JPS61262153A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain to enhance the operability of a printer, by detecting whether paper is present in a platen and discriminating whether it is manual insert paper feed or automatic paper feed on the basis of the detection result during operation for bringing a detection apparatus to a paper feed possible state to control the insert of paper. CONSTITUTION:IF.CPU 253 outputs 'discharge command' and 'paper feed command' when received the response of 'paper presence' from MAIN CPU283 and performs the transfer to automatic setting command processing to insert paper. Next, if the response is 'paper absence', IF.CPU235 performs pre-initial command processing to discriminate whether the paper is present each time. When a paper presence state was discriminated, the presence of the paper is not based on the paper feed from ASF2 but based on the manual insert paper feed of an operator and, therefore, automatic setting command processing is taken. Contrarily, if a paper absence state is discriminated, the paper feed from ASF2 is judged and paper feed command processing is taken and, after the paper feed from ASF2 was performed, paper setting operation is carried out.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] mutual support The present invention relates to a printer that can be equipped with a paper feeding device.

2. Description of the Related Art In general, there are various types of printers, such as inkjet printers, type wheel printers, thermal printers, and thermal transfer printers, which can be equipped with a paper feeding device that automatically feeds paper.

An example of such a paper feeding device is an auto sheet feeder (hereinafter referred to as ASFJ) that automatically feeds sheets.
There are also tractor feeders and the like that automatically feed continuous forms.

By the way, even when such a paper feeding device is installed, it is not only possible to automatically feed paper from the paper feeding device.

Paper may also be manually fed by the operator.

Therefore, conventionally, when manually feeding paper, an operator is allowed to instruct which paper feeding method to select by operating a key or the like.

However, this method has the disadvantage of poor operability since an instruction must be given every time the paper feeding method is changed.

Furthermore, this invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to improve the operability of a printer.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention detects whether or not there is paper on the platen, and manually feeds the paper based on the detection result during the operation to make the paper feeder ready for paper feeding. It is designed to control paper insertion by identifying whether it is paper feeding or automatic paper feeding.

Hereinafter, a detailed explanation will be given based on one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

In this printer, based on the detection result of the paper presence/absence detection means A that detects whether or not there is paper on the platen, the paper insertion control means B controls whether manual paper feeding or automatic paper feeding is performed during the paper feeding preparation operation of the paper feeding device. Identify.

Paper insertion control is performed according to this identification result.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing an example of an inkjet printer embodying the present invention.

This printer 1 is equipped with an auto sheet feeder (ASF) 2 that can selectively feed sheets of a plurality of sizes.

First, the printer 1 will be explained. The outer casing of this printer 1 consists of a lower case 3 and an upper case 4 that house a mechanical section and a control section, and a cover 5 is attached to the upper case 4 so as to be openable and closable.

Further, an operation panel 6 is attached to the front of the printer 1.

This operation panel 6 has 1 switch as shown in FIG. A pause switch 10 instructs switching between pause/not pause (online/offline), a reset switch 11 instructs reset, a line feed (L F) switch 12 instructs a line feed (line feed), and a page break (form/offline) switch 12 instructs a line feed (line feed). A page feed (FF) switch 13 for instructing automatic sheet insertion, and an automatic insertion switch 14 for instructing automatic sheet insertion are attached.

Further, as shown in the figure, this operation panel 6 includes, as indicators, a pause lamp 15 that displays the pause state, a paper fish lamp 16 that displays paper end, and an out-of-ink lamp 17 that displays ink out. An error lamp 18 that indicates an error, a cover open lamp 1 day that indicates that the cover 5 is open, a pail open lamp 20 that indicates that the paper pail is open, a standby lamp 21 that indicates the standby state and the temporary stop state, and the Wi source. A power lamp 22 is attached to indicate the on state.

Further, on the back of the printer 1, as shown in FIG. 4, on an interface board 54 of a control unit, which will be described later, there are eight DIP switches 25 and four DIP switches 26 for setting various modes. Reset switch 2 for instructing initial reset separately from power-on
7 and a Centronics interface connector 28 for connection to a host system. In addition.

The interface is not limited to the Centronics interface.

The switch No. of the DIP switch 25, the state and function (mode) of each switch 1 to 8 are as shown in Table 1. In addition, switch No. 1 to 4 of the DIP switch 26
The states and functions (modes) of the switches are shown in Table 2.

Table 1 Table 2 The reset switch 27 will be described later in the description of the control section.6 FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the mechanical section of this printer.

This 4ill structure rotatably supports a platen 31 which wraps and feeds paper approximately around a central shaft.

This platen 31 is driven by a line feed (LF) motor 32 consisting of a stepping motor.

The LF motor 32 is rotationally driven via a timing pulley 33 and a timing belt 34 fixed to the rotating shaft of the LF motor 32, and a timing pulley (not shown) fixed to the shaft of the platen 31 to automatically feed the paper.

In addition, one manual platen 3 is installed at both ends of the platen 31.
A knob 35.35 is attached to rotate the platen 31, and by manually rotating the knob 35.35, the platen 31 can be rotated to insert and set the paper into the platen 31.

Furthermore, this platen 31 has a platen gear 36 for ASF2 on the opposite side of the timing pulley for line feed.
The ink receiver unit 37 is attached to the line feed timing pulley side.

Further, on the front side of the platen 31, a paper pail 40 fitted with a pail roller 3S operated by a paper setting mechanism 38, which will be described later, is swingably disposed.

And this platen! The carriage 4!1 is slidably mounted on two rods 41 and 42 arranged parallel to the platen 31 on the front side of the platen 11.

The carriage 43 is connected to the platen 31 by a space motor (carriage motor) 45 consisting of a stepping motor, via a pulley (not shown) fixed to the rotating shaft of the carriage motor 45, and a space wire 48 stretched between the pulleys 4F+ and 47. is moved parallel to.

In addition, on the front side of this mechanism section, there is a pump unit 50, which will be described later, that supplies ink to the carriage 4!1, and a high-voltage power source 5.
1 is arranged.

Furthermore, a cover open switch 52 for detecting opening/closing of the cover 5 is attached to the left side of this mechanism section.

Furthermore, a main board 53 and an interface board 54 constituting a control section are mounted on the rear side of this mechanism section, and an inkjet unit board 55 and a preamplifier board 56 are mounted on the front left and right sides.

On the back side of the interface board 54 are the DIP switches 25, 26, . Reset switch 2
7th prize is installed.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the carriage 43 and the pump unit 50.

Ink filled in an ink cartridge 62 is supplied to an ink tank 61 provided with an ink level sensor 60 of the pump unit 50 .

The ink in this ink tank 61 is then transferred to a pressure pump 63.
is fed to the accumulator 64 under pressure.

It is sent from this accumulator 64 to the carriage 43 through an electromagnetic switching valve 65.

The accumulator 64 is provided with two pressure sensors G6. to detect whether the internal ink pressure is higher than a predetermined value or lower than another predetermined value. G7 is installed.

The ink sent from this pump unit SO to the carriage 43 passes through a heater 72 to which a filter 70 and an ink temperature sensor 71 are attached to an ink jet head 7.
The ink sent to the ink jet head 73 is sent to the ink jet head 73.

The ink is ejected from a nozzle, separated into ink particles at regular intervals according to the vibration frequency of the electrostrictive vibrator 74, and ejected.

At this time, when the ink particles are not charged by the charging electrode 75, they are not deflected by the deflection electrodes 76, 77, go straight, are captured by the conductive gutter 78, and are returned to the ink tank 61 by the pump 68 of the pump unit SO.

Furthermore, when the ink particles are charged by the load [[7S, they are deflected by the deflection type 1476.77, and when the carriage 43 is at the home position, the ink receiver of the unit 37 (see FIG. 5) is deflected by the plate 81. When the carriage 4!1 is in the recording area, it collides with the paper.

Note that an electrode 79° 7S for detecting ink leakage is installed at a portion of the carriage 43 where ink tends to accumulate.

Further, the ink receiver unit 37 is provided with a charge detection electrode 82 at a position where the ink collides to detect the presence of ink.

The ink collected by the ink receiver plate 81 of the ink receiver unit 37 flows into the waste liquid tank 6S of the pump unit 50.

Further, when the electromagnetic switching valve 65 of the pump unit 50 is not energized, the ink outlet side of the accumulator 64 is idle, the filter 70 and the waste liquid tank 6S communicate with each other, and the ink pressure in the ink jet head 73 is reduced to atmospheric pressure. The ink before and after the filter 70 flows into the waste liquid tank 69 until the amount decreases to .

7 to 10 are diagrams showing the paper set Ill structure 38. FIG.

First, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the paper pail 40 disposed in front of the platen 31 has a paper pail lever 92 fixed to a support shaft S1 that rotatably supports both ends of the paper pail 40. 93 and pale lever 94
It is fixed to the platen 31 and is arranged so as to be able to swing back and forth relative to the platen 31.

Below this paper pail lever 92 is a rotary lever whose rear end is rotatably supported by a support shaft S5 and whose rear end is rotatably biased in the direction of arrow S in FIG. 7 by a tension coil spring 96. S7 is installed.

