JPH11198449A - Method for controlling printing of printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten a printing process time for the whole of a document and speed up the printing process by judging while a printing command of a first line is being executed whether or not a motor control command ordering a carrier movement in the same direction as the first line to move the carrier to a printing start position on a second line is allowed to be executed. SOLUTION: Irrespective of an operation state of each motor and a printing head, a printing operation control part 4 transmits to a printing control command reception part 5 all operation commands for control on a printing operation for printing images. A printing control process for every line is terminated at a time point when the operation commands are transmitted. Control on an execution timing of a line change immediately after the printing is finished subsequent to the completion of driving of the printing head is carried out by a motor and head operation control part 6 finished receiving the commands. Accordingly, that a first line is being printed at present and the presence/absence of reception of a motor control command so as to print a second line can be detected from information from the printing control command reception part 5.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing control method for a printer, and more particularly to a movement control method for a carrier on which a print head is mounted in a serial printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a serial printer, a carrier on which a print head is mounted is reciprocated to print one line at a time. In the serial printer, based on print data received from a host device such as a host computer and internally processed as necessary, the position information of the carrier, that is, during the printing of the current line, the complete stop position of the carrier at the end of this printing and the printing of the next line In consideration of the fact that the carrier start position and the carrier stop position for the carrier are determined, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
Japanese Patent No. 9753 discloses a configuration for improving the printing throughput by enabling the carrier to move quickly from the complete stop position after the printing of the current line to the movement start position for printing the next line, thereby improving the printing throughput. A serial printer has been proposed in which a carrier is forcibly moved from the carrier complete stop position after printing to the position where the carrier can be moved in the shortest time among the carrier movement start positions for the next line to determine the printing direction of the next line. ing.

[0003]

However, in the conventional serial printer, it is necessary to perform an operation control in which the carrier on which the print head is mounted reciprocates left and right to move to the head of the print line for each print line. For example, in the case of a print pattern in which the print start positions of the lines are not aligned in each line, the frequency of performing the operation control increases, and an operation other than the original print operation is performed. However, there is a problem that extra printing time is required.

In order to solve such a problem, the next line information is received during the operation of the carrier for printing the line currently being printed, so that the moving distance to the printing start position of the next line is obtained. And a mechanism for stopping the currently printing carrier at the printing position of the next line is required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to eliminate the need to execute a carrier moving operation to a print start position performed for each print line.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method for shortening the print processing time of the entire document and speeding up the print processing.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a printer print control method according to the present invention is directed to a carrier control for moving a print head for printing print data transmitted from an upper host computer. While the print command is executed, it is determined whether or not execution of a motor control command for instructing carrier movement in the same direction as the first line for moving to the print start position on the second line is determined. When the motor control command does not satisfy the executable condition, the command is a motor control command of the carrier motor, and when it is detected that the carrier motor is operating and the print head is being driven, Instead of suspending the motor control command, control is performed so as to replace the operation of the carrier currently being printed. The operation of the first command currently being processed and the operation of the second command for moving to the print start position of the next line in the same direction as the first print command correspond to the operation of the first command. This eliminates waste of moving time due to deceleration and motor stabilization of the carrier motor, and motor stabilization and acceleration operations corresponding to the operation of the second command.

The present invention is characterized in that during a carrier operation for printing the print data of the current line, the printing start position of the next line is read, and the carrier is controlled so as to stop at that position.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. In a preferred embodiment, the printing control method of the present invention calculates a distance for moving from the printing end position of the current line to the printing start position of the next line during execution of the carrier operation for printing the current line. Means for performing Further, based on the calculated distance, the carriage moves to the printing start position of the next line without stopping the carrier operation for printing the current line.

In a preferred embodiment, the printing control method of the present invention comprises means for variably setting a moving speed according to a distance from a printing end position of a current line to a next printing start position. From the position where the print head drive of the current line is completed to the next print start position, the carrier speed is increased and the carrier moves at the highest speed.

