JPS6151348A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance the printing quality of an emphasized character, by performing printing at a position where a carriage moves by a minute amount from a printing position at the time of emphasis printing and, thereafter, moving the carriage of the printing position to perform printing. CONSTITUTION:At the time of emphasis printing, selection operation for setting a character to be printed to an impact position is started. In the previous printing, operation for moving a carriage 35 by a proportional space amount has been started and the carriage 35 is moved to lately printing position. Herein, the carriage 35 is moved by a preset minute amount toward a printing direction from the printing position thereof. Next, when selection and a space were made ready, a printing hammer 38 begins to drive to perform first printing. Thereafter, when a hammer was made ready, the carriage 35 moves to the direction opposite to the printing direction to be returned to the printing position and, when the space becomes ready, the printing hammer 38 is driven to perform the second printing of the same character.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] trace red disaster The present invention relates to printers, and particularly to emphasized printing.

2. Description of the Related Art In general, when a document is created using various document creation devices such as a word processor or an electronic typewriter, it may be desirable to emphasize some characters, such as important information or a title, more than other characters.

Therefore, in conventional printers, 4. For example, in order to emphasize printed characters, emphasis printing (generally, "shadow printing", "bold printing", "double printing") is used to print characters that are wider than other characters in order to emphasize printed characters. .

[Also referred to as letter quality mode, etc.] There is something that allows you to do this.

In such a printer, for example, the 15th
As shown in the figure, highlight characters are printed by moving the carriage equipped with the print head to the desired printing position and printing, then moving the carriage a minute amount (micro pinch) and printing the same character at that position. I try to do that.

By the way, especially in printers that require high-speed printing, a transient phenomenon (hunting) occurs with respect to the print position when a carriage carrying a print head is moved by one character or a plurality of spaces.

Therefore, when emphasized printing is performed as described above, the actual printing position is not constant due to the relationship between carriage hunting and printing timing.

In other words, if the printing timing is printing timing I shown in FIG.
, the printing result will be as shown in Figure 16 (a), whereas if the printing timing is shown in Figure 15 (d), the interval between the printing positions of two times will be exactly the same. The printing result is as shown in FIG. 16(b), and there is an error of interval C between the two.

As described above, conventional printers have disadvantages in that good print quality cannot be obtained, such as the character widths of emphasized characters being different or gaps being created.

Purpose This invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to improve the printing quality of 1-highlighted characters.

1. In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention 2. At the time of emphasis printing,
This printer is provided with an emphasized printing control means that prints at a position where the carriage is moved by a minute amount from the printing position, and then moves the carriage to the printing position and prints.

Hereinafter, a detailed explanation 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. The character scale 4 is attached to the control panel 5 attached to the front of the upper case 2.
Although not shown, various switches such as an online/offline switch and a line feed switch, and various indicators such as a ribbon end indicator are arranged.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the basic unit arrangement of this printer.

This printer includes a platen unit 12 for setting printing paper in a frame unit 11, a line feed unit 13 for driving the platen unit 12, a type wheel, and a print hammer.

A carriage unit 14 equipped with parts necessary for printing such as a selection motor, a ribbon feed motor, and a ribbon cassette, a space unit 15 for moving this carriage unit 14, and a control board 16 on which a control section of this printer is attached. We are prepared.

Each component mounted on the carriage unit 14 and the control board 16 are connected by a flat cable 17 made of, for example, a flexible printed circuit board.

3 and 4 are a schematic plan view and a front view showing the mechanism of this printer. Note that since the illustration is simplified, there are some parts that are different from FIG. 2.

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 manually rotated by turning the knobs 29 and 29 when loading or removing paper.

Furthermore, in front of this platen 22, there are
As shown in the figure, a paper pail 31 equipped with a pail roller 30 is biased toward the platen and is swingably disposed.

On the other hand, a carriage 35 is mounted on a rod 33 and a rod 34 fixed between the frames 21 and 21 so as to be movable parallel to the platen 22 in its axial direction.

The carriage 65 is equipped with a selection motor 37 consisting of a stepping motor equipped with a type wheel 36, a printing hammer 38 that hits the type on the type wheel 36, and a ribbon foot mechanism (not shown).

Further, a ribbon cartridge 41 loaded with an ink ribbon 40 is removably mounted on this carriage 35.

