JPS61162375A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To save the operator trouble in dealing with a recording paper, by a method wherein a recording medium provided with various kinds of information on the medium in or on itself or a containing means is used as a recording medium, and a means for reading the information is provided. CONSTITUTION:When a form 5 is set in position, a controlling part 7 turns ON an LED chip of an optical sensor 14 through light source controlling circuit 12, and starts an optical information detector 13. Thereafter, a feeding roller 21 is rotated a predetermined amount through a form feed controlling circuit 10, thereby feeding the form by a predetermined amount layer than the interval at which codes are recorded on the form 5, and concurrently discriminating whether or not the code is detected by the detector 13. When the code is detected, it is discriminated whether or not the detected code is a staring code. When the starting code is detected, the form 5 is fed by an amount equal to the length of a recording region of all of the codes, while a group of the codes succeeding the starting code are read by the detector 13.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a recording device used in computer output equipment and the like.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in recording devices used in computer output devices, a continuous form with page breaks such as perforations is usually used as an output medium, that is, a recording medium (hereinafter referred to as a form). In this case, when attaching the form, the operator sets the above-mentioned cut to a predetermined initial setting position of the form feeding mechanism, thereby setting the beginning of the page. Then, after cutting the form in the middle of the page, or after a paper jam occurs due to malfunction of the form feeding mechanism, the operator needs to set the beginning of the page again.

Furthermore, since there are various forms, conventionally it was necessary for the operator to enter information related to the form to be used, such as the physical length and width of one page, into the host computer in advance. Ta.

[Objective] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a recording device with good operability that can save the operator's time and effort regarding the recording medium.

[Structure of the Invention] In order to achieve this object, the recording device of the present invention uses as a recording medium various information related to the medium itself or recorded on its storage means, and
A configuration including means for reading the information was adopted.

U Embodiment] Details of embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the attached drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, a recording device (hereinafter referred to as a printer) 2 of this embodiment is connected to a computer 1 together with a CRT (cathode ray tube) display device 4 and a magnetic disk drive unit W3, and is an output device for data from the computer 1. used as. As the output medium (recording medium) of the printer 2, a continuous form in which page breaks are separated by the aforementioned perforations, although not shown here, is used.

In such a system, the flow of information from the computer 1 to the form of the printer 2 has conventionally been shown in Figure 2 (a).
As indicated by the arrows in ), it was a one-way flow in which computer output data flowed from the computer to the printer 2, and from the printer 2 to the form 5.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, as shown in No. 21N(b), before the flow from the computer 1 to the form 5, the form 5 to the printer 2 is sent to the printer 2.
Information 1 related to the form 5, such as the physical length of one page, one width, thickness, nine colors, material, number of remaining pages, etc., flows from the computer 1 to the computer 1.

For this purpose, in this embodiment, a form in which the above-mentioned information is encoded and recorded as a bar code or the like is used as the form 5. Each code of the above-mentioned information is recorded at a predetermined position on each page of the form 5, and together with these codes, a start code indicating the start location of recording of the code group is also recorded.

The printer 2 is also provided with means for reading the above code. A schematic configuration of the control circuit of such a printer 2 is shown in the block diagram of FIG.

In the same figure, the reference numeral 7 is the control unit of the printer.
It is composed of a known microprocessor, controls the entire printer according to a control program stored in a memory 8, and is connected to the host computer 1 mentioned above via an interface circuit 6. The control unit 7 is connected via an input/output boat 9 to a drive control circuit for each mechanism of a known printer (not shown), a feed control circuit for controlling a drive motor for a feed roller for form feed, and a daisy wheel (described later). A head pressure circuit 1 that controls the impact pressure on the form of a recording head configured as an impact type head such as a type or wire dot type.
1. An optical system information detection device 13 is connected as the above-mentioned reading means along with a light source control circuit 12 that similarly controls a light source of an optical sensor, which will be described later.

