JPS62181169A - Line feed controller for printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to perform such a line feed control that apparent formats coincide to each other, by a system wherein when printing by supplying a printer having a minimum line feed quantity (n) with a line-feeding command providing a minimum line feed quantity (m) which is different from the line feed quantity (n), line feed errors arising from the difference between the line feed quantities (n) and (m) are controlled. CONSTITUTION:A means 11 stores a designated line feed quantity A expressed in terms of a minimum line feed quantity (m), and a means 12 stores a line feed error epsilon. A means 13 divides a line feed quantity equal to the sum of the designated line feed quantity A and the line feed error epsilon by n, thereby obtaining a quotient C and a remainder D. An error- discriminating part 14 discriminates which of the remainder D and n/2 is larger. When D>(n/2), +1 is added to the quotient C, the sum is given to a line feed controlling part 15, and (n-D) is stored as the line feed error epsilon. When D<(d/2), the quotient C is given to the line feed controlling part 15, and D is stored as the line feed error epsilon. A line feed controlling part 27 converts the designated line feed quantity A expressed in terms of the minimum line feed quantity (m) into a line feed quantity expressed in terms of the minimum line feed quantity (n) capable of being executed by a printer, and outputs the line feed quantity thus obtained. Then, a line feed controlling part 27a receives a line-feeding operation enable signal from a timing-controlling part 26, and drives a line-feeding motor 27b by an amount corresponding to the line feed quantity, thereby feeding a printing paper.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] When printing by giving a line feed command with a minimum line feed amount m different from this line feed (in) to a printer with a minimum line feed amount n, the line feed amount error due to the difference between n and m is managed. , so the line breaks are controlled so that the above formats match.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a line feed control device for a serial printer, and more particularly, to a line feed control device that minimizes the line feed error and prevents the line feed error from accumulating even if a line feed command is issued with a minimum line feed amount different from the minimum line feed amount that the printer has. This is what we provide.

Dot printers, such as wire dot printers, which express characters and the like by a collection of dots, are classified into those with decimal pins (eg, 9 bins) and those with multiple pins (eg, 24 bins) depending on the number of printing elements. 9-pin printers are mainstream overseas, where alphanumeric characters are used, and various applications are also designed for 9-pin printers.

On the other hand, 24-pin printers are originally suitable for printing texts containing Chinese characters with good print quality, but it would be a great added value if applications for 9-pin printers could be used with these 24-bin printers.

[Prior art]

In this way, in an application for a 9-pin printer, 2
When thinking about selling and printing with a 4-pin printer, the problem is the error in line feed amount.

In other words, the minimum line feed amount for a 9-pin printer is l/216 yen.
1/144 inch is the standard, but 1/180:' is the standard for 24-bin printers.

Therefore, when starting a line with 1/6) (1/1803 x 30), 1/216! line x 36.1/144S x 24, each of which is an integral multiple of the minimum line feed amount, so no line feed error occurs.

However, if the line feed amount is not an integral multiple of 1/180in (
This is used, for example, when printing with graph ink), which causes an error in the line feed amount. -For example, the line feed amount is 3/21
If 6" is specified, it is not an integral multiple of 1/1801, so for a 1/180i' line feed printer, it will be 3/3".
I decided to use 180L as a substitute, and for that purpose, 3/
216 = 10/720 S' and 3/180-12/
720 i', and an error of 2/7201 sh occurs in one changeover operation.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

This line feed error, that is, the error between the actually instructed line feed amount and the actual line feed amount performed by the printer (for example, 2/720 inch as mentioned above) is a minute value, so 1
There is not much of a problem when viewing within a line break, but as the number of line breaks increases, the line break error accumulates and increases. This causes problems such as the format within the page being distorted and graph ink printing not connecting correctly.

[Means for solving problems]

FIG. 1 is a principle block diagram explaining the present invention, and 11
12 is a storage means for storing the designated line feed amount A, I2 is a means for storing the line feed amount error ε, 13 is an arithmetic means, 14 is an error determination section, and 15 is a line feed control section whose minimum line feed amount is n. .

