JPH1035032A - Handheld printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent printed result from being shifted and distorted even when a running direction of this device is bent by a method wherein an output position of the print data to be printed on a recording medium is corrected in accordance with a shift quantity of the device with respect to the running direction. SOLUTION: A recording head is provided to a rear side of the scanning direction of an upper roller 2a and a lower roller 2b. A plurality of nozzles are provided to a tip of the recording head and its width is made to be a maximum width of a printing region. A rotating force of a pulley 9a along the rotation of the upper roller 2a is transmitted to an encoder 11a to be converted to electric pulse intervals and to be inputted to a control device. A rotating force of the lower roller 2b is also converted by an encoder 11b to be inputted to the control device. Speeds and positions of each of the rollers are detected in accordance with the inputted pulses. Differences of rotation speeds and quantities between the upper roller 2a and lower roller 2b are detected and a shift quantity with respect to a running direction of the device is detected based on the detected differences to be outputted to a CPU. The CPU controls a head driver that drives the recording head in accordance with the detected shift quantity.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a manual printing apparatus, and more particularly to a technique for correcting printing when the running direction of the apparatus on a recording medium is distorted.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, manual printing apparatuses have been proposed as apparatuses for printing on various recording media at desired locations. These printing apparatuses include a ruled line on a recording medium. There are also proposals that can perform printing along. For example, in a manual printer disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-26769, an image reading unit reads a ruled line on a recording medium as an image, and the control unit recognizes this image as a ruled line, detects its position, and prints the image. When the scanning direction of the apparatus deviates from the ruled line, the printing position is corrected according to the deviation.

[0003]

However, in the conventional manual printing press as described above, if there are no ruled lines on the recording medium, even if the running direction of the printing apparatus is distorted, the state is detected. Therefore, the printing position cannot be properly corrected. For this reason, there has been a problem that the printing result is shifted or distorted, and a good printing result cannot be obtained.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and corrects a printing position according to the degree of distortion in the running direction of a printing apparatus even when there is no guide such as a ruled line on a recording medium. It is an object of the present invention to provide a manual printing device which can perform a printing operation and obtain good printing results.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a manual printing apparatus for printing on a recording medium by manually scanning the recording medium. A printing position detecting means for detecting an amount of deviation in a vertical direction with respect to a printing direction of the apparatus, and a recording medium according to the amount of deviation detected by the recording position detecting means. And correction means for correcting the position at which the print data is output.

In the above arrangement, the recording position detecting means detects the amount of deviation of the apparatus in the vertical direction from the printing direction,
Since the correcting means corrects the output position of the print data on the recording medium by the recording means in accordance with the deviation amount, if the running direction of the apparatus is distorted, the deviation or distortion in the print result can be obtained even without guides such as ruled lines. Good printing results can be obtained without occurrence.

A manual printing apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is the manual printing apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the manual printing apparatus is arranged side by side in a direction perpendicular to the printing direction of the apparatus. The recording position detecting means detects the amount of deviation of the apparatus in the vertical direction with respect to the printing direction based on the difference in the amount of rotation of the pair of rollers.

In the above arrangement, the recording position detecting means is arranged in the direction perpendicular to the printing direction of the apparatus, and based on the difference in the amount of rotation of a pair of rollers provided in the apparatus as the traveling means, the recording position detecting means is arranged in the printing direction of the apparatus. Since the amount of displacement in the vertical direction is detected, the direction and amount of displacement with respect to the printing direction can be accurately detected with the movement of the apparatus. Also,
Since the detection of the shift amount of the device is performed based on the rotation amount difference between the pair of rollers functioning as the traveling means, it is not necessary to provide any special means only for detecting the shift amount, so that the size of the device is reduced. be able to.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a manual printing apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the manual printing apparatus moves on a recording medium based on a rotation amount of the traveling means. There is provided a moving amount detecting means for detecting the amount, and the correcting means determines a printing timing based on a detection signal from the moving amount detecting means.

In the above arrangement, the recording position detecting means detects the relative position between the recording medium and the recording means based on the rotation amount of the traveling means, and the correcting means detects the relative position based on the detection signal from the moving amount detecting means. Since the print timing is determined,
Irrespective of the running speed of the printing apparatus, constant printing is performed on the recording medium every time the apparatus moves by a certain amount. Therefore,
Even if the scanning speed of the apparatus is not constant, a constant and stable printing result is always obtained, so that the operation of the apparatus becomes easy.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a manual printing apparatus according to the third aspect, wherein the recording means has a nozzle number necessary for printing print data. The above nozzle is provided.

