JPS59127788A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance the operatability of a printer, by indicating a required number of printing lines according to the number of pieces of data stored in a data buffer in the printer. CONSTITUTION:The number of characters to be printed and the number of spaces corresponding to the characters which numbers are stored in the data buffer are added to each other, and the resultant counted value is stored in a counter. Based on the vounted value in the counter and the number of characters capable of being printed in one line, the required number of printing lines is calculated by a calculating circuit, and is indicated on an indicator in an indicating circuit. Accordingly, since the required number of printing lines according to the number of pieces of data stored in the data buffer is indicated, when a paper is used up, the required amount of paper in terms of the number of residual lines can be discriminated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION TECHNICAL FIELD This invention relates to a printer having a complete software memory for storing a print take.

[Prior art] Printers used as IB output devices such as computers and word processors generally temporarily store print data such as print character data and space data input from the host system in a buffer memory. The print takes stored in the printer are sequentially read out and printed.

However, with conventional printers like this,
It checks the number of free addresses in the buffer memory and outputs status signals such as buffer full or buffer nipty to the host system (-j does not display the status.

Second, when the paper runs out during printing, the operator cannot fully judge how much recording paper is needed, resulting in poor operability.

Purpose This invention was made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to improve the operability of a printer.

Configuration The configuration of the present invention will be described below based on one embodiment.

1 and 2 are a perspective view showing the external appearance of a printer embodying the present invention and an exploded perspective view of its outer casing.

In both figures, the outer casing of this printer is composed of a main body case 1 that houses a printing mechanism section and a printing control section, a cover 2, and a bottom plate 6.

6 and 4 are a plan view and an enlarged sectional view taken along IV-IV Ijl of the printing mechanism of this printer.

In both figures, a main body case 1 is rotatably attached to a platen 11 for feeding and feeding all sheets of paper to be printed.

This platen 11 is driven by a paper feeding motor (line field motor) 12 fixed to the main body case 1 via a gear train 16 to automatically feed the paper.

Further, the platen 11 has knobs 14 and 15 fixed to both ends thereof, and can be manually rotated by turning the knobs 14 and 15' when loading paper or when removing paper.

Note that rotatable rollers 16 and 17 are brought into pressure contact with the platen 11 in order to press the paper against the surface.

Then, the two lots 18.1 fixed to the main body case 1
A carriage 21 is mounted on the platen 9 so as to be movable parallel to the platen 11 in its axial direction.

This carriage 21 has a goo IJ installed below it.
22 (Fig. 4), the pulleys 23, 24, 25, and 26 attached to both sides of the case body 1, and the shirt l of the drive motor (space motor) 27 attached to the case body 1.
-27a is moved by the space motor 27 via a pulley 28 fixed to the tip end and a wire 29 stretched across these pulleys 22 to 26 and 28.

A slit disc filter 1 that has a slit disc for position detection and a slit disc for origin detection is fixed to the rear end of the shaft 27a of the sonospace motor 27, and a light emitting element and a light receiving element face each other with the slit disc 61 in between. A space sensor 62 consisting of a photosensor equipped with a photo sensor is arranged.

The rotation amount detection signal from the space sensor 62 is used to control the drive of the space motor 27, that is, to control the drive of the carriage 21, and is also used to detect the operating state of the carriage 21.

In addition, the carriage 21, as shown in detail in FIG.
A drive motor (selection motor) 36, which has a type wheel 65 formed with a large number of type characters 64 attached to the tip of a shaft 66a, hits the type 34 of the type wheel 65.
・Equipped with a hammer 67 and a hammer magnet (not shown)・
- Printer assembly 68, platen 11 and type wheel 5
The ink ribbon 40 is interposed between
It is equipped with a ribbon carriage 41 etc. loaded with.

The type wheel 35, as shown in FIG. A reinforcing ring 44 made of rubber or the like is fixed to the shirt 36a.

Selection motor 6 equipped with this type wheel 65
A slit disk 46 having a position detection thrift and an origin detection slit is also fixed to the rear end of No. 6)' 36a, and all of the light-emitting elements and light-receiving elements facing each other with this slit disk 46 in between are fixed. A selection sensor 47 consisting of a photo sensor is arranged.

The rotation amount detection signal of this selection sensor 47 is
It is used to control the drive of the selection motor 66, that is, to control the type wheel 650 to select all the required type.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a printer control device embodying the present invention.

In the figure, the data bath sofa 51 includes print data such as print character data and space data from a host system such as a computer or a word processor, carriage return data that instructs the carriage 21 (FIG. 1) to move backward, and line feed instructions. Various data such as line feed data are transferred.

This theta banner 51 receives a strobe signal S13 from a strobe control circuit 53, which will be described later.
SIJ-1), the input buffer address memory 54
Input address i from A, VC input data J
) 'J' is written and the strobe signal SB is not input (SB-0), the output address vanofer memory 5
The data Dl'' of the output address OA from 6 is read out.

