JPS61279573A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance operability in opening a cover, by a system wherein a cover is automatically opened when cover opening is designated. CONSTITUTION:A main controller checks whether a cover open/close switch 10 is turned ON. When the switch 10 is turned ON, the controller stores the positions of a carriage 36 and a type wheel 37 at that moment into predetermined addresses in a RAM 54, moves the carriage 36 to such a position that a ribbon 40 and the type wheel 37 can be easily replaced, for example, a central position, and drives a cover motor 14 of a cover opening and closing mechanism 11 to rotate, thereby turning a gear 12 in the direction of arrow A to open the cover 3. It is discriminated whether or not the switch 10 is again turned ON, and a stand-by condition is maintained until the switch 10 is again turned ON. When the switch 10 is again turned ON, the controller drives the motor 14 to rotate, thereby turning the gear 12 in the direction of arrow B to close the cover 3.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] This invention is a printing device! ! (hereinafter referred to as "printer")
Regarding.

Plate rice covers generally include type printers, dot impact printers,
Various printers, such as thermal printers, thermal transfer printers, and inkjet printers, are equipped with covers that can be opened and closed for ribbon replacement, typeface replacement, and the like.

By the way, in conventional printers, the cover must be opened and closed manually.

This has the disadvantage of poor operability.

(2) This invention was made in view of the above points, and aims to improve the operability of opening the cover.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is configured such that the cover is automatically opened when an instruction is given to open the cover.

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

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing an example of a type wheel type printer embodying the present invention.

The outer casing of this printer consists of a lower case 1 and an upper case 2 that house the mechanical section and the control section, and a cover 3 that can be opened and closed for replacing type wheels, ribbon cassettes, etc. is equipped with character scale 3A.

The front panel 4 attached to the front of the upper case 2 also includes a PAUSE switch 5, a line feed (LF) switch 6, a paper end indicator 7. A ribbon end indicator 8B, a power indicator 9, and a cover opening/closing switch 10 as cover opening instruction means are attached.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the opening/closing mechanism of the cover 3.

This cover opening/closing mechanism 11 consists of a gear that is fixed to a rotating shaft 12 that has one end fixed to a support plate 3B formed on the lower surface of the cover 3 and the other end rotatably supported to a support plate 2A formed on the lower surface of the upper case 2. 13 and a gear 15 fixed to a rotating shaft 14A of a motor (cover motor) 14 are meshed with each other.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are a schematic plan view and a front view showing an example of the mechanism of this printer.

In this mechanical section, a platen 22 is rotatably mounted between frames 21 and 21, which wraps and feeds paper to be printed.

This platen 22 is moved by a motor gear 24. An idle gear 25, a gear 26° that moves together with the idle gear 25, a timing belt 27, and a platen gear 28 are driven to automatically feed the paper.

Additionally, knobs 29 and 29 are provided at both ends of the platen 22.
is fixed, and can be rotated manually by turning the knobs 29 and 29 when loading or removing paper.

Furthermore, a platen gear 30 for an ASF (automatic paper feeder) is mounted on the opposite side of the platen 22 from the platen gear 28.

Furthermore, in front of this platen 22, as shown in FIG.
is arranged so as to be swingably biased towards the platen 22 side.

On the other hand, the rod 34.3 fixed between the frames 21.21
A carriage 36 is mounted on the platen 5 so as to be movable in parallel with the platen 22 in its axial direction.

This carriage 36 is equipped with a selection motor 58 consisting of a stepping motor loaded with a type wheel 37, a printing hammer 39 that hits the type on the type wheel 38, a ribbon cartridge 41 loaded with a ribbon 40, a ribbon feed mechanism, etc. It is placed there.

A space motor 43 consisting of a stepping motor is attached to the subframe 42, and a space gear 44 is attached to the rotating shaft of this space motor 43.

Further, on both sides of the subframe 42, 42', a pulley 46 integrally formed with a gear 45 that meshes with a space gear 44 of a space motor 43 is rotatably mounted, and a guide pulley 47 is rotatably mounted. .

A space wire 48 is stretched between these pulleys 46 and guide pulleys 47, and this space wire 48
The end of the carriage 36 is fixed to the side of the carriage 36, and the carriage 36 is moved by a space motor 43.

In addition, the selection motor 38 and the space motor 43
may be driven by servo control using a DC motor, or may be driven by closed control by adding an encoder to the stepping motor.

In addition, the cover motor 14 of the cover opening/closing mechanism 11 described above is
is attached to the right frame 21 by a motor support plate (not shown).

