JPS61293873A - Thermal-type printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the title printer both for precision printing and high-speed printing, by switching the dot density of print dots on the basis of an output of a fine/rough switching signal. CONSTITUTION:Data D to be printed are supplied to a controller 1 through an interface circuit 2. The controller 1 converts the data D into dot data, and controls each part of the printer. Where a fine/rough switching signal S is '1', the controller converts the data D into dot data for fine printing. Where the signal S is '0', the controller converts the data D into dot data for rough printing. The dot data are supplied to a register circuit 3, which comprises a register for momentarily storing the dot data and a gate circuit, and an output therefrom is amplified by a head driver 4, before being supplied to a thermal head 5. Accordingly, the printer can be used both for precision printing and for high-speed printing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a thermal printing device such as a thermal printer in which the dot density can be switched from fine to coarse.

As is well known, thermal printers print by converting electrical recording signals into corresponding heat patterns and transmitting them to a heat-sensitive layer, and are widely used as terminal devices for computers and other external machines. It is used in

Incidentally, in recent years, with the expansion of data communication systems, there has been a demand for diversification of printers used as terminal devices. In other words, there is a demand for not only a character printer that prints only text, but also a printer that can hard copy figures, graphs, etc. from a display device such as a Braun display device, as well as an improvement in print quality and printing speed. . However, with conventional thermal printers, when increasing the dot density to improve print quality, the printing speed decreases, and when decreasing the dot density to increase the printing speed, the print quality decreases. Therefore, it was difficult to satisfy both of the above-mentioned requirements. Therefore, the user had to purchase separate printers for precision printing and high-speed printing, respectively.

In view of the above points, the present invention provides a thermal printing device that can be used for both precision printing and high-speed printing, and the dot density of printed dots can be adjusted according to a precision/fine switching signal. This feature is characterized in that it is possible to switch between.

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. In the thermal printer shown in this figure, the fine/coarse switching signal S supplied to the controller l has a logic level of 200 million.
1" signal, as shown in Figure 2 (a) K, fine printing of 6 dots)/m is performed, and the ff/coarse switching signal S
When the signal is "0", rough printing of 3 dots/1IIl is performed as shown in FIG. 2(b). Note that the fine/coarse switching signal S may be supplied by a manual switch or may be a control signal from an external device.

Hereinafter, the configuration shown in FIG.
supplied to The controller 1 converts the data D mentioned above into dot data and controls each part of the printer, and is, for example, a microcomputer.

When the fine/coarse switching signal S is a ``1'' signal, the data D is converted to fine printing dot data, and when the fine/coarse switching signal S is a ``0'' signal, Data 1)-
The rough printing dot data pressure is converted and supplied to the register circuit 3. The register circuit 3 consists of a register for temporarily storing the above-mentioned dot data and a gate circuit, and its output is amplified by the head driver 4 and then supplied to the thermal head 5. The thermal head 5 is composed of a plurality of heat generating elements, and in this embodiment, as described later, a head having 16 heat generating elements arranged in a line is used. Note that a typical thermal printer uses, for example, one in which 1024 heating elements are arranged in a line, or one in which a large number of heating elements are arranged in a matrix.

Further, the motor driver 6 amplifies the motor drive signal (pulse signal) supplied from the controller 1 and supplies it to the paper feed motor 7. The paper feed motor 7 is for transporting a roll of thermal paper (path shown) in a direction perpendicular to the above-described array of heating elements, and usually a pulse motor is used.

Next, details of the register circuit 3, head driver 4, and thermal head 5 will be explained based on FIG. 3. In the figure, the terminals 10 axl Oe are both connected to the output terminal of the controller 1, and the terminals 10 a, 10
A control signal is supplied from the controller 1 to the terminal 10o, and a clock pulse is supplied from the controller 1 to the terminal 104. Also, code 1) is 8 bits.

This is a series-in/parallel-out shift register whose input terminal INK is supplied with dot data via a terminal 10o, and whose clock terminal C' is supplied with a terminal 10cL.
Clock pulses are supplied via. Gate circuit 12
~14 and 24 are gate circuits that are in an "on" state when an "on" signal is supplied to each control terminal C, and are in an "off" state when a "1" signal is supplied to each control terminal C. be. Transistors 15 and 16 are
This is for turning on/off the positive voltage obtained at the positive terminal 17. Further, numerals 19 to 22, 25 to 28 are OR gates, and numeral 23 is an inverter.

In the above configuration, first, the fine/coarse switching signal S is set to "1'".
In the case of a ``0'' signal (in the case of fine printing), a ``0'' signal is supplied from the controller 1 to the terminal 10e, which causes the gate circuit 12.13 to be in the ``on'' state and the gate circuit 14.2
4 is in the "off" state.

In this state fi[, shift register 1) 0 input terminal I
When 8-pit dot data is serially supplied to N, this dot data is sequentially read into shift register IIK by a clock pulse supplied to clock terminal ■, and output from output terminals Ql-Qll of shift register 1). . Then, the output terminal Ql of the shift register 1)
e Qa * Qi Each output signal of eQ7 is sent to the thermal ped 50 heating element R1e via the gate circuit 13, OR gates 25 to 28, and head drive 4, respectively.
R3t R1) 5Ity, and also output terminal Qzs Qae Qll-Qa of shift register 1)
Each output signal is sent to the gate circuit 12 and the head driver 4, respectively.
The heating element R2* R4e Rs l R
, is supplied to. At this time, a control signal is supplied to the pace of the busy transistor 15 via the terminal 10a, and the transistor 15 enters the "on/m" state.As a result, the heating elements R1 to R, are activated by the output of the shift register 1). The output of the shift register 1) is output from the heating elements R9 to R16.
is also supplied, but in this case transistor 16 is in the "off" state and therefore heating elements R9-R1 are not driven.

