JPS62193900A - Autonomous movement type printer device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an autonomous mobile printer device 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 print paper of a predetermined size, the paper is automatically fed and printed out in sequence. Therefore, there are disadvantages in that curved parts cannot be drawn continuously and the range in which figures can be drawn is limited. In addition, with the x-y plotter, the X-axis and Y-axis of a predetermined length are fixed, and figures and drawings are drawn within the range surrounded by them, so there is a problem that the range that can be drawn is limited as described above. .

[Objective of the Invention] This invention was made in consideration of the above-mentioned point 1, and its [1] object is to accurately draw characters and figures of any size on paper of any size. The present invention aims to provide an autonomous mobile printer device that is readily available.

[Summary of the invention] This invention has the following features:1. In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, infrared data communication is performed between the printer body, which is a moving body, and a personal computer, which is a movement control unit, to remotely control the printer body, and the printer body is connected to a tablet, which is a position detection means. The main point is that drawing is performed by moving the printer, and the position of the printer body on the tablet is corrected for each operation.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the printer main body 21 will be explained with reference to FIG.

A drawing paper A is arranged on the upper surface of the tablet 37, and a printer main body 21, which is dynamically controlled by a controller 1, is movably positioned. The bottom of the case 40 of the printer body 21 is provided with a left type I-type wheel and a right wheel, and these wheels are driven by pulse motors 30 and 31 to move the printer body 21 in any direction. A light receiving element 22 and an infrared light emitting element 35 are arranged on the upper part of the case 40.

An interface section 3 is attached to the slot section 2 of the controller 1, and an infrared light emitting element 17 and an infrared light receiving element 19 are arranged on the upper part of the interface section 3. CPU in interface section 3 and tablet 3
7 and are connected to each other by a connector 41 having a built-in pass line.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of wheels driven by the pulse motor 30, 31, in which a pair of casters 44, 45 are provided on a line perpendicular to a straight line connecting the axes of the left wheel 42 and right wheel 43. This caster 44.45 is also case 40
It is rotatably disposed at the bottom of the printer body 21 to prevent the printer body 21 from tilting and to help it run stably.

The intersection point P between the line connecting the pair of casters 44 and 45 and the line connecting the pair of left wheels 42 and right wheels 43 is the reference position of the pen part. An arm (not shown) is provided on the case 40 of the printer main body 21 so as to protrude from a rotatable pot, and this arm is provided with a pen support section.The pen support section holds a pen and writes characters on the paper on the tablet 37. Students are now able to draw solid objects.

FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of an autonomous mobile printer. In FIG. 1, l is a controller, for example, an MSX personal computer is used. This controller 1 is provided with a slot section 2, into which an interface section 3 is attached. The controller 1 is stored in the ROM 8 of this interface section 3.
Internal CPU (not shown) control program data is stored and set in advance, and data on the pass line 6 connecting the CPU and the interface unit 3 is controlled by this control program.

The drawing data and position data output from the controller l are temporarily input to the RAM 9.

The data in this RAM 9 is stored in a latch circuit 1 for each predetermined section.
0, and then input to the RAM 13 by the CPU II. The CPU 11 converts the input data in the RAM 13 into P, P, M system (pulse phase modulation system) data, modulates it in the infrared oscillation circuit 16 using a reference pulse from an oscillation circuit 15 having an oscillator 14, and The infrared light emitting element 17 is driven to emit light based on the modulation signal.

Note that the ROM 12 stores a control program for driving the CPU II.

Infrared light data is then transmitted from the infrared light emitting element 17 and sent to the printer body 21.

This printer main body 21 is a self-propelled robot, and has a light receiving element 2 that receives infrared light data from the infrared light emitting element 17.
2. For example, it is equipped with a photodiode. The signal received by the light receiving element 22 is processed by the infrared receiving circuit 23, and 1 drawing data and position data are extracted and sent to the CPU 24.
sent to. A ROM 25 is connected to the CPU 24, which stores code data such as character codes for generating preset characters and figures. CPU
Drawing data and position data stored in 24 and ROM
Based on the corresponding character code from 25,
The motor drive circuit 26 is activated, thereby driving the DC motor 27 and the pulse motors 28 to 31 to move the printer body 21 and print. Here, the pulse motors 30 and 31 are used to move the printer body 21. The CPU 24 also includes an oscillator 32 and an oscillation circuit 33 for transmitting response signals to the interface section 3 side.
, an infrared oscillation circuit 34 and an infrared light emitting element 35 are provided.