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of a control section of this printer.

The main controller 50 includes a master microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as "mask microcomputer") 51, a slave microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as "slave microcomputer") 52, a ROM 53, a RAM 54, and l.
1055, 56.57, etc.

The mask microcomputer 51 is 1, for example, an 8-bit CPU, RO
This circuit consists of M, RAM, Ilo, etc., and serves as a cover opening means together with the cover opening/closing mechanism 11 shown in FIG. 2, which controls controls other than line feed and space control of this printer.

The slave microcomputer 52 is 1, for example, an 8-bit CPU, R
This circuit consists of OM, RAM, Ilo, etc., and controls the line feed and space control of this printer.

The ROM 53 includes a program area for storing control programs, a conversion table area for storing code conversion tables for converting character codes into type position data, printing pressure data, ribbon feed amount data, proportional space amount data, etc., and a conversion table area for executing self-tests. A test area for storing a self-test program (including test patterns) for the test, and other areas for storing other fixed data are configured.

The RAM 54 constitutes, for example, a reception buffer area in which received data received from the host system is temporarily stored, a working area for program execution, a data area, and the like.

The mask microcomputer 51 then instructs print character data, shadow print designation data, space data instructing the carriage movement amount, line feed and backline feed (including feed amount) transferred from the host system side to the l1055. Various data such as line feed data are taken in, stored in the reception buffer of the RAM 54, and processed based on the received data.

That is, this master microcomputer 51 outputs a hammer drive pulse to the hammer driver 61 via l1056 to drive the hammer magnet 3 constituting the printing hammer 3S.
9A is driven and controlled to cause the hammer 39B to strike the type on the type wheel 37.

The master microcomputer 51 also outputs selection drive data to the selection driver 62 via the l1056, controls the rotation of the selection motor 38, rotates the type wheel 37 in a predetermined direction by the required amount, and generates the required data. The type is placed in a position where it is struck by the printing hammer 39.

Further, the master microcomputer 51 outputs a ribbon feed drive pulse to the ribbon feed driver 63 via the 105S, drives and controls the ribbon feed motor 64 consisting of a stepping motor, and feeds the ribbon 40.

The master microcomputer 51 also sends a cover opening/closing drive pulse to the cover driver 65 via the l1056 in response to the operation information of the cover open/close switch 10 attached to the operation panel 4 shown in FIG. The output is output to drive and control the cover motor 14 in the forward or reverse direction to open and close the cover 3.

In addition, information from other switches attached to the operation panel 4 and various function setting switches for setting baud rate, code system, etc. attached to the rear panel is also taken in via the l105, and each display attached to the operation panel 4 Control the lighting.

Furthermore, this mask microcomputer 51 transfers line feed data and carriage movement data to the slave microcomputer 5.
On the other hand, the slave microcomputer 52 outputs line feed drive data to the line feed driver 65,
The line feed motor 23 is driven and controlled to feed the platen 22.
control rotation, and control line feed and back line feed.

The slave microcomputer 52 also outputs space drive data to the space driver 66 to drive and control the space motor 43 to move the carriage 36 in a predetermined direction by a required amount.

Next, the operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be explained with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

In the main routine shown in FIG. 6, the main controller 50 executes a printer monitoring process of monitoring the states of the various function designating switches and sensors of the printer described above until there is received data in the receive data buffer (RAM 54).

Then, when there is received data in the receive data buffer, 5
A command that reads the received data, determines whether it is a character code or a command, and if the received data is a character code, executes code processing to print the character of that character code, and if it is a command, performs processing according to the command. Execute processing.

The cover opening/closing monitoring process, which is part of the printer monitoring process, will be described with reference to FIG.

The main controller 50 checks whether the cover opening/closing switch 10 is turned on, and when the cover opening/closing switch 10 is turned on, stores the positions (current positions) of the carriage 36 and type wheel 37 at that time in the RAM.
After storing to a predetermined address of 54, the carriage 36
After moving the ribbon 40 and type wheel 37 to a position where it is easy to replace them, for example, to a central position, the cover motor 14 of the cover opening/closing mechanism 11 shown in FIG.
2 in the direction of arrow A to open the cover 3.

Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the cover opening/closing switch 10 is turned on again, and the process waits until the cover opening/closing switch 10 is turned on again. That is, when the cover 3 is open, the printer remains on standby and is brought to a halt.