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 '55 is fixed to the side of the carriage '55, and the space motor 43 moves the carriage 35 parallel to the platen 22.

The motor 43 may be composed of a servo motor or a stepping motor and may be controlled in a closed manner using an encoder (open control in this embodiment).

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

This control section includes a printer interface 51 consisting of a Centronics parallel interface or an R5232C serial interface, a mask control circuit 52 which also serves as an emphasis printing control means consisting of a microcomputer system, and various control circuits and drive circuits. Become.

The printer interface 51 receives type code data (type information) and space (carriage movement amount) data from the host system side.

Various data such as line feed data and emphasis printing instruction data are input.

The mask control circuit 52 controls the entire printer and controls each part based on various data transferred from the host system to the printer interface 51 and a busy signal from each control circuit described later.

In other words, this mask control circuit 52 includes line feed data LFD indicating the amount and direction of rotation of the platen 22;
Space data SPD indicating the amount and direction of movement of the carriage 35, printing pressure data HMD indicating the drive of the print hammer 38, ribbon foot data RBD indicating the feeding of the ink ribbon 40, and the amount and direction of rotation of the type wheel 36. The selection data 5ELD and the like shown in the figure are outputted to control each section.

The line feed control circuit 53 outputs a drive pulse to the line feed driver 54 based on the line feed data LFD from the mask control circuit 52 to drive and control the line feed motor 23 to rotate the platen 22 in a required direction by a required amount. At the same time, a line foot busy signal LFB is output to the mask control circuit S2.

The space control circuit 55 outputs a drive pulse to the space driver 56 based on the space data SPD from the mask control circuit 52 to drive and control the space motor 43 to move the carriage 35 in a required direction by a required amount, and also A space busy signal SPB is output to the control circuit 52.

The hammer control circuit 57 outputs a drive pulse to the hammer driver 58 based on the printing pressure data HMD from the mask control circuit 52 to drive and control the hammer magnet 38A that constitutes the printing hammer 38, and causes the hammer 38B to move the type wheel 36. The type is struck with a required printing pressure, and a hammer busy signal HMB is output to the mask control circuit 52.

The ribbon control circuit 60 outputs a drive pulse to the ribbon driver 61 in accordance with the ribbon feed data RBD from the mask control circuit 52 to drive and control the ribbon feed motor 62 to feed the ink ribbon 40 by the required amount.

The selection control circuit 63 outputs a drive pulse to the selection driver 64 based on the selection data 5ELD from the mask control circuit 52 to drive and control the selection motor 37 to rotate the type wheel 3 in the required direction by the required amount. The characters to be printed are placed in a position where they are hit by the printing hammer 38, and the mask control circuit 52
A selection busy signal 5ELB is output to the terminal.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of the space control circuit 55.

Space feed control circuit 71 of cono space control circuit 55
In this step, space data SPD is transferred from the mask control circuit 52, and data indicating the amount of carriage movement in the space data SPD is set in an internal step counter as the amount of carriage movement (number of steps).

At the same time, the space feed control circuit 71 connects the space motor 43 to the φA to φD lines through the PHS line.
Set the 1-step operation pulse for step operation.

As a result, the space motor 43 is rotated by one step, and the carriage 55 is moved in the desired direction by a value equivalent to that one step.

On the other hand, this space feed control circuit 71 sets the one-step operation pulse, and at the same time sets the time required for one-step operation in the timer 72 and starts it.

When the timer 72 times up, the subtracter 73 decrements (-1) the count value of the step counter inside the space feed control port w171.

Thereby, the space feed control circuit 71 sets the 1-step operation pulse again to move the space motor 43 to 1.
While performing step rotation, the timer 72 is set and started.

Then, by performing the same operation thereafter, when the count value of the step counter becomes "0" and the carriage 35 is moved to a predetermined position by the required amount, the space feed control circuit 71 masters the space busy signal SPB for a predetermined time. It is output to the control circuit 52.

Note that during normal printing, this space busy signal SPB is ignored6. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an example of the selection control circuit 63.

Selection data 5ELD indicating the number of steps from the current position of the type wheel to the target position is transferred from the mask control circuit 52 to the selection step control circuit 75 of the selection control circuit 63, and the rotation amount of the type wheel is stored in an internal step counter. is set.

