JPS60253548A - Method for controlling color printing - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable multicolor printing by using a dot printer, by providing ink ribbons having plural kinds of bands classified by color and a plurality of line buffers respectively corresponding to said ink ribbons at every color and changing over the colors of ink ribbons when the line buffers are changed over to perform printing by using the color corresponding to each line buffer. CONSTITUTION:Line buffers are respectively provided so as to correspond to a plurality of colors and the printing data stored in one line buffer changes over ink ribbons so as to perform printing by the color determined corresponding to said line buffer. If the ink ribbons are changed over and the line buffers are changed over corresponding thereto, printing can be continuously performed by one color when a color is different in one line and printing data is stored by using only the same line buffer to perform printing. That is, a processor 1 stores a character pattern in the line buffer 12 by color on the basis of the printing data stored in RAM2 and, when the character pattern is read, a driver 8 is driven and the ink ribbons of a printing part 9 are changed over, for example, to a blue color band.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a dot printer that sequentially prints by moving a print head in a digit direction, and particularly includes a plurality of line buffers and an ink ribbon having a plurality of colors. The present invention relates to a color printing control method that enables printing by switching the color of an ink ribbon when switching line buffers.

A dot printer drives a plurality of pins on a print head, moves the print head in the digit direction, and strikes an ink ribbon to form and print characters at successive dots on printing paper.

The ink ribbons commonly used are either all black or two colors, red and black.

However, it would be convenient if a dot printer could use a plurality of colors and print in a different color for each line, and its realization is desired.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a circuit of a conventional dot printer.

The processor 1 reads the program stored in the ROM 3 and the data in the RAM 2 to control the printer device. From the sensor 6, the cent status of the printing paper, the type of printing paper that has been cent, the open/closed status of the cover of the printer device,
The state of the power supply, etc. enters the processor 1 via the input port 5 and the bus. Processor 1 writes these states into RAM 2 and reads them for reference. Further, the processor 1 drives the driver 8 via the output port to control various motors of the printing unit 9, movement of the print head, etc.

Print data enters the interface 11 from the host device.

Processor 1 once writes the print data into RAM 2,
Processor 1 sequentially outputs print data from RAM 2,
The character generation circuit 4 generates a character pattern corresponding to the print data.
Then, the print head control circuit IO is controlled to drive the print head pins in the print section 9 to print.

When two colors of ink ribbon, red and black, are used, the processor 1 drives the driver 8 through the output port door to switch the ink ribbon according to instructions from a host device that enters from the interface 11.

Therefore, conventional driver printers are capable of printing in one color or at most two colors.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

As mentioned above, conventional dot printers are unable to print in multiple colors.

The present invention aims to solve these conventional problems.

[Means for solving problems]

The above-mentioned problem can be solved by providing an ink ribbon having a plurality of color bands in a dot printer and a plurality of line buffers corresponding to each color of the ink ribbon, and when switching the line buffers. This problem is solved by the color printing control method according to the present invention, which switches the color of the ink ribbon and prints data read from a certain line buffer using the color corresponding to the certain line buffer.

[Effect]

In other words, each line buffer has a line buffer corresponding to a plurality of colors, and the ink ribbon is switched so that print data stored in one line buffer is printed in the color determined corresponding to that line buffer. It is something. Therefore, if you switch the ink ribbon and also switch the line buffer, the colors will be different within a line.On the other hand, if only the same line buffer is used to store print data and print, it is possible to print continuously in one color.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 (al is a block diagram of a circuit showing one embodiment of the present invention, and (bl is a diagram illustrating the usage state of the line buffer 12 and the operation of the print head).

1 fal is a circuit in which a line buffer 12 is added to the circuit shown in FIG. 2, the program in the ROM 3 is changed, and the number of switching stages of the ink ribbon in the printing section 9 is increased. Therefore, the differences in operation from FIG. 2 will be explained.

Based on the print data stored in the RAM 2, the processor 1 stores character patterns read from the character generation circuit 4 into the line buffer 12 for each color.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, there are four line buffers 12, and four colors, for example, blue, red, yellow, and black, are assigned. Therefore, based on the color designation of the print data input from the host device via the interface 11, the blue character pattern is sent to the ■ line buffer, the red character pattern is sent to the ■ line buffer, the yellow character pattern is sent to the ■ line buffer, and so on. Each black character pattern is stored in the line buffer (■).

When the processor 1 reads a character pattern from the line buffer ■, it drives the driver 8 through the output capo and -door,
Switch the ink ribbon of the printing section 9 to the blue color band. Then, assuming that the print head is at the print start point A, the print head is run up and run at a constant speed. ■ of the line buffer,
■ and ■ each store a part of the character pattern. For example, if the character pattern stored in the line buffer is as shown by diagonal lines, the processor 1 reads the character pattern from the line buffer and sends it to the print head of the print unit 9 via the print head control circuit 10. do.

The print head prints the character pattern in the diagonal area and then presses B.
Stop at a point.

Next, when printing in red, the processor 1 drives the driver 8 via the output port door to switch the ink ribbon in the printing section 9 to the red color band. Then, the storage state of the character pattern in the line buffer (3) and the position of the print head are checked, and an optimal automatic judgment is made so that the print head can be moved in the shortest possible time. In this case, Broceso+1 causes the print head to run in the opposite direction from point B, reads out the character pattern in the line buffer 3, and prints it. Therefore, the print head stops at the zero point.

Next, when printing in yellow, the processor 1 drives the driver 8 via the output port door to switch the ink ribbon in the printing section 9 to the yellow color band. Then, the storage state of the character pattern in the line buffer (3) and the position of the print head are checked, and an optimal automatic judgment is made so that the print head can be moved in the shortest possible time. In this case, the processor 1 moves the print head once from point 0 to point D, secures a run-up distance, and then moves the print head. Then, the character pattern in the line buffer (■) is read out and printed. The print head therefore stops at point E.

Next, when printing in black, the processor 1 drives the driver 8 via the output port door to switch the ink ribbon in the printing section 9 to the black color band. Then, the storage state of the character pattern in the line buffer (3) and the position of the print head are checked, and an optimal automatic judgment is made so that the print head can be moved in the shortest possible time. In this case, the processor 1 runs the print head from point E, reads out the character pattern in the line buffer (2), and prints it. Therefore, the print head stops at point F.

If one line is to be printed in, for example, only blue, the processor 1 uses only the line buffer to store the character pattern read out from the character generation circuit 4, and continues printing by reading this out. The movement of the print head in this case is carried out in the same manner as described above by referring to the state of the character pattern stored in the line buffer (2) in order to print the next line.

As described above, since the processor 1 prints by moving the print head, the print head does not move unnecessarily, and the print processing ability is improved.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to print by changing the printing color for each line using a plurality of colors.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a circuit showing an embodiment of the present invention, and a diagram explaining the usage state of a line buffer and the operation of a print head. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a circuit of a conventional dot printer. 1 is a processor, 2 is a RAM, 3 is a ROM, 4 is a character generation circuit, 5 is an input port, 6 is a sensor, 7 is an output port, 8 is a driver, 9 is a print unit, 10 is a print head control circuit, 11 is a interface, 12 is a line buffer; 1 mouthful of cod grass (long)

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a dot printer that prints sequentially by moving the print head in the digit direction, an ink ribbon having multiple types of color bands and a plurality of line buffers corresponding to each color of the ink ribbon are provided. A color printing control method characterized in that when switching buffers, the color of the ink ribbon is switched, and data read from a certain line buffer is printed using a color corresponding to the corresponding line buffer.