JPS62178347A - Data sending/reception system of automotive printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable characters or patterns of any size to be drawn on paper of any size with high precision by printing characters or drawing patterns bidirectionally during sending/reception of data using an interface or a printer. CONSTITUTION:The main unit of a printer is set at any desired position of printing paper and printing (patterning) data is sent to an interface 3 by a controller 1. Then MPU 6 outputs a serial data signal in ASCII to an infrared LED drive circuit 8. At that time, a reference pulse is output from an oscillation circuit 7, and the serial data signal is modulated by the infrared LED drive circuit 8 into infrared ray data which is in turn, transmitted to the main unit of the printer. This infrared ray signal is shaped to an original waveform signal by a waveform shaping circuit 19 and then is output to MPU 20. After this, corresponding character data is retrieved from ROM 21 to draw characters.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a data transmission/reception system for an autonomous mobile printer used as an output terminal for a personal computer or the like.

[Prior Art and its Problems] Conventionally, dot printers and x-y plotters have been used as output terminals such as personal computers (hereinafter referred to as personal computers). In the case of a dot printer, each time a line is printed on a print paper of a predetermined size, the paper is automatically fed and printed out sequentially. So the song! III
The disadvantages were that 'll could not be drawn continuously and the range in which figures could be drawn was limited. Furthermore, with the Y-plotter, the X vehicle and Y axis of a predetermined length are fixed, and figures and drawings are drawn within the area enclosed by them, so there is a problem that the range that can be drawn is limited, as mentioned above. . Furthermore, since a personal computer or the like and such a printer are physically connected by a cable, they must be placed adjacent to each other, which poses a problem in terms of space.

[Object 1 of the invention] This invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to draw characters and figures of any size with high precision on paper of any size. This is an attempt to provide a data transmission and reception method for an autonomous mobile printer.

[Main Points of Issue II] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention includes an interface section that connects a transmitting means for transmitting data input from a controller for plotting, and a receiving means for receiving a response signal; It is composed of a printer section having a receiving means for receiving data from the interface section and a transmitting means for transmitting a response signal to the interface section as necessary, and data can be exchanged bidirectionally between the interface section and the printer section. The main point is that the drawings are drawn while doing the following.

[Example] Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, the external structure of the printer main body 15 will be explained with reference to FIG.
At the bottom of this case body 41 are a right wheel 31 and a left wheel 31.
1 (a wheel 32 is provided, and the printer body 15 is placed on a drafting table (
(not shown) can move in the direction of Ren and Yu. In the upper part of the case body 41, an infrared light receiving element 16 and an infrared light emitting element 24 are arranged. Further, a slit 42 is formed in the lower part of the front surface of the case body 41, and an arm 43 is led out from this slit 42. This arm 43 is connected to a gear mechanism to be described later to constitute an arm mechanism, and is connected to a motor 34, 35, a DC
As the motor 36 rotates, it is driven left, right, back and forth, and L down. A pen support section 44 is provided at the tip of the arm 43, and the pen 40 is supported by the pen support section 44 with a screw 45.

FIG. 1 shows a circuit configuration diagram of an interface section of an autonomous mobile printer. In FIG. 1, l is a controller, for example, an MSX personal computer, and this controller l has a recessed slot part 2.
The interface unit 3 is attached to the holder. This interface unit 3 includes an infrared receiving element 1 for receiving a response signal, which will be described later, under the control of the MPU 6.
1. Amplification circuit 12. Detection circuit 13 and waveform shaping circuit 14
and is provided.

Control program data for the CPU (not shown) inside the controller 1 is stored and set in advance in the 110M5, and the control program controls the CPU and the interface section 3.
The data on the path line 4 connecting between the two is controlled.

The drawing data and position data output from the controller l are temporarily input to the MPU 6. This MPU6
converts the input data into P, P, M method (pulse position modulation method) data, modulates it in the infrared LED drive circuit 8 using the reference pulse from the 1 oscillation circuit 7, and performs the infrared LED drive circuit 8 based on this modulation signal. &a The light emitting element 9 is driven to emit light to transmit infrared data.