At the tip of this rotating lever S7, there are formed two-stage protrusions s7a and s7b that can be engaged with an engaging piece Ei2a formed at the tip of the paper pail lever S2.

When the tip engaging piece 92a of the paper pail lever 92 is engaged with the lower side of the protrusion 97a of the rotating lever S7, it is urged to rotate toward the platen 31 by the tensile force of the spring S6, and the paper pail 40 The pail roller 3 is maintained in pressure contact with the platen 31.

Furthermore, when the paper pail lever 92 is rotated in the direction of arrow A in FIG. The paper pail 40 is held at a position where the pail roller is separated from the platen 31 (at a retracted holding position).

From this state, by operating the paper pail lever 92 eight times toward the platen 31, the paper pail 40 is moved to the platen position! It returns to the state where it is pressed against +1.

Note that there is a paper pail 4 on the side of the rotation lever 97.
When the paper pail 40 is in pressure contact with the platen 31, it is pressed by the side of the rotating lever S7 and becomes activated, and when the paper pail 40 is rotated to the above-mentioned retracted holding position, it becomes inactive. A microswitch S8 is arranged as an open sensor.

Further, the support shaft 91 of the paper pail lever S2 has an S-th
As shown in the figure, a release lever 100 is rotatably mounted.

A protrusion 100a that engages with the lower end of the paper pail lever 92 is fixed to the release lever 100, and the paper pail lever 92 can also be rotated by rotating the release lever 100.

On the other hand, below the platen 31, as shown in FIG.
A curved plate-shaped deflector 101 is provided to guide the paper P inserted from the direction of arrow B along the platen S1.

A plurality of holes are formed in the deflector 101 in the axial direction of the platen 31, and pressure rollers 102 and 103 are arranged in two rows near these holes.

These pressure rollers 102, 103.

It is held by a support plate 105 biased toward the platen 31 by a plate spring 104 whose one end is fixed to a fixing part 106.

Further, on the lower side of the support plate 105, a rotating wheel 10B to which a release piece 107 is fixed is rotatably arranged. It is engaged with the engaging portion 105a from above.

Then, as shown in FIG. S, a rotary lever 10 is fixed to the rotary shaft 10, to which a protruding piece 10 a that engages with the lower end of the release lever 100 is fixed.

Therefore, by rotating the release lever 100 in the direction of arrow B in FIG.
pushes down the engaging portion 105a of the support plate 105, so the support plate 105 is pushed down against the plate spring 104, and the pressure rollers 102 and 103 are separated from the platen 31.

Furthermore, by rotating the release lever 100 in the direction opposite to the arrow B direction shown in FIG.
Since the pressure rollers 102 and 103 are separated from a, the pressure rollers 102 and 103 are pressed against the surface of the platen 31 by the pressing force of the spring 104.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 8, a paper sensor 111 as a paper presence/absence sensor for detecting whether or not there is paper on the platen 31 is disposed obliquely on the rear side of the platen 31 and is fixed to a fixed plate 112. .

Deflector 101 corresponds to this paper sensor 111.
A through hole 101a is provided in the hole 101a.

This paper sensor 111 is constituted by a reflective photosensor in which a light emitting element and a light receiving element are arranged in the axial direction of the platen 31.

Further, this paper sensor 111 is connected to the pressure roller 1
It is located between 02 and 103. Although it is desirable to arrange the paper sensor 111 in such a position at a position where it can detect whether or not there is paper at the printing position, doing so tends to cause ink stains.

Another reason is that it is difficult to select a position where the presence or absence of paper can be detected without interfering with the movement of the carriage 43.

Furthermore, a plate-shaped card guide 114 made of a metal plate or synthetic resin and having approximately the same length as the platen 31 is provided diagonally below the front of the platen 31, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 10.
Both ends thereof are held by holding plates 115.

This holding plate 115 is fixed to a rotating shaft 116 which is rotatably supported by fixing a rotating piece 117 having teeth 117a at its tip, and a tension coil spring 118 is interposed between the holding plate 115 and the fixed part 106. It is equipped.

These constitute a card guide raising mechanism that raises the card guide 114 in conjunction with the rotation of the platen 31.

As shown in FIG. 10, the connection mechanism that connects this card guide lifting mechanism to the platen 31 first rotatably supports the rotary cylinder 120 by a bearing (not shown), and then connects a gear fixed to the outer part of the rotary cylinder 120. 121 is meshed with a platen gear 36 fixed to the shaft of the platen 31.

A sliding shaft 122 is slidably inserted into the rotating cylinder 120 and gear 121.

A gear 123 that meshes with the teeth 117a of the rotating piece 117 of the card guide lifting mechanism described above is rotatably attached to one end of this sliding shaft 122.
A clutch plate 124 is fixed to the surface facing the rotating cylinder 120 of No. 3.

In addition, the other end of this sliding shaft 122 has an intermediate portion attached to the shaft 12.
6 is connected to one end of a rotating lever 127 rotatably supported.

The other end of this rotating lever 127 is connected to a connecting piece 128 having a protrusion 128a formed on its side. A tension coil spring 129 and a connecting piece 13 having a protrusion 130a formed on the side.
0 to the plunger 131a of the solenoid 131.

The rotating lever 127 and the connecting piece 128 are rotatably connected, and a portion of the connecting piece 128, 130 and the spring 129 are housed within the cylindrical body 132.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, a swing plate 134 is fixed to the other end of the rotation shaft 116, and one end of a connecting plate 135 is rotatably supported on the swing plate 134. Furthermore, a long hole 135a formed at the other end of this connecting plate 135' is engaged with a pin 136 fixed to the pale lever 94, so that one rotation shaft 11
6, that is, the rise of the card guide 114, constitutes a mechanism for slightly separating the paper pile 40 from the platen 31.

Next, a paper setting operation by the paper setting mechanism 38 will be explained. Note that the manual operation of the paper pail lever 92 has been explained above, so it cannot be removed.

First, when the solenoid 131 shown in FIG.
2 moves in the direction of arrow F.

A clutch plate 124 fixed to a sliding shaft 122 is attached to a rotating cylinder 12.
Pressed to 0.

Note that after the clutch plate 124 is pressed against the rotating cylinder 120,
The plunger 131a of the solenoid 131 is further pulled to a predetermined position to separate the protrusion 130° of the connecting piece 130 from the housing 132 by a predetermined distance, so that the clutch plate 124 is pressed against the rotary cylinder 120 only by the tensile force of the spring 129.

Thereby, the platen 31 and the card guide lifting mechanism are connected.

Therefore, when the rotation of the platen 31 is controlled, the rotation of the platen 31 is controlled by the platen gear 36. Gear 121, rotating cylinder 1
20, the clutch plate 124, and the gear 123 to the rotating piece 117 of the card guide lifting mechanism, the rotating piece 117 rotates upward, and the rotating shaft 116 rotates.

In addition, at this time, the rear end portion 11 of the rotating piece 117 shown in FIG.
Since the flap b contacts the fixed part 106 and is restricted from rotating beyond a predetermined amount, the one-rotation barrel 120 and clutch plate 124 slip, the gear 123 no longer rotates, and the rotating piece 117 and rotating shaft 116 also slip. Do not rotate more than the specified amount.

As a result, the holding plate 115 fixed to the rotating shaft 116 and the card guide 114 attached to this holding plate 115,
As shown in FIG. 7, the position indicated by the imaginary line (paper guide position I!
raise the paper to the platen 31 and paper pail 4.
The pail roller becomes ready for guidance within 3 days.

At the same time, the rotation of the first rotation shaft 116 is transmitted to the pail lever 94 via the bow of the connecting plate 13, as shown in FIG.
The pail lever 94 swings in the direction of arrow G, and the paper pail 40 is retracted from the platen 31.

Note that depending on the rotation of the paper pail 40 at this time,
The microswitch 98 for detecting the pale connection shown in No. 7- is not deactivated.

In this way, the card guide 114 rises and the paper pail 40 is retracted from the platen 31.

The paper P sent by the platen 31 and the pressure rollers 102 and 103 is guided by the deflector 101, and further guided by the card guide 114 between the paper pail 40 and the platen 31, and is then guided by the card guide 114 between the paper pail 40 and the platen 31.
wrapped around.

Note that when the solenoid 131 is deactivated from this state, the one-turn lever 127 returns to the state shown in FIG. and fixed part 10
6, the paper pile 40 returns to the state shown in FIG.

In this way, especially in inkjet printers,
Since time is required for the ink to dry during printing, it is not preferable to provide a paper guide on the front of the carriage to guide the paper when setting paper. Therefore, a separate card guide 114 as described above is provided to guide the paper. Guide 1
14 is raised only during paper setting to guide the paper between the platen 31 and the paper pail 40.

Note that, of course, not only inkjet printers but also other printers such as type wheel printers and thermal printers can be provided with the above-mentioned card guide to guide the paper when setting the paper.

Next, details of the 21i1-th ASF2 will be explained.

