JPS62167062A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a good printing result by preventing the interruption of printing, by changing a printing speed on the basis of the difference between the data receiving speed from a host system and an average data receiving speed. CONSTITUTION:By controlling the speed of a paper feed motor on the basis of the average data receiving speed from a host system, the interruption of printing is prevented. That, it a controller 1 counts the number of data receiving lines within a definite time to calculate the average data receiving speed and, when the data receiving speed from the hot system became faster than said average data receiving speed, an order is issued to a motor controller 2 so as to increase the speed of a stepping motor 6 and, when the data receiving speed from the host system became slower than the average data receiving speed, an order is issued to the motor controller 2 so as to decrease the speed of the stepping motor 6. Printing is performed while the sped of a motor is altered in response to the data receiving speed as mentioned above.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a printer, and particularly to a printer having a plurality of line heads for color printing, such as an inkjet color printer.

[Prior Art 1] Inkjet color line printers and the like are known as devices that perform multicolor printing based on data transferred from a host system such as a host computer, character processing device, graphic processing device, or image processing device.

Conventionally, this type of device receives data from a host system line by line. On the other hand, during printing, the printing heads for each color are physically separated, so each color in one line is not printed at the same time, so the distance between the heads at both ends (for example, the yellow head and the black head) is The number of buffer memories is 11, and the colors are driven in order from the end head. In other words, it is impossible to print one line corresponding to a receiving line. In addition, in order to achieve high-speed printing, it is necessary to feed the paper (main scan) at high speed, and when using a stepping motor as the drive source, if a stepping motor is used that is small and has a low torque, it will not operate at the self-starting frequency, so it is necessary to use a stepping motor. We use the up method.

In other words, if 1 step corresponds to 1 line printing, 1
It is impossible to start and stop each line. For the above reasons, the printing speed, that is, the paper feeding speed is ramped up to a constant speed.

In such a system, if the printing speed is slower than the data receiving speed, no problem will occur by causing the host system to temporarily stop data transfer. However, on the other hand, if data transfer from the host system does not reach the printing speed, printing must be interrupted, that is, paper feeding must be stopped and the printer must wait until the printable amount of data is stored in the buffer memory. In this case, there is a drawback that when the printing operation starts again, the head and the paper become opposed to each other due to the elongation of the paper white body and the difference in the tension applied to the paper when it is stopped and when it is restarted.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] An object of the present invention is to provide a printing device that can eliminate the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, prevent interruptions in printing, and obtain good printing results.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve such an object, the printing device of the present invention is configured such that the printing speed changes depending on the difference between the data reception speed from the host system and the average data reception speed. It is configured.

[Function] Since the printing speed automatically changes depending on the difference between the data reception speed and the average data reception speed, printing can be performed continuously without interruption, and as a result, printing disturbances due to interruptions and restarts can be avoided. It is possible to prevent this and obtain good printing results.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. A controller 1 controls communication management with a host system, print timing, buffer m93, and other printer operations, and includes a microprocessor, etc. Consists of. The motor controller 2 operates the paper feed motor in response to motor start, stop, and speed setting commands from the controller 1, and sends a signal to the controller 1 in synchronization with the amount of motor operation. Reference numeral 3 denotes a buffer memory consisting of memory Y, memory M, memory C, and memory B. Each memory Y to memory B contains yellow and magenta data to be printed, respectively. Stores cyan and black data. 4 consists of a head Y, head M, head C, and head B, and each head Y or head B prints the contents of memory Y or memory B according to a command from the controller 1. Reference numeral 5 indicates a printing paper on which print data is printed by the head 4, and 6 indicates a stepping motor that sends the paper 5 in response to a command from the motor controller 2.