A line feed iA given from a higher-level processing device by an application designed to match a printer with a minimum line feed amount m (m f−n ) is stored in the line feed amount register 11 . The calculation unit 13 calculates the quotient C and the remainder D by dividing the line feed amount obtained by adding the line feed error amount ε stored in the error register 12 to the line feed amount A by the above n. The error determination unit 14 determines the magnitude relationship between this D and n/2.

Then, when D>(n/2), +1 is added to the C and given to the line feed control unit 15, and (n-D) is calculated as the line feed error amount ε.
When D<(n/2), D is recorded as the line feed error amount ε.

[Effect]

The calculation unit 13 determines the next line feed amount by adding the commanded line feed amount A and the stored error ε from the previous line feed operation, so the line feed error that occurs for each line feed is added to the next line feed error. It does not accumulate.

In addition, the determination section determines whether the remainder D is large or small with respect to half of the minimum line feed amount n, and if it is smaller than n/2, the remainder D is determined.
is the line feed error ε, and if it is larger than n / 2, +1 is added to the quotient C, and (n - D) is the line feed error amount ε, and the actual line feed amount is smaller than the commanded line feed amount A. It will be approximated.

In other words, compare the commanded line feed amount with the line feed amount that can be theoretically transferred, and then perform a line feed with the closest line feed amount,
By taking the error at that time into account when making the next line feed, it is possible to eliminate the accumulated line feed error.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be explained in detail using the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of a serial printer. In FIG. 2, a data receiving section 21 receives information transmitted from a higher-level processing device such as a personal computer, and sends it to an input data buffer control section 22. The input data bath sofa control section 22 temporarily stores the information in the input data bath sofa (consisting of a FiFo register) 23. Further, when a data request is received from the data analysis section 24, information is extracted from this buffer 23 and sent to the data analysis section 24.

The data analysis unit 24 decodes the information, and if the information is a print code or image data, it is sent to the line buffer control unit 25. If the information is print activation information such as a CR code, it is sent to the timing control unit 26 along with information such as print density. A start command is sent, and if it is line feed command information such as an LF code, the specified line feed amount is sent to the line feed error management section 27.

If the information is a print character code, the line buffer control 25 accesses the character pattern generator and writes a pattern corresponding to that code into the line buffer 28. If the information is image data, it converts the data (
See Figure 5 for details? (Explained in ①)) is written to the line buffer 28.

The print control unit 25a receives information such as a print start signal and print cycle information from the timing control unit 25, reads data from the line buffer 28 at a timing corresponding to the print cycle information, and selectively drives the pins of the print head 25b. .

The timing control unit 26 receives a start command with information such as printing density from the data analysis unit 24, controls the space control unit 26a to move the carriage at the commanded speed, drives the space motor 26b, and controls the space speed. The print control unit 25 at a certain timing from the point when the
Send a print start signal and print cycle information to a. It also sends an operation permission signal to the line feed control unit 27a.

space? The ti'J controller 26a controls the acceleration, constant speed, deceleration, and stop of the space motor 26b based on the information sent from the timing control section 26.

The line feed error management unit 27 converts the assumed line feed amount A expressed by the minimum line feed amount m into the line feed amount expressed by the minimum line feed amount n that can be executed by the printer, and sends it to the line feed control unit 27a. When the line feed control unit 27a receives the line feed permission signal from the timing control unit 26, it drives the line feed motor 27b by the line feed amount to transport the printing paper.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing details of the line feed error management section 27 in FIG. 2.

The specified line feed i1A sent from the data analysis section 24 is temporarily stored in the specified line feed amount register 31, and then sent to the calculation section 32. The calculation unit 32 multiplies this a by (m/L) (where m is the minimum line feed amount expressing the specified line feed amount A, and L is the greatest common divisor of m and n) to obtain the specified line feed amount. The printer's line feed control unit converts the line feed into an integer value that can be expressed by the set minimum line feed amount n.

The resulting value B is temporarily stored in the register 33, and the calculation unit 34 calculates (B+ε)÷(n/L) (ε is the line feed error amount stored in the error register 35). As a result, it is decomposed into a quotient C and a remainder D, and C is stored in a quotient register 36 and a remainder D register 37, respectively.

The value stored in the remainder register 37 is compared in magnitude with (n/2L) by a determining unit 38.

If D<(n/2L), the remainder register 37
The value stored in register 35 is set as line feed error ε.
At the same time, the value C stored in the quotient register 36 is sent to the line feed control unit 27a as the line feed amount.

