JPS62103164A - Dot-type printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable printing of characters to be started at a point of arbitrary coordinates, by combining a printing system using a dot-type printing head with a printing head moving means of a plotter system in which a printing head can be moved to a point of arbitrary coordinates with respect to X-axis direction and Y-axis direction. CONSTITUTION:When a power source is supplied, a circuit 40 sets the contents of counters 431, 432, 433 to 0, and initializes the coordinates (x, y) of the position of a printing head 50 relative to a paper 51 to an origin (0, 0). Then, data are inputted from a processor 30. When the input data are character data and contain a line feeding code, a command is sent to a circuit 42 so as to feed 16 positive-direction pulses 461 to an X-axis stepping motor 36, whereby the head 50 is moved a 16-dot amount in the X-axis positive direction. Concurrently, an X-axis movement detector 49 generates 16 timing pulses, which are converted into 16 positive-direction pulses by a circuit 43, and the counter 433 is incremented by 16. By this system, it is possible to move the printing head to a point of arbitrary coordinates and to print a character or figure speedily and accurately.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a dot-type printing device that prints characters, graphics, etc. using a print head that moves relative to paper.

(Background of the Invention) Conventional dot printing devices such as wire dot printers, thermal printers, inkjet printers, and discharge breakdown printers have been put into practical use. The print head is configured to convert a character or control character (code) into a dot output pattern using wiring logic from a pattern memory in the control circuit and a timing signal from the printing mechanism section, and to supply the dot output pattern to the print head. Characters, figures, etc. are printed by reciprocating on a straight line, and line feeds for single characters are performed by feeding the paper perpendicularly to the direction of movement of the print head.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a general configuration example of a conventional wire dot printing apparatus of this type.

In FIG. 3, 10 is a processing device, 11 is a common bus 12
is a character buffer memory in which character codes etc. input from the outside are stored. 13, the character buffer memory 1 is connected to the character buffer memory 1 via the common bus 11 by the processing unit 10.
The character code etc. output from 2 is sent to the drive mechanism control device 19.
This is a dot control section that converts the dot pattern into a dot pattern and supplies it to the print head 15 via the dot control section. The dot control unit 13 includes a character register (print buffer memory) 1301 for temporarily storing character codes (print patterns), etc., and an address ROM 131 for converting character codes into the start address of the corresponding character pattern. It includes an address counter 132, a pattern memory (character generator) 133 for storing dot patterns (print patterns), and a timing pulse generated by a movement detector 171 mechanically coupled to a drive mechanism 161 of the print head 15. Waveform shaping circuit 13 that converts into forward or backward pulses depending on the direction of movement
5. a position counter 138 indicating the position of the print head 15;
It includes a decoder 139 and gates 143 and 144. 15
is a print head (print head), which is moved by a drive mechanism 161, whose movement is transmitted by a movement detector 171, and timing pulses generated by the movement detector 171 are sent to the dot controller 13 and the drive mechanism controller 19. Supplied. A paper 16 is moved by a paper cutting mechanism 162, its movement is detected by a movement detector 172, and a timing pulse generated by the movement detector 172 is supplied to the drive control section 20. 20 is a drive control unit and movement detector 1
A waveform shaping circuit 181 that converts the timing pulses generated by 72 into forward or backward pulses depending on the direction of movement.
, a paper 2-fold counter 184° datar, a pulse generation circuit 186, and a drive mechanism control device 19. 3. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the relationship among the character register 130, address ROM 131, and pattern memory 133 of the dot control section 13 shown in FIG.

3 in FIG. 4, for example, if the character code A (41) 16 is set in the character register 130, the address ROM 13 is set as the address (41) ls.
By accumulating 1, the start address (OIcE) 16 of the pattern memory 133 where the corresponding rAJ dot pattern is stored is obtained from the address R, 0M 131.

In the above configuration 2, the edited character code (print pattern) read out from the character buffer memory 12 by the processing device 10 is sent to the character register of the dot control section 13 via the common bus 113 and the drive mechanism control device 19. It is temporarily stored in (print buffer memory) 130. With the contents of this character register 130, the address R
The OM 131 is accessed and the pattern memory 133 stores the dot pattern corresponding to the character code.
The first address stored in the file is read out and set in the address counter 132, while the timing pulse from the movement detector 171 mechanically coupled to the drive mechanism 161 is set in the movement direction by the dot control unit 130 waveform shaping circuit 135. 136 forward pulses or 13 reverse pulses depending on
7, and this pulse 136 or 137
−143, 144 E and the position counter 138. Position counter 138 is counted up or down by forward pulse 136 or reverse pulse 137. The contents of the position counter 138 thus indicate the position of the print head 15, and the decoder 139 decodes the contents of the position counter 138 and, depending on the position of the print head 15, sends the drive mechanism controller 19 with the signal 146° 193.
The next character request Gogo 14 to the processing device 10 via
0, a set signal 141 to the address counter 132, or an address count enable signal 142. The movement detector 1 is also mechanically coupled to the paper feeding mechanism 162.
The timing pulse from 72 is converted into a positive direction pulse 18 according to the movement direction by the drive control unit 200 waveform shaping circuit 181.
2 or reverse pulse 183 and sent to paper counter 184. The paper counter 184 is counted up or down by this forward pulse 182 or reverse pulse 183. In this way, the paper delivery counter has a capacity of 1,840 yen.
The decoder 185 decodes the contents of the paper-folding counter 184, and drives the paper-folding mechanism 162 with a signal 192 via the driver@control device 19 as necessary for paper-folding. let