FIGS. 11 and 12 are a side sectional view of the ASF 2 and a perspective view of its essential parts.

This ASF 2 has two hopper sections 151 into which paper is loaded.
．． 152 and two paper discharge stacker sections 153 and 154.

The hopper parts 151 and 152 each have side plates 155a,
Pressure plates 157, 158 for placing paper P and an intermediate pressure plate 159 are slidably mounted on a support plate 156 fixed to l55b.

Note that an auxiliary back plate 160 is attached to the support plate 156 when using long sheets of paper, and the pressure plates 157 and 158 each have paper guide portions 157. .

158a is the attachment.

The topmost sheet of the bundle of sheets P loaded in these hopper sections 151 and 152 is pressed by pressure plates 157, 158 and 159 toward the sheet feed roller 162 by a pressure mechanism (not shown). , is pressed against the surface of the paper feed roller 162.

Then, as the paper feed roller 162 rotates, the uppermost paper P is sent out in the direction of arrow H or arrow 1 through between the paper feed roller 162 and the friction pad 163 pressed against the paper feed roller 162. .

This sent out paper P is passed between the guide plates 165 and 166 to the platen 31 of the printer 2 and the deflector 10.
1, and as mentioned above, the deflector 1
01 and the platen while being guided by the card guide 114!
11 and pressure rollers 102 and 103.

Note that when this paper P is located at the predetermined printing position,
Ink particles are ejected from an ink ejecting head 73 on the carriage 43 to perform predetermined printing.

Thereafter, the paper P is guided by the guide portion 170 and the guide plate 171, and the paper discharge roller 17, which has tooth-like protrusions formed on one side,
3,174 while being conveyed.

Then, this paper P has elastic sheets (or brushes) 17 on both sides for imparting ejection directionality to the paper.
Depending on the state of the switching guide 175 attached with 5a and 17Sa, the paper output stacker section 153 or the paper output stacker section 154
The paper is discharged to the paper discharge trays 176 and 177.

In this case, when the paper is ejected to the ejected paper stacker section 153,
I can see the print on the paper, but the pages are reversed.
When the sheets are discharged to the sheet discharge stacker section 154, the printed state on the sheets cannot be seen, but the sheets are arranged in page order.

Further, a manual paper feeding slit 178 is formed on the rear lower surface of the paper discharge tray 176 of the # paper stacker section 153 for manually feeding paper with the ASF 2 attached.

Furthermore, a pressure plate 179 biased forward by a spring (not shown) is swingably mounted in the middle of this paper ejection tray 176, and the paper ejected by this pressure plate 17S is stacked and ejected. This prevents the paper from falling into the manual paper feeding slit 178. Note that an auxiliary back plate 180 is attached to this paper discharge tray 1 floor.

Therefore, when manually feeding paper with the ASF 2 mounted, the paper is inserted in the direction of arrow J through the slit 178 between the back surface of the paper discharge tray 176 and the pressure plate 179.

Thereby, the manual paper is guided by the guide plate 166 and the guide plate 181 and enters between the platen 31 and the pressure roller 102.

Therefore, after inserting the paper in this manner, the paper insertion switch 14 is pressed to instruct automatic insertion.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing the drive mechanism of this ASF2.

First, an auxiliary plate 185 fixed to the side plate 155a at a predetermined interval has a gear 186 that engages with the platen gear 36 of the platen 31 and rotates by the rotation of the platen gear 36 with the ASF 2 attached to the printer. It can be installed freely.

A gear 188 that meshes with the gear 186 is fixed to the auxiliary plate side end of a shaft 187 which is rotatably supported by the side plates 155a, 155b and the auxiliary plate 185.

A gear 190 is fixed to the shaft 18, and a gear 191 rotatably supported on the side plate 155a is meshed with the gear 190.
92 is fixed.

A gear 194 supported by a support shaft 193 of a paper discharge roller 174 via a one-sided clutch (not shown) is meshed with this gear 192.

On the other hand, the gear 191 is meshed with a gear 196 rotatably supported on the side plate 155a, and the gear 196 of the clutch mechanism 197 for the paper feed roller 162 of the paper feed tray section 151 is meshed with the gear 196. There is.

The gear 198 of this clutch mechanism 197 includes a side plate 155.
A rotatably supported gear 199 is meshed with a.
This gear 199 has a hot spring (paper feed roller 16 of section 1S2).
A gear 198' of a clutch mechanism 197' for No. 2 is engaged with the clutch mechanism 197'.

Note that an operating lever 200 is attached to the switching guide 175, and the switching guide 175 is attached to the side plate 155a.
A click mechanism 201 is provided for holding the switch in each switching position.

The clutch mechanism 197 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 6, a drive disk 206 that supports the paper feed roller 162 is rotatably supported on a shaft 205 and has a gear 198 integrally attached thereto, and its rotation shaft 205.
and a clutch disk 208 supported via a one-sided clutch 207.

A bottle 20B is installed in the drive disk 206, and a latch ball 210 is loosely fitted into the bottle 20B so that it can rotate relative to the bottle 20 and swing as shown in FIG.

Further, this latch ball 210 is connected to the drive disk 2
With the clutch disc 208 mounted on the clutch disc 208, the clutch disc 208 is pressed against the sliding surface 213 of the clutch disc 20 and the annular plunge portion 214 by a torsion spring 211 mounted on the pin 209.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 15, the clutch disc 208 has a sliding contact surface 213 on which the clutch pawl 210 slides, with the left side region being a first zone (■) and the right side area being a second zone (2).
A protrusion 215 is formed in the 11th F area (2), and a recess 21B is formed in the 211F area (2).

The protrusion 215 of the clutch disc 208 is.

As shown in FIG. 15 and FIG. 1S, one end thereof is an obliquely inclined stepped end 217, and the other end is an inclined surface 218 that smoothly slopes and transitions to the sliding surface 213.
It is formed as follows.

Further, the recessed portion 216 of the clutch disc 20B is also formed as a stepped end 219 at one end and an inclined surface smoothly transitioning to the sliding surface 213 at the other end.

In addition, the clutch disk 20 on the drive disk 20
A pin 220 is installed on the 8 side, and a stopper 221 made of a leaf spring is fixed to the clutch disc 208 in correspondence therewith.

Further, as shown in FIG. 13, each clutch mechanism 197.
A brake mechanism 224 is arranged between 197' and 197'.

This brake mechanism 2'24 includes each clutch disc 20
Brake surfaces 208a, 208a formed at 8, 208'
Brake pieces 225 and 225, the tip of which abuts on the side plate 155a, are pivotally connected to a pin 226 installed in the side plate 155a, and biased in the separating direction by a tension coil spring 227.

On the other hand, the clutch mechanism IS7' is also similar to the clutch mechanism 197, except that the relative position between the latch ball 210' and the stepped end 219' of the clutch disk 208' is different from that of the clutch mechanism 197, as shown in FIG. Since the structure is as follows, corresponding parts are given the same reference numerals with dashes and detailed explanation will be omitted.

Next, the operation of these clutch mechanisms 197, 197' will be explained.

First, in the clutch mechanism 197, when the platen 31 rotates in the forward paper feeding direction (line feed direction), the gear 198 rotates in the direction of arrow X shown in FIG. 13 via the aforementioned gears.

As a result, the pin 220 of the drive disk 206 and the stopper 221 of the clutch disk 208 engage with each other.
The drive disk 206 and the clutch disk 208 rotate integrally in the direction of arrow X shown in FIG. 16.

At this time, as shown in FIG.
6 latch ball 210 tip and clutch disc 20
A predetermined distance between the recess 216 and the stepped end 219 is maintained at a predetermined distance.

The position of the latch ball 210 relative to the clutch disc 208 in this state is called the home position, and the angle between the first step end 219 and the latch ball 210 is the space angle θ! shall be.

Furthermore, when the drive disk 206 and clutch disk 208 are rotating in the direction of arrow Not sent.

On the other hand, at this time, the clutch mechanism 179' is also
As shown in the figure, the tip of the latch ball 210' of the drive disk 206' and the recess 2 of the clutch disk 208'
16' and the stepped end 21S' is maintained at a predetermined distance.

The position of the latch ball 210' with respect to the clutch disc 208' in this state is called the home position, and the angle between the first step end 21S' and the latch ball 210' is defined as a space angle θ4 (θ4〉θI). do.

Note that the amount of rotation of the platen 31 for resetting the clutch mechanism 197° 197' in this way (positioning to the home position) is 1, for example, the amount of rotation of the LF motor 31 is 40°.
This is the amount of pulse (corresponding to one row) rotational drive (hereinafter, it will be explained simply as the amount of rotation of the platen 31).

Therefore, when feeding the paper P in the hopper section 151,
Move the platen 31 of the printer 1 by a predetermined amount (for example, 28
0 pulse) rotate.

As a result, the drive disk 206 of the clutch mechanism 197 rotates in the direction of arrow Y by an operating rotation angle θ2 (θ2>θI) corresponding to the amount of rotation of the platen 31.

Note that at this time, the clutch disc 208 is braked by the action of the brake mechanism 224 described above and stops rotating.

