JPS5851164A - Dot printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a dot printer capable of performing the warming up of dot pins prior to printing and also of removing ink adhered by a method in which a driving force is given to the dot pins before the printing of character data on a printing medium. CONSTITUTION:In a dot printer in which character data are printed by decomposing character data to be printed into dots and by pressing dot pins on a printing medium, a driving force-providing means by which a given amount of driving force is given to the dot pins before first character data are printed on the printing medium is provided, including a means to give a driving force necessary for printing the printing medium to the dot pins. Thus, when printing character data to be printed, the dot pins can be smoothly driven without being used for a long period of time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to dot printers, and particularly to a printer that prints character data by pressing a dot bin against a print medium, such as a so-called wire dot printer.

Description of the Prior Art Conventionally, dot printers perform printing by separating characters to be printed into dots. For example, in a wire dot printer, a dot bin is installed in the print head for dot printing, and this dot bin is driven according to character data to print the tip! Dot printing is performed by pressing 11 bodies. That is,
In such a dot printer, an ink ribbon is usually inserted between a print head and a print medium, and the ink of the ink ribbon adheres to the part of the print medium pressed by the dot bin, thereby printing dots. Further, when so-called pressure-sensitive coloring paper is used as the printing medium, the portion of the printing medium pressed by the dot bin develops color, and the dots 1 to 1 are printed. Note that in this case, an ink ribbon is not required.

By the way, when an ink ribbon is used as described above, the ink on the ink ribbon may scatter due to the pressure of the dot bin and enter between the dot bin and the guide surrounding the dot bin. If the dot printer is not used in this condition for a long period of time, the ink between the dot bin and the guide will harden and the dot bin will not be driven smoothly. Therefore, printing errors such as dots that should be printed are not printed are likely to occur. Further, when pressure-sensitive coloring paper is used as described above, the coloring powder and paper powder applied to the surface of the pressure-sensitive coloring paper are scattered by the pressure of the dot bin and adhere to the surroundings of the dot bin. In this case as well, if the dot printer is not used for a long period of time, the deposits on the dot bin will harden and the drum 1-bin will not move smoothly (
Become. Therefore, printing errors are more likely to occur. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To summarize, the present invention is a dot printer using a dot bin, in which a predetermined amount of driving force is applied to the dot bin at least before printing the first character data on a print medium.

According to this invention, the dot bin can be warmed up before actual character data is printed, and ink etc. adhering to the dot bin can be removed. Therefore, when actually printing the gear lid data, the dot bin can be smoothly driven, and various printing errors that occur in the conventional printing system can be prevented.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, before character data is printed in the print area of the print medium, a driving force of the same level as when printing normal character data is applied to the dot bin of the print head, and the dot bin is used to print outside the print area of the print medium. I try to do this.

5- Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to remove the deposits on the i-dot bin before actually printing character data in the printing field, and it is possible to print character data without causing printing errors as in the conventional case. I can do it.

Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide a dot printer that can smoothly drive a dot bin when printing character data even if it is not used for a long period of time.

The present invention will be described in more detail below along with embodiments shown in the drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a printing mode by a dot printer which is of interest to the present invention. In FIG. 1, one character to be printed is separated into 63 all dots in 7 rows and 9 columns for printing. For example, dots are printed in column order using seven dot bins arranged along the row direction, and one character pattern is printed in nine columns.

In FIG. 1, the printing pitch in the column direction is selected to be a radial distance of one dot to increase the dot density in order to print the character pattern on all six lines.

Also, the spacing between each character is 5 columns. The present invention can also be applied to a device in which the printers are arranged in rows and printing is performed sequentially in -1-Yarakuta order. In this case, it is not possible to print the dots in the 11 direction overlapping each other as shown in Figure 1.

As mentioned above, the printed characters are printed in the right direction in FIG. 1, for example, and this light mI!
In this case, including the claims, one line of characters is written as one line, and each character included in the line is represented by a digit.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. In the configuration, data bus 1 has CPU 2 and ROM 3.
．． RAM 71 is connected. This R0M3 stores, for example, an operational block diagram as shown in FIG. Further, the RAM 4 stores data such as characters to be printed.

Furthermore, an input/output boat 5 and a timer 6 are connected to the data bus 1. A print source position sensor 7 and a print end position sensor 8 are connected to the input/output boat 5. These print source position sensor 7 and print end position sensor 8 detect the initial position (home position before printing) and end position (position for avoiding return to the initial position) of the dot printer in the line direction, respectively. . Further, a print motor drive circuit 9 is connected to the input/output boat 5.

The print motor drive circuit 9 is supplied with forward rotation/reverse rotation command signals, rotation/stop command signals, etc. from the CPU 2 via the input/output boat 5.

