JPS61181670A - Electronic typewriter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the operability of an electronic typewriter as well as to speed up the typing operation by providing a speed information memory showing the moving speed of a carriage. CONSTITUTION:When blank column for one letter is formed in a document for division of words by a typist, a space key 6 is pushed down only for a very short time period of within a specified time Ts and a carriage 15 is moved by one letter to form a blank column for one letter on a printing paper. When a blank column for one letter is formed intentionally, the space key 6 is continu ously pushed down for more than a specified time Ts and the continuous moving of the carriage 15 is started with a period A for the turning speed of the car riage motor 12 on speed information stored in a speed memory 22. At a time when a necessary blank column is formed and the carriage 15 reaches a target stop position, the pushing state of the key 6 is released, and thereby the carriage motor 12 is stopped and the the carriage 15 is stopped at the target position.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to an electronic typewriter that is capable of continuously moving a carriage equipped with a print head, such as when the space key is pressed for a certain period of time. In particular, the present invention relates to an electronic typewriter in which the moving speed of the carriage when it is continuously moved can be varied.

[Prior Art] Generally, in an English electronic typewriter, a print head using, for example, a print wheel is mounted on a carriage whose movement is controlled by a carriage motor along a platen on which printing paper is set.

Then, when you input a character key such as a number, alphabet, or symbol on the keyboard, this key input signal is converted into a character code corresponding to the character key, and the print wheel rotates based on this character code. The characters corresponding to the key-input character code are printed out on the printing paper by hitting the corresponding characters against the platen with a printing hammer.

With electronic typewriters like this, if you need to break up words or intentionally create a blank space for one character in a sentence, press the space key. Move by minutes. If a blank space of one character or more is intentionally created, if the space key is held down for a certain period of time or more, the carriage starts to move continuously at a predetermined speed. Then, when the carriage reaches the target position and the pressed state of the space key is released, the carriage stops.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, even with the electronic typewriter configured as described above, there are still problems as described below that must be solved. In other words, in conventional electronic typewriters, the speed of continuous movement of the carriage when the space key is held down takes into consideration the stop positioning work when stopping the carriage after forming the required blank. It is set to a standard value. That is, if the moving speed is fast, it is difficult to stop and position the tool after moving, and if the moving speed is too slow, it takes too much time to form blank spaces, reducing the efficiency of the typing operation.

The stopping position alignment ability after forming a blank field varies greatly depending on the proficiency level of the typist, so if the above movement speed is fixed to a constant value, the typing speed will decrease for experts, and the blank space will be difficult for beginners. It is difficult to align the stop position after forming, and in this case as well, the speed of the typing operation is reduced as a result.

Therefore, the capabilities of the electronic typewriter are not fully utilized.

The present invention was made based on the above circumstances, and its purpose is to make it possible to arbitrarily change the speed at which the carriage carrying the print head is continuously moved, thereby making it easier for both experts and beginners to use the printer. An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic typewriter that is easy to operate for both users and improves typing speed.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides a speed memory for storing speed information indicating the moving speed of a carriage on which a print head is mounted, and a continuous movement mode for inputting continuous movement commands for the carriage provided on a keyboard. When the command key is input, the carriage is moved continuously using the speed information stored in the speed memory, and the speed information stored in the speed memory can be changed arbitrarily by key input operation on the keyboard. be.

[Function] With an electronic typewriter configured in this way, when the continuous movement command key on the keyboard is input, the carriage carrying the print head moves continuously using the speed information stored in the speed memory. . If the speed information in the speed memory is changed by a key input operation on the keyboard, the continuous movement speed of the carriage will also change in accordance with the change in speed information.

[Example] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the electronic typewriter of the embodiment, and numeral 1 in the figure is a housing. A keyboard 2 is provided on the front surface of the housing 1, and a platen 3 for setting printing paper is incorporated inside the housing 1.

The keyboard 2 includes alphabet keys 4. In addition to character keys such as numeric keys 5, various function keys such as a space key 6, a carriage return key 7, and a code key 8 are arranged.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the general structure of an electronic typewriter. That is, the platen 3 built into the housing 1 is rotatably supported at both ends by both side walls of the housing, and the gear 9
It is rotated by a paper feed motor 10 formed by a stepping motor. Note that it is also possible to manually rotate the printing paper using the platen knob 11 in order to set the printing paper on the platen 3 first. A belt 13 rotated by a carriage motor 12 formed by a stepping motor is stretched along the platen 3, and a carriage 15 on which a print head 14 is mounted is mounted on the belt 13. Therefore, when the carriage motor 12 is rotated, the carriage 15 attached to the belt 13 moves along the platen 3.

