet head 45 is also connected to the control unit 14. Each of these functional blocks is built in the body portion 1 of the printer of FIG. The storage section 16 constitutes the storage means of the present invention.

Next, a method of controlling the print data read corresponding to the sweep direction will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 5A is a schematic diagram showing a state in which print data received from an external device via the interface unit 3 is stored in the storage unit 16. The square in the figure is the storage unit 1.
6 represents the minimum storage unit, and each storage unit can be represented by an address composed of a row number and a column number. In addition, a value of 1 is assigned to a black cell in the drawing and a value of 0 is assigned to a white cell in the storage unit 16, and each dot indicates whether it is a black dot or a white dot. That is, the data of the address A1 is 0 and the printing is a white dot, and the data of the address A8 is 1 and the printing is a black dot.

5A and 5B show the printing control method when the apparatus is swept from left to right and when scanned from right to left when the storage section 16 is in the storage state shown in FIG. 5A. 5 (b) and FIG. 5 (c). In the present embodiment, the number of nozzles of the ink jet recording head 45 is eight, as shown in the figure, for the sake of simplicity.

When the apparatus is swept from left to right,
Since the body portion 1 is gripped in the direction shown in FIG. 5B and printing is performed in the arrow direction, the nozzle No. 1 is on the upper side. Therefore,
The data read control is performed so that the data of the address A1 is printed by the nozzle n1 and the data of the address A2 is printed by the nozzle n2. Further, in the next line, the data read control is performed so that the data of the address B1 is printed by the nozzle n1 and the data of the address B2 is printed by the nozzle n2. As described above, the reading order is controlled to transfer the data to the driving unit 17, and printing is performed to form an image on the recording medium.

On the other hand, when the apparatus is swept from the right to the left, as shown in FIG.
No. 8 of the nozzle is on the upper side because printing is carried out in the direction of the arrow while gripping in the state rotated 180 degrees from the state of (b).
Further, in this case, it is necessary to print from the right side of the print data, that is, the Z column. Therefore, the data at the address Z8 is sent to the nozzle n1 and the data at the address Z7 is sent to the nozzle n2.
Data read control is performed so that printing is performed in the order of. As described above, the driving unit 17 is controlled by controlling the reading order.
By transferring data to and printing it, normal printing can be performed even when printing is performed from right to left.

The operation of the printing apparatus of the present embodiment having the above configuration will be described based on the flowchart of FIG.
In the following description, it is assumed that the contents of the storage unit 16 and the number of nozzles of the inkjet head 45 are in the state shown in FIG.

The printing device of the present embodiment operates according to a predetermined program stored in the storage device 20 described above. It is determined whether or not the switch 4 is in the input mode (step 1, hereinafter referred to as S1 and other steps are the same). In the input mode (S1, Y), the control unit 14 determines that the print data can be input from the external device,
It waits for print data to be input to the interface section 3 by an infrared signal from an external device (S2). When the input of print data is detected (S2, Y), the print data is temporarily stored in the storage unit 16 (S3). At this time, the control unit 14 converts the print data input from the external device into a format of data that is easily printed by the inkjet head 45 and stores the data in the storage unit 16, thereby performing a printing operation described later. The processing load can be reduced.

Next, when the scanning direction is designated by the switch 4 instead of the data input mode in S1 (S1, N), the control unit 14 judges the printing mode, and the storage unit 16 is selected.
It is determined whether or not print data is stored in the
4). If print data is stored (S4, Y),
The read address of the print data stored in the storage unit 16 is set according to the designated sweep direction. That is, when the user specifies the switch 4 in the sweep direction from left to right in S1 (S5: Y), the read address of the print data is set to A1 as described with reference to FIG. S6). On the other hand, when the user specifies the switch 4 in the scanning direction from right to left in S1 (S5: N), the read address of the print data is set to Z8 as described with reference to FIG. S7).

Then, the print standby state is entered, and the control section 14 judges whether or not the rotary disk 12 of the encoder 11 has rotated (S8). When the rotary disk 12 is rotated and it is determined that the main body of the apparatus is swept on a recording medium such as paper (S8, Y), the read address on the storage unit 16 corresponds to the number of nozzles (8 bits). Data is sequentially read and transferred to the drive unit 17 (S9). With the transferred print data, the drive unit 17 drives the inkjet recording head 45 to print an image on the recording medium (S1).
0). Here, it is determined whether or not all the print data stored in the storage unit 16 has been printed (S11), and if print data remains, all the data in the procedure from S8 to S10 is Repeat until printing. Since the output control of the print data is configured to be controlled at a predetermined timing according to the rotation amount of the roller 42, the body portion 1
Even if the sweep speed on the recording medium is non-uniform, it is possible to form a predetermined print on the recording medium.

Further, by providing the body portion 1 with a display portion such as an LED (light emitting diode) for notifying the user of the sweeping direction designated by the switch 4, it can be indicated by an arrow, left, right or the like. It is configured to display with the characters. This prevents the user from making a mistake in the sweep direction when performing a printing operation.

In the above embodiments, the roller and the encoder are used to detect the relative speed between the printing device and the recording medium. However, the speed is detected by using the laser Doppler speed detecting means, or the Hall element is used. Any detection means capable of detecting the speed and the direction, such as a method of detecting using the above, etc., may be used.

Further, although the example of the display section using the LED as the means for notifying the sweep direction has been shown, it is obvious that the same effect can be obtained by the notification method by voice synthesis or the like.

[0030]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the printing apparatus of the first aspect of the present invention, the control means specifies the sweep direction of the printing means by the designating means. Since the order of reading the image information from the storage means is controlled based on the sweep direction specified by the means, it is possible to obtain a normal print result easily regardless of the direction of up, down, left or right. it can.

Further, according to the printing apparatus of the second aspect, since the notifying means for notifying the user of the sweep direction designated by the designating means is provided, the notifying means sweeps designated by the user. To inform the user of the direction,
It is possible to reliably prevent the user from making a mistake in the sweep direction and making a printing error.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an internal configuration diagram of a printing device.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a method of detecting a movement amount and a movement direction of the printing device.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the printing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a data read control method corresponding to a scanning direction.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a print control operation of the printing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 switch 14 control unit 16 storage unit 45 inkjet head

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A printing unit for printing an image such as a character or a graphic on a recording medium, a storage unit for storing image information for forming the image, and image information stored in the storage unit. And a control means for controlling the printing means on the basis of the image information thereof, and by manually or automatically sweeping on the recording medium, the printing is performed at an arbitrary position on the recording medium. A printing device configured to print an image by means, including a designating means for designating a sweeping direction of the printing means, wherein the control means is based on the sweeping direction designated by the designating means, and the storage means A printer configured to control an order of reading image information from the printer. 2. The printer according to claim 1, further comprising a notification unit that notifies a user of the sweep direction designated by the designation unit.