JPS60183163A - Variable control of character pitch for dot printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To arrange so that printing may be carried out at selected character pitch by setting values determined by a relationship between the dot pitch of characters to be printed and a pitch between printing element rows of a printing head and the travelling speed of a printing head. CONSTITUTION:A printing head 1 consists of dot pin Wa1... of a front row and dot pin Wb1... of a back row arranged in two zigzag rows. When dot characters are printed, the dot pin Wa of a front row which has arrived at a printing position F is caused to protrude and print at timing signal a, and after a delay time T from the signal a to the setting of a timer, that is, after the dot pin Wb of a back row of the printing head 1 which travels at space speed V arrives at a printing position G, the dot pin Wb is caused to protrude and print. Consequently, at the position G, dots printed by the dot pin Wa of a front row before ''n'' frequency and dots by the dot pin Wb of a back row are synthesized to form dots. Thus it is possible to change a character pitch selectively and print in characters suitable to the form of recording paper.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a dot printer having dot pins arranged in two staggered rows, and in particular, by controlling the printing timing of each row of dot bins, the number of characters to be printed can be improved. This invention relates to a character pitch variable control system that can vary the dot pitch.

[Background of the invention]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the printing mechanism of the dot printer, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the print head of FIG. 1 and a diagram showing the dot character "A'.

In Figures 1 and 2, 1 is the print head, 2 is the carrier, 3 is the platen, 5 is the recording paper, 5 is the belt, 6 is the screw shaft, 7 is the space motor, and 8 is 1 pixel. be.

, the print head 1 of the dot printer in FIG.
Depending on the direction of rotation of the space motor 7, the carrier 2 is transferred in the direction of arrow a1 or in the direction of arrows &2. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, in the head l, front row dot pins WILl... and rear row dot bins Wb0... are arranged in two staggered rows at a dot pin pitch P0 at right angles to the space (row) direction. has been done.

While the above-mentioned head L is spaced at a constant speed, the dot bins W, Wb machine, etc. are simultaneously driven and protruded at a constant cycle (for example, as shown in 1..1 in Fig. 2). By doing so, the character N A I + composed of dots 8 is printed on the recording paper.The dot bin pitch P in this case is the dot pitch P in the space direction of the dots 8 that constitute the character "A"'. The character pitch to be printed is changed by changing the moving speed of the print head 1 while keeping the protrusion period of the dot pins constant.

However, conventionally, the front row and rear row dot bins of the print head 1 are driven and projected at the same time, so if the condition that the dot bin pitch P□ is an integral multiple of the dot pitch P is not satisfied, the dot constituent character "A" is ” has the disadvantage that positional deviations occur between dots, making it impossible to obtain the desired print pattern.

[Purpose of the invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a variable character pitch control system for a dot printer that eliminates these conventional drawbacks and allows printing at any desired character pitch without reducing the printing speed.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the character pitch variable control method of the present invention is applicable to a dot printer that prints on recording paper while moving a print head in which printing elements are arranged in multiple rows in a staggered manner in a predetermined direction. It has a timer that sets the driving time of each printing element row and a variable timer that sets the drive start time difference of each printing element row, and the dot pitch of the character to be printed and the pitch between the printing element rows of the print head. Set the variable timer to a value determined by the relationship with the print head and the running speed of the print head.

The feature is that the printing timing of each printing element row is controlled for any character dot pitch.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 to 7.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a print control section of a dot printer showing one embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 3, 1 is a print head, 7 is a space motor, 9 is a control unit, 10 is a space speed/rotation position setting circuit, 11 is a space motor drive circuit, 12 is a dot data latch circuit, 13 & 13b 14 is an excitation timer circuit, 14LL and 14b are magnet drive circuits, 15 is a delay time setting programmable timer circuit, 16 is an auxiliary data latch circuit, and 17 is an interface circuit.

In order to move the print head 1, the control unit 9 in FIG.
The smooth motor 7 is controlled through a space speed/rotation amount setting circuit 10 and a space motor drive circuit 11. Further, a timing signal a for driving and protruding the dot bin of the print head l is sent to the excitation timer circuits 13 & 13b. In order to maximize the performance of the print head 1, the timing signal a has the shortest period that can be followed by the dot bin protrusion operation, and has a constant period regardless of the character pitch P to be printed. The printed character pitch P is changed by changing the space speed ■.

