JPS5838814A - Recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To record analog signals, characters, and graphics altogether, by providing controlling signals corresponding to the running speed of a recording means in functional elements such as an operation control part, a D/A converter, and an operation mode switching. CONSTITUTION:The number of rotation of a servomotor 3 is received by the operation control part 13 through an absolute value circuit 10, a switch 11, and an A/D converter 12. In the analog recording, a heat sensitive head is used as a recording means 4, and the head is energized by a head driver circuit 24. The driver 24 is controlled by the output from the control part 13. In the character recording by using an analog servo system, the switch 11 is switched to the side P. The position signal of a potentiometer 5 can be fed back to the control part 13 through the converter 12 by this switching. Therefore the present position of the means 4 during the running can be always confirmed. In the character recording operation, the functional elements such as the D/A converter 14, operation mode switch 15, a digital signal input terminal, and the control part 13 are ombined and used.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a recording device capable of recording analog signal voltages and characters and figures.

There is a self-balancing pen recorder as a recorder that performs analog recording. This is an automatic balancing recorder that uses a servo system to record changes over time in a DC voltage signal (analog voltage), and its basic recording method is ink writing or single-point pen writing using a thermal recording method. ing. By adding a servo system and the number of pens, it can be made into a multi-pen recorder, and is used for measuring analog electrical quantities in a wide range of fields, including general electrical measurements.

A feature of the pen recorder is that signal voltage can be recorded in real time in continuous line segments at low cost.

However, since it can only receive analog signals, it does not have means for receiving digital signals from a microcomputer, etc., and it does not have a character recording function, so it is completely impossible to write characters or graphics. For this reason, it is impossible to record a wavelength number as a subscript to an analog voltage signal (for example, the spectrum of a spectrophotometer) or to use the recorder as a printer. Of course, unlike plotters, it was not possible to record figures and charts, and it was inadequate as a recording terminal for microcomputerized equipment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks of the prior art described above and to provide a recording device that can record analog signals as well as characters, graphics, and the like.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIGS. 1 and 2 are diagrams showing the configuration and operating characteristics of the present invention.

The absolute value circuit 10 is a circuit that converts the output voltage of the servo amplifier 2 (which outputs both positive and negative polarity voltages) from polarity to only positive polarity voltage and outputs only the absolute value of the servo amplifier output voltage, and is generally used. An example of a practical circuit is one that uses an operational amplifier and a diode to perform inversion amplification and additive amplification. For absolute value output, select switch 11
The signal is sent to an AD converter 12, typically a successive approximation type, and an arithmetic control section 13 through the A-side contact of the converter. In this - slow circuit, the number of revolutions of the servo motor (i.e., the running speed of the recording means)
is converted into a digital quantity, and the built-in cp of the arithmetic control unit 13
be taken in by u. These configurations attempt to detect the running speed of the recording means by applying the characteristic that the rotation speed of the servo motor 3 is roughly proportional to the driving voltage. The output is taken out as a digital quantity approximately proportional to the rotation speed of the servo motor 3. By using various arithmetic processing functions of the microcomputer in the arithmetic control unit 13, speed signals, acceleration signals, etc. can be obtained.
This indicates that it can be used to control recording functions (density, recording dot interval control, etc.).

That is, as the recording means 4, a thermal recording head, an inkjet recording head, a discharge destruction recording head, or the like is used. In thermal recording, it is driven by an analog or digital (pulsed voltage) voltage, and in inkjet and discharge breakdown recording, it is driven by a pulsed voltage.

When the pulse voltage drive method is used to record analog voltage input like a recorder, the recording speed changes arbitrarily, so the recording means uses pulses with a repetition frequency that corresponds to changes in the indication of the recording button. If this is not done in addition to this, the interval between recording points will vary (depending on the recording speed), making it difficult to record an analog curve with a homogeneous recording line. In particular, when adopting a recording method using pulsed voltage drive for the purpose of continuous line recording (continuous line consisting of line segments made up of connected dots), the repetition pulse frequency should be set to a value corresponding to the moving speed of the recording means. This is essential.

For such purposes, the method of capturing and using the servo amplifier output according to the present invention is more practical than the method of obtaining speed signals by inputting voltage from other circuit parts. This makes it possible to detect moving speed.