Norinopfwanop circuit (hereinafter referred to as [■PaF circuit]) 5
2 is for the host/steno, i.
1'', Q output t'o'', strobe control 1 circuit 5
Reset newsletter from 6. Its or human power 3. ! +, when
Its Q output S:: ``0'', its Q output i ' 1
”

Then, the Q output sound signal B of this 1·゛F circuit 52
is output to the host system as USY. On the host system side, the B/I signal BUSY is "o"
”, the strobe signal S'F is not transferred.

The strobe control circuit 56 has a Q output of the PF circuit 52 of 1.
'', the strobe signal SBk chip buffer 51, input buffer address memory 54, and data acquisition control circuit 55 that puts the data buffer 51 in the write state
After writing the table, the reset signal Ft, S
'i FF Output to the F circuit 52.

The input buffer address memory 54 receives the input buffer signal SB from the water control circuit 56.
The input address IAi data is output to the sensor 51, and the input address IA,f increment (+
1) To be done.

The data acquisition control circuit 55 receives a processing end signal from the printer control circuit 58 (to be described later) in response to the input state of the signal SB from the robot control circuit 56.
When the printer outputs the readout signal SO to the address memory 5B, the data buffer 51 also outputs the data L) '1' and transfers it to the printer control circuit 58.

The output buffer address memory 56 outputs the output address OA to the data buffer 51 when the data acquisition control circuit 55 also receives the read signal SO.
Output address OAi is incremented (+1).

Note that the input buffer address memory 54 and the output buffer address memory 56 are in an end round (O after the maximum value).

The match determination circuit 57 includes an input cover sofa address memory 54.
When the input address IA and the output address ■0 from the output sofa memory 56 match, the strobe signal S)l and the reset signal 1(, S
A match signal SP is output that prohibits the output of .

The printer control circuit 58 is constituted by a microcomputer or the like as is known in the art, and the data acquisition control circuit 5
Data transferred via 5) Line fee via each driver 60-64 depending on T) 1-Motor 12
．． Space motor 27. A hammer magnet 65 that drives the hammer 67. The selection motor 66 and ribbon foot motor 69 are driven to execute various controls.

The data counting circuit 70 is a dividing means and consists of data discrimination circuits 71 and 72 and an amplifier down counter 76.

The data discrimination circuit 71 inputs the data DTi to be inputted to the data buffer 51, and if the data DT is a print pattern of print character data and space data, a counter 76 is activated every time one print data is input. Increment (
+, 1) and increment the internal counter (
+1).

Also, if data I) T is line foot data, based on the count value CN of the internal counter and the number of printable characters per line MC, the number of lines to be printed up to that data DT (including rows), calculates MCx LN - CN T to obtain the number of printed characters NCi from the data DT to the end of the line, and increments the internal counter and counter 76 by the number of printed characters N and C. .

The controller discrimination circuit 72 inputs data DTf output from the data buffer 51, and if data 1)T is print data, the counter 76 increments (-) every time one print data is input. 1) At the same time, the internal counter is incremented (+1), and if the take DT is a line foot motor, the counter 7 is incremented by the number of printed characters N ('' calculated in the same manner as above, and the internal non-counter is incremented by 1). do.

The arithmetic circuit 74 has arithmetic means, reads out the count value CNSi of the counter 76 of the data division circuit 70, and calculates the required number of print lines 1' based on this count value CNS and the number of printable characters in one line (M). JM f calculation.

The display circuit 75 is a display means, and its display control circuit 76
As a result, the required number of printing lines L M calculated by the deduction circuit 74 via the drive circuit 77 is displayed on the display 78 .

Next, the operation of the embodiment configured as described above will be explained with reference to FIGS. 7 to 10.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the control operation for controlling data transfer to the data bath sofa 51.

In the same figure, first, after initial setting, the strobe signal ST is transmitted from the Boston stem side to the FF circuit 5 along with the take IT].
2, the high signal B and USY, which are Q outputs, become O'' and prohibit the output of the next strobe signal ST of the host system j.

If the coincidence signal SP is not inputted from the coincidence determination circuit 57, the strobe control circuit 56 outputs the strobe signal SB (SB=1) and inputs the strobe signal SB from the input bath address memory 54 of the data bath sofa 51. Entering Kaatres I
All data D is written to A, and the input address lN-1 of the input buffer address memory 54 is incremented l-(+
1) Do it.

Thereafter, the strobe control circuit 5 outputs the reset signal 7S to the FF circuit 52, and outputs the B/I signal BUSYk'l.
'' and waits for input of strobe signal ST from the host system side.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram showing the take buffer 51's take read control operation.

In the figure, after the initial setup, the take capture control circuit 55 detects that the strobe signal S B has not been input from the strobe control circuit 56 when the processing end signal is transferred from the printer control circuit 58. ba(SB=
O) Whether data is being loaded or not, readout signal S Oi
- After outputting and reading out the take D '1'' f stored in the output address OA of the data vanofer 51 and transferring it to the print control circuit 58, and incrementing (+1) the output address OA ff of the output buffer address memory 56, Waits for the next processing end signal.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram showing the printing control operation by the printer control circuit 58.