In this way, the address counter 132K of the dot control section 13 is set to the start address of the pattern memory 133 for the character to be printed, and the contents of this address counter 132 are supplied via the gates 143 and 144. Update = iq each time a forward pulse 136 or a reverse pulse 137 is received. The contents of the multi-address counter 132 are updated according to the movement of the print head 15, and the contents of the paper folding counter 184 are updated according to paper folding such as a line feed or a paper S (cut).The contents of this address counter 132 The start address of the pattern to be printed in the pattern memory 133 indicated by
After ll+, 1 g is fed to the print head 15 and printed.

However, from 1j onwards, with the conventional apparatus that converts characters into dot patterns using the simple wiring logic described above, it is difficult to print characters from the coordinate points of pressure on the paper. There are two problems that are not taken into consideration, such as the inability to directly draw figures such as dots, circles, and circles when printing figures.

[Invention Q) Purpose]

One object of the present invention is to have the flexibility to print characters from arbitrary coordinate points, and to have the flexibility to print characters directly from any coordinate point.
To provide a dot-type printing device capable of printing figures that can be drawn as if they were drawn in 0 sotats.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention moves the print head to an arbitrary coordinate point by combining a printing method using a dot-type print head with a plotter-type print head moving means that can move the print head to an arbitrary coordinate point in the X-axis direction and Y-axis direction. This is a dot-type printing device that can print characters, figures, etc.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a dot printing apparatus according to the present invention. At 2 in FIG. 1, 30 is a processing device that supplies data to the printing device control circuit 40, and the data includes character data for printing characters, graphic data for printing graphics, and character data. The data includes a line feed code for line feed, a return code for return, and a character code, and the graphic data includes coordinate designation data for specifying the coordinates on the paper and dot print command data for printing at the current coordinate point.40
inputs the data from the processing bag [30, and inputs the data from the processing bag [30]
33, the print head 50 is moved to an arbitrary coordinate point via the pulse generation circuit 42, and the dot control circuit 4
1, and controls each device according to a program stored in the circular section. 41 is a dot control circuit that converts the character data 2 and graphic data into a dot pattern and supplies the data to the print head 50; 42 is a dot control circuit that converts the character data 2 and graphic data into a dot pattern and supplies the data to the print head 50; 42 a paper output step motor 44; a Y-axis step motor 45; and an X-axis step motor 46. A pulse generation circuit generates pulses 441, 451, and 461 to be sent, and 43 is a movement detector that indicates changes in the sheet feeding direction (X-axis direction) of the paper 510 and changes in the position of the print head 500) in the Y-axis direction and the X-axis direction, respectively. 47°48,
The output pulse of 49 is changed to the positive direction pulse 43 according to the moving direction.
4,436,438 or reverse pulse 435°437
．． 439 Waveform shaping circuit for K conversion, 431, 43
2° 433 are forward direction pulses 434, 436, 438 or reverse direction pulses 435 from the waveform shaping circuit 43, respectively.
, 437° 439 is a paper feed counter that counts up or down, Y-axis counter, These are the paper 3-cut step motor that moves in the direction, the Y@ direction step motor, and the X axis direction step motor.47,48,
49 is a movement detection device that detects a change in the position of the paper 51 in the X-axis direction, and a change in the position of the print head 50 in the Y-axis direction and the X-axis direction, and 50 is a print head (printing head), and 51 is paper.

Next, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of FIG. 1. The operation of each part in FIG. 1 will be explained based on the flowchart in FIG. 2.

First, when the power of this printing apparatus is turned on, the printing apparatus control circuit 40 controls the paper cutting counter 431 and the Y-axis counter 43.
2. Set the content of the X-axis counter 433 to 0, and set the X- and Y-axis coordinates (x, y) of the position of the print head 50 with respect to the paper 51.
is initialized to the origin 0 (0, 0) on the paper 51. Data is then input from the processing device 30 (step 70).
. It is determined whether this input data is character data or not (step 80). If it is character data, it is determined whether it is a line feed code or not (step 81). If it is a line feed code, the step motor 46 in the X-axis direction is This command causes the print head 50 to move 16 dots in the X-axis stop direction via the X-axis step motor 46, and the X-axis movement detector 49 generates 16 timing pulses, which are converted into 16 positive direction pulses by the waveform shaping circuit 43, and the X-axis counter 433 is incremented by 16 (step 811).