Therefore, as the drive disk 206 rotates in the direction of the arrow Y, the latch ball 210 moves toward the clutch disk 2.
After slightly sliding contact with the first zone (3) of No. 08, it slides up on the slope 218 of the protrusion 215 as shown by the dashed line in FIG.

The tip of the latch ball 210 is a protrusion 215.
When the drive disk 2 falls from the stepped end 217 of
The rotation at the operating rotation angle 02 on day 0 is completed.

From this state, by rotating the platen 31 again in the positive direction by a predetermined amount (for example, 80 pulses), the drive disk 206 rotates in the direction of arrow X by an operating space angle θ3 corresponding to the amount of rotation of the platen 31.

At this time, the clutch disc 20th is the brake mechanism 22
Since it is braked by 4 and stopped without rotating,
The tip of the latch ball 210 is the stepped end 2 of the protrusion 215
17 to move from the first zone I to the second zone ■ of the sliding contact surface 213 and fall into the recess 216, and the stepped end 2
19.

At this point, the rotation of the platen 31 is stopped, and the rotation of the drive disk 206 at the working space angle θ3 is stopped.

Note that the space angle θi9, the operating rotation angle θ2, and the operating space angle θ3 have a relationship of θ2=01+03.

Next, from this state, the drive disk 206 is rotated in the Y direction by rotating the platen 31 by a predetermined amount (for example, 1540 pulses) in the opposite direction (backline feed direction).

At this time, since the tip of the latch pawl 210 is engaged with the stepped end 219 of the recess 216 of the clutch disc 208, the clutch disc p208 also rotates in the direction of the arrow Y.

Then, the rotation of the clutch disk 208 is transmitted to the rotation shaft 205 via the one-sided clutch 207, the paper feed roller 162 is rotated, and the paper P from the hopper section 151 is sent out.

At this time, the clutch mechanism 197' has its latch pole 210' on the sliding contact surface 213' of the clutch disc 208'.
hopper section 15.
No. 2 paper feed roller 162 rotates to feed out the paper P.

In this case, the amount of rotation of the platen 31 is set to an amount that feeds the paper slightly more than the contact point between the platen 31 and the pressure roller 102.

Therefore, the paper P is connected to the platen 31 and the pressure roller 1.
02, the reverse rotation of the platen 31 prevents the platen 31 from entering between the platen 31 and the pressure roller 102, and a bulge is formed at the tip, causing the tip to cover the entire surface of the platen 31. The posture is corrected so that they are in contact.

Therefore, by rotating the platen 31 in the forward direction from this state, the paper P is wound around the platen 31 as described above.

Note that when the platen 31 rotates in the forward direction, the drive disk 206 rotates in the direction of the arrow X, so that the tip of the latch pole 210 separates from the end 219 of the recess 216 of the clutch disk 208 .
stops, and the paper feed roller 162 also stops.

Further rotation of the drive disk 206 causes the latch pole 210 to return to the home position, and the pin 2
20 and the stopper 221 engage, and the clutch disc 2
08 rotates again, but the rotation is not transmitted to the paper feed roller 162 of the hopper section 151 by the one-way clutch 207.

Furthermore, when feeding paper into the hopper section 152, the first
The drive disk 206' shown in FIG. 7 rotates the platen 31 in the opposite direction by the amount of rotation that causes the drive disk 206' to rotate in the direction of arrow Y by an operating rotation angle θ5.

At this time, the drive disk 20 of the clutch mechanism 197
6 also rotates in the direction of the arrow Y, but even after the latch pawl 210 gets over the protrusion 215 of the stopped clutch disc 208, it simply makes sliding contact in the Y direction with the first zone I of the sliding contact surface 213, and the clutch Disk 208 does not rotate.

Then, rotate the platen 31 in the forward direction.

After rotating the drive disks 206, 206' by the working space angle 03, by rotating the platen 31 in the opposite direction, the latch pole 210' of the clutch mechanism 197' is moved to the stepped end 21 of the clutch disk 208'.
S' is engaged, the clutch disc 208' rotates in the direction of arrow Y, the paper feed roller 162 of the hopper section 152 rotates, and the paper P is sent out.

At this time, the drive disc 2 of the clutch mechanism 197
06 also rotates in the direction of the arrow Y, but its bottle 220 overcomes the stopper 221 of the clutch disc 208, so
Clutch disc 208 does not rotate.

In this way, by controlling the rotation of the platen 31, the paper P can be selectively fed from each hopper section 151, 152 of the ASF 2.

Note that the paper ejection roller 174 and the paper ejection roller 173 driven by the paper ejection roller 174 are moved to the platen 3 by the action of a one-sided clutch (not shown) interposed between the support shaft IS3 and the gear 194.
1 is rotated only when it rotates in the forward direction.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing the control section of the printer 1.

This control section includes an interface section 251, a main control section 252, and various detection circuits.

Consists of drivers etc.

First, the interface section 251 is an IF/CPU 25 consisting of an 8-bit microprocessor (CPU), for example.
3 and R that stores programs and other fixed data.
Data transfer between the host system HTC and the main control section 252 is controlled by a microcomputer system consisting of the OM2S4 and the RAM 255 used as working memory and data memory.

The interface unit 251 also includes a signal input/output l10257 between various switches and lamps provided on the operation panel 6, and the buzzer 256.

Then, via this l10257, the reset switch l
l, LF switch 12. The status signals from the FF switch 13 and the automatic insertion switch 14 are transferred to the inverters 258 to 261.
outputs a lighting signal for the standby lamp 21 via the lamp driver 262, and outputs a lighting signal for the standby lamp 21 via the lamp driver 262.
3 through the buzzer 256, and further I/F 264.
It takes in status signals and outputs lighting signals with other switches and lamps via.

The interface section 251 also receives data and a busy signal BUSY with the host HTC.

A host interface (I/F) 266 that controls the transmission and reception of the initialization signal INS, etc., and this host I/F 266
and l10267 for information input/output between.

Furthermore, this interface unit 251 is connected to the ASF switch 26B, which is the switch No. 2 of the DIP switch 26, which is manually operated by the operator depending on whether or not the ASF 2 is used, and the pull-up resistor 2.
On the 6th, a separate ASFm circuit 268 consisting of a buffer 270 is provided.

Then, an identification signal from the ASF identification circuit 268 corresponding to the state of the ASF switch 25B is input to the 110267 and sent to the host HTC.

In addition, in this embodiment, information indicating the presence or absence of ASF is input using the DIP switch.
A switch may be provided that operates when the SF is attached to the printer, or information indicating the presence or absence of the ASF may be output by attaching or detaching the connector.

In this case, as the configuration with the latter connector.

For example, a connector with two open connector terminals (one for signal output, the other ground) is provided on the printer side, and a connector with two shorted pins that connects the two connector terminals can be attached and detached. You can also do this.

Alternatively, the printer side may have only one connector terminal for signal output, and a connector having a pin connected to the ground and a pin connected to this pin and corresponding to the signal output terminal of the printer may be attached and detached.

Using this connector is effective when some kind of signal from the ASF is input to the printer, such as when the ASF is provided with a paper-out detection sensor and this sensor signal is input to the printer. In other words, since the ASF and the printer will be connected with a connector, the ASF connector will be connected to the printer's connector and the ASF connector will be connected at the same time.
Information indicating the presence or absence can be obtained.

Returning to FIG. 18, this interface section 251 and the host HTC are connected by the aforementioned Centronics interface connector 28.

The interface unit 251 also includes a programmable peripheral l10271 for transferring print data to and from the main control unit 252, and a parallel/serial converter (P/Serial converter) that converts print data from parallel to serial.
5) 272 and DMA (Direct Memory Access) 2
It is equipped with 73.

Then, the print data from the host HTC stored in the RAM 255 by the DMA 273 is sent to the l10271 by a synchronization signal (S'Y
N), the data is converted into serial data by P/5272 and transferred to the main control unit 252.

Further, this interface section 251 is connected to the main control section 252 via l10274.

282, commands, responses, etc. related to printing, paper insertion control, etc. are sent and received.

Furthermore, this interface section 251 includes the reset switch 27 as described above.

When this reset switch 27 is pressed.

The initial reset signal is input only to each element of this interface section 251.

Note that the initial reset signal from the reset switch 27 is input as an interrupt input to the main control section 252, and is not input as a reset signal.

On the other hand, the main control section 252 is a MAIN-CP consisting of, for example, an 8-bit microprocessor (CPU).
A microcomputer system consisting of a U 283, a ROM 284 storing programs and other fixed data, and a RAM 285 used as a working memory and data memory performs printing control and the like.

The main control section 252 also includes a distortion correction calculation circuit 286 and a ROM 287 that stores a distortion correction table.
It is equipped with

This distortion correction calculation circuit 286 is connected to the interface section 251.
The print data transferred as serial data is received, the print data is distorted based on the distortion correction calculation table stored in the ROM 287, and the charging voltage data is converted to the D/D.
It is also sent to the charging voltage generation circuit 289 via the A converter 288.

