JPS62183369A - Serial printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable paper other than a regular form paper to be printed, by providing a detecting part for detecting the width of a printing paper, an initial setting part for setting margins from left and right edges of the paper, a controlling part for outputting a control signal to a printing part, and a mode-switching part for switching the control signal. CONSTITUTION:When a mode selected by a mode-switching part 17 is a serial printer mode, left and right margins on a paper are set at an initial setting part 15. When receiving a printing-starting command from an external device, a controlling part 14 scrolls the paper relative to a printing part 12 so that a line preceding the line to be printed of the paper is set in position. The controlling part 14 then moves a printing head from the left end to the right end, when a detecting part 16 detects the left and right ends of the paper in the subsequent line, and outputs detection signals to the controlling part 14. The part 14 supplies the printing part 12 with a printing-starting position and a line-feeding position based on the information obtained from the initial setting part 15 and the detecting part 16. The printing part 12 receives printing data from a storage part 11, and starts printing. Accordingly, printing can be performed even in a pirnting range for an irregular from designated by an external device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a serial printer, and particularly to a serial printer used as an output device for general electronic equipment.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, this type of serial printer prints on paper upon receiving commands such as a print start position, line feed instruction, etc. from an externally connected processing device.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

The conventional serial printer described above has a structure in which the print start position, line feed instructions, etc. are input from the outside, so it is only possible to print within the standard size (A4, 84, etc.) print range specified by the external device. Another disadvantage is that when loading paper into a serial printer, the paper must be loaded at a predetermined position on the serial printer.

[Means for solving problems]

The serial printer of the present invention includes a detection unit that detects the width of printing paper, an initial setting unit that sets margin areas from both left and right ends, and controls the printing unit using information including the detection unit and the initial setting unit. It has a control section that sends out a signal, and a mode switching section that switches between the control information and external control information.

〔Example〕

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

The drawings illustrate an embodiment of the invention. In the figure, this embodiment is connected to an external processing device, and includes a storage section 11 that receives print data, a print control section 13 and a control section 14 that receive control signals, and a printing section 1 that prints based on these signals.
2. The storage section 11 temporarily stores print data from an external device, and then sends the print data to the printing section 12. A control signal from an external device is input to the print control section 13 and the control section 14, and the output thereof is sent to the mode switching section 15. The mode switching section 15 switches the control signals from the printing control section 13 and the control section 14, and then sends out the control signal to the printing section 12.

Furthermore, this embodiment has a detection unit 16 that detects the paper width and an initial setting unit 17 that sets margins from both left and right ends, and is configured to send these control information to the control unit 14. There is.

Next, the operation of the serial printer of this embodiment will be specifically explained.

First, when the mode of the mode switching unit 15 is set to external device, the serial printer prints on paper according to instructions from the external device. The paper is attached to the designated position of the serial printer, and the printing range on the paper can only be printed within the range that fits the standard size (A4.84, etc.) paper specified by the external device. Print data and control information from an external device are input to the storage section 11 and the print control section 13. The print data is
It is sent to the printing unit 12 in a certain unit, and a line feed instruction 1 is sent.
Control information such as character size is sent from the print control section 13 to the printing section 12 via the mode switching section 15, and based on this control information, print data is printed on paper.

When the mode of the mode switching unit 15 is set to serial printer, the operator sets in the initial setting unit 17 how many characters are left in the margins on both the left and right ends of the paper.6 Next, the external device sends the control unit 14 to print. When the start command is sent, the control unit 14 causes the printing unit 12 to scroll the paper and stops the paper one line before the print head prints on the paper.First, the control unit 14 causes the printing unit 12 to print. Move the head from the left end to the right end. At this time, a detection section 16 attached to the print head at an interval of one line below the print head detects the left and right ends of the paper to be printed, and sends the information to the control section 14. The control unit 14 causes the printing unit 12 to scroll the paper by one line, and causes the printing unit 2 to change the mode of the print start position and line feed position based on the information obtained from the initial setting unit 17 and the information obtained from the detection unit 16. 15. The printing section 12 receives the print data temporarily stored in the storage section 11 and starts printing on paper according to the control information sent through the mode switching section 15. At this time, the detection section 16 attached to the print head detects the paper width of the next line and sends it to the control section 14. The control unit 14 is the detection unit 16
Based on the information from , the control information for the next line is notified to the printing unit 12 through the mode switching unit 15 when printing of the first line is completed. In this way, the detection section 16 always detects the sheet width of one line ahead and notifies the control section 14, and the control section 14 notifies the printing section 12 of printing information for each line.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention includes a detection section that detects the width of printing paper, an initial setting section that sets margin areas from both left and right edges, a control section that sends control signals to the printing section, and a control section that switches control signals. By having a mode switching unit that performs There is.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings are diagrams showing one embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11... Storage part, 12... Printing part, 13... Printing control part, 14... Control part, 15... Initial setting part, 1
6...Detection section, 17...Mode switching section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a serial printer that has a printing section that prints print data from an external processing device based on control information,
a detection section that detects the width of printing paper; an initial setting section that sets margin areas from both left and right ends; and a control section that sends the control information to the printing section based on information including the detection section and the initial setting section. , a mode switching section that switches between the control information and external control information.