In addition, 16 in the figure is an MPU (microprocessor) that executes various arithmetic processing based on various information keyed in from the keyboard 2, and this MPU 16 is connected to the data bus 17.
．． Address bus18. R for storing fixed data such as the control program and the rotational position address of the printing wheel 20 corresponding to each character code entered by key through the control line 18;
RA that stores variable data such as the OM 21 and the speed memory 22 that stores character codes to be printed inputted from the keyboard and speed information during continuous movement of the carriage 15;
Controls M23. Also, a keyboard circuit 24 to which key signals from the keyboard 2 are input, a timer circuit 25 . A paper feed motor drive circuit 2 that drives the paper feed motor 1o.
6. A print wheel motor drive circuit 2 that drives a print wheel motor formed by a stepping motor for rotating a print wheel 20 incorporated in the print head 14.
7. A ribbon feed motor drive circuit 28 that drives a ribbon feed motor that feeds the print ribbon that is also incorporated in the print head 14. The carriage motor drive circuit 29 that drives the carriage motor 12, etc. is a data bus core,
It is connected to the MPU 16 via a control line 19.

The movement of the carriage 1-5 on which the print head 14 is mounted is controlled by the carriage motor 12. For example, in order to move the carriage 15 by one character (one step), a one-pulse drive signal is sent from the carriage motor drive circuit 29. Just apply.

A pulse cycle A of a drive signal sent from a carriage motor drive circuit 29 to the carriage motor 12 when the carriage 15 is continuously moved is stored in a speed memory 22 formed in the RAM 23 as speed information.

When this electronic typewriter is powered on, the MP
The L116 is configured to execute various initial processes and then execute a main routine according to the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, the main routine is started, a key signal input from the keyboard 2 is waited for, and when a key signal is input from the keyboard 2 to the keyboard circuit 24, the type of the input key signal is checked. Then, if the key signal input at Pl is from the numeric key 5, it is checked whether or not there was a key input operation for the code key 8 immediately before the key input operation for the numeric key 5. If there is a key input operation using the code key 8, it is determined that the task is to set cycle A as speed information in the speed memory 22 of the RAM 23, and the numerical data input using the number key 5 is set as cycle A. Store it in the speed memory 22.

It should be noted that if there is no input operation on the code key 8 immediately before the key operation on the numeric key 5, it is determined that it is normal numeric printing processing, and printout processing for the character code of this number is executed. That is, the rotation position address of the print wheel 20 corresponding to the character code inputted with the numeric key 5 is read from the ROM 21, the print wheel motor is rotated via the print wheel motor drive circuit 27, and the address corresponding to the character code in the print wheel 2o is read out. Place the printing type to face the platen 3.

Thereafter, the printing hammer is driven to strike the printed characters onto the printing paper set on the platen 3.

As a result, the corresponding character is printed out on the printing paper. When the printing of the corresponding character is completed, a one-pulse drive signal is sent from the carriage motor drive circuit 29 to the carriage motor 1.
2 to move the carriage 15 by one character. Further, a ribbon feed motor drive circuit 28 feeds the printing ribbon.

If the key signal input at Pl is not a key signal for numeric key 5, it is checked at P2 whether it is a key signal for alphanumeric key 4. If it is a key signal of the alphabetic key 4, the same printout process as described above for the character code of the alphabetic key 4 is executed.

If the key signal input at P2 is not the key signal of the alphabetic key 4, it is checked at P3 whether it is the key signal of the continuous movement command key of the carriage 15. That is, if the space key 6 continues to be pressed for a predetermined period of time Ts or more, it is determined that a command to start continuous movement of the carriage 15 has been input. Then, at P4, after confirming that the pressed state of the space key 〇 is released and that no command to stop the continuous movement of the carriage 15 has been input, a one-pulse drive signal is sent from the carriage motor drive circuit 29 to the carriage motor 12. Send. As a result, the carriage motor rotates by one step and the carriage 15 moves by one character. At the same time as sending a one-pulse drive signal to the carriage motor 12, a period A read from the speed memory 22 of the RAM 23 is set in the timer circuit 25.
Start timing. Then, the timer circuit 25 finishes counting the period A. When a time-up signal is sent from the timer circuit 25, the process returns to P4 and checks whether the pressed state of the space key 6 has been released. If the pressed state continues, it is necessary to move the carriage 15 further. Carriage motor drive circuit 2
A one-pulse drive signal is sent to the carriage motor 12 via 9.