The optical system information detection device 13 includes an optical sensor 14, an amplifier 15 . It is composed of a digitizer 16 and a serial/parallel conversion circuit 17.

Of these, the optical sensor 14 includes a light receiving element 18, an LED chip 19, and a ruby bulb 20, as shown in FIG.
When the LED chip emits light, the light emitted is focused by the ruby bulb 20 as shown by the optical path L1 and irradiates the reading position iP, and the reflected light returns to the ruby ball as shown by the optical path L2. The light is focused on the light receiving element 18 located at the rear through the light receiving element 20 and read.

The output signal of the optical sensor 14 is amplified by the amplifier 15 in the configuration of the optical information detection device 13 described above, further binarized by the digitizer 16, and then converted into a parallel signal by the serial/parallel conversion circuit 17. and is input to the input/output port 9.

Further, the optical system information detection device 13 is specifically provided in the form feeding mechanism section of the printer 2 shown in FIG.

That is, as shown in the figure, the optical information detection device 13 is provided facing the outer periphery of the feed roller 21 which also serves as a platen. A paper guide 22 and a roller 23 are placed on the feed roller 21.
The foam 5 is wound around the roller 21, and the foam 5 is sent in the direction indicated by the arrow B as the feed roller 21 is rotated in the direction of the arrow A by the drive of a drive motor (not shown). The code such as a bar code on the form 5 sent in this manner is read by the optical information detection device 13. Further, during recording, recording is performed on the form 5 on the feed roller 21 by the impact-type recording head 24 disposed opposite to the feed roller 21 as described above.

Next, the operation at the time of attaching the form according to this embodiment configured as above will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In addition, this figure is a flowchart showing the control procedure when the foam is attached by the control section 7 in FIG. 3 mentioned above.

When the form 5 is attached, the control section 7 lights up the LED chip 19 of the optical sensor 14 of the optical system information detection device 13 via the light source control circuit 12 in the first step S1 in FIG. 6, and detects the optical system information. Start up the device 13.

Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S2, where the feed roller 21 is rotationally driven by a predetermined amount via the form feed control circuit IO, and the form is sent by a predetermined amount longer than the interval at which the above-mentioned code is recorded on the form 5, and during this time, the optical It is determined whether the above-mentioned code is detected by the system information detection device 13.

If the code is not detected, that is, if the installed form is not the form 5 of this embodiment but a conventional form, the process branches to step S7, and after stopping the form feeding operation, the installed form is End time control.

On the other hand, if a code is detected, the process proceeds to step S3, where it is determined whether or not the detected code is the aforementioned start code.If it is not a start code, that is, if it is detected from the middle of the code group, Return to step S2 and proceed to step S2. Perform the operation in S3 again.

When the start code is detected, the process proceeds to step S4, in which Form 5 is sent by the length of the recording area for all codes, and the code group that follows the start code is read, that is, the various information related to Form 5 described above is read. This is performed by the optical system information detection device 13.

When all the codes have been read and inputted, the LED +-/P19 is turned off in step S5 to stop the reading operation of the optical information detection device, and then the process proceeds to step S6.
Proceed to.

In step S6, various conditions of the printing operation, such as the size of the printing area of one page and the control method of the printing head according to the nine colors of the material of the form, are set according to the above-mentioned read and input information. The above information is sent to the host computer l. Thereafter, the form 5 is fed until the head of the next page reaches the initial set position.

The feed amount in this case is determined by calculating the position of the beginning of the next page at the end of detection, but since the recording position of the code is fixed within one page, it is calculated from the page length information. can. When this feeding ends, the control ends.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when the form 5 related to the present invention on which the above-mentioned code is recorded is attached, the top of the page is automatically set to the initial setting position according to the form, so that the operator can There is no need to perform the above set,
All you have to do is simply install it.

In addition, the form 5 related to the present invention and the conventional form are distinguished through the optical information detection device as described above, and when the conventional form is installed, no extra feeding beyond a predetermined value is performed, and the Since the control is terminated, the conventional form can be used as before. That is, both forms can be used interchangeably.