Further, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in a carrier control for moving a print head for printing print data transmitted from a host computer, a print command in a first line is executed. In the meantime, it is determined whether the motor control command for instructing the carrier movement in the same direction as the first line for moving to the printing start position on the second line can be executed, and the motor control command satisfies the executable condition. In the absence of the command, if the command is a motor control command of the carrier motor, and it is detected that the carrier motor is operating and the print head is being driven, instead of suspending the control command of the carrier motor, Control is performed so as to replace the operation of the carrier currently being printed. At this time, the operation of the first print command that is currently being processed and the operation of the second command that moves to the print start position of the next line in the same direction as this are linked (see FIG. 7), thereby Carrier motor deceleration and motor settling corresponding to the operation of one command,
This eliminates waste of travel time due to the motor settling and acceleration operations corresponding to the operation of the second command.

[0011]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of one embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, in the present embodiment, a control code receiving unit 1 for receiving a control code including print data transmitted from a host computer, analyzes the data, and converts the data into a printer operation control command. A control code / decoding unit 2 which converts the print data into image data which can be printed by a printer when receiving the print data, and a print image creation unit 3 which creates the print data. A print operation control unit 4 for processing a control command to create a print operation; a print control command receiving unit 5 for receiving a command for actually driving a motor and a print head; And a head / head operation control unit 6 for generating a timing for driving the And of the command buffer 7, motor,
An operation execution unit 8 for directly operating the print head is provided as a control module, and includes a carrier motor 9 for operating a carrier for moving the print head to a printing start position, a line feed motor 10, and a print head 11.

The print image creating section 3 is capable of creating print image data of two or more lines so as to create a print image of at least a plurality of lines.

The printing operation control unit 4 moves the print image created by the control code decoding unit 2 and the print image creation unit 3 to the printing start position by moving the carrier that moves the print head 11 left and right, and so on. The operation of the carrier is transmitted as a motor control command to the print control command receiving unit 5 and instructed. Line feed is performed in the same manner. The print command for instructing printing, after moving to the print start position, indicates the print start position and the carrier position at the end of printing.

The motor control command indicates a stop position of the carrier. The operation amount and the operation direction are determined from the stop position and the current carrier position.

In each of the motors 9 and 10, operable conditions are stored in advance as information. For example, the operation of the line feed motor 10 has a condition that it cannot operate during printing, and the execution of the motor control command for line feed is suspended during printing.

The print control command receiving unit 5 inquires the motor and head operation control unit 6 whether the received motor control command and print command can be actually processed.

The motor / head operation control section 6 compares the executable condition stored for each motor and head described above with the current operation status of each motor and head to determine whether or not the execution is possible. Then, it causes the print control command receiving unit 5 to schedule the command.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2, a case where a motor control command instructing line feed is transmitted from the print operation control unit 4 while printing print data is described.

As shown in the flow chart of FIG. 3, the line feed motor 10 stores, as its operable condition, a condition that it cannot be executed during printing, so that the line feed motor 10 receives an execution inquiry from the print control command receiving unit 5. In response, the motor / head operation control unit 6 replies that "line feed cannot be executed" (Yes in step 303 in FIG. 3).

On the other hand, if printing is not completed or printing is not being performed, a reply "line feed execution is possible" is returned (No branch of step 303 in FIG. 3).

If the line feed cannot be executed, the line feed motor control command is temporarily sent to the command buffer 7 (step 304 in FIG. 3).

Conversely, if it is determined that line feed can be executed, the motor / head operation control unit 6 sends a command to the operation execution unit 8 (step 305 in FIG. 3) to directly drive the motor / head. Let it.

As described above, the motor and head operation control unit 6
Monitors the status of the carrier motor, line feed motor and print head at regular intervals because it is necessary to always know the current printer and head drive status.
Update information.

As shown in FIG. 2, the execution timing is set so that the line feed command can be executed immediately after the execution condition of the line feed command matches, that is, immediately after the printing is completed and the driving of the print head is completed. Control.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation flow of the motor and head operation control unit 6 in this embodiment. In order to execute the command sent by the print control command receiving unit 5 to the command buffer 7, the motor / head operation control unit 6 checks whether there is a command in the command buffer 7 (step 402 in FIG. 4).

If there is a command in the command buffer 7 ("YES" in step 402 in FIG. 4), the command is taken out (step 403 in FIG. 4), and the current motor and head driving conditions are referred to. It is determined whether the command can be executed (step 404 in FIG. 4).

When the line feed motor is operating, a motor control command for line feed cannot be executed,
Similarly, if the carrier motor is operating, the motor control command of the carrier motor cannot be executed.

As described above, when the command does not satisfy the executable condition, the execution of the command is suspended (FIG. 4).
Step 406), information indicating that there is a command whose execution is suspended is left as information.