When the cover opening/closing switch 10 is turned on again, the cover motor 14 of the cover opening/closing mechanism 11 shown in FIG. Carriage 3
6 and type wheel 37 in the home position! ! (reference position), and the carriage 36 and type wheel 37 are moved and rotated to the position stored at a predetermined address in the RAM 54 when the cover is opened.

Then, the process returns to the main routine and resumes the printing operation.

In this way, in this printer, the cover is automatically opened and closed by operating the cover opening/closing switch, so the operability of the cover opening and closing operations is improved.

FIG. 8 is an external perspective view showing an example of an electronic typewriter embodying the present invention.

This electronic typewriter includes a keyboard 71 for inputting various character information, control information, etc., and a liquid crystal display (5) for displaying a portion of one line (for example, 16 to 26 characters) for displaying text input by the keyboard 71. L
CD) 72 and a type wheel type printer 73 for printing text and the like.

This electronic typewriter also has a character scale of 75. A volume 76 for adjusting the brightness of the display 2 is provided.

Furthermore, the printer 73 is further provided with a cover 78 that can be opened and closed on the upper case 77, and a paper guide 80 that is equipped with a paper edge guide that guides the left end of the printing paper that is inserted into the rear part.

The cover 7 of the printer 73 is attached to the keyboard 71.
A cover open key 81 as a cover opening instruction means for inputting an instruction to open the cover 78 and a cover close key 82 for inputting an instruction to close the cover 78 are provided.

FIG. S is a perspective view of essential parts showing an example of the cover opening/closing mechanism of the printer 7B.

This cover opening/closing mechanism 83 has one end fixed to a support plate 78A formed on the lower surface of the cover 78, and the other end fixed to a rotating shaft 84 rotatably supported on a support plate 77A formed on the lower surface of the upper case 77. A plunger 86A of a solenoid (cover solenoid) 86 is attached to one end of the letter-shaped rotating plate 85.
It is made up of a fixed structure.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the control section of this electronic typewriter.

, :(7) The ETW control unit 90 controls the CPU 91 . ROM9
2. A microcomputer system that controls the entire electronic typewriter, including a RAM 5) used as an input data memory for storing input data, a text memory 94 for storing created text, and a format memory for storing text formats. It is equipped with S5.

The ETW control unit 90 also receives data input from the keyboard 71 and inputs data from the ETW control unit 90 to the keyboard 71.
a keyboard interface 9 which also serves as a buffer memory that controls data transfer for controlling the lighting of LEDs provided in a predetermined key among the keys of each of the keys 1 and 9; a display controller 97 that includes a display buffer that controls the display of the liquid crystal display 72; Print data between printer 73.

It also includes a printer interface 98 that controls the exchange of command data, ready signals, and the like.

The mechanical section of the printer 73 has the same configuration as the printer of the above-described embodiment, and its control section replaces the cover 3 in FIG. Since the circuit configuration is such that the cover opening/closing switch 10 is omitted, illustration thereof will be omitted.

Next, the operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be explained with reference to FIG. 11 as well.

In this embodiment, since the cover opening/closing instruction is performed using the cover open key 81 and cover close key 82 of the keyboard 1, the control unit of the printer 73 receives the cover open and cover close information as data from the ETW control unit 90. Therefore, the process is basically the same as the process shown in FIG. 7, except that the cover opening/closing process shown in FIG. 11 is performed during the command process of the main routine.

Therefore, to briefly explain the cover opening/closing process executed by this printer control unit, the data received from the ETW control unit SO is command data, and whether the command data is cover opening instruction data caused by pressing the cover open key 81. For example, after storing the current position (current position) of the carriage and type wheel at a predetermined address in RAM, and moving the carriage to a position where it is easy to replace the ribbon and type wheel, for example, to a central position, The cover solenoid 86 of the cover opening/closing mechanism 83 shown in FIG.

Thereafter, the next reception data stored in the reception buffer is read out, and it is determined whether the data is cover close instruction data caused by pressing the cover close key 82.

At this time, if the received data is not cover close instruction data, it remains on standby. That is, when the cover 78 is open, the printer remains on standby and is brought to a halt.

Then, when the cover close instruction data is received, a cover close operation to close the cover 78 is performed.

Home position 5 for carriage and type wheel! (reference position), and when the cover is opened, the carriage and type wheel are moved and rotated to the position stored at a predetermined address in the RAM.

In this way, in this electronic typewriter.

Since the cover can be automatically opened and closed simply by operating the cover open key and the cover close key, the operability of the cover opening and closing operations is improved.