In the above configuration, the operation of the controller 1 will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. When controller 1 receives print data from the host system, it writes data for each color line by line into memory Y or memory 4, and determines whether the amount of written data satisfies the distance from head Y to head B and is further determined. When the value reached (S
l) Instruct the motor controller 2 to feed the paper at a predetermined speed (S2). Upon receiving this command, the motor controller 2 starts up the stepping motor 6 to a constant speed. At J5, the motor controller 2 sends a step command to the motor 6 and at the same time sends a signal to the controller 1 that a certain amount of paper has been fed. Upon receiving this signal, the controller 1 sequentially sends one line of data from the memory Y to the head Y to print yellow data. When the printing of yellow data becomes hazy, the motor 6 sends the paper 5 in response to a signal from the motor controller 2, and when the signal reaches the number that fills the physical caps of the yellow head and macenter head, the macenter data is transferred from the memory M to the head M. Send it and stamp one line of data. Thereafter, in the same manner, the number of caps between each belly button 1 is counted using a paper feed signal, and the timing at which head B prints is controlled (S3). The printing timing for each head is shown in FIG. In the figure, Y, M, and C9B indicate the drive timings of the yellow head, magenta head, cyan head, and flak head, respectively. The controller 1 sends a signal indicating the status of the buffer memory 3 to the host system and limits the communication speed with the host system so as to keep the amount of data in memory Y or memory B within a certain range. On the other hand, if the paper is fed at a constant speed during the printing period, the reading speed from memory Y or memory B will also be constant. At this time, if the data transfer speed from the host system is slowed down for some reason, the writing speed or reading speed to memory Y or memory B becomes slower, and as a result, there is no data in the buffer memory, and memory Y or memory B becomes slower. Since it becomes impossible to read the data, the paper running system has to be stopped.

Such interruptions in printing can be prevented by controlling the speed of the paper feed motor to Hi based on the average data reception speed from the host system. In other words, the controller (roller 1) counts the number of data reception lines within a certain period of time to determine the average data reception speed (S4), and determines whether the data reception speed is from the host system or if it is faster than this average reception speed, the motor controller 2 to increase the speed of the stepping motor 6 (55.58), and instruct the motor controller 2 to decelerate the stepping motor 6 if the data reception from the host system is slower than the average reception speed (55.58). S7). In this way, printing is performed while changing the speed of the motor according to the data reception speed. When the data is lost from the buffer, the motor stops (S8).

FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the speed of the motor controlled in this way and the data reception speed. In the figure,
CI, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6 are controller 1
This is the time when the speed of the motor 6 is instructed to be changed.

Data transfer from the host system begins at time to. At time C1, the amount of data in the buffer memory 3 is insufficient, so the motor 6 is not activated. At time t1, when the data base in the buffer memory 3 reaches a sufficient amount to start printing, the controller 1 transfers the data to the motor controller 2.
An instruction is issued to start up the stepping motor 6, and printing is started. Controller l measures the average data reception speed and the data reception speed at each time, and calculates the data reception speed at time C2.
Since the data reception speed is slower than the average data reception speed, the controller 1 issues a command to the motor controller 2 to decelerate the motor 6. At C3, the data reception speed is faster than the average data reception speed, so the controller 1 does not issue a command to the motor controller 2 to speed up the motor 6. At C4, the data reception speed continues to be high, so the motor 6 is kept in an increased speed state. C5
In this case, the data reception speed is significantly lower than the average data reception speed, so controller 1 is connected to motor controller 2.
However, no command was issued to sharply decelerate the motor 6. C
6, the motor 6 is again sped up. If the data reception speed decreases in this way and printing continues at a constant speed, there is a risk that the amount of data in the buffer memory 3 will become insufficient and printing will have to be interrupted, so the printing speed will be decreased. can be performed continuously.

As a result, printing disturbances due to printing interruption and restarting do not occur.

Depending on the difference between the data reception speed and the average data reception speed, it is also possible to increase or decrease the motor speed in several stages. In this case, if the data reception speed exceeds the upper limit of the printing speed, it is natural that the printing speed will be kept at the upper limit value.

Further, the speed of the paper feed motor 6 at the start of printing can be set to match the data reception speed from the beginning, or the speed can be set from the host system only at the time of startup.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, by performing the mark 1jill by changing the mark 1ii1 speed according to the difference between the average data reception speed calculated by counting the reception lines during a certain period of time and the data reception speed, the printing mechanism section It is possible to eliminate the printing level difference caused by the stoppage of the printer. Further, the increase in price can be limited to just a small increase in firmware.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a timing chart showing the drive timing of each yellow, magenta, cyan, and black head, and Fig. 3 shows the relationship between data reception speed and motor speed. The figure shown in FIG. 4 is a control flowchart of the controller 1. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Controller, 2... Motor controller, 3... Buffer memory, 4... Spatula 1, 5... Paper, 6... Stepping motor. 1st cause 20th

Claims (1)

[Claims] A printing device characterized in that a printing speed changes depending on a difference between a data reception speed from a host system and an average data reception speed.