Further, when it is determined that the value is D>(n/2L), 1 is added to the value C stored in the quotient register 36, the total value (C+1) is sent to the line feed control unit 27a, and the remainder register 37 is (n/L) is subtracted from the value and stored in the line feed error register 35 as the line feed error amount ε.

Next, the operation of the line feed error management section in FIG. 3 will be explained along the operational flowchart of FIG. 4.

Note that the minimum line feed Qn of the printer's line feed control unit is set to 1/18.
0\', and the minimum line feed amount m of the line feed amount commanded from the higher-level processing device is assumed to be 1/216:'.

First, the specified line feed amount A=8 (which represents the line feed amount of 8/216:ゝ) stored in the specified line feed amount register 31 is calculated by the calculation unit 32 as A x (m/L) - 8X (1080 /180
) =40 is obtained. This value B is temporarily stored in the register 33, and further processed in the calculation unit 34 as CB+ε)÷<n/L)=40÷(180/1080)
-40÷6-6, with a remainder of 4. However, the line feed error ε is now assumed to be O.

Therefore, 6 is stored in the quotient register 36 and 4 is stored in the remainder register 37.

The determination unit 38 determines the magnitude relationship between 4 stored in the register and n/2L, that is, 3. Since the result is 4>3, add 1 to the value of the quotient register to make it 7, and subtract n/L from the remainder 4.

4-(1080/180)-4-6=-2 is stored in the line feed error register 35 as the line feed error ε.

In other words, the calculating section 34 calculates how many times 8/216 yen is based on 1/1801', and the determining section 38 calculates how large or small the remainder is relative to half of 1/180, that is, 1/360. By setting 8/216>' becomes (1/
180)xQ or (1/180)x(Q
+1).

If it is the former, the line feed control unit 27a uses the quotient as it is.
to transport the Q/180'n paper. At this time it is 8
Since the distance was moved less than /216, the remainder is stored as a line feed error in the forward direction, and this error is taken into account when performing the next line feed operation.

If it is the latter, the quotient is +1 and a line feed is performed, so the extra amount sent is stored as a line feed error in the negative direction.

In either case, this amount of line feed error is taken into account at the time of the next line feed, so there is no cumulative error.

Next, the conversion of image data will be explained.

The image data of a 9-pin printer is from 1 to B of the 9 pins.
It is generally designed to print using pins, and if this image data is directly assigned to pins 1 to 8 of a 24-pin printer, the figure will be reduced. This means that the arrangement pinch of each pin of a 9-pin printer is, for example, 1/72>, while that of a 24-pin printer is, for example, 1/180! This is because it is different from the Therefore, it is necessary to convert the image data. At this time, from the viewpoint of print quality, conversion is performed so that the dot spacing resulting from printing 8-pin image data with a 9-pin printer is similar to the dot spacing resulting from printing 8-pin image data with a 24-pin printer. This is desirable.

In other words, as shown in FIG. 5, if the first position of the 8-pin image data is a mark, it is the first position of the 24-pin printer.
2 dots are driven to form a dot, and if the 2nd dot of the 8-pin image data is a mark, the 4th and 5th dots of the 24-pin printer are driven to form a dot, and the 3rd dot of the 8-pin image data is If the mark is a mark, the 6th and 7th dots of the 24-pin printer are driven to form a dot, and if the 4th dot of the 8-pin image data is a mark, the 9th and 10th dots of the 24-pin printer are driven to form a dot. Determine the pin assignment to form the .

In other words, since 180 is 2.5 times as large as 72, by assigning 4 dots of 8-pin image data to 10 dots of a 24-pin printer, the dot spacing of the result of printing 8-pin image data with a 24-pin printer will be 8. This can be approximated by the dot spacing resulting from printing the pin image data with a 9-pin printer.

For this purpose, as shown in FIG. 6, the line buffer control 25 includes a register 61 that receives and stores the image data of the 8 pins, a register 63 that records the start address ADDR of the conversion table 62, and a calculation unit 64. ,
It includes an address register 65, a data reading section 66, a register 67 for storing converted data, and a conversion table 62 for converting 8-dot data into 24-dot data according to the aforementioned rules.