Here, an example of an operation for creating a document with some emphasis using this electronic typewriter will be described.

First, a document is created by typing in normal characters using key operations on the keyboard 71, and when a sentence to be emphasized is reached, the cover open key 81 is pressed.

As a result, the printer 73 is stopped and the cover 78 is opened, so that the type wheel can be changed to a type wheel of a different font, or the ribbon can be changed from black to red.

Then, by pressing down the cover close key 82, the cover 78 of the printer cover 3 is closed, and the character to be emphasized is manually typed.

Thereafter, the cover open key 81 is pressed down again to open the cover 78, the type wheel or ribbon is returned to its original position, the cover close key 82 is pressed down to close the cover 78, and normal characters can be typed.

Note that in each of the above embodiments, the instruction to close the cover is also given.

The conventional cover open switch that detects the opening and closing of the cover to stop the printer when the cover is opened becomes unnecessary.

FIGS. 12 and 13 are a schematic side view and a plan view showing another example of an electronic typewriter embodying the present invention.

The outer casing of this electronic typewriter includes a base cover 101.
．． It consists of a front cover 102 and a top cover 10!1.

The top cover 103 is rotatably supported on the front cover 102 by a support shaft 104 and biased in the opening direction by a torsion coil spring 105.

On the other hand, on the side surface of the front cover 102, an oval-shaped swinging arm 10G is swingably supported by a shaft 107 and biased to rotate in the direction of arrow C by a tension coil spring 10B.

A top cover 10 is attached to the tip of the swing arm 106.
A substantially triangular claw portion 106a that can be engaged with a boss 103a implanted in 3 is formed.

These torsion coil springs 105. The swing arm 106 and the like constitute cover opening means.

The cover open key 110 is a cover open instruction means, and is attached to the keyboard surface corresponding to the rear end of the swing arm 106 so as to be freely pressed down, and biased upward by a compression coil spring 111. When the swinging arm 106 is in the state, the claw portion 106a of the swinging arm 106 is
hold in the engaged state.

In this manner, in this embodiment, the cover opening instruction means and the cover opening means are mechanically connected.

In this embodiment, when opening the top cover 103, when the cover open key 110 is pressed down, the swinging arm 106 rotates in the direction of the arrow in FIG. Since the top cover 103 is disengaged from the boss 103a, the top cover 103 is opened by the restoring force of the torsion coil spring 105, as shown in FIG.

Moreover, when closing the top cover 103 from this state, by pushing the top cover 103, the boss 103a of the top cover 10!1 once pushes the claw part 10Ga of the swinging arm 106 in the direction of the arrow in FIG. Then engage with the claw portion 10Sa.

Top cover 103 is kept closed.

In this way, in this embodiment, simply by pressing the cover open key 110, the top cover 10! I
Since the cover is opened, the operability of the cover opening operation is improved.

In each of the above embodiments, a type wheel type printer or an electronic typewriter has been described, but it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to various printers equipped with a cover that can be opened and closed.

As described above, according to the present invention, the operability of opening the cover of the printing device is improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing an example of a printer embodying the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the cover opening/closing mechanism. 3 and 4 are a schematic plan view and a schematic front view showing the mechanism of the printer, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the control unit of the printer, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are the main controllers. FIG. 8 is an external perspective view showing an example of an electronic typewriter embodying the present invention; FIG. FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the ETW control section; FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of the cover opening/closing process executed by the printer control section; FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing the cover opening/closing mechanism. and FIG. 13 are a schematic side view and a schematic plan view of another electronic typewriter embodying the present invention. FIG. 14 is a side view of the cover in the open state, which also serves to explain the operation. 3...Cover 10...Cover opening/closing switch 14...Cover motor 50...Main controller 73...Printer 78...Cover 81.
...Cover open key 82...Cover close key Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 8 Fig. 9 Fig. 10 Fig. 11 Fig. 12 Fig. 13 Fig. 1Sjα

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A printing device equipped with an openable/closable cover, comprising a cover opening instruction means for instructing to open the cover, and a cover opening means for opening the cover in accordance with an instruction result of the cover opening instruction means. A printing device characterized by: 2. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the cover opening instruction means also includes means for instructing to close the cover, and the cover opening means also includes means for closing the cover in response to the instruction result. 3. The printing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the cover opening means includes means for returning the type wheel and carriage to the home position when the cover is closed. 4. The printing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the cover opening instruction means and the cover opening means are mechanically connected.