The excitation basic pulse data is sent to the excitation voltage generation circuit 290.

The charging voltage generation circuit 28B includes a distortion correction calculation circuit 286
A charging voltage is applied to the charging electrode 75 according to the charging voltage data from the charging electrode 75.
to be applied.

The excitation voltage generation circuit 290 applies a substantially sinusoidal analog excitation voltage to the electrostrictive vibrator 74 in accordance with the excitation basic pulse data from the distortion correction calculation circuit 286 to cause it to vibrate.

The main control section 252 also includes a timer 291 for one interrupt, l10292, 295, and a programmable peripheral l10294 for transmitting and receiving signals between each driver, detection circuit, etc.

The LF motor driver 32 is connected to the main control section 25
The LF motor 32 is driven according to the line feed drive data from 2.

The charge detection circuit 296 outputs a charge presence signal, which is output when ink collides with the charge detection electrode 82, to the main control unit 252.

The heater control circuit 297 is connected to the main control section 252
While the heater ON signal from the ink temperature detection sensor 71 is being input, the heater 72 is driven and controlled based on the detection signal from the ink temperature detection sensor 71 to control the ink temperature to a predetermined value.

The charge detection circuit 298 outputs a charge presence signal to the main control unit 252 when charged ink particles collide with the conductive gutter 78 .

The paper detection circuit 29 outputs a detection signal indicating the presence/absence of paper to the main control section 252 in response to the detection signal from the paper sensor 111.

The ink level detection circuit 300 includes an ink level sensor 6
A detection signal indicating the presence/absence of ink is output to the main control unit 252 depending on whether or not ink is in contact with the ink.

Ink high pressure detection circuit 301. Ink low pressure detection circuit 302
are detection signals indicating high ink pressure and low ink pressure when the ink pressure is higher than a predetermined value and when the ink pressure is lower than another predetermined value according to the detection signals of the pressure sensors 6G and 67, respectively. is output to the main control section 252.

The ink detection circuit 303 outputs a detection signal indicating ink leakage to the main control section 252 when there is ink between the electrodes S and 79.

The valve driver 304 is connected to the main control section 252
The electromagnetic switching valve (valve) 65 is switched and driven in response to a valve switching instruction signal from.

The pump driver 305 is connected to the main control section 252
The pump 63 is driven in response to a pump drive instruction signal from.

The high voltage generation circuit 306 is connected to the main control section 252
A deflection voltage is applied to the deflection electrode 76 in response to a deflection instruction signal from.

The home position detection circuit 307 outputs a detection signal indicating that the carriage 43 is located at the home position to the main control section 252 in response to a detection signal from a home sensor 308, which is not shown in the explanation of the mechanism section described above.

The cover open detection circuit 309 outputs a detection signal indicating whether the cover is open or closed according to the state of the cover open switch 52 to the main control unit 252.

The SP motor driver 310 is the main control section 2
The carriage motor 45 is driven according to the carriage motor drive data from 52.

The paper pail open detection circuit 311 outputs a detection signal indicating that the paper pail is open to the main control section 252 according to the state of the microswitch S8.

The solenoid driver 312 is connected to the main control section 2
The solenoid 131 is driven in response to a solenoid drive signal from the solenoid 52.

Note that the relationship between each circuit of this control section and the printed board is as follows.

The main board 53 includes a main control section 252,
Charge voltage generation circuit 289. LF motor driver 2S52
Paper detection circuit 299. Home position detection circuit 309.
sp motor driver 310° paper pile open detection circuit 311. A solenoid driver 312 is included, and the interface board 54 includes an interface section 251 and an operation section circuit.

Also, on the inkjet unit board 5S.

Heater control circuit 2S7. The excitation voltage generation circuit 290° includes an ink level detection circuit 300 to a pump driver 305, and the preamplifier board 56 includes a charge detection circuit 296,
298 are included.

Next, the operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be explained with reference to FIG. 1S and subsequent figures.

First, the main control unit 252 starts executing the initialization process shown in FIG. 1S when the power is turned on.

In this initialization process, initialization processes such as pointer saving and register clearing are executed.

Thereafter, the carriage 43 is positioned at the home position, and it is determined whether there is an ink leak or not and whether the ink pressure is high. If it is an ink leak or an ink high pressure, the process moves to error processing.

Also, if there is no ink leakage or high ink pressure.

The ink pressure pump 63 and the ink recovery pump 68 are driven to determine whether or not the ink pressure is no longer low by the time a predetermined time has elapsed, and whether or not the ink pressure is no longer low after the elapse of the predetermined time.

At this time, if the ink pressure is still low after a predetermined time has elapsed, the process moves to an error process, and if the ink pressure is no longer low within or after a predetermined time, that is, when the ink pressure rises above a predetermined value, the electromagnetic switching valve (valve ) 65,
After turning on the ft strain oscillator 74 and turning on the heater 72, the process waits until 60 seconds have elapsed.

Until this 60 seconds have elapsed, ink is ejected from the ink ejecting head 73, separated into ink particles at regular intervals approximately in the middle of the charging electrode 75, and these ink particles collide with the conductive gutter 78. There is.

Then, when 60 seconds have elapsed, the process moves to the main routine.

This main routine will be explained with reference to FIG.

First, a 1-phase search process is performed, and then a deflection amount setting process is performed.

In the phase search process, a charging voltage is applied to the charging electrode 75 while no deflection voltage is applied to the deflection electrode 76, and the phase of this charging voltage is sequentially shifted until a charged signal is input from the charging detection circuit 298. , the phase when the charged signal is input is the optimal phase.

In this way, the optimal phase of the charging voltage is searched, and thereafter, the charging voltage of the searched phase is applied to the charging electrode 75 until this phase search process is re-executed.

In addition, in this deflection amount setting process, with the carriage 43 positioned at the home position and the standard charging voltage of the maximum deflection step being applied to the charging electrode 75, the detection signal of the charging detection circuit 296 is referred to and the standard charging voltage of the maximum deflection step is applied to the charging electrode 75. When the detection result is that there is no charge, the charging voltage is sequentially increased by a predetermined amount, and when the detection result is that there is a charge, the charging voltage is sequentially increased in each minimum unit.

Then, a correction amount is calculated based on the difference between the charging voltage when changing from charged to uncharged and the standard charging voltage, and the charging voltage for the deflection amount step during printing is calculated.

After executing the phase search process and the deflection amount setting process in this manner, a standby completion instruction is sent to the interface unit 251. As a result, the interface unit 251 intermittently energizes the buzzer 25G three times and
The busy signal BUSY for TC is cleared and the standby lamp 21 is turned off.

After setting the timer 291 to 80 seconds.

Execute sensor check processing to check the status of sensors (including switches).

After that, data input from the interface unit 251 is permitted, and if there is data input, it is determined whether the data is print data or command data, and if it is print data, printing processing is executed, and if it is command data, it is determined whether the data is print data or command data. After executing the process, the ink ejection stop determination counter (register) is reset.

Then, if there is no data input from the interface section 251, it remains as is, and if there is data input, after the counter is reset as described above, it is determined whether the 80 sec timer has timed out.

At this time, if the time has not expired, the sensor check process returns to the data input determination from the interface unit 251, and 80 seconds have elapsed since the completion of printing preparation (standby).
The green return is executed until ec has elapsed.

On the other hand, when the timer times up, that is, there is no input from the interface unit 251 for 80 seconds after the completion of standby, and there is no other sensor check processing, the ink ejection stop determination counter is incremented (+1) L and then It is determined whether the value of the counter is "7" or not.

At this time, if the counter value is not "7", the carriage 43 is placed at the home position for 2.5 seconds.
During ec, the ink receiver of the unit 37 executes the ejection waste liquid processing in which ink is ejected onto the plate 81, and then returns to the phase search processing.

Further, if the counter value is "7", the waiting time for data input from the interface unit 251 is 560 seconds (80X
7) has continued, so after performing a temporary stop process, the process returns to the phase search process.

Next, the pale check process in the sensor check process of this main routine will be explained with reference to FIG.

First, it is determined whether or not the paper pail 40 is in the open state, and if the paper pail 40 is in the open state,
The interface unit 251 is instructed to turn on the pale open lamp 20.

Thereafter, the solenoid 131 of the paper setting mechanism 38 is turned on until the paper pail 40 is in the closed state.

Then, when the paper pail 40 is in the closed state, the solenoid 131 is turned off, and the interface section 25 is turned off.
1 is instructed to turn off the pale open lamp 20.

This pale check process is for performing paper manual setting in which paper is set by manually operating the platen 31 and stopping the printer.

That is, in this printer, normally, paper is set automatically by operating the automatic insertion switch 14 or by a paper feed command from the host, as will be described later, but there may be cases where it is desired to set paper by manually operating the platen 31. .

By the way, in this printer, as described above, the card guide 114 is raised in conjunction with the rotation of the platen 31 to guide the paper to the platen 31.

Therefore, when the paper pail 40 is opened after standby is completed, it is determined that the paper is manually set.
The solenoid 131 is activated to connect the platen 31 and the card guide lifting mechanism that lifts the card guide 114 as described above.