In the same figure, when a take DT is input from the take capture control circuit 55, it is determined whether the take I) is a print character take or not, and if it is a print character take,
The selection motor 66 was driven via the driver 66 to rotate the type wheel 65 (see Figures 4 and 5), and the type 64 (see Figure 5) corresponding to the print character take was set at the printing position. Thereafter, the hammer net 65 is operated via the driver 62 to drive the hammer 67 (FIG. 4) to perform printing.

Then, the space motor 27 is connected to 1 via the driver 61.
After driving the carriage 21 (Fig. 6) by the required amount and driving the ribbon foot motor 69 via the driver 64 to move the ink ribbon 40 (Fig. 4) by the required amount,
The processing end signal is taken and output to the control 1 circuit 55.

On the other hand, if the take DT is not a printed character take, it is determined whether it is a space tater or not, and if it is a space tater, the space motor 27 is driven to move the carriage 21 by one character, and then the process ends. Outputs all signals.

If it is a space motor, it is determined whether it is a line foot motor or not, and if it is a line foot motor, the space motor 27 is driven via the driver 61 to move the carriage 21 to the first digit (head of the line). At the same time, the line feed motor 12 is driven via the driver 60 to rotate the platen 11 (FIG. 6) by one rotation to cause a line feed.
Outputs all processing end signals.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the necessary print line number display control operation.

In the figure, first, when a take D'F is input to the take buffer 51, the theta division circuit 70 increments the counter 76 when the take discrimination circuit 71 determines that the manually input theta DT is a print take. 1-(-
1-1) When it is determined that it is L, the number of characters to be printed is determined to be a line foot, as described above, the number of characters to be printed by that line foot is calculated, and the counter 76 is increased by the number of characters to be printed by that number of characters, NC. If you let it count, record the print data and line feed, you can see the cheetah.)
l'' is ignored.

Further, when the take DT is output from the take buffer 51, the take discrimination circuit 72 determines that the take DT is a print take, and the counter 76 is set to 1-(-1,)L, line If it is determined that it is a foot take, as described above, the number of printed characters corresponding to the line noise data NC4 is calculated, the counter 7 is counted down by the number of printable characters NC, and the print take and line feed are If it is not a totator, its entire take DT is ignored.

In this way, the counter 76 has the take buffer 5
A count value obtained by adding the number of printed characters stored in 1 and the number of spaces corresponding to the printed characters is stored.

Then, the arithmetic circuit 74 calculates the required number of print lines L8·I based on the count value CNS of the counter 76 and the number of printable characters per line = IC, and the display 78 of the display circuit 75 calculates the required number of print lines L8·I. will be displayed.

In this way, since the required number of print lines is displayed according to the number of data stored in the take buffer 51, it is possible to determine how many sheets of paper are left when the vapor reaches the end. .

Effects As explained above, according to the present invention, the number of lines required to be printed is displayed according to the number of data stored in the take buffer of the printer, thereby improving the operability of the printer.
Two.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 are an external view and an angle diagram of the outer casing of an example of a printer embodying the present invention. A plan view and a sectional view taken along line IV-IV, No. 51! FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an example of the type wheel. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of the direct control device of a printer embodying the present invention. FIG. 7 is a flow diagram showing the take pull-in control operation of the take buffer in FIG. 6. , FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the control operation for reading out a take from the take buffer, FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the print control operation by the printer control I/roll circuit, and FIG. It is a flowchart showing the display control operation of the number of lines. 11 Platen 12 Rhino feed motor 21 Carriage 27 Space motor 65 Type wheel 66 Selection motor Lower...Hammer 69...Ribbon foot motor 51...Take buffer 56...Strobe control circuit 54...Input Hanofa Attress memory 55...
- Take-in control circuit 56... Output Hanofa address memory 58...
- Flint control circuit 70... Take counting circuit 74... Q circuit 75... Display circuit Figure 1
(Figure 2, Figure 3, Figure 4, Figure 5, Figure 7, Figure 8, Figure 9, Figure 10, from the procedural amendments)) February 18, 1981 Kazuo Wakasugi, Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office 1, Indication of the case Patent Application No. 58-956 2 Name of the invention Printer 3 Relationship with the case of the person making the amendment Patent applicant Tokyo Metropolitan University El 1 Ward - Nakamagome 1-3-6 (674)
Riko Co., Ltd. -4 Agent 1-20-5 Higashiikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 6. Contents of amendment (1) "Line Field Motor" on page 3, line 14 of the specification shall be amended to "Line Feet Motor Town" (2) "Output address ■○" on page 9, line 9 of the same book is corrected to "output address OAj."

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A counter for counting the number of print data stored in the buffer memory in a printer that temporarily stores a human-powered print take in a buffer memory and sequentially reads and prints the print take stored in the buffer memory. a means for calculating the total number of lines to be printed based on the division result of the dividing means and the number of characters that can be printed per line; and a display means for displaying the calculation result of the calculating means. i: A printer with an I'T-sign.