When the pressed state of the space key 6 is released at P4,
It is determined that a command to stop continuous movement of the carriage 15 has been input, and subsequent processing is stopped. As a result, carriage 15
The continuous movement of is stopped.

If the key signal input at P3 is a press-down key signal of the space key 6 within a certain specified time 18, it is determined that the space key 6 has been pressed to form a blank field for one character, and the carriage is moved. A one-pulse drive signal is sent to the carriage motor 12 via the motor drive circuit 29 to move the carriage 15 by one character.

In an electronic typewriter configured as described above, when a typist wants to create a blank space for one character in a sentence to break up words, etc., the typist can press and hold the space key 6 for a very short time within the specified time 18. , the carriage 15 moves by one character to form a blank space for one character on the printing paper. In addition, when intentionally creating a blank space of one character or more, if the space key 6 is held down for more than the specified time Ta, the carriage 15 changes to the rotational speed of the carriage motor 12 as the speed information stored in the speed memory 22. The carriage 15 starts continuous movement with the corresponding period A. Then, the required blank space is formed and the carriage 1
When the space key 6 is released from the pressed state when the motor 5 reaches the target stop position, the carriage motor 12 stops and the carriage 15 stops at the target position.

In addition, when an expert uses this electronic typewriter, the carriage speed set in the speed memory 22 of the RAM 23 can be set in the speed memory 22 of the RAM 23 by successive key input operations using the code key 8 and number keys 5 of the keyboard 2 before starting typing work. The period A indicating the moving speed during continuous movement of No. 15 is changed to a shorter value. As a result, the continuous movement speed of the carriage 15 when forming a blank field of one or more characters becomes faster, so it is possible to improve the typing work speed.

On the other hand, when a beginner uses this electronic typewriter, the carriage speed set in the speed memory 22 of the RAM 23 is set in the speed memory 22 of the RAM 23 by successive key input operations using the code key 8 and number keys 5 of the keyboard 2 before starting typing. The period A indicating the moving speed during continuous movement of No. 15 is changed to a longer value. As a result, the continuous movement speed of the carriage 15 when forming a blank field of one or more characters becomes slow, so that the carriage 15 can be stopped and positioned easily after forming a blank field.

Therefore, even beginners can improve typing efficiency.

Note that when the carriage return key 7 is pressed, the target stop position after continuous movement of the carriage 15 is set to the left margin position from the beginning.
Movement speed is set to maximum speed.

By applying the present invention, the efficiency of typing work can be further improved by making the paper feeding speed of the continuous paper feeding operation variable regarding the paper feeding operation for the printing paper set on the platen 3. is possible.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the speed at which the carriage carrying the print head is continuously moved can be arbitrarily changed by key input operations on the keyboard. Therefore, it is easy to operate for both experts and beginners, and typing speed can be increased, thereby improving typing efficiency.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows an electronic typewriter according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a perspective view of the electronic typewriter, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the electronic typewriter. 1... Housing, 2... Keyboard, 3... Platen, 4... Alphabet keys, 5... Number keys, 6... Space key (continuous movement command key), 8... code key,
10... Paper feed motor, 12... Carriage motor, 14... Print head, 15... Carriage, 16
... MPU, 20 ... Print wheel, 22 ... Speed memory, 23 ... RAM, 24 ... Keyboard circuit, 25 ... Timer circuit, 29 ... Carriage motor drive circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] An electronic typewriter in which a print head mounted on a carriage whose movement is controlled along a platen on which printing paper is set prints out characters corresponding to a character code keyed in from a keyboard onto the printing paper,
a speed memory for storing speed information indicating the moving speed of the carriage; a continuous movement command key provided on the keyboard for inputting a continuous movement command for the carriage; and a speed memory when the continuous movement command key is inputted. The vehicle is characterized by comprising: continuous moving means for continuously moving the carriage using speed information stored in the speed memory; and speed changing means for changing the speed information stored in the speed memory by key input operations on the keyboard. electronic typewriter.