At the same time, the selection step control circuit 75 sets a one-step operation pulse for operating the selection motor 37 one step in a predetermined direction on the φA to φD lines.

As a result, the selection motor 317 is rotated by one step, and the type wheel 36 is rotated in the desired direction by a value corresponding to the l step.

On the other hand, this selection step control circuit 75 sets the one-step operation pulse, and at the same time sets and starts the timer 76 for the time required for one-step operation.

When the timer 76 times up, the subtracter 77 decrements (-1) the count value of the step counter inside the selection step control circuit 75.
do.

Thereby, the selection step control circuit 75
The 1-step operation pulse is set again to rotate the selection motor 37 by 1 step, and the timer 76 is also set and started.

Thereafter, the same operation is performed, and when the count value of the step counter becomes "0" and the type wheel 36 is rotated by the required amount, the selection busy signal 5ELB is outputted to the master control circuit 52 for a predetermined period of time.

In this way, the selection busy signal 5E is maintained until a predetermined time elapses after the type wheel 36 is rotated to a predetermined position.
The reason for outputting LB is to wait for the next operation until the type wheel 36 has completely stopped, and to perform accurate printing.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an example of the hammer control circuit 57.

The printing pressure data HMD is transferred to the hammer control circuit 57 from the mask control circuit 52 .

Further, the ROM 81 of the hammer control circuit S7 stores a table of the number of clocks (ROM value) using the printing pressure data HMD as a parameter.

This table can be created, for example, as shown in the following table.

This hammer control circuit 57 is connected to the mask control circuit 5.
The ROM 81 is accessed by the printing pressure data HMD from 2, the data at the corresponding address is read out and set in the timer 82, and at the same time, the set-reset type flip-flop circuit (s-R-FF) 83 is set. Ru.

By setting this 5-R-FF 83, a hammer busy signal HMB is output to the mask control circuit 52, and the printing hammer 38 is triggered.

On the other hand, the timer 82 uses the set value as the initial value and increments (+1)L every clock, so that the timer value becomes [0
”, an overflow occurs and an overflow pulse ○FP is output to 5-R-FF83, and the 5-R-F
-F8! Reset l.

For example, if one clock is 100tiS, when the printing pressure data HMD is "1", the ROM value is "-10", so the timer 82 overflows when 10 clocks = 1 ms have passed since the ROM value was set. Outputs pulse OFF.

Then, by resetting the 5-R-FF 83, the output of the hammer busy signal HMB is stopped, and at the same time, the triggering of the printing hammer 38 is ended.

That is, the time during which the 5-R-FF 83 is set is the hammer busy time and the time during which the printing hammer 38 is triggered.

In this way, in this hammer control circuit 57, the hammer impact force (printing pressure) is changed according to the trigger time of the printing hammer 38. For example, when the timer value is set constant, the hammer impact force (printing pressure) of the printing hammer 38 is changed by the ROM output. By changing the voltage or current supplied to the magnet,
Hammer impact force can be changed.

Next, the operation of the embodiment configured as described above will be explained with reference to FIG. 9 and subsequent figures.

First, in a process not shown, the mask control circuit 52 receives type code data (
type information), type position information (also referred to as type address information or wheel address information), printing pressure information, and proportional information.

Converts into various control information such as ribbon feed amount information.

The conversion from this typeface information to typeface address information and each control information is achieved by storing a table of typeface address information and control information at an address corresponding to the typeface code data (including data to which predetermined values have been added) in, for example, ROM, etc. Then, code conversion can be performed by accessing the ROM using the printed character code data as address data.

When performing printing processing, the mask control circuit 52 first determines whether or not emphasized printing is to be performed by checking the emphasized printing instruction data from the host system, as shown in FIG.

If it is not 1 emphasized printing, that is, if it is normal printing, the selection data 5ELD is transferred to the selection control circuit 63 based on the above-mentioned type address information, and the desired type is placed at the impact position by the printing hammer '58. Start selection operation.

After that, the selection busy signal 5ELB is checked to determine whether the selection has ended or not, and when the selection is ready, the printing pressure data is transferred to the HMD hammer control circuit 57 and the driving of the printing hammer 38 is started. Then, the printing type is struck with the required printing pressure by the printing press 38.