That is, as shown in Fig. 2, the output of the servo amplifier in actual operation is related to the servo amplifier gain, and the input voltage at the servo amplifier input section becomes saturated when the indicated deviation from the equilibrium point becomes 2 to 3% or more of the total running range. , several percent of the equilibrium point
Lasts until you approach nearby. When the recording means travels close to the equilibrium point, the servo amplifier input voltage begins to decrease and when the servo amplifier is released from the saturated state, it becomes possible to obtain an output voltage proportional to the input deviation in the widening region again. . If we relate these processes to the traveling speed of the recording means, we can see that when the servo amplifier is in the amplification area, that is, when the recording means is being driven relatively slowly, or when the recording signal input changes, the movement of the recording means is sufficient. When you can follow,
Since an output voltage proportional to the deviation value from the target running value, that is, the deviation voltage to the servo amplifier is obtained, a control voltage for correction corresponding to the running speed can be input to the AD converter.

Additionally, if the movement of the recording means cannot follow changes in the signal input, the deviation between the two will increase, causing the amplifier to saturate and output a constant voltage approximately close to the power supply voltage of the amplifier. Therefore, the servo motor rotates at a constant speed, and in this state, the recording means moves at a constant speed, and a substantially constant output voltage is obtained from the amplifier output.

By extracting and utilizing the voltage from the output of the servo motor drive amplifier in the manner described above, it is possible to obtain a control signal that corresponds to the running speed of the recording means. In applications where the density and recording dot spacing vary over a wide range, it is possible to significantly improve the image quality of recorded line drawings.

Next, a series of recording operations in analog voltage recording will be explained using a thermal recording method as an example. Figure 2 shows the voltage waveforms in each city in this case. Analog voltage recording is basically based on a servo system, and the recording means 4 has a thermal recording head (if it has only one heating element, or it records by energizing one heating element selected from a plurality of heating elements). The head is energized by a Herad Dry No. circuit 24. Furthermore, a Head Dry I (24
is controlled by a control signal (outputted from the arithmetic control circuit 13) generated by calculating the above-mentioned A/D output so as to obtain an optimum recording state.

In addition to the above-mentioned changes in analog voltage input, the recording head control signals also include paper feed speed, density control information based on ambient temperature, and information on changes in element resistance of the thermal recording head during long-term use. It is used by being generated within the arithmetic control circuit 13 or taken in from outside. The input clock of the pulse motor drive unit 8 uses the CPU clock pulse in the arithmetic control unit 13, and commands for controlling operations such as selection of paper feeding speed are sent from the keyboard 21, digital input terminal 16, magnetic tape 23, etc. This is done through the input means. The above operations can be summarized as follows. By recording changes over time in analog voltage input using a recording means that uses an analog servo system and a thermosensitive recording head that can be digitally controlled, recording characteristics equivalent to those of an ink pen recorder can be achieved. This shows that it is possible to make this a reality. This function is a technology that only becomes useful when it is provided in conjunction with the character recording function described below.

The character recording function will be explained below.

When recording characters using an analog servo system, the selector switch 11, which was switched to the A side when recording analog voltage input,
It is necessary to switch to the P side.

This switching causes the position signal of the potentiometer 5 to be transferred to the AD converter 1.
The recording means 4 can be fed back to the arithmetic control section 13 via the
It becomes possible to constantly check the current position while driving at zero.

For character recording operation, a DA converter 14, an operation mode switch 15, a digital signal input terminal 16, a read-only memory ROM 19 which also has a character generator function used when generating character patterns, and an operation Functional elements such as a character recording operation control program that functions in the control unit 13, ROMI 9, and RAM 20 are used in combination. The DA converter 14 is used to supply a ramp voltage to the analog voltage input terminal 1 so that the recording means 4 can run at a constant speed throughout the recording.

The digital signal for generating the lamp voltage to the DA converter 14 can be freely generated by the microcomputer in the arithmetic and control circuit 13 using a microprogramming method, so the generation program may be stored in the ROM 19 in advance.

The output of the DA converter 14 is 5 on the record as shown in FIG.
× Dot spacing in the row direction of characters composed of 7 dots and recording head 4
In the case of character recording of 80 lines of characters at a recording speed of 80 characters/second, the unit time corresponding to the running speed is 1/80 x 8 if the space between characters is configured with an interval of 8 dots.
The lamp voltage is output stepwise every 5 m 8 (that is, 1.5 m 5), and is increased until 80 characters are recorded.
The A converter 14 is reset by software to return the lamp voltage to a voltage value corresponding to the home position of the recording head.

Since the recording head simply moves by a distance proportional to the lamp voltage applied to the analog voltage input terminal, scanning of the recording head 4 as a printer is possible by simply generating stepwise lamp voltage repeatedly.

Therefore, if a character generator strobe pulse is generated synchronously with each step of the step voltage, as shown in Fig. Selective heating becomes possible.

The above explanation does not mention the density control of characters, but since the recording head runs at a constant speed, density control in character recording mode is much simpler than analog curve recording. That's fine. This control can be performed using software using the arithmetic control unit 13, ROMI 9, and RAM 20.