For example, the followable period of the dot pin is t (s)”
f:, Space velocity V (m/s) when the dot pitch of printed characters is Pa (m) is V-P, /l
becomes.

Further, the control unit 9 controls the print head 10 dot bin Wa for the dot data latch circuit 12.

Dot data for determining which bin of Wb is to be driven and projected is sent out in synchronization with the timing signal a.

The excitation timer 13a sends a timer output to the magnet drive circuit 14a and the control section 9 upon activation of the timing signal a. The magnet drive circuit 14a that receives the timer output/output is connected to the tod data/latch circuit 12.
The magnets for ejecting the front row dot bins W of the print head 1 are driven according to the dot data. Also, the control unit 9 that receives the timer output outputs a dot during that time.

Data latch circuit 120 holds data contents.

The excitation timer 13b sends a timer output Id to the magnet drive circuit 14b upon activation of the output signal C of the delay time setting programmable timer circuit 15.

Magnet drive circuit 14b receiving the above timer output d
The programmable timer circuit 15 for setting the delay time drives the magnet for ejecting the rear dot bin Wb□ of the print head l according to the dot data of the auxiliary data latch circuit 16.
The timing signal a sent from the control unit 9 is
It is designed to delay by a predetermined time according to the pitch P, and the time difference between the ejection movements of the front row and the rear row, the so-called delay time T, is measured and an output C is sent out. The setting value of delay time T is:

The auxiliary data latch circuit 16 outputs the dot data latch circuit 120 at the falling edge of the AND signal e of the inverted signal of the timer output l and the timer output d. The magnet drive circuit 14b latches the rear dot bin Wb1...
・Hold while driving and protruding.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a character pitch variable control operation showing an embodiment of the present invention, and shows a case where the print head runs in the direction of a-axis.

The dot pitch P of printed characters is determined by a host device connected to the interface circuit 17 in FIG.

This is the specified value. The control unit 9 performs the following operations.

l) Determining the space velocity (■) for the dot pitch P from the trackable period t.

■) Calculate the dot difference n between the front row dot bin Wa and the rear row dot bin Wb from (n+1)・P,>P,)n,P, ,,beta (n: positive integer 'I!l) and store it. do.

111) Calculate the delay time T of the ejection operation of the front row dot bin W& and the rear row dot bin Wb from T~(Pon-P,)/■...(2), and set it in the programmable timer circuit 1δ for setting the delay time. do.

lv) A space speed v corresponding to the rotation amount and dot pitch P corresponding to the number of characters to be printed is set in the space speed/rotation amount setting circuit 10, and the space motor 7 is started.

Due to the operation of the space motor 7, the print head l moves in the direction of the arrow a1.
When the front row dot bin Wa reaches the printing position F, the control section 9 sends dot data to the dot data latch circuit 12 and also sends out a timing signal a.

The dot data to be sent here is the front row dot bin W&,
. . . and data for the rear row dot bin Wb□ . . . of the print position G delayed by the previously calculated dot difference n.

6 and 7 are operation time charts in the circuit of FIG. 3, respectively. FIG. 6 shows the case where the output signal 0 occurs in the high level section of the output signal S, and FIG. 7 shows the case where the output signal 0 occurs in the high level section of the output signal This shows the case where C occurs in the output signal level section. By the timer output of the excitation timer circuit 13a.

The magnet drive circuit 14& follows the dot data/latch circuit 120 dot data, and the front row dot bin W1,...
・Protrude for a predetermined time. Similarly, the timer output 4 of the excitation timer circuit 13b is generated by the output 0 of the delay time setting programmable timer circuit 15 that measures the delay time T, and the output hole of the excitation timer circuit 13b outputs the timer output 4 of the magnet drive circuit 1.
4, + projects the rear row dot bins W5, . . . for a predetermined time according to the auxiliary data latch circuit 160 dot data. The hatched portion of the output of the dot data latch circuit 12 indicates the "H" state of the timer output, that is, the protruding operation period of the front row dot bins W&□, and the period of latching to the auxiliary data latch circuit 16 with the AND signal e. The portion excluding 2 indicates the time in which the output does not need to be held and can be rewritten by the so-called control unit 9.