In the above arrangement, since the recording means is provided with more nozzles than the number of nozzles necessary for printing the print data, the correction means is provided in accordance with the deviation of the apparatus in the running direction from the printing direction. When the output position of the print data to the recording medium is corrected, the printing position can be easily corrected according to the shift amount by changing the nozzle to be driven to perform the printing.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a manual printing apparatus according to the fourth aspect, wherein a warning is issued when the position of the recording means deviates from the position at the start of printing. Is further provided.

In the above configuration, a warning is issued when the position of the recording means deviates from the position at the start of printing by the warning means, so that the apparatus is prevented from being largely deviated from the position at the start of printing. can do. Therefore, printing failure can be eliminated.

A manual printing apparatus according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is the manual printing apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the recording means comprises an ink jet recording means. It was done.

In the above configuration, since the recording unit is an ink jet recording unit, the configuration is simpler than that of a wire dot recording unit using a print ribbon or the like, and the entire apparatus can be downsized.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a manual printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external view of a manual printing device according to the present invention. In the figure, the body 1b of the manual printing device 1 has a square shape,
It is configured so that the user can easily support it by hand. At the lower end of the body 1b, an upper roller 2a and a later-described lower roller (not shown) are rotatably provided as running means. At the upper end of the body 1b, an interface unit 3 for infrared communication for transmitting and receiving various data such as print data to and from an external device is provided. Further, the body 1b is provided with a switch 4 for turning on / off the power and selecting a printing mode of the manual printing apparatus 1.

An ink jet type recording head (recording means) 5 as a recording means is provided near the roller 2 of the body 1b. The upper roller 2a and the lower roller are configured to be supported by a frame 1c, and a protrusion 1d is formed on the frame 1c. Projection 1d
Is made of a material such as resin having good slidability.

Then, the user scans the recording medium (recording paper or the like) P in the direction of the arrow in FIG. Print data or the like input from an external device or the like is printed on the recording medium P. At the time of printing, the upper roller 2a, the lower roller, and the protrusion 1d maintain the posture of the body 1, and the positions of the recording head 5 and the recording medium P are maintained at a constant position. By rotating the lower roller, the relative position between the recording head 5 and the recording medium P is detected, and predetermined printing is performed.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of the manual printing apparatus 1, and FIG. 3 is a side view showing the structure of the upper roller, the lower roller, and the encoder. At the lower end of the body 1b, an upper roller 2a and a lower roller 2b are configured to be rotatable about shafts 7a and 7b, respectively. Here, the upper and lower sides refer to the positional relationship with respect to the printing direction when the manual printing apparatus 1 is viewed from below. A recording head 5 is disposed behind the upper roller 2a and the lower roller 2b in the scanning direction. Above the recording head 5, an ink tank 8 for supplying ink to the recording head 5 is arranged.

A pulley 9a is arranged on a shaft 7a of the upper roller 2a so as to rotate with the rotation of the upper roller 2a. A belt 10a is routed around the pulley 9a,
Encoder (recording position detecting means, moving amount detecting means) for detecting the rotational force of pulley 9a which rotates with the rotation of upper roller 2a
11a. Encoder 11
a comprises a rotating disk 12a and a photo interrupter 13a, and is provided substantially near the center of the body 1b.
The rotating disk 12a is provided with slits on the circumference at predetermined intervals, and the movement (rotation) of the slit due to the rotation of the rotating disk 12a is detected by the photo interrupter 13a. By this detection, the rotation speed of the upper roller 2a (the relative position between the recording head 5 and the recording medium P) is converted into an interval of an electric pulse signal, and the signal is input to a control device described later. The photo interrupter 13a is connected to the upper roller 2a.
The rotational direction of the manual type printing apparatus 1 is also detected. Similarly, the lower roller 2b is configured such that the rotational force of the lower roller 2b is transmitted to the encoder (recording position detecting means) 11b by the belt 10b drawn around the pulley 9b disposed on the shaft 7b. The rotation speed and the traveling direction are detected by the photo interrupter 13b based on the rotation of the rotating disk 12b.

Above the inside of the body 1b, a recording operation by the recording head 5, a detecting operation by the encoders 11a and 11b,
Further, a CPU (to be described later) 1 for controlling an interface unit 3 and the like provided for receiving print data.
A control unit 14 including 6 and the like is arranged. A power supply 15 for supplying power to each of the functional blocks described later is arranged in the vicinity of the side. The power supply 15 includes a small power supply unit such as a dry battery and a device for stabilizing the power.