Accordingly, even when manually setting (manually inserting) paper, the card guide 114 is raised to the paper guide position by manually rotating the platen 31, so that the paper can be easily set.

Note that when the paper pail 40 is brought into the open state, data reception is prohibited and the printer is stopped, and after the paper pail 40 is brought into the closed state again, a return process (not shown) is performed.

Next, the cover check process in the sensor check process of the main routine will be described with reference to FIG.

First, it is determined whether the cover 5 is in the open state or not, and when the cover 5 is in the open state, the interface section 251 is instructed to turn on the cover open lamp 1st, and the cover 5 is closed. Repeat this routine until the state is reached.

That is, when the cover 5 is opened after the standby is completed, the ink is kept in the ink ejecting state and there is no time-limited stop, so that it is possible to easily perform long-term knee-gain jet ejection.

Next, the suspension processing of the main routine will be explained with reference to FIG. 23.

First, the interface unit 251 is instructed to temporarily stop. As a result, the interface section 251 energizes the buzzer 256 once.

The standby lamp 21 is controlled to blink.

After that, after resetting the temporary stop determination counter, the power to the electromagnetic switching valve 65 (valve) is stopped, and each pump 6
! 1.68 is turned off, and the electrostrictive vibrator 74 is turned off.

In this state, it waits until there is a reset input from the interface section 251, that is, until the reset switch 11 of the operation panel 6 is pressed or the initialization signal INS is input from the host 1TC.

Then, when the reset switch 11 of the operation panel 6 is pressed or the initialization signal INS is input from the host HTC and a reset instruction is input from the interface section 251, each pump 63, 68 is turned on, The electromagnetic switching valve 68 (valve) is energized, the electrostrictive vibrator 74 is turned on, and the interface unit 251 is instructed to turn on the standby lamp 21 .

After that, wait for 30 seconds in this state, and wait for 30 seconds.
When the time has elapsed, the process returns to the phase search process of the main routine shown in FIG.

Next, the interface unit 251 starts executing the initialization process shown in FIG. 24 when the power is turned on and the reset switch 27 is turned on.

First, initialization processing such as register saving is executed.

Thereafter, the status of each of the DIP switches 25 and 26 is read, and the read data is stored in the internal RAM.

That is, this interface unit 251 executes the initialization process not only when the power is turned on but also when the reset switch 27 is turned on.

As described above, the main control unit 252 executes the initialization process only when the power is turned on, and then shifts to the main routine.

This is because the state of the DIP switch is read and stored during initialization processing, so the mode specified by the DIP switch,
For example, when changing the presence or absence of ASF, etc., this is to shorten the time from mode change to completion of stun and pie.

In other words, inkjet printers require a certain amount of time (60 seconds in this example) to complete print preparation after power is turned on, so the power switch must be turned off every time the setting mode is changed. Then, each time printing is not possible for a predetermined period of time, efficiency deteriorates.

On the other hand, by providing a switch like this printer that instructs to initialize only a part (the interface part) separately from the initialization when the power is turned on, the setting mode can be changed without turning off the power. This makes it possible to shorten the time it takes to become ready for printing after changing the mode.

Note that it is also possible to provide a routine in the main routine that periodically monitors the status of DIP switches, etc., but in this case, the number of processes in the main routine increases accordingly, so in this printer, the settings are I try to incorporate all modes.

Next, the main routine of this interface section 251 will be explained with reference to FIG. 25.

First, it is determined whether or not there is reception from the main control section 252, and when data etc. are received from the main control section 251, a reception process is performed in which processing is performed according to the received data.

In this receiving process, for example, in response to the above-mentioned standby instruction, temporary stop instruction, etc., output of a busy signal BUSY to the host HTC, output stop, control of turning on and blinking the standby lamp 21 twice, or drive control of the buzzer 256 are performed.

Note that it is better to perform this reception process by interrupt rather than by the main routine.

If there is no received data from the main control unit 252, it is determined whether or not there is received data from the host HTC, and when data is received from the host HTC, whether the received data is print data or command data. Print processing or command processing is executed depending on the situation.

In the printing process, the received print data is stored in the reception buffer (RAM 25S), and each time, for example, 1542 minutes of print data is received, a print command is output to the main control unit 252, and thereafter the print data is transferred to the main control unit 252 by the DMA 273. The information is transferred to the control unit 252.

In addition, in command processing, the received command data is
When using LF (line feed) command and FF (
1.Form feed) command performs paper feed processing, and for paper feed command (paper feed command), paper automatic insertion processing including paper feed control from ASF2 is performed. For other commands, command processing is performed according to the command.

Furthermore, when there is no data received from Bost HTC, the status of each switch on the operation panel 6 is monitored and the LF
When the switch 12 or FF switch 13 is pressed, paper feed processing is performed, when the automatic insertion switch 14 is pressed, paper automatic insertion processing including paper feed control from ASF 2 is performed, and when any other switch is pressed, the paper feed processing is performed. Perform processing according to the switch.

Next, paper feed (LF and FF) processing by the interface unit 251 and main control unit 252 will be explained with reference to FIG. 26. In addition.

For the sake of explanation, both processes are shown without distinction.

First, when receiving the FF command or FF command from the host HTC and entering this paper feeding process, 1
After setting the paper feed amount (LF amount) for a line or the paper feed amount (LF amount) for a page break (paper feed amount),
After outputting a busy signal BUSY to the printer, it is determined whether or not there is next print data.

At this time, if there is no next print data, paper sensor 1
11 detects the presence of paper or not.

Then, if there is one paper, there is paper on the platen 31, so the paper out flag indicating no paper is reset and 1M! After the paper is fed by a fixed LF amount, the busy signal BUSY for the host HTC is cleared.

If there is no paper, check the paper out flag indicating that there is no paper using the process not shown in the figure. If the paper out flag is not set, set it, and then count the paper feed amount after setting the paper out flag. The out-of-paper counter is counted up by the set LF amount, and the platen 31 is rotated by the set LF amount.

Thereafter, the count value of the paper out counter is compared with a predetermined value (fixed value) that is the amount of paper movement from when the tail end of the paper passes through the vapor sensor 111 until it passes through the pressure roller 103.

At this time, the 1-value of the 1-paper out counter is smaller than the predetermined value, but printing is still possible, so the host l-HT
Clear the busy signal BUSY for C.

Further, if the count value of the 1 paper out counter is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, printing cannot be performed, so the logical paper end flag is set, the paper fish lamp 16 is turned on, and a busy signal BUSY is output to the host HT C.

On the other hand, when there is next print data, it is determined whether or not the logical paper has ended, and if it has, the process directly returns to the main routine.

If it is not the logical paper end, the unprinted data is printed, and then the process moves to the paper presence/absence determination process described above.

Also, when the paper feed process is started by pressing the LF switch 12 or FF switch 13 on the operation panel 6, it is first determined whether or not printing is in progress, and if printing is in progress, this process is disabled. The process returns to the main routine, sets the LF amount according to LF or FF if printing is not in progress, outputs a busy signal BUSY to the host ITC, and then proceeds to the above-described paper presence/absence determination process.

By performing such processing, it becomes possible to print in a desired printing range regardless of the positional deviation between the vapor sensor and the printing position.

Next, automatic paper insertion processing in this printer will be explained. Note that the process for manually inserting paper has been described above, so it will not be discussed here.

First, if this printer is not equipped with ASF2 (
If the paper is not in use, feed the paper manually one by one.

Therefore, when sending print data from the host side to the printer, for example, after transferring print data for one page, the print data is transferred until the printer receives manual paper feed and the busy signal is released. need to wait.

On the other hand, when ASF2 is installed (when it is available), the host side can continuously transfer multiple pieces of data by adding a paper feed command to the beginning of each page. .

Also, if ASF2 is not installed and a paper feed command or paper ejection command is output to the printer, it will become an invalid code, so each time the paper feed or paper ejection command is sent, the A process is required to notify the host of this fact.

Therefore, as described above, this printer is equipped with an ASF switch 26B that indicates the presence or absence of ASF2.

The status signal of this ASF switch 2G[l, that is, AS
An identification signal indicating the presence or absence of F2 is sent not only to the interface section 251 of the printer 1 but also to the host HTC.

Therefore, the host HTC receives this ASF identification signal, and when ASF2 is present, it outputs a paper feed command and a paper ejection command and continuously transfers print data, whereas when ASF2 is not present, it outputs a paper feed command and a paper ejection command. The control is switched so that print data is transferred only once without outputting commands or paper discharge commands.

The printing process on the host side will be described later.

Further, in this embodiment, the state of the ASF switch 26B is directly transmitted to the host 1-r T C via the buffer.
Alternatively, the interface unit 251 may send information indicating the AS F-0N10FF read during initialization processing to the host HTC. If you do it like this.

The number 6 line can be reduced by one.

Therefore, regarding the paper automatic insertion process on the printer side, FIG. 27 shows the process executed by the interface section 251 and FIG.
This will be explained with reference to FIGS. 8 to 33.