A tablet 37 on which the printer main body 21 is connected is connected to the CPU II on the interface section 3 side via a pass line. Inside the tablet 37 is the X axis,
In the Y-axis direction, for example, 1024 X electrodes 38 and Y1 poles 39 are arranged with insulating seals in between. These intersections constitute a touch key matrix, and the surface of the tablet 37 is made of abrasion-resistant resin or the like and serves as a trace plate. Pulse voltages are sequentially changed to the X electrode 38 and the Y'i[j electrode 39 under the control of the CPU II.

The aforementioned pulse motor 28 and pulse motor 29 drive the arm left and right, front and back, and the DC motor 27 moves the arm upward. The position of the pen at the front end of the arm is stored in the ROM 25 of the printer main body 21 as a function of the length of the arm, the rotational direction of the pulse motor 28 and the pulse motor 29, and the rotation speed with reference to the intersection point P. The amount of movement (amount of change) of the intersection point P is stored in the ROM 25 as a function of the rotation direction and rotation speed of the pulse motor 30 and the pulse motor 31 (that is, the left wheel 42 and the right wheel 43).
is stored in memory.

Therefore, each left wheel 42 of the printer body 21. Right wheel 43
, the four intersections of the X electrode 38 and the Y electrode 39 on the tablet 37, which the casters 44 and 45 come into contact with, generate an induced voltage due to capacitive coupling. The coordinates of these four points are sent to the CPU II of the interface unit 3, and the coordinate data of point P (pen position t4?! calculation data) is calculated and stored in the RAM.
13.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained. In the RAM 13 of the interface unit 3, current pen position data (previous ending position) of the printer main body 21 is stored on the tablet 37, and pen starting position data for current drawing is input from the controller 1 by key operation or the like.

Here, the CPU II first calculates the difference between the current position data and the start position data, and since this difference data is the required movement amount of the printer body 21, the interface unit 3 directs this difference data toward the printer body 21. Send. Here, the CPU II converts the difference data in the RAM 13 into an infrared code. The infrared code signal created in this way is transmitted to the oscillator circuit 15, e.g.
The light is modulated to KHz, further passes through the infrared oscillation circuit 16, and is emitted from the infrared light emitting diode of the infrared light emitting element 17 toward the printer body 21.

The emitted infrared signal is sent to the light receiving element 2 of the printer body 21.
2, the signal is picked up, and the waveform is shaped by the infrared receiving circuit 23.
The CPU 24 enters and decodes the decoded difference data, which is sent to the RA.
Temporarily stored in M36.

Next, the CPU 24 applies this difference data to the function in the ROM 25, converts it into the number of pulses given to the pulse motor 30.31, drives the pulse motor 30.31 via the motor drive circuit 26, and drives the left wheel 42. The right wheel 43 is rotated to move the printer body 21 (pen position) to the drawing start position.

Next, the graphic (graph) and drawing creation program data input from the controller l are sent to the RAM 9 via the pass line 6. And all data is RA
After the data has been sent to M9, each piece of data is sent to the latch circuit 10 according to a command from CPoll, and further sent to the RAM 13 via the CPU II.

Here, the CPU II converts the data in the RAM 13 into an infrared code. The infrared code signal is similarly modulated to 38KHz by the oscillation circuit 15, and the infrared oscillation circuit 1
6 and is emitted from the infrared light emitting element 17 toward the printer body 21.

The infrared signal is received by the printer main body 21, waveform-shaped by the infrared receiving circuit 23, and then entered by the CPU 24 where it is decoded. According to this decoded data, the CPU 24 controls the motor drive circuit 26, and controls the DC motor 27, the arm drive pulse motor 28.29, and the wheel drive pulse motor 30.3.
1 is controlled, and a one-step operation is performed to draw a figure or drawing.