If it is determined in step 404 that the executable condition is satisfied, the command is immediately executed by the operation executing section 8 (step 405 in FIG. 4).

Therefore, the motor / head operation control unit 6
Before checking the presence or absence of a command in the command buffer 7, the presence or absence of a command whose execution is suspended is checked (step 401 in FIG. 4, step 30 in FIG. 3).
1).

As long as there is a command whose execution is suspended, the command stored in the command buffer 7 is not executed.

The operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

When there is a print pattern as shown in FIG. 5, the print image creating section 3 which has created the print image of the first line sends the print operation control section 4 the right end position and the left end position of the image to be the print start position. Pass the print image information.

The printing operation control section 4 prints the first line while operating the carrier to the right, if the carrier is moved to the leftmost position of the print image in FIG. In this operation, the printing operation control unit 4 adds information such as a direction and a moving amount for moving the carrier to the position of the first line printing start position with respect to the printing control command receiving unit 5. A process for transmitting the motor control command of the carrier motor for instructing the operation and then transmitting the print command for the first line are performed, and the procedure for printing the first line instructed by the print image creating unit 3 is completed.

As a result, when the print operation control unit 4 transmits these commands to the print control command receiving unit 5, the second line indicates whether data is being received by the control code receiving unit 1 or whether the control code Since processing is being performed by the decoding unit 2, the rightmost position, which is the printing start position of the second line, is unknown.

However, when the print image on the second line is created by the print image creating unit 3, the print image on the second line is
The right and left ends of the line and the print image information are passed to the print operation control unit 4. However, if there is a line feed control command accompanying the second line, this information is also passed.

The printing operation control section 4 sends a line feed motor control command for line feed as the processing of the second line, then a motor control command for moving the carrier to the position shown in FIG. Send an eye print command.

FIG. 6 shows this control operation in detail, and shows the operation state (acceleration, establishment, deceleration) of the carrier motor for driving the carrier and the operation state of the line feed motor. In FIG. 6, the arrows indicate the moving direction of the carrier.

As described above, the printing operation control unit 4 sends all the operation instructions for controlling the printing operation of the print image to the printing control command receiving unit 5 irrespective of the operation status of each motor and print head. Basically, the print control process for each line is terminated when these operation instructions are transmitted as a command.

Immediately after the printing is completed (here, “end of printing” means the end of driving of the print head), the control of the execution timing such as the line feed execution is performed by the motor and the head which have finished receiving the command. Since the operation control unit 6 performs the printing, the printing of the first line is currently being executed and the presence or absence of the motor control command for the printing operation of the second line is simultaneously determined by the information from the printing control command receiving unit 5. You can know.

Referring to FIG. 6, while the print command-2 on the first line is being executed by the operation execution unit 8, the first line for moving to the print start position on the second line is displayed. A motor control command -1 for instructing carrier movement in the same direction is transmitted by the printing operation control unit 4, and it is determined whether the command can be executed.

As described above, each motor has an operation execution condition, and the execution of the control command of the currently executed motor is suspended.

However, in this embodiment, the operation of this print command-2 and the command-2 for moving to the print start position of the second line in the same direction are connected as shown in FIG. It is intended to eliminate waste of moving time due to deceleration and motor stabilization of No. 2 and motor stabilization and acceleration of −2.

The operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the command is fetched from the command buffer 7 or when the print control command receiving unit 5 receives the command, if the execution condition of the command cannot be satisfied ("No" in step 804 in FIG. 8). , The execution of the command is suspended (step 810 in FIG. 8). However, if the command at this time is a motor control command for the carrier motor (YES in step 806 in FIG. 8), the condition that cannot be executed at that time is that the carrier motor is operating (step 8 in FIG. 8).
07 (YES in step 07), and when the printing operation (print head driving) is detected (YES in step 808 in FIG. 8), the motor control command of the carrier motor is not held but Replacement (connection) processing with the operation of the carrier during printing is performed (step 809 in FIG. 8).

The replacement process according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 6, 9, and 10.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the operation of the carrier motor in the printing operation. The printing operation includes an acceleration operation amount a, a constant speed operation amount b before printing, and a printing operation amount c.
And a constant speed operation amount d after printing and a deceleration operation amount e.