First, the IF-CPU 253 of the interface section 251 operates the automatic insertion switch 14 of the operation panel 6 as described above.
When is pressed and when a paper feed command is received from the host HTC, execution of the process shown in FIG. 27 is started.

And the state of the ASF switch 26B (ONloFF)
is checked by referring to the memory i stored in the initialization process.

At this time, if the ASF switch 26B is OFF, manual paper feeding will be performed, and therefore, first, a 1 paper presence check command is output to the MAIN-CPU 283 of the main control unit 252.

Therefore, the MAIN-CPU 283 executes the paper command check process shown in FIG.

The paper sensor 111 is checked, and if one paper is present, a "one paper present" response is output to the IF-CPU 25B, and if there is no paper, a "one paper absent" response is output to the IF-CPU 25B.

And ■F-cpu2sB is this MAIN CPU
If the response from 283 is "One sheet available", it is determined that printing is still in progress since the sheet is wrapped around the platen 31, and this automatic sheet insertion process is ended.

On the other hand, if the response from the MAIN-CPU 2B3 is not "There is one paper", the "rLF forward command" is output to the MAIN-CPU 283, and after outputting the "autoset command", the automatic insertion switch 14 is activated. Wait until the switch is released and when the switch is released it will be 1.5
This automatic paper insertion process ends after a second.

Therefore, when the MAIN-CPU 283 receives the "rLF forward command", it executes the LF forward command processing shown in FIG. 2S, sets the internal status, and sets the "rLF forward command".
When the autoset command is received, the autoset command processing shown in FIG. 30 is executed.

In this autoset command processing, after first stopping the reception of other command interrupts, it is determined whether or not the carriage 43 is located at the home position. If it is not at the home position, a carriage return operation is performed and the carriage 43 return to the home position.

Then, with the carriage 43 located at the home position, it is determined whether or not an operation error has occurred, and if an operation error has occurred, the process waits until the error is resolved.

When the operation error is eliminated, the platen 31 (LF motor 32) is rotated in the forward direction by, for example, 200 pulses (steps), and while the platen 31 is rotated in the forward direction for 200 pulses,
Every time the pulse is rotated, the paper sensor 111 is checked to determine whether or not paper is present.

At this time, 200 pulses are applied to the platen 31 in the forward direction.
If there is no paper present even after the rotation is made, the automatic paper insertion process is immediately terminated.

That is, when the automatic insertion switch 14 is pressed without setting paper in the printer during single manual paper feeding.

Alternatively, if the paper jams after setting the paper and pressing the automatic insertion switch 14, it is wasteful to carry out the paper feed operation (rotation of the platen) to insert all the paper.

Therefore, if paper is not present even though the platen is rotated by the amount that paper should be present, the paper insertion operation is ended at that point and the next process is started immediately without continuing the unnecessary operation. Transition.

In this case, the paper fish lamp 16 may be turned on.

It is preferable to sound the buzzer 256 to notify the operator that there is no paper (including the occurrence of a jam).

On the other hand, if paper is present while rotating the platen 31 in the forward direction for 200 pulses, the counter for counting the amount of one rotation is cleared once, and then the platen 31 is newly rotated in the forward direction for 232 pulses. At this time, the solenoid 131 is turned on and stands by for the time required for the operation (for example, 50 m5ec).

As a result, as described above, the card guide 114 moves together with the rotation of the platen 31 and rises to the position where it guides the paper.

Therefore, the platen 31 is further rotated to feed the paper.

Solenoid 131 is turned O when the paper is sent for 560 pulses.
After waiting for 50m5ec in the FF state, this autoset command processing is ended.

Next, the IF-CPU 253 switches the ASF switch 26I)
is ON, both automatic paper feeding and manual paper feeding can be performed, so first the MAIN-CPU 28
Outputs a command to check that there is 1 paper for every 3 pages.

Thereby, the MAIN-CPU 283 executes the paper presence check command processing shown in FIG. 28 described above and returns the presence or absence of one paper to the IF-CPU 253.

Therefore, the IF-CPU 253
When receiving a response from 3 to 1 paper available, there is paper left on the platen 31 and a jam will occur when the next paper is fed, so the message to the MAIN-CPU 283 is
It outputs a "sheet discharge command" and waits until the MAIN-CPU 283 enters the READY state.

Therefore, the MAIN-CPU 283 executes the paper discharge command processing shown in FIG. 33, rotates the platen 31 in the fair direction by one line (for example, 40 pulses), and feeds the platen by 4000 pulses (100 lines).

During this time, each determination is made as to whether or not the paper is out, until 4000 pulses are reached or the paper is out.

The process of rotating the platen 31 one line at a time is repeated.

If the platen 31 runs out of paper while the platen 31 is rotated for 4000 pulses, the platen 31 is further rotated in the forward direction for 1200 pulses and the process ends.

Further, if the platen 31 is rotated for 4000 pulses and the paper does not run out, the paper ejection command processing is terminated at the time when 4000 pulses have been sent. This is because, for example, in the case of continuous forms, the operation does not end and is repeated endlessly.

In this way, when the MAIN-CPU 283 finishes processing the paper discharge command and enters the ready state, the IF-CP
U253 sends "paper feed command" to MAIN-CPU283
is output and waits until the MAIN-CPU 283 becomes ready.

- When the Lever 1MAlN-CPU 283 receives this "paper feed command", it executes the paper feed command process shown in FIG. 31 and feeds paper from the hopper section 151 of the ASF2. After rotating the platen 31 in the opposite direction for 280 pulses, it is then rotated in the forward direction for 80 pulses.
Rotate for a pulse.

The clutch mechanism 197 of the hopper section 151 is connected to connect the paper feed roller 162 and the platen 31.

Therefore, the platen 31 is now rotated in the opposite direction by 1540 pulses.

As a result, as described above, the paper is fed a little further between the platen 31 and the pressure roller 102, and its posture is adjusted.

Therefore, the process moves to the auto-set command process shown in FIG. 30 described above to insert paper. Therefore, even at this time, if the platen 31 is rotated 200 pulses and no paper is present, the paper insertion operation is ended at that point.

That is, when a sheet is ejected, the clutch mechanism 197 is reset (pre-initialized) by the forward rotation of the platen 31 at that time.

Paper feeding operation is performed immediately without performing a pre-initial operation, which will be described later.

Next, IF-CPU25! l is MAIN-CPU28
If the response from 3 is “There is no paper,” then MAIN-
It outputs a "pre-initial command" to the CPU 283 and waits until the MAIN-CPU 283 becomes ready.

Therefore, when the MAIN-CPU 283 receives the "pre-initial command", it executes the pre-initial command processing shown in FIG.
(equivalent to one line) and determines whether or not there is paper each time.

Then, the platen 31 is rotated in units of 40 pulses for 16
If paper is present before repeating the process twice, it is not due to paper being fed from the ASF 2, but due to manual paper feeding by the operator, and the process immediately proceeds to the autoset command process shown in FIG. 30.

On the other hand, if there is no paper even after repeating the rotation of the platen 31 16 times, it can be determined that the paper is being fed from the ASF2, so the process moves to the paper feed command process shown in FIG.
After paper is fed from SF2, a paper setting operation is performed.

That is, during the pre-initial operation (paper feeding preparation operation) in which the clutch of ASF2 is reset and paper feeding is possible, 1
When there is paper, it is determined that it is manual paper feed and the automatic setting operation is started.If paper is not present even after the pre-initial operation is completed after a predetermined amount of paper feed operation, it is determined that it is automatic paper feeding and ASF2 is started. Perform paper feeding operation from

To summarize the automatic paper insertion operation of this printer, (1)
As a result of determining the presence or absence of ASF, if there is no ASF, it is determined that manual paper feeding is being used, and at that time, it is checked whether or not there is already paper on the platen, and if there is paper, the automatic paper insertion operation is terminated. .

If there is no paper, it will automatically set the paper.

(2) As a result of determining the presence or absence of ASF, if ASF is present, either automatic paper feeding or manual paper feeding may be used.

Therefore, we first check whether or not there is paper on the platen, and if there is paper, we perform a paper ejection operation to forcibly eject the paper, and then operate the ASF paper feed operation to feed the paper from the ASF. Then, the paper is automatically set on the platen by automatic paper setting operation.

On the other hand, if there is no paper, the ASF performs a pre-initial operation to enable paper feeding. At this time, it also determines whether it is manual paper feeding or automatic paper feeding, and if it is 1 manual feeding, the paper is automatically set. Take action.

If it is automatic paper feeding, the ASF paper feeding operation is performed and then the paper automatic setting operation is performed.

As described above, this printer has the following automatic paper insertion control function.

■ The presence or absence of ASF is identified from the state of the ASF switch, and a different paper insertion operation is automatically performed depending on the identification result.As a result, unlike if there was no ASF, only manual paper feeding would be possible. If there is, automatic paper feeding is possible, which enables optimal control.