Then, when the hammer busy signal HMB is checked and the hammer is ready, the space data SPD is transferred to the space control circuit 55 based on the proportional information to start moving the carriage 35, and the carriage 35 is moved by the proportional space amount. Move it in the specified direction.

At the same time, the ribbon feed data RBD is transferred to the ribbon control circuit 60 based on the ribbon feed amount information,
The ink ribbon 40 is fed by a predetermined amount.

Thereafter, the process returns to the main routine, and if the next type code data is available, the above-described process is re-executed.

On the other hand, in the case of emphasized printing, a selection operation is started to place the type to be printed at the impact position in the same manner as described above.

Then, as described above, the operation of moving the carriage 35 by the proportional space amount in the previous printing is started, and thereby the carriage 35 is moved to the current printing position.

Therefore, the carriage 35 is moved in the printing direction by a predetermined minute amount (rl/120'J in this case) from the printing position (+1/420'').

Note that the printing direction is the forward direction in a printer that prints only in the forward direction, and the forward direction or the backward direction in a printer capable of bidirectional printing (bidirectional printing).

Then, the selection busy signal 5ELB and the space busy signal SPB are checked, and when selection ready and space ready are obtained, the printing hammer 38 is started to be driven to perform the first printing.

After that, when the hammer is ready (hammer stopped),
The carriage 35 is moved 1/120' in the opposite direction to the printing direction and returned to the printing position, and when space is ready, the printing hammer 38 is driven to print the same character a second time.

Thereafter, the carriage 35 starts moving to the next printing position and the ink ribbon 40 starts moving.

An example of the timing when such processing is performed will be explained with reference to FIG. 10. Note that this example is an example in which the printing direction is the forward direction.

First, as shown in FIG. 5B, the carriage Otsu 5 is moved and stopped in the forward direction (SP direction) by one character or a plurality of spaces to a desired printing position.

At this time, hunting occurs in the carriage 35 at the printing position, as shown in FIG.

At this time, if it is emphasized printing, the carriage 35 is moved in the forward direction (+1/120' in the sp force direction) as shown in FIG. is moved by 1/120' in the forward direction from the printing position.

Therefore, the first printing is performed as shown in FIG.
An operation of moving -1/120'' in the SP direction is started, and the carriage 35 is moved backward by 1/120' to return to the printing position, and the same character is printed again at this position.

In this case, most of the inertia acquired by the carriage 35 when it is driven by one character or multiple spaces and moved to the printing position is lost during the first transient phenomenon, so it is Amount (1/12
0') does not affect movement.

As a result, the correct printing position (
Since the printing position +1/120') can be obtained, it is possible to print at an accurate position, and when the next time it is returned in the opposite direction by 17120#, the amount of movement is small, so there is less hunting of the carriage.
Since an accurate printing position can be obtained at this time as well, printing can be performed at an accurate position.

Also, during normal printing, due to the relationship with the printing speed, a hammer delay is set when moving space data by a minute pitch.
Accurate printing position can also be obtained from this point.

Therefore, the character width of the highlighted character formed by printing twice becomes substantially constant, and no gap occurs.

In this way, in this printer, when performing emphasized printing, the carriage is moved from the printing position by a minute amount to print, and then returned to the printing position and printing is performed again.

As a result, emphasized characters having a substantially constant character width and no gaps can be obtained, and the printing quality of emphasized printing is improved.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the printing position → minute amount movement
Although the emphasized characters are printed in a manner such as printing -> printing position/printing, the present invention is not limited to this.

For example, printing position → minute pawl movement → minute amount movement, printing → minute amount movement (reverse direction), marking → printing position, printing, or printing position → minute amount movement, printing → minute amount movement, printing → minute amount movement (Reverse direction)・Print→print position・print, or print position→move by a minute amount・print multiple times→print position・print (or print multiple times).

Further, when printing is performed a plurality of times as a whole or at each position, each printing may be performed with the same printing pressure or with different printing pressures.

FIG.

This electronic typewriter inputs graphic character data necessary for creating and editing documents (text), various format data such as left margin, right margin, tab, and other function data such as correct (correction) instruction data. a keyboard 101 for displaying text, text, etc., and a liquid crystal display (LCD) or LE having a display area for two lines (another number of lines may be used) for displaying text, text, etc.
It is equipped with a line display 102 consisting of a D display, etc., and a printer 103 for printing text, layouts, etc.