Next, the 8-bit dot data is transferred to shift register 1 again.
) and output from output terminals Q1 to Q8,
Output terminal stone of shift register 1).

The output signals of Qs, Qa, and Qy are each sent to the gate circuit 13.
, OR gates 19 to 22, and the head driver 4 to the heating elements R9*R1)tR13tR18, and output terminals Q2. The output signals of Qa-Qs-Qs are supplied to the heating elements R10*R12*R141RH via the gate circuit 12 and head driver 4, respectively. At this time, a control signal is simultaneously supplied to the transistor 16, and the transistor 16 is turned on. As a result, the heating elements R9 to R18 are each driven by the output of the shift register 1), and thermal printing is performed on the thermal paper. Note that at this time, the output of the shift register 1) is also supplied to the heating elements R0 to M, but in this case the transistor 15 is in the "off" state, and therefore the heating elements R1 to R8 are not driven.

In this manner, in precision printing, all of the heating elements R1 to R16 are moved by alternately driving the heating elements R1 to R8 and the heating elements R9 to R16.

Next, when the fine/coarse switching signal S is a "0" signal (in the case of rough printing), a "1" signal is supplied from the controller 1 to the terminal 10θK, which causes the gate circuits 12 and 13 to be in the "off" state. Then, the gate circuit 14.24 is turned on. In this state, when 8-pit dot data is supplied in series to the input terminal IN of the shift register 1), this dot data is read into the shift register 11 by a clock pulse as in the case described above, and is output to the output terminal Q1. ~ Output from Q8. Then, each output signal from the output terminals Ql-Q2, Qs, and Q4 of the shift register 1) is sent to the heating element R1*Rs via the gate circuit 24, the OR gates 25 to 28, and the head driver 4, respectively.
*Rs t Rγ is also supplied to the output terminal Qs
= Qs −Q? - Each output signal of Qs is transmitted to the gate circuit 14, the OR gates 19 to 22, and the head driver 4.
heating elements R,,R,,,R,.

Rts. At this time, a control signal is simultaneously supplied from the controller 1 to each pace of the transistors 15 and 16, and the transistors 15 and 16 are both turned on. As a result, the heating elements R1, R3゜Rs m R7* Re
e Rss* R13s Rls is driven and thermal printing is performed on the thermal paper.

In this way, in rough printing, the thermal elements R1 to Rts
are driven every other time. Then, as is clear from the above explanation, the - column heating elements R1 to Rt8 are driven, and -
The time required to print a row of dots is Tl, where Tl is the printing time required in the main scanning direction for fine printing. This is the line tod printing time. On the other hand, the printing time T2 in the main scanning direction required for rough printing is T2 = T D / n + T P ・-・
...+27. In addition, in this formula (2), n is
In the above embodiment, it is "2". Further, for example, when driving every second heating element, n = 3.

That is, in the case of rough printing, the data acquisition time is reduced to 1/n compared to the case of silk printing, and therefore the printing speed can be increased by that amount. On the other hand, in the case of silk printing, although the printing speed is slow, all the heat generating elements in the - row are driven, so the printing quality can be improved.

Note that the paper feed motor 7 is controlled by the controller lK so as to have an optimum speed depending on silk printing or rough printing. That is, when it is desired to make the dot density in the sub-scanning direction as rough as 1/H as in the main-scanning direction, the drive pulse frequency of the motor driver is increased by n times.

The printing time T3 for one page by rough printing at this time is as follows. This will be explained with reference to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is an exaggerated illustration of the state of printing by silk printing. If the number of lines in the sub-scanning direction in silk printing is N, then in the case of rough printing it will be NX 2 lines.

The printing time T4 for one page by silk printing is Ta = NTx...
(3), and the printing time T3 for rough printing is Ts="Ta (4). Therefore, Ta is shortened compared to T4 as shown in the following equation.

Ts=Yu・G2・T4 ・・・・・・(5
) T1 In the above embodiment, the thermal printing apparatus was explained using a thermal printer at a thermal printing shop, but the transfer ribbon coated with heat-melting ink was placed on the paper K1 at the thermal bed position, and the paper K1 was placed on the thermal bed. The present invention can also be applied to a transfer printing type thermal transfer printing machine in which printing is performed by melting the heat-melting ink of the transfer ribbon and adhering it to the paper using heat.

As explained above, the thermal printing device according to the present invention has the advantage that it can be used for both precision printing and high-speed printing because the dot density is switched between precision/5K based on the output of the ffl switching signal. is obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of printing according to the same embodiment, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing details of the register circuit 3, head driver 4, and thermal head 5 in the same embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a state of printing by silk printing. FIG. 1... Controller, 4... Head driver, 5... Thermal head, 1)...
...Shift register. Figure 2 (a) ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ country) so・0・0・Figure 4

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A controller that converts the supplied data into dot data for fine printing or dot data for coarse printing according to the fine/coarse switching signal, and also changes the driving frequency of the paper feed motor, and a controller that temporarily changes the output of this controller. A dot device comprising a register for storing data, a head driver for amplifying the output of the register, and a thermal head driven by the output of the head driver, and a dot device for printing dots by the thermal head. A thermal printing apparatus characterized in that switching is performed based on the output of the fine/coarse switching signal. (2) The thermal printing device according to claim 1, wherein the thermal printing device is a thermal printer. (3) The thermal printing device according to claim 1, wherein the thermal printing device is a thermal transfer printing machine.