In addition, if scanning of the recording head 4 becomes difficult for some reason in the printing operation system with a closed loop configuration including the A/D converter 12, potentiometer 5, and servo amplifier 2, the function of the arithmetic control section 13 is used. However, even during character recording scanning, the A/D converter 1 is constantly activated.
4 and the number of pulses sent to the D/A converter 14 (character generator strobe pulses), and
Of course, it also has the function of controlling the timing of the pulse sent to the D/A converter 14 to completely follow the output of the converter 12.

In addition, the arithmetic control unit has all the control and interface functions necessary for communicating with external devices, so
ROMI 9, RAM 20, magnetic tape 2
3. It can be handled by engaging with functions such as the display 22 and the keyboard 21.

The recording device of the present invention has the basic function of being able to record analog curves (DC voltage signals) and characters. It can also have the functions of

In other words, in the case of the plotter function, it is possible to move the scanning function of the recording head 4 in the row direction in step feed units (0.05 m/step pulse in this device), and in the column direction (vertical), it is possible to The head section remains in the same position, and a paper feed motor 7 (
A drum-type plotter can be constructed because it includes a pulse motor that can rotate in forward and reverse directions and a motor drive section 8.

The basic operations in the plotter function mode are similar to those in the character print function mode.

This is because the recording speed is primarily determined by the original design of the recording device. That is, in the row direction, it is determined by the rate of change of the stepwise ramp voltage (the stepwise change rate is set in advance) which is the output of the DA converter 14 applied to the servo amplifier 2, and the Since the pulse frequency for paper feed control is set to a value close to the upper limit that can be achieved even for forward and reverse feed speeds, it is used at an approximately constant speed, and density and dot spacing control are also approximately constant. Since it is only necessary to perform the operation under certain conditions, there is no need to perform complicated control depending on the magnitude and rate of change of the input signal voltage as in the case of analog voltage recording.

Further, as an applied operation, it becomes possible to record a subscript near an analog curve at any timing while receiving a DC voltage signal from the analog signal input terminal 18.

This operation is performed by switching the operation mode switch 15 to the remote side based on a command from the digital signal input terminal 16.
What is necessary is to perform an operation of switching from analog recording to character recording mode.

In the above embodiment, the speed detection means of the recording means is introduced from the output side of the servo amplifier 2, but an A/D conversion means is connected to the output of the analog signal conversion means 17.
By inputting this conversion output to the arithmetic control section 13,
It is also possible to introduce a signal necessary for speed detection of the recording means, and omit the absolute value circuit means 10, the changeover switch means 11, and the A/D conversion means 12.

As described above, according to the present invention, in addition to recording DC voltage as an analog recorder, it is also possible to receive digital signals and interrupt recording of characters and scale lines on the same recording paper. Combination recording data such as recording, recording of analog curves, printing of a list of calculation results of interim data, recording of various graphs including line graphs, and printing of subscripts can be output on the same recording paper.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a recording device capable of recording characters according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing temporal change characteristics such as voltage and frequency of each part in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of heating element heating timing. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the DA converter output voltage (stepwise lamp voltage), the travel distance of the recording head, and the generation order of strobe pulses for character generation. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Analog voltage input terminal, 2...Servo amplifier, 3...Servo motor, 4...Recording means, 6...
Potentiometer, 6... Reference voltage source, 7... Paper feed motor, 8... Motor drive unit, 9... Recording paper, 10...
Absolute value circuit, 11... changeover switch, 12... AD
Converter, 13... Arithmetic control unit, 14... DA converter, 15... Operation mode switch, 16... Digital signal input terminal, 17... Analog signal conversion means, 18
...Analog signal input terminal, 19...I'tOM,
20...RAM, 21...Keyboard, 22...
Display device, 23...Magnetic tape, 24...Head X-force voltage 70 '7654-32/Continued from page 1 0 Inventor Naka Factory, Hitachi, Ltd., 882 Ichige, Tadakatsuta City, Nishino

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. an arithmetic controller that receives a digital signal, a DA converter that converts the output of the arithmetic controller into an analog signal, a first switching means that switches between the output from the DA converter and the analog signal; a servo amplifier that receives an analog signal voltage from a switching means; a servo motor driven by the servo amplifier that includes a reference power source and a potentiometer; a second switching means that switches between the output of the servo amplifier and the output of the potentiometer; A that converts the output of the second switching means into a digital signal and inputs it to the arithmetic controller.
A printing apparatus comprising: a D converter; and a head driver circuit that drives a printing element using an output from the arithmetic controller.