The difference between the operations in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 is that the output signal O, which is generated with a delay of the drive start time difference T between the front and rear dot pins with respect to the timing signal a, is generated by the excitation timer circuit 13.
The difference is whether the timer output of timer a occurs in the "H11 state" or in the "I, II state."

This is particularly true of the difference that the latching operation of the auxiliary data latch circuit 16, which latches on the downstream side of the AND signal, is performed in synchronization with the rising edge of timer output d, or in synchronization with the falling edge of timer output d. It appears.

To summarize the above operation in Fig. 4, dot characters are printed by protruding the front row dot bin Wa that has arrived at the printing position F using the timing signal a, and one hour after the timing signal a, that is, at the space speed ■. Waiting for the rear row dot cadence Wb of the moving print head l to arrive at the printing position l1EGK, and then protruding it to print. Therefore, at the printing position G, there is a dot printed n times previously by the front row dot bin W&.

A dot is now formed by combining the dots printed by the rear row dot bin Wb.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a character pitch variable control operation showing another embodiment of the present invention, and is an explanatory diagram of a character pitch variable control operation showing another embodiment of the present invention. This shows the case where the vehicle travels in the direction a. In this case, since the vehicle travels in the opposite direction to that shown in FIG. 4, the operation differs from the case shown in FIG. 4 in the following two points. In other words, 1) Editing of the dot data sent by the control unit 9 to the dot data circuit 12 is as follows:
The rear dot bin Wb is advanced by (n+1) dots from the front dot bin Wa. ++ ＞
The delay time T' that the control unit 9 sets in the delay time setting programmable timer circuit lδ is T'=((n+1)·Ps't)/v.

In order to print dot characters in FIG. 5, the front row dot bin Wa, which has arrived at the printing position H, is projected and printed using the timing signal a, and the print head L, which moves at a space speed of 2, T/hours after the timing signal a, prints. After waiting for the rear row dot bin Wb to arrive at the printing position I, it is projected and printing is performed. .

Therefore, at the printing position ■, there is now a back row dot pin, 1wb
A dot is formed by combining the dot printed by the dot bin Wa and the dot printed n+1 times later by the front row dot bin Wa.

As described above, in the print head 11 having dot bins arranged in two staggered rows in the embodiment shown in FIG. By setting an appropriate delay time T in the dots, it is possible to print at an arbitrary character pitch without causing any misalignment of dots.

Note that in this embodiment, the dot pitch P is specified by the host device, but there is a key and a key in the printer device.
It is also possible to specify by providing switches etc.

[Efficacy of invention]

As explained above and based on the above, according to the present invention, a special 4! ! Since it is possible to change the character pitch arbitrarily without providing a frame, it is possible to print out characters that are similar to recording paper.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the printing mechanism of a dot printer, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the print head shown in Fig. FX1 and a diagram showing the dot character "TO", and Fig. 3 shows an embodiment of the present invention. Dot
Printing side 1lIs block diagrams of prints, Figures 4 and 5
Each figure is an explanatory diagram of the character pitch variable control operation of FIG. 3, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are operation time charts of each part of FIG. 3, respectively. 1 + print head, 7: space motor, 9: control unit,
10 Nice space speed/rotation amount setting circuit, 11 Nice space motor drive circuit, 12: Dot data latch circuit %
13a+ 13111? Excitation timer circuit% l
4 a + 14 b: magnet drive circuit, lδ:
Programmable timer circuit for setting delay time, 16: Auxiliary data latch circuit〇Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Space speed-V

Claims (1)

[Claims] A dot printer that prints on recording paper while moving a print head in which print elements are arranged in multiple rows in a staggered manner in a predetermined direction, includes a timer that sets the drive time of each print element row of the print head, and a timer for setting the drive time of each print element row of the print head; The variable timer sets a value determined by the dot pitch of the characters to be printed, the relationship with the pitch between the print element rows of the print head, and the running speed of the print head. A character pitch variable control method for a dot printer, characterized in that the printing timing of each printing element row is controlled for an arbitrary character dot pitch by setting the character dot pitch to .