The positional relationship between the recording head 5 and the upper roller 2a and lower roller 2b will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the manual printing device 1. At the tip of the recording head 5, a plurality of nozzles 5a are provided. The width is formed at a maximum L width (maximum recording width) in a direction perpendicular to the printing direction X (scanning direction) of the printing area. Upper roller 2
The lower roller a and the lower roller 2b are disposed forward of the recording head 5 in the printing direction X. As described above, each of the upper roller 2a and the lower roller 2b has a shaft 7a or a shaft 7b.
It is rotatably supported by. The portion M where the upper roller 2a and the lower roller 2b come into contact with the recording medium P is set so as to be within the above-described width L region, and the protrusion 1d is set so as to maintain the same relationship.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a control system of the manual printing apparatus 1. CPU that controls the entire manual printing device 1
The host computer 21 is connected to the (correction unit) 16 via the interface unit 3, and a ROM 22 storing a control program for controlling each function block according to a predetermined program, and the interface unit 3. A RAM 23 for storing print data from the host computer 21 input thereto and an operation panel 24 including the switch 4 and the like are connected. The pulse from the encoder 11a of the upper roller 2a is input to a speed detecting circuit 25a (recording position detecting means) and a position detecting circuit 26a (recording position detecting means). Is input to the CPU 16. Lower roller 2b
The pulse from the encoder 11b is transmitted to the speed detection circuit 25
b (recording position detecting means) and a position detecting circuit 26b (recording position detecting means), and the speed and the position are detected.

Speed detection circuit 25a, position detection circuit 26a
And the detection signals from the speed detection circuit 25b and the position detection circuit 26b are input to a shift amount detection circuit 28 (recording position detection means). This deviation amount difference detection circuit 2
In step 8, the rotational speed difference between the upper roller 2a and the lower roller 2b is detected based on the detection signals of the speed detection circuits 25a and 25b, and the rotation speed difference is detected based on the detection signals of the position detection circuits 26a and 26b. A rotation amount difference between the roller 2a and the lower roller 2b is detected. Then, based on the rotation speed difference and the rotation amount difference, the amount of deviation from the printing direction when the running direction of the apparatus is distorted is detected and output to the CPU 16. The CPU 16 controls the head driver 33 that drives the recording head 5 to correct the printing position according to the detected shift amount. Further, the CPU 16 is connected to an LCD 34 (warning means) for displaying information relating to printing and displaying that the traveling direction of the apparatus is distorted.

The operation of the manual printing apparatus 1 having the above configuration will be described. The manual type printing device 1 includes a ROM 22
Is operated in accordance with a predetermined program stored in the. The input of print data is performed by the control unit 14 when a print mode is selected on the operation panel 24. The print data is input from the host computer 21 via the interface unit 3 by an infrared signal, and the input print data is temporarily stored in the RAM 23. When receiving the print start signal by operating the operation panel 24, the control unit 14 confirms that the print data is stored in the RAM 23, and then puts the manual printing apparatus 1 into a print standby state.

When the manual printing apparatus 1 is manually scanned by the user and the control unit 14 determines that the rotary disk 12a of the encoder 11a has rotated, the roller 2
The output control of the print data is performed according to the rotation amount of the recording medium P, and the recording is performed on the recording medium P by driving the recording head 5. Therefore, even if the traveling speed of the body 1b on the recording medium P is not uniform, it is possible to always perform uniform printing on the recording medium P.

Next, a description will be given, with reference to FIG. 6, of printing position correction of the manual printing apparatus 1 in accordance with the amount of displacement in the printing direction. FIG. 6A is a view showing an example of print data to be printed, and FIG. 6B is a diagram showing a running direction of the apparatus, a difference in rotation speed between the upper roller 2a and the lower roller 2b, and a shift amount of the apparatus in the printing direction. FIG. 3C is a diagram showing a driving pattern of the recording head 5 under the condition shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, the print data “1” shown in FIG.
The print head drive pattern “2” is a standard print head drive pattern. When the manual type printing apparatus 1 travels as shown in FIG. 6B, if the print data shown in FIG. 6A is to be printed in the traveling direction, the shift amount detection circuit 28 detects the upper roller 2a at each printing position. And lower roller 2
The rotation speed difference b and the amount of deviation from the printing direction of the apparatus are detected. The CPU 16 corrects the printing position on the recording medium P by changing the nozzles 5a to be driven in accordance with the shift amount, so that the print result does not have a shift or distortion.