The output of this print motor drive circuit 9 is given to a print motor 10. The print motor '10 is a motor for moving the dot printer 20 in the line direction, and its normal rotation, reverse rotation, rotation, and stop are controlled by the output of the print motor drive circuit 9. Also, pudding 1~
A tacho generator 11 is connected to the motor 10. Although not shown in the drawings, the generator 11 has, for example, slits formed at equal pitches, and the print motor 1
The print motor 10 includes a rotary plate attached to the rotary shaft of the print motor 10, and a folio 1-7J bra provided between the rotary plates, and outputs an electric signal according to the rotation angle of the print motor 10. Since the output of the tacho generator 11 changes, for example, in a sinusoidal waveform, it is shaped into a pulse waveform by the waveform shaping circuit 12. Note that the tacho generator 111 is set so that one pulse of the pulse signal output from the waveform shaping circuit 12 corresponds to one column of printing. The pulse signal output from the waveform shaping circuit 12 is applied to a counter '13.

The counter 13 counts the pulse signals from the waveform shaping circuit 12 and supplies them to the character generator 14 as a total number signal for decomposing one character of nine character data into dots.

Further, the counter 13 outputs a print digit signal to notify the completion of printing one character, and gives it to the turntable saw boat 6. The character generator '14 stores a plurality of types of character pattern data for each character code.

Then, the character generator 14 receives C via the input/output board 5.
Character code given by P, tJ 2 1
In synchronization with the count output from 3, it is applied to the dot printer driver 15 in column order.

On the other hand, the pulse signal of the waveform shaping circuit 1-2 is given to the timer 6. This timer 6 converts the pulse width of the pulse signal from the waveform shaping circuit 12 into a pulse width suitable for printing by the dot bin of the print head 20, and supplies the pulse width to the printer driver 9 as a print timing signal. The printer driver 15 prints one character by driving the necessary drives 1 to 1 in synchronization with the print timing signal from the timer 6 and according to print data from the character generator 14. At this time, the dot printer driver 15 drives the dot bin with a driving force corresponding to the pulse width of the pulse signal from the tine 6. Note that the dot printer driver 15 has an input/output port.
A print permission signal is given from 1 to 5. That is, the dot printer drivers 10-15 can drive the dot bin only when printing permission is given by this printing permission signal.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a slip printed by the embodiment shown in FIG. The slip 30 has an area in which character data is to be printed, that is, a printing field 32, printed in advance. With respect to this slip 30, the print source position sensor 7 and the print end position sensor 8 are located at the initial position @3.
4 and end position 35. The movement of the print head 20 between the initial position 34 and the end position 35 is controlled by the print motor 10. 1, that is, the print head 20 always stops near the initial position w134 before printing on the slip 30. Then, printing starts and when it reaches the end position W35.

It is returned to the initial position 34. The slip 30 is fed in the direction of the arrow 33 at a predetermined pitch by sprocket holes 31 formed at both ends thereof. In this way, character data is printed in the printing field 32 for each two-in.

By the way, in the case of FIG. 3, the printing 111 starts from the initial position 34.
To reach the first printing position of 32, the print head 20 must be moved three digits. Conventionally, the print head was simply moved for the first three digits, and the dot bin was not driven at all.

However, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, in the printing field 32 and in FIG.
and the leftmost sprocket hole, for example 2
Printing is being performed in the digit. This printed content 36 is meaningless as a character. However, the dot bin is warmed up by printing on the margin (hereinafter referred to as pre-printing). This warming-up removes ink clogs and the like. Therefore, when printing actual character data in the printing field 32, smooth printing can be performed.

Note that by reducing the pulse width conversion rate by the timer 6 only during pre-printing, the dot bin can be returned to its original position before the tip of the dot bin reaches the slip 30. Therefore, the dot bin can be warmed up without leaving any print marks in the margin area.

4A and 4B are time charts for explaining the operation of the embodiment of FIG. 2. FIG. Figure 5 is C of Figure 2.
It is a time chart for explaining the operation of PtJ2. The operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 5.

First, in the initial state, the print head 20 causes some overrun when returning, so 1ilH! It is stopped at a position slightly shifted to the left in FIG. 3 from the initial position 34. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4A, the output of the print source position sensor 7 is at a high level.

As a result, the CPU 2 provides a normal rotation command signal and a rotation command signal to the print motor drive circuit 9, as shown in FIG. 4A. In addition, as shown in Fig. 5, print data meaning blank (non-printing) is sent to the character generator 1.
4 (see FIG. 4A), and gives a print permission signal to the dot printer driver 15 (see FIG. 4A). Next, the CPU 2 waits for a print digit signal to be applied to the input/output port 5 from the counter 13 or 13-. As shown in FIG. 4B, this print digit signal is at a low level for a period when character data is to be printed, that is, 9 pulses of the waveform shaping circuit 12, and is at a high level for a blank period between characters, that is, 5 pulses of the waveform shaping circuit 12. becomes. Here, since blank data is set in the character generator 14 as the print motor 10 rotates as described above, no printing is performed during the first printing period in the print digit signal. That is, no printing is performed at the first digit position on the slip 30.

Next, the CPU 2 determines whether or not the print digit signal from the counter 13 is i at the second digit or lower from the initial position 34. If the print digit signal is the first digit, pre-print data is set in the character generator 14. In this way, the print data for the digit is set during the blank period of the print digit signal for the immediately preceding digit. The pre-print data includes all dots assigned to one digit (7X9-6
14-3) is the data that commands printing. This pre-print data is printed on the slip 30 during the second digit printing period. That is, the print content 36 is printed at the second digit position from the initial position 34 of the slip 30. As a result, the dot bin of the print head 20 is warmed up. Also,
When the print digit signal from the counter 13 is the second digit, blank data is set in the character generator 14.