FIG. 2 shows a circuit diagram of the printer body 15 of the autonomous mobile printer. Infrared data is transmitted from the interface section 3, and the printer main body section 1
Sent to 5. As mentioned above, this printer main body 15
is a self-propelled robot, and is equipped with an infrared receiving element 16, such as a photodiode, on a case body 41 for receiving infrared data from the interface section 3. The signal received by the infrared light receiving element 16 passes through the amplifier circuit 17, the detection circuit ta, and the waveform shaping circuit 19, and drawing data and position data are extracted and sent to the MPU 20. This MP
U20 has an RO that stores code data such as Charazeene code that generates preset characters and figures.
M21 is connected. The MPU 20 also includes an oscillation circuit 2 for transmitting a response signal to the interface section 3 side.
2. An infrared LED drive circuit 23 and an infrared light emitting element 24 are provided.

Furthermore, the MPU 20 is provided with two motor drive circuits 25 and 26. This motor drive circuit 25 includes the MPU2
The printer body 15 is controlled by a control command from 0.
The moving motors 27 and 28 are driven. The moving motors 27 and 28 rotate the right wheel 31 and the left wheel 32 through gear mechanisms 29 and 30, respectively.

These moving motors 27.28. Gear mechanism 29.30,
The right wheel 31, left wheel 32, etc. constitute a foot mechanism. Further, the motor drive circuit 26 has motors 34, 35, DC
A motor 36 is driven, and these motors 34-36 cause the pen 40 to perform X-direction movement, Y-direction movement, and up/down (two-way) movement through gear a mechanisms 37, 38, 39, respectively.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained. When performing a printing (plotting) operation, first, place the printer main unit 15 at a desired position 41 on the printing paper, and then transfer the printing (plotting) data to the interface unit 3 by operating keys on the controller 1.
from there to the printer main unit 15. Now, for example, the MPU 6 of the interface section 3 is made to output the progera 11 starting from the letter A created by the controller 1. Then, the MPU 6 converts this letter A into an infrared LED as ASCII code serial data 0, as shown in Figure 4 (1).
Output to the drive circuit 8. At this time, a reference pulse of, for example, 38 KHz is output from the oscillation circuit 7, and the serial data signal is modulated by the infrared LED drive circuit 8 by the reference pulse, and becomes infrared data from the infrared light emitting element 9, which is sent to the main body of the printer. 15.

This infrared signal is received by the infrared receiving element 7-16,
After being amplified by the amplifier circuit 17, it is sent to the detection circuit 18. This detection circuit 18 detects the signal modulated by the reference pulse and outputs it to the waveform shaping circuit 19.
9 to the original waveform signal of <1> in FIG.
Output to.

The MPU 20 retrieves character data corresponding to this waveform code signal from the ROM 21 and sends it to the motor drive circuits 25, 2.
6, moving motors 27, 28, motors 34,
35 and the DC motor 36 are connected to the right wheel 31 . The letter A is drawn by controlling the left wheel 32 and the pen 40 in the X-Y-Z directions.

This printing operation is performed at intervals of l steps, and the MPU
20, the oscillation circuit 22. Infrared L
An infrared signal indicating the end of one step operation is emitted by the infrared light emitting element 24 via the ED drive circuit 23.

This l-step operation end signal is, in other words, a NEXT signal request signal following a 7 ms "H" delay as shown in Fig. 4 (6).

On the other hand, if the infrared data emitted from the inter 7 ace section 3 cannot be received by the infrared receiving element 16 of the printer main body 115 for some reason, a re-signal following the same lag as shown in Fig. 4 (5) is generated. The request signal is transmitted from the infrared light emitting element 24 to the interface section 3 side as an infrared signal.

These infrared signals of the NEXT signal request signal or re-signal request signal are received by the infrared receiving element 11 of the interface section 3, and #? After being amplified by wide open circuit 12, detection circuit 1
Sent to 3. The detection circuit 13 detects this response signal and outputs it to the waveform shaping circuit 14. The waveform shaping circuit 14 shapes the original waveform signal as shown in FIG. 4 (5) or (6), and the MPU
6 as a NEXT or tri signal request signal.

The character printing or drawing operation process will be explained below according to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

FIG. 5 shows the processing flow of the printer main unit 15, in which the MPU 20 connects the interface unit 3 to the infrared light receiving element 16, amplifier circuit 17, and detection circuit 1 in step S1 of the figure.
8. Receive the code signal of the letter A as shown in the fS4 diagram <1> via the waveform shaping circuit 19.