The carriage constituting the mechanism of the printer 103 in this electronic typewriter has a collection tape such as a peel-off tape or overcoat tape (not shown), and a collection mechanism that switches the position of this collection tape with the ink ribbon. It is equipped with

This collection mechanism includes, for example, a magnet (collect magnet) that swings the collection tape up and down, and when the collect magnet is driven, it lifts the collection tape to the impact position and uses this swing to feed the collection tape. It has a mechanism to convert it into

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing the control section of this electronic typewriter.

This ETW control unit 110 includes a CPU 1ll, a ROM 11
2. RAM 11 that also serves as text memory, format memory, etc. for storing text, text formats, etc.
The entire system is controlled by a microcomputer control section consisting of three components.

The ETW control unit 110 also includes a kana-kanji conversion dictionary memory 114. Keyboard interface 115. Display controller 11G.

Floppy disk controller 11 for connecting printer interface 117 and floppy disk mounting
It is equipped with 8th class.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the control section of the printer 103 of this electronic typewriter.

When the collection instruction data from the ETW control unit 111 is transferred, the mask control circuit 122 in this control unit outputs a drive pulse to the collection driver 123 to drive the collection magnet 124, and causes the collection tape 125 to be in-backed by the printing hammer. 1- position.

At the same time, if the corresponding character is an emphasized character at the time of collection, the same controls as for the movement of the carriage and the driving of the print hammer are performed as in the case of emphasized printing.

The other points are the same as those of the above embodiment, so the same reference numerals are given and the explanation thereof will be omitted.

The processing at the time of collection in this electronic typewriter will be explained with reference to FIG. Note that the control during emphasized printing is the same as in the above embodiment.

First, when a collection is instructed by a key operation on the keyboard 101, it is determined whether or not the character to be collected is an emphasized character.

Note that the keyboard 103 determines whether or not this is an emphasized character.
Keys from RI or R where instruction data is entered manually
It is sufficient to store data indicative of emphasized printing in the AM 113 and check this data before printing.

If the character is not an emphasized character, the carriage is moved back by one space (sp). Note that the ISP is, for example, 1/1
0'', 1/12'', and 1/15', and one of them is selected at the time of printing.

Thereafter, a collection tape is selected, the printing hammer is driven to impact the collection tape, the characters to be collected are corrected, and the collection tape is restored.

On the other hand, if it is a single emphasized character, the carriage is
P-1/120#) Return to a position slightly moved from the printing position, select the collection tape, drive the printing hammer to impact the collection tape, and correct the characters to be collected.

After returning the carriage by a small amount, the correction tape is selected again, and the printing hammer is driven to impact the correction tape, thereby correcting the characters to be collected.

With this, it is possible to correct the printing at each printing position (printing position and minute movement position) for emphasized characters.

In this case, it is also possible to first return the carriage to the printing position for correction, then move it by a minute amount, perform correction, and then return it to the printing position again.

Effects As explained above, according to the present invention, the printing quality of one emphasized character is improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

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 arrangement of its basic unit, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are views showing its mechanism. A schematic plan view and a front view, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the control section, FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the space control circuit in FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the selection control circuit. 8 is a block diagram showing the hammer control circuit, FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing an example of the printing process executed by the control unit, and FIG. 10 is an example of the timing for emphasizing printing. FIG. 11 is an external perspective view showing an example of an electronic typewriter embodying the present invention, and FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing an ETW control section thereof. FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the control unit of the printer, FIG. 14 is a flow diagram showing an example of the collection process in the electronic typewriter, and FIGS.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a timing diagram and a printing example for explaining conventional emphasized printing control. 35... Carriage 36... Type wheel 37... Selection motor 38... Printing hammer 43... Space motor 52... Master control circuit 55... Space control circuit 57... Hammer control circuit 63 ...Selection control circuit applicant Ricoh Co., Ltd. - (1 idiot) Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 14 Figure 15 and Figure 16

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. The present invention is characterized by being provided with an emphasis printing control means that performs printing at a position where the carriage is moved by a minute amount from the printing position during emphasis printing, and then moves the carriage to the printing position and prints. printer. 2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the printer is an electronic typewriter printer, and the emphasized print control means includes means for performing control corresponding to the emphasized print control for emphasized print characters during collection.