Therefore, nothing is printed at the third digit position of the slip 30.

On the other hand, when the print digit signal from the counter 13 is the third digit or higher, it is determined whether it is a 0 digit (the last possible print digit in the print field 32 of the slip 30). If the digit is not 0, print data corresponding to the digit number is read from the RAM 4 and set in the character generator 14 via the input/output port 5. Therefore, the corresponding print data is printed during the printing period of the print digit signal of each digit.

On the other hand, when the print digit signal is the n-th digit, the print permission signal is inverted as shown in FIG. 4A, and printing permission to the dot blink driver 15 is prohibited. Then, it is checked based on the output from the print end position sensor 8 that the print head 20 has reached the end position 35. Next, a reverse rotation command signal is given to the print motor drive circuit 9 to reverse the print motor 10. In response, print head 20 moves toward initial position 34. Then, the print source position sensor 7
It is determined whether the print head 20 has reached the initial position 34 based on the output from the printer. If the print head 20 reaches the initial position 34, a stop command is given to the print motor drive circuit 9 to stop the print motor 10. This completes printing for one line.

In the above-described embodiment, printing is performed while moving the print head 20 in the same way as in normal character data printing operation, but the print head 20
Pre-printing may be performed while the printer is stopped. For example, in the initial state, before the print motor 10 is rotated, pre-print data is set in the character generator 14, and a drive signal (print timing signal) is given directly from the CPU 2 to the dot printer driver 15 via the input/output capo 1-5. , print head 20
Pre-printing can be performed while the machine is stopped. In this case, since printing is performed in the same column, the content of pre-printing can be made less noticeable.

Furthermore, even if the margin outside the printing field 32 of the slip 30 is narrow, pre-printing can be performed.

Further, in the above embodiment, pre-printing is performed for each line, but pre-printing may be performed only before printing the first line of one slip.

As described above, according to the present invention, a predetermined amount of driving force is applied to the dot bin at least before the first character data is printed on the print medium, so that the dot bins are controlled at least before printing the character data. You can warm up. Therefore, when character data is actually printed, smooth printing can be achieved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

17- FIG. 1 is a diagram that does not show a printing mode by a dot printer that is of interest to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a slip printed by the embodiment shown in FIG. FIGS. 4A and 4B are time charts 1 to 1 for explaining the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the CPU 2 shown in FIG. In the figure, 2 is CPLI, 3 is ROM, 4 is RAM,
6 is a timer, 10 is a print motor, 15 is a dot printer driver, and 20 is a print head. Patent Applicant Tateishi Electric Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Hisabu Fukami (2 idiots) 18- Eika He 5 Drawing Procedure Amendment Letter November 1983 308 2. Name of the Invention Dot Printer 3, Person Who Makes Amendment Case and Relationship Patent applicant address 10 Hanazono Tsuchido-cho, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto City Name (2)
94> Tateishi Electric Co., Ltd. Representative: Takao Tateishi 4, Agent Address: Yachiyo Daiichi Building, 12-3-9 Tenjin, Kita-ku, Osaka Telephone: Osaka (06) 351-6239 Name: Patent Attorney (6474) Kube Fukami 5, Date of amendment order Voluntary amendment 6, Detailed description of the invention column and drawing 7 of the specification subject to amendment, Contents of amendment (1) "Driver 9" on page 10, line 10 of the specification Corrected to "driver 15". (2) Figure 3 is corrected as shown in the attached sheet.

Claims (7)

[Claims] (1) A dot printer that prints character data by decomposing characters to be printed into dots and pressing a dot bin against a print medium,
. A dot printer comprising: a driving force applying means for applying a predetermined amount of driving force to the dot bin at least before printing the first character data on the printing medium. (2) The dot printer according to claim 1, wherein the driving force applying means includes a printing driving force applying means for applying a driving force to the dot bin to the extent necessary for printing on the printing medium. (3) An area where the character data is to be printed is predetermined on the print medium, and the driving force applying means applies a driving force to the dot bin in an area other than the area where the character data is to be printed on the print medium. 3. A dot printer according to claim 2, comprising means. (4) The dot bin moving means moves the dot bin at predetermined pitches along the printing direction for printing the character data, and the driving force applying means moves the dot bin in synchronization with the movement of the dot bin by the dot bin moving means. 4. The dot printer according to claim 3, further comprising means for applying a driving force to the dot printer. (5) The dot printer according to claim 3, wherein the driving force applying means includes means for applying a driving force to the dot bin while the dot bin is stopped at an initial position before printing starts. (6) The dot printer according to claim 1, wherein the driving force applying means includes means for applying a driving force to the dots and bins to the extent that printing is not performed on the printing medium. (7) The printing medium includes a plurality of lines of printing area, and the driving force applying means includes means for applying a driving force to the printing area of each line before printing the character data. The dot printer described in any of Items 6 to 6.