The stop position A (see FIG. 9) of the print command-2 in FIG. 6B is additional information of the print command, and is a motor control command of the carrier moving to the print start position on the second line. Stop position 2 (see Fig. 9)
Is additional information to the motor control command of the carrier.

Regarding the carrier control shown in FIGS. 6 and 9,
This will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. As the operation information of the motor control command-2 as the accepted carrier operation, it is confirmed that the carrier stop position after the operation is earlier than the stop position of the printing operation-2 (step 1001 in FIG. 10). Then, the difference operation amount is added to the constant speed operation amount d after printing (step 1002 in FIG. 10). By performing this processing, the carrier motor control command-2 that moves to the printing start position on the second line in FIG.
Is replaced by the operation of the currently executed print command-2.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the above-described embodiment, for simplicity of description, the description has been made on the assumption that the printing operation speed of the current line is equal to the carrier operation speed of moving to the next printing line.

In the second embodiment of the present invention, when moving to the printing start position, the operation speed of the carrier is selected according to the distance, and acceleration is performed to a speed higher than the carrier operation speed at the time of printing. This is to move to the print start position of the next print line as soon as possible.

A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG.
The printing operation is performed at the carrier operation speed L at the time of printing, and after the constant speed operation amount d after printing is operated, the speed is increased from the speed L to the speed H. After the constant speed operation, the speed H
Decelerates and stops at the target position.

In order to operate the carrier in this way, the distance X from the position after the execution of the constant speed operation amount d after printing to the target position to the next printing start position reaches the speed L from the speed L. It must be equal to or greater than the sum of the acceleration operation amount g required to perform the operation and the deceleration operation amount i from the speed H for stopping at the target position.

In the second embodiment of the present invention, as shown in the flow chart of FIG. 12, it is determined whether or not it is possible to accelerate to the target position using the speed H (step 120 in FIG. 12).
1) When the speed H can be used, the constant speed operation amount h that operates after the acceleration operation g to the speed H is obtained by subtracting the sum of the acceleration amount g from the distance X to the speed H and the deceleration amount i of the speed H. (Step 1202 in FIG. 12), the acceleration operation amount up to the speed H is set to g (Step 1 in FIG. 12).
203). On the other hand, when H cannot be used, the sum of the operation amounts of g and i is added to the constant speed operation amount d after printing, and the target position is moved by the constant speed operation of speed L.

[0056]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the operation of moving the carrier to the print start position performed for each print line is not performed, it is possible to shorten the print processing time of the entire document and shorten the print end time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Control code receiving part 2 Control code decoding part 3 Print image creation part 4 Printing operation control part 5 Print control command receiving part 6 Motor and head operation control part 7 Command buffer 8 Operation execution part 9 Carrier motor 10 Line feed motor 11 Printing head

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A method for controlling the movement of a carrier having a print head for printing print data transmitted from a higher-level host computer through a serial printer, wherein a print command on a first line is being executed. It is determined whether a motor control command for instructing carrier movement in the same direction as the first line to move to the printing start position on the second line can be executed, and the motor control command does not satisfy an executable condition. In this case, if the command is a motor control command of a carrier motor, and it is detected that the carrier motor is operating and the print head is being driven, the motor control command of the carrier motor is not suspended, A print control method for performing control so as to replace the operation of a carrier during printing. 2. An operation of a first print command currently being processed and an operation of a second command for moving to a print start position of the next line in the same direction as the first print command are linked, so that the first print command is operated. Deceleration of carrier motor corresponding to command operation,
2. The print control method according to claim 1, wherein a waste of moving time due to a motor setting and a motor setting and acceleration operation corresponding to the operation of the second command is eliminated. 3. A method for controlling the movement of a carrier having a print head for printing print data transmitted from a higher-level host computer through a serial printer, comprising the steps of: A print control method wherein a print start position of the next line is read and carrier control is performed so as to stop at the position. 4. During execution of a carrier operation for printing a current line,
Means for calculating the distance to move from the print end position of the current line to the print start position of the next line, and the print start position of the next line without stopping the carrier operation for printing the current line And a means for moving to a printing control method. 5. The printing control method according to claim 4, further comprising means for variably setting a moving speed according to a distance from a printing end position of the current line to a next printing start position. 6. The printing control method according to claim 5, wherein the speed of the carrier is increased at the highest speed from the position where the printing head drive of the current line is completed to the next printing start position.