JPS61154871A - Controlling system for hand-type printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable printing in a line to be started by a printing-starting signal after completing printing in the preceding line, by previously designating the maximum number of characters to be printed in one line. CONSTITUTION:First, the maximum number of characters per one printing line is inputted through a keyboard 17, is stored in a register 10, and counters 13A, 13B are set to 0. When signals inputted through the keyboard 17 are printing data, a count in the counter 13B is compared with a value stored in the register 10, and when the count is larger than the value stored in the register 10 (for example, the maximum number of characters is 10 while the count in the counter 13B is 11), a line feeding code CR is loaded into a printing buffer 12. Simultaneously, the line feeding code CR is displayed on a display device 16, the counter 13B is set to 1, and the counter 13A is incremented by 1.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a hand-type printer that prints on any print medium manually by an operator, and in particular, to a hand-held printer that facilitates printing of printed characters in sections. It is.

[Conventional technology]

Special Publication No. 50-4028 was developed as a hand-held printer that can be held in the operator's hand to print characters, etc. on a desired print medium.
No. 9, JP-A-48-17630, etc. are known. The former is an ink jet head.

The latter uses a wire matrix head and has the advantage of being able to use a wider range of printing media and being smaller in size than conventional printers.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

A plurality of lines are printed on the printing medium using the hand printing method as described above. When performing so-called delimited printing of print characters, the operator sets the print head to the print start position, inputs the print start switch, moves the print head to print, and confirms that the last character of the line has been printed. After that, it is necessary to turn off the print start switch to 9, move the print head to the print start position of the next line, input the print start switch again, and move the print head to continue printing. . However, to perform such an operation, before turning off the print start switch after confirming the last character on the first line, it is necessary to accidentally move the print head an excessive amount of time and print characters outside of the original print position. Further, there is a problem in that if the print start switch is turned off in the middle of a line being printed, printing is stopped midway and no further printing is possible.

[Failure to solve the problem]

In view of the above problems, the present invention specifies the maximum number of characters to be printed on one line.

After printing an entire line, a new line is enabled, and the next line can be printed using a print start signal. Furthermore, it is proposed that printing stop and continued printing of the same line can be controlled using a print start signal. It is something.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is an electrical block diagram of a handheld printer embodying the present invention. Reference numeral 1 is a printing section of a hand-held printer, and print head 2. A print timing generator 3 and a print start switch 4 are built-in. The print head 2 has a print head drive circuit 6 arranged in the main control section 5.
A print head that prints a single character, number, etc. based on a signal from a printer, and is composed of a dot type head such as a wire dot or a thermal head. The print timing generator 3 is the print part 1
The interface 7 receives timing signals that are sequentially generated by pressing the print head 2 onto a print medium (not shown).
A rotary encoder is usually used to apply the signal to the CPU 8 via a rotary encoder. The print start switch 4 is used by the operator to command the start of printing when the print head 2 is pressed against the print medium while the operator grasps the print unit, and the print start switch 4 is used until the operator releases (turns off) this print start switch. It continues printing. Print head 2 of print section 1. Signals are exchanged between the print timing generator 5 and the main control section 5 of the print start switch 4 through a signal line shown as a cable 9. The main control unit 5 further includes a maximum number of characters register 1.
0. Character generator 11. Print buffer 12. Color/ReI MA, 13B, Interface 14.
15 is connected to and built into the CPU 8. Also.

The interface 14 includes a display device 16 . A keyboard 17 is electrically connected to the interface 15 and the main control section 5 . The display device 16 is preferably a miniaturized liquid crystal, plasma, or the like as a display device for a cold-press printer.

Next, the operation will be explained. 5 shows a processing flow for inputting print data, and FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the recording state of the print buffer 12 that records print data according to the processing flow shown in FIG. Enter the maximum number M of characters per line to be printed and record this maximum number M in the maximum character register 10. (Sl) Next, counter I MA
, set the value of 13B to O (S2, S3), and input one signal from the keyboard 17 (S4). It is determined whether the signal from the keyboard 17 is an input end command (SS), and if it is not an input end command, it is determined whether it is a line feed code (S6). If it is not a line feed code, the counter 15B is incremented by one (87). Next, the value of this counter 13B is the maximum number of characters M specified by (Sl)
88), and if the value of counter 13B does not exceed the maximum number of characters M, keyboard 1
Counter 13A receives the signal from 7 as data to be printed.
is recorded at the position of the print buffer 12 corresponding to the value of (S
9) o The CPU 8 transfers the character (A in FIG. 1) corresponding to the signal recorded in the print buffer 12 to the interface 1.
4 to be displayed on a display device (16) such as a liquid crystal display.
), increments the counter 13A by one. (S11
) Print buffer 112 corresponding to the value of counter 13A
It is determined whether the recording area of the print buffer 12 is filled at the position 512), and if there is room in the recording area of the print buffer 12, the process returns to S4 and a new signal from the keyboard 17 is input, and the following steps 85 to 85 are performed. Repeat the process of S12. (Print data l'-B, C, DJ in Figure 1
Also, if there is not enough space in the recording area of the print buffer 112, record the end code at the position of the print buffer 12 that corresponds to the value of the counter 13A (513), and display it on the display device (513).
16) is displayed (514), and the state shifts to the printing start state.