■ Equipped with a sensor to distinguish between manual paper feeding and automatic paper feeding. Based on the detection result of this sensor, if ASF is detected, it is possible to identify whether it is manual paper feeding or automatic paper feeding, and insert paper according to this identification result. operation (including paper feeding operation), so that paper can be automatically set by one paper insertion instruction (including paper feeding command) in both manual paper feeding and automatic paper feeding. . At the same time, it is not necessary to give an instruction each time the paper feeding method is changed, thereby improving operability.

■ Equipped with a paper presence/absence sensor that detects whether or not there is paper on the platen, and based on the detection result of the paper presence/absence sensor, the feed amount (or time) from the start of paper insertion operation (including paper feeding operation) until paper is present. (good) to identify manual or automatic paper feeding. Thereby, there is no need to separately provide a paper presence/absence sensor exclusively for manual feeding detection.

Of course, a manual feed detection sensor for identifying manual paper feed may be provided in the paper feed path through which paper passes only during manual paper feed to identify manual paper feed or automatic paper feed. In this case, Manual feed detection sensor.

It may be provided on the printer side, or it may be provided on the ASF side and the detection results are input to the printer.

In addition to the paper presence sensor that detects whether or not there is paper on the platen, one paper presence sensor is installed at different distances from the manual paper feed slot and the hopper section of the ASF to facilitate paper insertion. It is also possible to identify manual paper feeding or automatic paper feeding based on the feeding amount (or time may be sufficient) from the start (including paper feeding operation) until paper becomes available.

■ In the case of ■, 5 AS to identify manual paper feed or automatic paper feed.
This is performed during the pre-initial operation (paper feeding preparation operation) to make F ready for paper feeding. This makes it possible to quickly determine whether to manually feed paper or automatically feed paper.

■ If manual paper feeding is determined in step 5, the automatic paper setting operation is carried out, and if automatic paper feeding is determined, the automatic paper setting operation is performed after automatic paper feeding, thereby quickly setting the paper. can do.

■ When receiving a paper insertion command (including paper feeding command),
It identifies whether or not there is paper on the platen and selectively performs paper ejecting operation, paper feeding operation, paper feeding preparation operation, and paper setting operation.
As a result, unnecessary operations can be skipped and the paper can be set quickly, making it possible to improve the efficiency of the paper insertion operation.

(v) If paper is not present even after a predetermined amount of paper feeding has been performed since the start of paper feeding (start of paper setting operation), the paper insertion operation is immediately ended.

This eliminates the need for meaningless paper feeding operations, and allows you to set paper, remove jams, etc. 1*Ii! can be taken quickly, improving operability. In this case, the operability is further improved by displaying to the operator that the operation has ended.

Further, in this printer, as a manual paper insertion function, the platen is connected to a mechanism that determines that paper is being manually set when the vapor pail is opened and raises the card guide in conjunction with the rotation of the platen. This facilitates manual paper setting.

In this case, since it is determined whether or not the paper is set manually by detecting the opening and closing of the vapor pail, there is no need to provide a separate sensor for detecting whether or not the paper is set manually.

In other words, in printers, if printing is performed when the paper pail is open, the paper may jam and printing cannot be done in the correct position. Therefore, not only the printer of the above embodiment, but in general, a micro switch or the like is used to detect the paper pail opening. Then, when the paper pail is opened, the printer is controlled to stop.

Therefore, in order to stop printer operation like this, the sensor (micro switch, etc.) that detects the pail opening is also used as the sensor that detects whether or not it is a manual set, so a new sensor is used to detect whether or not it is a manual set. This eliminates the need to provide additional sensors.

Next, processing at the time of printing on the side of the host system that sends print data etc. to the printer 1 of the above embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 34.

First, when printing is instructed, the host HTC performs printer preparation processing to set conditions necessary for printing, such as the name of the print document, whether or not the print range is single-paged, and the number of copies to be printed, if the host HTC is a word processor, for example.

After that, a printer check process is performed to check the information indicating the presence or absence of ASF2 input from the printer 1, a busy signal, etc., and when the printer 1 is in a ready state and can print, data transfer to the printer 1 is started. do.

At this time, if the printer 1 has the ASF 2, a paper feed command is added to the beginning of one page of print data, and the paper feed command and print data are transferred to the printer 1 in this order. After the transfer of print data for one page is completed, it is determined whether there is a next page or not, and if there is a next page, a paper feed command is added to the beginning of the print data for the next page in the same way. Printer 1
Transfer to.

In this way, when printer 1 has ASF2, all you have to do is attach the paper feed command and transfer the print data.
Print data can be transferred continuously.

On the other hand, if printer 1 does not have ASF2,
Since it is not possible to feed paper continuously to printer 1,
Transferring print data of a page If there is a subsequent page, paper is set in the printer 1 by manual paper feeding and the printer waits until the printer becomes ready, and when the printer becomes ready, transfer of the print data of the next page is started.

In this way, the host side controls whether to transfer print data with a paper feed command attached or without attaching a paper feed command, depending on whether the printer has ASF or not. .

By sending information indicating the presence or absence of ASF to the host side in this way, the host side can give appropriate control commands to the printer depending on the presence or absence of ASF.

In the above embodiment, an example in which the present invention was applied to an inkjet printer was described.

For example, thermal printers, thermal transfer printers.

The same method can be applied to dot impact printers, type printers, etc.

Further, the paper feeding device is not limited to the ASF, and a tractor feeder that feeds continuous forms can be used in the same manner.

As explained above, according to the present invention, the operability of the printer is improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing an example of a printer embodying the present invention. FIGS. 3 and 4 are explanatory views for explaining the operation section of this printer. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the mechanism of this printer. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the carriage and pump unit, FIGS.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view and a perspective view of the main parts of the paper feeding device installed in this printer, and FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the drive mechanism thereof. FIGS. 14 to 17 are a perspective view, a side view, and a front view for explaining the clutch mechanism. FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing the control section of this printer, and FIGS. 1S to 23 are flowcharts showing each process executed by the main control section. FIGS. 24 to 26 are flowcharts showing each process executed by the interface unit. FIGS. 27 to 33 are flowcharts showing the paper feeding process and each command process similarly executed by the interface unit and the main control unit. FIG. 34 is a flowchart showing an example of printing processing on the host side. 1...Printer 2...ASF14
... Paper insertion switch 26 ... DIP switch 31
...Platen 40...Paper Pail 43
... Carriage 98 ... Micro switch 1
11...Paper sensor 114...Card guide 1
31...Solenoid 197.197'...Clutch mechanism 251...Interface section 252...Main control section Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 7 A' Fig. 8 Fig. 10 Fig. 13 Fig. 14 Fig. 15 60-103668 No. 2, Name of the invention Printer 3, Relationship with the case of the person making the amendment Patent applicant 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo (674) Ricoh Co., Ltd. -4, Agent 1-20-5 Higashiikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 6. Contents of amendment (1) Table 1 and Table 2 on page 6 of the specification are amended as follows. (2) Circular No. 12 ``First of all, Figure 7...
...It is arranged. ” is corrected as follows. "First, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the platen 31
The paper pail 40 placed in front of the. Its both ends are attached to a pail lever 93 and a pail lever 94 fixed to a rotatably supported support shaft S1,
"It is arranged so as to be able to swing back and forth with respect to the platen 31. A paper pail lever S2 for manually operating the paper pail 40 is fixed to one of the pail levers 93." (3) Ibid. Correct “Printer 2” on page 24, line 10 to “printer 1j.” (4) Correct “this paper P” on page 25, line 3 of the same book as “
Paper ejection roller 173. 'l) The paper P that has passed through 4 is corrected as follows. (5) Add “rLF motor 31” on page 32, line 16 of the same book.
ll'LF motor 32''. (6) "Driver 262" on page 39, line 11 of the same book,
Correct with the Ir driver 263j. (7) "Driver 263J," in page 39, line 12 of the same book,
Ir driver 264”. (8) "rI/F2, 64" on page 39, line 13 of the same book. IrI/F265”. (9) rLF motor driver 3 on page 44, line 18 of the same book
2" is corrected to "IrLF motor driver 2S5". (lO) [Detection circuit 30S] on page 48, line 1 of the same book,
Ii' detection circuit 307J and correction. (11) "Main control section 251" in lines 2 and 3 of page 59 of the same book is corrected to "main control section 252." (12) 1 paper command on page 81, line 9 of the same book. Correct it to "Paper feed command". (13) The drawings “Figure 7,” “Figure 11,” “Figure 12,” and “Figure 15 are corrected as shown in the corrected drawings attached to this document. 7. Attached documents Corrected drawings (Figure 7) , Fig. 11, Fig. 12. Fig. 15) ...1 copy Fig. 7

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a printer capable of mounting a paper feeding device, a paper presence/absence detection means for detecting whether or not there is paper on a platen, and a paper feeding preparation operation that puts the paper feeding device into a paper feeding ready state. and a paper insertion control means for controlling paper insertion by identifying manual paper feeding or automatic paper feeding based on the detection result of the paper presence/absence detection means. 2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the paper insertion control means includes means for skipping an operation for automatic paper feeding during manual paper feeding.