“A” in the ASCII code is “high” for 7 ms.
After the top rudder and 4 ms “low” bottom ladder,
If a 0.5 ms "high" signal is followed by a 0.5 ms "low" signal, it will be set as '0', and if a 1.5 m5c7) "low" signal comes, it will be set as "1", and so on.

Then, A is expressed as [41J (Head). Following this [41], the printer main unit 15 receives the complement number 0 of [41], that is, [BH3 (hex display)] (sent from the interface unit 3 with a complement signal -). .

Here, the signal received by the MPU 20 is correctly [411[
BH3 Thea nlf+! 1'jn Hanaika, Step S2
Then, the MPU 20 checks whether there is noise in the signal, that is, whether there is noise during signal transmission, as shown in FIG. 4 (2).

If there is no noise, the MPU 20 determines whether the main signal and its complement signal match and are decoded in step S3, that is, the MPU 20 follows the decoded main signal [41] as shown in FIG. 4 (3). Check whether the complement signal is erroneously decoded as, for example, [BC].

If the main signal and its complement signal match and are decoded, in step S4 the MPU 20 determines whether there is any part of the main signal and its complement signal that cannot be decoded, that is, as shown in FIG. Part 3 and printer body part 15
Check to see if the signal gain is reduced because the distance is too great, or if people or objects cut into the transmission and cause the signal to be attenuated, making it unnecessary to decode it.

In steps S2 to S4, there is no noise in the signal, and the main signal -
If the signal and its complement signal match and all the signals have been decoded, the MPU 20 checks in step 2 S5 whether the signal just decoded is the "END" signal. Since the current signal is a signal of the letter A, Proceeding to step S6, character generator code data corresponding to the above-mentioned ASCII code is read from the ROM 21.

Then, the MPU 20 controls the motor drive circuit 26 in step S7.
The forward and reverse rotations of the DC motor 36 are controlled through the DC motor 36 to move the ben 40 up and down, and the moving motors 27.28 and 34.35 are driven through the motor drive circuit 25.26. Print (draw) using the pen 40.

If the signal received in step S5 is an "END" signal, this means that some printing work has already been completed, and the MPU 20 returns to step Sl to receive the next data signal.

If there is noise in the signal in steps S2 to S4, or if the main signal and its complement signal do not match, or if there is an undecipherable part in the signal, the process advances to step S8 of A-A, and the printer The MPU 20 of the main body 15 is the fourth
A re-signal request signal as shown in FIG. 5 is transmitted to the interface section 3 as an infrared signal.

Next, if the data signal is not transmitted from the interface section 3 within a predetermined time, for example, 200 ms (step S9) despite transmitting such a re-signal request, the process returns to step S8 and the request is sent to the interface 8113 again. 1G signal request signal is transmitted.

A signal is sent from the interface section 3.

If the MPU 20 has human power from the waveform shaping circuit 19, the process returns to step Sl and continues to decode the received signal.

After printing (drawing) in step S7, the B-H
Proceeding to step SIO, the MPU 20 transmits a NEXT signal request signal as shown in FIG. 4 (6>) to the interface unit 3 as an infrared signal.

After waiting for a predetermined time, for example, 200m5, the MPU 20 checks whether or not a data signal has been transmitted from the interface section 3 (step 511). If no data signal has been transmitted from the interface section 3, the MPU 20 returns to step S1.
The MPU 20 returns to 0 and sends a NEXT signal request signal to the interface section 3 again.If the data signal for drawing 0 is sent from the interface section 3 and manually inputted to the MPU 20, the process returns to step St and deciphers the received signal. We will continue to do so.

FIG. 6 shows the processing flow of the interface unit 3. In step PL of the figure, the MPU 6 always checks whether data is being sent from the controller l. If there is data input from the controller l, the MPU 6 stores the data in a built-in buffer in step P2.

The MPU 6 then checks whether there is any data sent from the controller 1 (step P3), and if there is a series of data, it returns to step P2 and stores it in the buffer, but if no data is transferred, it proceeds to step P4.

In step P4, the data in the buffer is converted into ASCII code as one segment data, and then modulated by 38KHz from the 0 oscillation circuit 7, which is sent to the infrared LED drive circuit 8, and sent from the infrared light emitting element 9 as infrared data to the printer main unit i15. Send a message to.

Next, the MPU 6 checks whether or not a NEXT signal request signal (signal shown in Fig. 4, Fig. 6) has been transmitted from the printer main unit 15 (step P5), and if no NEXT signal request signal has been transmitted, the MPU 6 It is also checked whether there is a re-signal request signal (signal shown in Figure 4-5) from the printer main unit 15 (step P6).