As shown in FIG. 7, the conversion table 62 is composed of a ROM consisting of 24 bits in the horizontal direction and 256 bits in the vertical direction, and converts 8 dot data into 24 bits according to the above-mentioned rules.
Data converted into bits is stored in 24 bits in the horizontal direction.

Next, the movement of the conversion operation shown in FIG. 6 will be explained.

First, when 8 dots of data is received from the data analysis section 24 and stored in the register 61, the arithmetic section 63 multiplies the 8 dots of data by 3 and adds a constant ADDR to that value.
By adding , the start address on the table 62 corresponding to the 8-dot data stored in the register 61 is obtained.

This value is sent to the register 65, and the reading unit 66 sequentially increments the addresses from this first address and reads out data in 8-bit units from the table.

This data is sequentially stored in register 67 and transferred from register 67 to line buffer 28 (see FIG. 2).

The above is data conversion in the line feed direction, but the tono I-interval must also be taken into consideration in the space direction.

This is because even though the dot spacing in the line feed direction is approximately 1/72 inch, the dot spacing in the space direction is 1/72 inches.
/180! This is because if it is expressed as a circle, the figure will be reduced in the space direction, and a figure that should originally be expressed as a perfect circle will become a vertically elongated ellipse.

For this purpose, it is necessary to consider the moving speed of the carriage and the printing cycle for driving the printing bin.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing details of the timing control unit 26 in FIG.
1. Conversion table 82 that stores printing cycle information corresponding to printing density information and space speed information paired therewith.
, a succession unit 33 that reads out print cycle information and space information from the table 82 according to the contents of the register 81, and a space speed register 8 that stores each piece of information that has been read out.
4. Consists of a print cycle register 85.

Print density information is supplied from a higher-level data processing device, and can be thought of as data indicating whether the supplied image data is 24-pin data or 9-bin data.

Assuming that 8 bins of data are to be printed, data indicating this is supplied to the register 81 as print density information. As a result, the succession unit 83 accesses the table 82, reads out the print cycle information Tf and the space speed information Vs corresponding to the print density information, and stores them in each register 84, 85. Space speed information and print cycle information are provided by the space control section 26a and the print control section 25.
a (see FIG. 2), and the space motor 26b is controlled to rotate at a speed according to the speed information.
The print head 25b is driven at a cycle according to the print cycle information.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, even if the printer is operated with line feed commands with different minimum line feed amounts, errors in the line feed amount can be minimized, and errors that occur for each line feed can be managed and the next Since line feed errors are taken into consideration when performing line feed operations, line feed errors do not accumulate. Therefore, software packages specifically designed for different line feed systems can be used without changing the printer hardware.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram explaining the present invention in detail, Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an overview of the configuration of the printer, Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing details of the line feed error management section in Fig. 2, and Fig. 4. is a flowchart 1 showing the operation in Fig. 3 - Fig. 5 is a diagram explaining the mode of converting 8-pin data to 24-pin data, and Fig. 6 is a block diagram showing details of the line buffer control section in Fig. 2. , FIG. 7 is a diagram explaining the configuration of the bit data conversion table, and FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing details of the timing controller 1-roll section in FIG. 2. In the figure, 11 indicates [denote line break 1iA 1. 12 is a register for storing line feed amount error ε; 13 is a calculation unit 14 which is an error determination unit; and 15 is a line feed control unit having a line feed amount with a minimum line feed amount of n. Throat 4ε Mouth bow No. 8, 1 to 7゛° mouth, Tsuku 1 Ko 11
■

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A printer having a line feed system with a minimum line feed amount of n receives a line feed command with a minimum line feed amount of m (n≠m) and feeds printing paper, and according to the minimum line feed amount m. means (11) for storing the designated line feed amount A expressed; means (12) for storing the line feed error amount ε; dividing the line feed amount that is the sum of the specified line feed amount A and the line feed error amount ε by n; Means to find the quotient C and remainder D (13
), the magnitude relationship between the remainder D and n/2 is determined, and D>(n/2).
In the case of 2), add 1 to the quotient C and use the line feed control unit (15)
and (n-D) is stored as the line feed error amount ε, and when D<(n/2), the quotient C is stored in the line feed control unit (
15) and an error determination unit (14) for storing the D as the line feed error amount ε.