More specifically, when printing the print data "1" and "2" shown in FIG. 6A, there is no difference in rotation speed between the upper roller 2a and the lower roller 2b (the difference in rotation speed is 0). Since the shift amount in the printing direction is also 0, the printing position is not corrected, and the driven nozzle 5a has a standard recording head drive pattern (see “1” and “2” in FIG. 6C). When printing the print data '3' in FIG. 6A, the running direction of the apparatus starts to shift downward, and a difference in rotation speed occurs between the upper roller 2a and the lower roller 2b (FIG. 6).
(See FIG. 6B), the nozzle 5a is driven by the amount of shift from the standard print head drive pattern so that the printing position is corrected upward by the amount of shift of the apparatus downward (FIG. 6). (C) '3').

When printing the print data '4' in FIG. 6A, the apparatus is running with the running direction facing downward, and the amount of deviation is further increased. In order to correct the printing position according to the amount of displacement, the nozzle 5a on the upper side is driven (see '4' in FIG. 6C).
Also when printing the print data '5' in FIG. 6A, the apparatus is running with the running direction facing downward,
Since the shift amount is further increased, the nozzle 5a on the upper side is driven (see '5' in FIG. 6C).

FIG. 7 is a view showing the nozzle 5a driven when the above-described printing position correction is performed. The printing by the manual printing device 1 is performed by a virtual center line on the recording medium P (see FIG. 7).
Assuming that the print head 5 is driven along the above-mentioned manner, the nozzle 5a is driven and controlled as described above so that the print head 5 is positioned at the normal position (see FIG. 4)), even if the recording head 5 is shifted upward or downward ((2) shown in FIG. 7).
(3) (5) (6)), the positional relationship between the driven nozzle 5a and the center line becomes the same.

In the cases of (2) to (6) shown in FIG. 7, printing along the center line is possible by changing the nozzle 5a to be driven, but the recording head 5 itself is larger than the center line. In the case where the deviation amount becomes so large as to deviate ((1) and (7) shown in FIG. 7), printing correction in which the nozzle 5a to be driven is shifted up and down cannot be performed, and a printing defect occurs. Before the recording head 5 (manual printing device 1) moves to the positions (1) and (7) that cannot be handled in this way, the LCD 34 displays the manual printing device 1 for the user.
Is displayed to prompt a warning to correct the scanning direction.

Next, the flow of processing in the case where the printing position is corrected in accordance with the amount of deviation of the apparatus in the running direction will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the flow of the processing. The manual printing device 1 has a ROM
The operation is performed according to a predetermined program stored in the storage 22. The input of the print data is performed by the CPU 16 when a print mode is selected on the operation panel 24. The print data is input from the host computer 21 via the interface unit 3 by an infrared signal, and the input print data is temporarily stored in the RAM 23. When the main body 1 is manually scanned by the user and the operation is started (YES in S1), a print start signal is output to the CPU 16. When the CPU 16 receives the print start signal,
By confirming that the print data is stored in the RAM 23, it is confirmed that the printing is not completed (S2).

If there is print data to be printed in the RAM 23 and printing has not been completed (NO in S2), and if there is a print timing signal (YES in S3), a deviation from the running direction of the apparatus (normal position of the apparatus) Is determined (S4). If it is shifted upward (S
(4), the print dot row data is shifted downward and set to drive the nozzles 5a lower than the standard print head drive pattern by the shift amount (S).
7). If the shift amount is 0 and the apparatus is at the normal position (normal position in S4), the nozzle 5a of the standard print head drive pattern may be driven, so that the print dot row data is set at the standard position ( S5). If the nozzle 5a is shifted downward (shifted downward in S4), the nozzle 5a above the position of the standard print head drive pattern by the amount of the shift
, The print dot string data is shifted upward and set (S8). As described above, after the print dot row data is shifted and set according to the amount of deviation from the normal position of the apparatus, dot row data printing is performed (S6).

As described above, according to the manual printing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the shift amount difference detection circuit 28 uses the rotation speed difference and the rotation amount difference between the upper roller 2a and the lower roller 2b to control the apparatus. The shift amount with respect to the printing direction is detected and the CP
U16 changes the nozzles 5a to be driven in accordance with the detected shift amount to correct the print position, so that even if the running direction of the apparatus is distorted, no shift or distortion occurs in the print result. Good printing results are obtained. Also, LC
Since the user is warned by D34 that the running direction of the apparatus is distorted, it is possible to eliminate printing failure.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible. For example, in the above embodiment, the LCD 34 prompts the user to correct the scanning direction of the apparatus after the manual printing apparatus 1 moves to a position that cannot be handled by the print position correction by changing the nozzle 5a to be driven. However, this may be set so as to prompt the correction in the scanning direction when the apparatus is slightly deviated from the normal position. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the ink jet system is adopted for the manual printing device 1, but the invention is not necessarily limited to the ink jet system, and printing by another system may be adopted.