As long as the form 5 according to the present invention is used, the information related thereto is automatically input into the printer 2 and the computer 1, and various conditions for controlling the recording operation are automatically set, so that the operator inputs the above information in advance. Recording control is performed in accordance with the form, and high-quality recording is performed without the need for additional effort.

In addition, in this case, as mentioned above, since the recording position of the code within one page is predetermined and information on the length of the page can be obtained, the position of the beginning of the next page can be easily calculated. This simplifies control related to form sending, such as setting the top of the page, sending to the top of the next page, and not recording between pages, and the burden on the software on the computer 1 side can be reduced accordingly. Further, the above operation can be performed more reliably than before. Further, the computer 1 side can perform other advanced controls on the printer 2 based on other inputted information.

The printer 2 of this embodiment is intelligent as described above, reads various information related to the form 5,
Since the various conditions of the recording operation are determined and the various information is transferred to the host computer, an advanced computer system with better operability can be easily constructed. Moreover, the configuration of this embodiment can be realized by newly providing the optical information detection device 13 and changing the software of the control section 7, so that the increase in cost is minor.

Note that in the configuration of this embodiment described above, various information recorded on the form 5 in the form of a bar code etc. is transmitted to the optical system information detection device 13.
The various information was encoded in the form of the presence or absence of holes and recorded on the form 5, and the information was then read by a mechanical information detection system consisting of a microswitch 26 and a chattering removal circuit 27 as shown in FIG. 7(a). It may be configured to be read by the device 25.

In this case, for example, as shown in FIG. 7(b), the micro switch 26 is connected to the feed roller 2 of the form feed mechanism.
1, fixed rollers 28, 28, springs 30,
By guiding the foam 5 sent by the feed roller 21 through the movable rollers 29 and 29 energized by the movable roller 30 to the microswitch 26 as shown by arrow P, the microswitch 26 moves according to the presence or absence of holes. on,
It is turned off and reading is performed. After chattering is removed from the on/off signal of the microswitch 26 by a chattering removal circuit 27, the signal is input to the control unit 7 via the input/output port 9 mentioned above.

Alternatively, a method such as magnetically recording various information on the form 5 and reading it with a magnetic head may be adopted.

Further, in the above description, various information is recorded on the form 5, but various information may be recorded on a storage body (not shown) that stores the form 5, and this information may be read by the information detection device.

I would like to add that the configuration of the present invention as described above is of course applicable not only to printers constituting a computer system but also to all types of printers.

[Effects] As is clear from the above description, according to the recording device of the present invention, various information related to the medium itself or a storage means thereof is used as a recording medium, and the information is read. Since the configuration is equipped with means, it is possible to obtain excellent effects such as saving the operator's time and effort regarding the recording medium, improving operability, easily performing advanced control, and being able to perform high-quality recording.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figures provide a detailed explanation of the present invention; FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of a computer system in which the printer of the embodiment is used, and FIG. 2 is (a). (b) is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of information in the conventional computer system and the present embodiment, respectively, Fig. 3 is a block diagram of the control circuit of the present embodiment, and Fig. 4 shows the configuration of the optical sensor in Fig. 3. An explanatory diagram of the operation; FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the specific arrangement of the optical information detection device in FIG. 3;
FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the control procedure when the foam is attached by the control unit in FIG. 3, FIG. 7(L) is a block diagram showing the configuration of the mechanical information detection device, and FIG. 7(b) is the same device. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating the arrangement and operation of the FIG. 2... Printer 5... Form 7... Control unit 8... Memory 9... Input/output port 10... Form feed control circuit 11... Head pressure circuit 12... Light source control circuit 13...Optical information detection device 14...Mechanical information detection device Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 4 Fig. 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] As a recording medium, various information related to the medium itself or recorded in its storage means is used, and
A recording device comprising means for reading the information.