JPS6032680A - Serial printer apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To accelerate a printing speed, by forming a printing head in plural numbers, and detemining the printing territory of each printing head at every line to simultaneously operate the printing heads. CONSTITUTION:A head 2 is independently moved by a space motor 1 and a synchronous belt 5 while a head 2' is independently moved by a space motor 1' and a synchronous belt 5' to perform printing. Printing characters corresponding to one line are written in a memory circuit 10 through a connecting wire 14 and the numbers of the printing characters are counted by a count circuit 11 and divided by the nunbers of the printing heads by an operator circuit 12 to determine the printing territory of each printing head which is, in turn, driven so as to print the printing characters of the memory circuit 10 by printing head driving circuits 13, 13'.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a printing method for a serial printer device.

Conventional serial printers have operated with one head, as shown in FIG. In the figure, 1 is a space motor, 2 is a print head, 3 is a platen, 44" 1. Guide shaft, 5 is a synchro belt. Head 2 is a space motor l and a synchro belt 5, and g prints along the guide shaft 4. While being moved, printing is performed on the print paper attached to the platen 3.As described above, there is only one print head, which naturally has the disadvantage that the printing speed is slower than that of a line printer device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a serial printer device having a high printing speed and all of the above-mentioned drawbacks being overcome.

The present invention provides a device which improves all of the above-mentioned drawbacks by using a plurality of heads in a serial printing device, increases the printing speed, and improves the cost and performance of the entire computer. It is an object of the present invention to provide a serial printer with a plurality of heads, determine the territory of each print head for each row, and operate simultaneously to increase printing speed.

The present invention will be described below with reference to the five drawings. FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the present invention.

1' is a space motor; 2. 2' is a flint head, and 5.5' is a synchronized belt, which is an example of two print heads. The head 2' is connected to the space motor 1 and the synchro belt 5.
' and synchro belt 5' and 9 are independently moved along the guide shaft 4 to print on the print paper attached to the platen 30. As described above, two print heads perform printing at the same time, so naturally the printing speed becomes faster. However, when there are a plurality of print heads, it becomes difficult to control them.

Figure i3 is a block diagram of a control circuit that controls the print head in Figure 2, where 10 is a storage circuit that stores all of the print information for one line sent from connection i14 to a computer, etc.; 12 is an arithmetic circuit that receives the count result of the counting circuit 11 and determines all the print information of the print head; This is the print head drive circuit.

The operation will be explained as follows. The one-line printed characters output by a computer etc. are passed through the entire connection line 14 and sent to the memory circuit 10? At the same time, the number of printed characters is counted in the counting circuit 11, and the count result, the number of printed characters in one line, is divided by the number of print heads n (n; 2 in this explanation) in the arithmetic circuit 12, and the result - The remainder is rounded up to obtain the m number M, and then M is multiplied by n to obtain the result L=M−n. Further, L is compared in size with LO, the minimum number of characters that can be printed simultaneously (Lo is fixedly determined based on the physical size of the print head, etc.).
, depending on the size and printing direction of the print head,
The printing start positions of the two print heads are determined.

Hereinafter, each case will be explained separately. When L is greater than or equal to the minimum number of characters LO that can be driven at the same time, and the head prints from left to right, the first print head drive circuit 13 . One digit and (M+i) digits are each sent to the second print head drive circuit 13' as print start position information of the head.

In general, when there are n heads, for the m-th head, the (1X L+ 1 > digit) is sent to the m-th print head drive circuit as head print start position information.

Conversely, if the head prints from right to left, the calculation times wr12
Seven digits and L digits are sent from the first print head drive circuit 13° to the second print head drive circuit 13' as print start position information of the head, respectively. Generally, when there are n heads, the m-th print head is sent to the m-th print head drive circuit.

The (-XL) digit is sent as head print start position information.

If L is 5, Jl smaller than the minimum number of characters that can be printed simultaneously, LO, then the print start position information of the head is:

Assuming that the maximum number of characters printed in one line of a serial printer device is L1, if the printing direction is from left to right, the first print head drive circuit 13. The information is sent to the second print head drive circuit 13', and ('+i) is sent to the first print head drive circuit 13' in the case of right to left.
Genjutsu L1 digit is sent as the information to the second print head drive circuit 13'. In general, when there are n number of heads, for the m-th head, if the printing direction is from left to right to the m-th print head drive circuit, the print start position information of the head is ("" x L t- 1-1) If a digit is sent and the printing direction is from right to left, a (-xLl) digit is sent as the information.

After the print start position of the head is determined as described above, the print head drive circuit 13, 13' drives the head to print the print characters stored in the memory circuit 10.

As explained above, according to the present invention, printing is possible (by operating a plurality of print heads simultaneously), and relatively inexpensive and fast printing speed can be expected.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a printing method of a conventional serial printer device, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. WC3 is a block diagram of a control circuit of the embodiment of FIG. 2. In the figure, 1.1'... Space motor, 2.2'... Print head, 3...
・Platen. 4...Guide shaft, 5.5'...
synchronization bell), 10... memory circuit, 11...
... Count circuit, 12 ... Arithmetic circuit, 1
3.13'...Print head drive circuit, 14
・・・・・・Connection line. Mine 1st episode 2nd drama

Claims (1)

[Claims] The serial printer device includes a plurality of print heads, a means for recognizing the number f of characters printed in one line, a means for dividing the characters by the number of print heads, and determining a printing territory of each print head, each print head prints the respective territory IJ ffi;
Characteristic serial printer device.