Also, if it is not a line feed code, it is probably a return code (step 82); if it is a return code, it sends reverse direction pulses 451 to the X-axis direction step motor 45 to the pulse generation circuit 42 as many times as the contents of the Y-axis counter 432. This command causes the step motor 45 in the X-axis direction to
The print head 50 moves in the Y-axis direction through the Y-axis, and the Y-axis coordinate y becomes O (step 821). Also, when using a character code instead of a return code, set the character size to 1, for example.
6x16 dots, and the width of the paper in the Y-axis direction is 120 characters.
As for the number of characters (1920 dots), it is first determined whether the content of the YQl counter 432 is 1904 or more (step 83), and if the content is 1904 or more, it is determined that it is the edge of the paper 51, and the above line feed code and A carriage return line feed is performed in the same way as steps 811 and 821 for the return code, and along with this, 'Y@Kawanta432 and
41] The contents of the counter 433 are also updated (step 83).
1) A character corresponding to the character code is printed on the paper 51 by the printing head 50 according to the wiring logic described above via the dot control circuit 41 and the pulse generation circuit 42, and Y
If the content of the axis counter 432 is 1904 or less, the corresponding characters are similarly printed from the 1st digit of the current print/rad 50 (Step 84), and accordingly, the Y-axis counter 4
The contents of 32 are also updated (step 85). This completes the printing of one character and waits for the next data from the processing device 30.

If the input data is not character data but graphic data, this data may be coordinate designation data for moving the print head 50 to arbitrary coordinates or dot print command data for printing at the current coordinate point of the print head 50. (Step 90). In the case of coordinate designation data, the coordinate designation data includes designated coordinate data in the X-axis direction and Y-axis direction, and the current content of the X-axis counter 433: <o, the content of the Y-axis counter 432 yO
and X, Y @ specified coordinates (X, y) to pulse generation circuit 42
4G pulse motor in the X-axis direction.

(x − xo, ) to the X-axis direction pulse motor 45, respectively.
.

lX-X0Il depending on the positive or negative value of (y-yo)
y-yo 1 positive or negative direction pulse 461145
This causes the print head 50 to move in the X-axis stop or reverse direction, or in the y-axis direction or reverse direction, via the X-axis pulse motor 46 and the X-axis pulse motor 45. X,Y11! ! ] coordinates become designated coordinates (x, y), and the X-axis counter 433. Y-axis counter 4
The contents of 32 are also updated to the specified coordinate (X, Y) values (step 91).

When the data is a dot print command data, a dot is printed at the current position of the print head 50 (step 92).
). These operations allow the print head 50 to move to any coordinate point or print dots, and by repeating the manual input of the coordinate designation data and dot print command data, any figure can be printed.

As described above, according to this embodiment, characters can be printed from any coordinate point, and arbitrary figures can also be printed. X jP, f1 direction step motor 46,
The position of the print head 50 is changed by the Y-axis step motor 45, but instead of the X-axis step motor 46 and the X-axis counter 433, a paper cutting step motor 441 and paper 3 are used.
Similar processing can be performed using the hollow step counter 431.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the dot-type printing device of the present invention overcomes the difficulty of moving the print head of a dot-type printing device to an arbitrary coordinate point and the slow speed of character printing of a plotter-type printing device. This problem can be successfully solved by combining plotter movement methods, and the print head can be moved to arbitrary coordinates to print characters or figures quickly and accurately.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a dot printing apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of FIG. 1,
3 is a block diagram illustrating a conventional wire dot type printing device, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the relationship between the character register, address ROM, and pattern memory in FIG. 3. Processing device 40. ...Printing device control circuit 41...Dot control circuit 42...Pulse generation circuit 43...Waveform shaping circuit 431...Paper feed counter 432...Y-axis counter 433...X
Axis counter 44...Paper feeding step motor 45...X-axis direction step motor 46...X-axis direction step motor 47, 48, 49...Movement detection device 50...Print head 51...Paper substitute Chiang Ogawa'1゜Kaya 10. 30 4Q512 Prisoner Gi Call/Jl

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a dot printing device that prints a print pattern corresponding to characters, figures, etc. using a print head that moves relative to the paper, a processing device and a character buffer that stores character codes corresponding to the characters, figures, etc. to be printed are used. a memory, a pattern memory storing print patterns corresponding to character codes, etc., a print buffer memory storing print patterns edited by the processing device, and a memory access device for reading print patterns from the print buffer memory; A position detection unit that detects the coordinate position of the print head in the paper feeding direction and a direction perpendicular to the paper feed direction, a printing unit that drives the print head to print a print pattern, and moves the print head to the coordinate position where printing is to be performed. It has a drive unit that controls the above-mentioned parts, and a control unit that controls the above-mentioned parts, etc., and moves the print head to the paper feeding direction and the coordinate position perpendicular to the paper feed direction relative to the paper origin to print a print pattern corresponding to characters, figures, etc. Dot printing device.