If there is neither request signal, the process returns to step P5 of D4D, and the MPU 6 extends the next process until either request signal is received, and waits while repeatedly determining whether or not there is a transmission from the interface section 3.

In step P5, the NEXT message is sent from the printer main unit 15.
When the request is input to the MPU 6, the data sent in step P4 is decoded by the printer main unit 15, and since the plotting operation has been completed, the MPU 6 reads the next data from the buffer in step P7. After reading out the drawing data and converting the read out data into ASCII code,
The data is sent to the infrared LED drive circuit 8 and transmitted from the infrared light emitting element 9 to the printer main body 15 as infrared data.

Next, the MPU 6 checks whether the buffer is empty (step P8), and if it is empty after all data have been sent to the printer main body M15, the MPU 6 returns to step PL of C+C and waits until data is input from the controller 1. .

If data still remains in the buffer, the process returns to step P5 of D-D, and it is checked whether there is a NEXT signal request signal from the printer main unit 15.

When the re-signal request signal from the printer main unit 15 is input to the MPU 6 in step P6, this means that there was some kind of failure on the printer main unit 15 side and the data was not received accurately. The same data signal is again output as infrared data to the printer main body section 15 (step P9).

Then, returning to step P5, the MPU 6 checks whether there is a NEXT signal request signal from the infrared light emitting element 24 of the printer main body 15.

Thereafter, in the same manner, the interface section 3 and the printer main body section 15 side respond by bidirectional infrared communication method, and send drawing data from the interface section 3 to the printer main body fi! 15, the printer main unit 1
Printing or drawing is performed while confirming that the pen 40 of No. 5 does not malfunction in drawing.

In this embodiment, infrared rays are used as the data transmission/reception method, but a percentage line data transmission/reception method using electromagnetic waves may also be used.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, the present invention includes an interface unit having a transmitting circuit that transmits drawing data from a controller as an infrared code signal, and a receiving circuit that receives an infrared code signal from the outside; A self-propelled robot type printer body is provided with a receiving circuit that receives an infrared code signal from this interface section, and a transmitting circuit that sends a decoding completion signal to the receiving circuit, so that two-way infrared rays can be transmitted between the interface section and the printer section. Since drawing is performed while communicating, data for drawing or printing can be transmitted accurately and in the correct order. In addition, complex drawings and various characters can now be drawn accurately and with high precision in any arrangement on α-size paper. Furthermore, it is possible to realize a highly stable printer that immediately returns to normal operation even when exposed to external noise.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block circuit lΔ of the interface section of the data transmission/reception method of an autonomous mobile printer according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram of the printer body of the autonomous mobile printer of the data transmission/reception method, and FIG. 3 is a block circuit diagram of the printer body of the autonomous mobile printer of the data transmission/reception method. Outside of main body 18
! Fig. 4 is a waveform diagram to explain the operation of the data transmission/reception method of an autonomous mobile printer, Fig. 5 is a flowchart to explain the processing of the printer section, and Fig. 6 is a diagram of the interface section. It is a flowchart for explaining processing. l...Controller, 2...Thrower l
[, 3...-Interface section, 4...
・Pass line, 5゜21...-ROM, 6.20
...MPU, 7,22 ...oscillation circuit,
8, 23... Infrared LED drive circuit, 9, 24...
-...Infrared light emitting element m, 11.16...Infrared light receiving element f, 12.17...Amplification circuit, 13
．． 18...Detection circuit, 14.19...
Waveform shaping circuit, 15...Printer main unit, 25
．． 26...Motor drive circuit, 27.28...
...Movement motor, 29.30.37.38.39.
...Gear mechanism, 31.32...+lj wheel, 34.35...Motor, 36...D
C motor, 40...pen, 41...case. Patent applicant: Kashisai Computer Co., Ltd. Agent: Patent attorney: Town 11 Toshi Tadashi Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] An interface section comprising a transmitting means for transmitting data such as characters and figures created by a controller, and a receiving means for receiving a response signal from the outside; and an interface section for receiving the data from the interface section. The printer unit includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit for transmitting a response signal to the interface unit, and bidirectional data communication is performed between the printer unit and the interface unit to print or print characters, figures, etc. A data transmission and reception method for an autonomous mobile printer designed for plotting.