Next, to explain the process when the operator inputs a line feed code, if it is determined in S6 that the signal input from the keyboard 17 is the line feed code CR, this line feed code CR
is the print buffer 11 at the position corresponding to the value of the counter 13A.
2 (S15), the value of the counter 13B is set to 0 (816), and this line feed code CR is displayed on the display device 16 (first line feed CR in FIG. 1).

In this state, the counter 13A should be counted up by 51.
t), it is determined whether there is enough recording area in the print buffer 112 (512), and the process returns to S4. From now on keyboard 17
The processes from 84 to S12 are repeated using the signal input from 1 as print data (print data l'-E, F, G
,H.

I, J, Ni, L, M, NJ).

Next, if the signal input from the keyboard 17 is data to be printed (after N in Figure 1), 88 colors/1.5B are input in the maximum character number register 1
If the value of the counter 13B exceeds the value M recorded in the maximum number of characters register 10 (the maximum number of characters M is 10 and the value of the counter 13B is 11
) to record the line feed code CR in the print buffer 12.
18, second line break in Figure 1).

Display the line feed code C”R on the display device 16 519)
.

Set the value of counter 15B to 1 (820), counter 15
A is incremented by one count (S21).

In this way, when print data is input exceeding the maximum number of characters M set by the operator in the first step.

Since the line feed code CR is automatically inserted after the print data (after N in Figure 1) and displayed on the display device 16, the signal that should originally be recorded after N in Figure 1 must be re-inputted. to continue inputting print data. Note that the maximum number of characters M set in the first step is equal to the value of the counter 15B.

Once the print data at this time is recorded in the print buffer 12, it is easy to adopt a method in which a line feed code CR is recorded in the print buffer 12 following this print data and the process returns to S4.

When the print data to be printed has been recorded in the print buffer 12 and the process returns to S4, the end code L is input from the keyboard 17.
When F is input, it is determined at 85 that input of print data is completed, and at 822 it is determined whether or not print data is recorded in the print buffer 112. This is a process for returning to 84 when an end code is input first without inputting character data to be printed, that is, print data. When it is confirmed that the print data is recorded in the print buffer 112, an end code is recorded at the position of the print buffer 12 corresponding to the value of the counter 13A (513), this is displayed (51a), and printing starts. Transition to status (printing standby).

Next, a process 70- for printing the print data recorded in the print buffer will be explained with reference to FIG.

First, set the count values of counters 13A and 13B to 0 (823.524), and read the data at the position of print buffer 12 corresponding to the value of counter 15A (S25).
, it is determined whether the read data is the end code LF (S26). If this data is the end code LF
If so, the process moves to S36, which will be described later.

If this data is not an end command, refer to the signal of the print start switch 4 (527).

If the print start switch 4 is ON, this data is the line feed code CR, but it is unclear (828); if it is not the line feed code CR, the print timing signal from the print timing generator 3 of the printing unit 1 is ON. Please judge carefully.529).

If the print timing signal is ON, one dot string of the read data is printed (550), and it is further determined whether printing of one character has been completed (831). If the print timing signal is not ON in step 829, and if printing for one character has not been completed in step S31, the process returns to step 829 to determine whether the print timing signal is ON. If printing for one character has been completed in S31, the counter 13A is incremented by one (S52), and the process returns to 825 to print characters one by one while repeating the above-described process. If it is determined in S27 that the print start switch 4 is OFF, the value of the counter 13A is set to the value of the counter 13B (555), and the process returns to 825 and is repeated.

Furthermore, if it is determined at 828 that the line feed code is CR, it is determined whether the print start switch 4 is ON (
S54), the print start switch 4 is turned on at this 834
In this case, the operator cannot proceed to the next step until the print start switch 4 is turned OFF, so the operator should turn OFF the print start switch 4 and change the value of the counter 13B to the value of the counter 13A (535). .

Return to S25. This is a measure to prevent inadvertent printing because when printing one line and printing on the next line, the printing section 1 is separated from the printing medium and printing is performed again. S
When the end code LF is determined in step 26, it is checked whether the signal of the print start switch 4 is ON (856), and if the print start switch signal is ON, the next step is continued until the print start switch signal is turned OFF. 82 when the operator presses the print start switch 4 to 0FF without proceeding to
Return to step 3 and return to the initial printing start state9. The printing described above can be repeated. If it is desired to end printing in a state where the end code LF has been detected (S26), this can be done by turning off the power in S36.

In this embodiment, the maximum number of characters has been described as being input from the keyboard, but it may also be specified using a digital switch or the like.

Further, although the keyboard has been described as a data input device, data may be input from an external device such as an external storage device or a host computer/computer.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, it is possible to easily print over multiple lines when printing using a hand-held printer, thereby reducing the burden on the operator.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show embodiments of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of data recording in a print buffer, FIG. 2 is an electrical block diagram of an apparatus implementing the present invention, FIG. 3 is a data input processing flow diagram, and FIG. The figure is a printing process diagram.

Claims (1)

[Claims] It has a print unit having a print head, and a main control unit that drives the print head of the print unit and controls the print unit, and controls the print buffer data arranged in the main control unit and the start of printing of the print unit. 1. A control method for a hand-type printer, comprising: a signal; and means for determining whether or not printing is possible based on a signal.