[0037]

As described above, according to the manual printing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, according to the shift amount of the apparatus with respect to the traveling direction detected by the recording position detecting means,
Since the correction unit corrects the print data output position on the recording medium of the recording unit, even if the running direction of the apparatus is distorted, the printing result is not shifted or distorted, and a good printing result can be obtained. .

According to the manual printing apparatus of the second aspect, the difference between the rotation amounts of a pair of rollers provided in the apparatus as running means is provided in parallel in a direction perpendicular to the printing direction of the apparatus. , The recording position detecting means detects the amount of displacement in the vertical direction with respect to the printing direction of the apparatus, so that the direction and amount of the displacement can be accurately detected with the movement of the apparatus in the printing direction. . Further, since the above detection is performed based on the difference between the rotation amounts of the pair of rollers functioning as the traveling means, there is no need to provide any special means for detecting the deviation amount of the apparatus, and the apparatus can be downsized. .

According to the manual printing apparatus of the third aspect, the printing timing is determined by the recording position detecting means in accordance with the position of the apparatus detected based on the rotation amount of the traveling means. Therefore, irrespective of the running speed of the printing apparatus, constant printing is performed on the recording medium every time the apparatus moves by a certain amount. Therefore, even if the scanning speed of the apparatus is not constant, a constant and stable printing result can be always obtained, so that the operation of the apparatus becomes easy.

In the manual printing apparatus according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the recording means is provided with nozzles equal to or more than the number of nozzles necessary for printing print data. When correcting the output position of the print data to the recording medium according to the shift amount in the direction, the printing position is easily corrected according to the shift amount by changing the nozzle to be driven and performing printing. be able to.

According to the manual printing apparatus of the present invention, a warning is issued by the warning means when the position of the recording means deviates from the position at the start of printing. It is possible to prevent a large deviation from the time position beforehand. Therefore, printing failure can be prevented.

Further, according to the manual printing apparatus of the present invention, since the recording means is an ink jet recording means, the recording means is a wire dot recording means using a print ribbon or the like. Its configuration is simple,
The entire device can be downsized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a manual printing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an internal configuration of the manual printing device.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing a configuration of an upper roller, a lower roller, and an encoder portion.

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the manual printing device.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a control system of the manual printing device.

6A is a diagram illustrating an example of print data to be printed, and FIG. 6B is a diagram illustrating a traveling direction of the apparatus, a difference in rotational speed between an upper roller and a lower roller, and a shift amount of the apparatus with respect to a printing direction. FIG. 3C is a diagram showing a driving pattern of the recording head under the condition shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating nozzles driven when a print position is corrected by a manual printing device.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a print position correction process performed by the manual printing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Manual printing apparatus 2a Upper roller (running means) 2b Lower roller (running means) 5 Recording head (recording means) 5a Nozzle 11a, 11b Encoder (recording position detecting means, moving amount detecting means) 16 CPU (correcting means) 25a , 25b Speed detecting circuit (recording position detecting means) 26a, 26b Position detecting circuit (recording position detecting means, moving amount detecting means) 28 Shift amount detecting circuit (recording position detecting means) 34 LCD (warning means) P Recording medium

Claims (6)

[Claims] In a manual type printing apparatus provided with recording means for performing printing on a recording medium by manually scanning on the recording medium, a recording position detection for detecting a shift amount of the apparatus in a vertical direction with respect to a printing direction. And manual means for correcting the position at which the recording means outputs print data to a recording medium in accordance with the amount of displacement detected by the recording position detection means. apparatus. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a traveling unit having a pair of rollers that are arranged side by side in a direction perpendicular to a printing direction of the apparatus and rotate on the recording medium, wherein the recording position detection unit detects a rotation amount of the pair of rollers. 2. The manual printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a shift amount in a vertical direction with respect to a printing direction of the apparatus is detected based on the difference. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a moving amount detecting unit configured to detect a moving amount of the apparatus on a recording medium based on a rotating amount of the traveling unit, wherein the correcting unit performs printing based on a detection signal from the moving amount detecting unit. The manual printing device according to claim 1, wherein the timing is determined. 4. The manual printing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the recording unit is provided with nozzles equal to or more than the number of nozzles necessary for printing print data. 5. The manual printing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a warning unit that issues a warning when the position of the recording unit deviates from a position at the time of starting printing. 6. The manual printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said recording means is an ink jet type recording means.