The CPU 24 causes the printer body 21 to
An infrared light emitting element 35 emits an infrared code from the infrared transmitting circuit 34 to notify the end of the l operation.

This signal is received by the infrared receiving element 19 of the interface section 3.
CPtJll receives the It is decoded to see if it is a code indicating the end of work B. Only after this confirmation, data for the next operation is transmitted from the interface section 3 to the printer main body 21 in the form of an infrared code. In this way, data is exchanged using infrared rays and is repeated until data indicating "END" is received from the interface section 3 to the printer main body 21.

Also, if the infrared data emitted from the interface unit 3 cannot be received by the infrared receiving circuit 23 of the printer main body 21 for some reason (such as someone blocking the data), the CPU 2
4, the CPU 24 detects the waiting time limit and sends an infrared code signal from the infrared oscillation circuit 34 to request the same data to be sent again.

In this way, by using the bidirectional infrared communication method in which the same data as the previous data is sent again from the interface section 3, errors in drawing by the pen section of the printer main body 21 are prevented. Also, the completion of one step operation is performed by the CPU II of the interface section 3 and the CPU 24 of the printer main body 21.
is managed at each time, and the received data corresponds to the data sent by the program.

Target position data of the printer body 21 (pen) on the tablet 37 is inserted into the drawing program given from the controller 1 for each step of drawing, and the gA signal is received after this target position data. The printer main body 21 stops moving at that spot. Similar to the drawing start position determination described above, here the CP of the interface section 3 is set.
The coordinates resulting from the contact between the X electrode 38 and Y electrode 39 of the U1lti tablet 37 and the left wheel 42, right wheel line 43, and cow tip 44.45 of the printer main body 21 are taken in, and the current P point (converted pen position) data is obtained. Calculate.

Next, the CPU 11 calculates the difference between the current P point position data and the target position data, and if there is a difference, sends this difference data to the printer main body 21. Then, as described above, the left wheel 42 and right wheel 43 are rotated to correct the position of the printer body 21 (pen) to the target position.

In this way, since the position of the printer body 21 on the tablet 37 is controlled by feeding back at each predetermined interval, displacement errors of the printer body 21 due to external forces, slippage of the left and right wheels, etc. can be removed, and high-precision drawing can be achieved. Becomes durable.

Furthermore, the smaller the width of the touch key matrix (x, Y electrodes) is, the narrower the positions of adjacent intersection points become, allowing highly accurate position correction control.

In addition, instead of using the touch key matrix mentioned above, a magnetic material is attached to the pen part of the printer body, and magnetic sensors are arranged in a matrix on the tablet, and the position of the printer body (pen part) can be determined by the strength of the magnetism of the magnetic sensor. You may try to know.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained in detail above, the present invention provides an infrared signal decoding device in the interface unit as a movement control unit that transmits data from a personal computer etc. as an infrared code, and in the main body of a self-propelled robot type printer. In addition, since a tablet with a touch key matrix structure is provided as a position detecting means on which the printer body is placed, complex figures can be drawn freely and accurately in any desired arrangement on paper of any size. In addition, the position of the printer body can now be detected by the touch key matrix, and the printer body can be controlled and moved based on this detection signal to eliminate positional errors and deviations of the pen unit that occur due to (plotting) movement of the printer body.
Now you can always make corrections. Therefore, stable and accurate drawings can be drawn.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the overall circuit configuration of the present invention, Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the overall circuit configuration of the present invention.
The figure is a perspective view of the overall appearance of the autonomous mobile printer device, and FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the drive unit of the robot body. l...Controller, 3...Interface unit, 8.12.25...ROM, 9.
13, 36...RAM, 10...Latch circuit, 11.24...CPU, 14.32.
・・・・・・Resonator, 15.33・・・・Oscillation circuit,
16.34... Infrared oscillation circuit, 17.35.
...Infrared light emitting element, 18.23...Infrared receiving circuit, 19.22...Infrared receiving element, 21...Printer body, 26... ...Motor drive circuit, 27...DC motor, 28-3
1...Pulse motor, 37...Tablet, 38.39...Electrode, 42.43...
...wheels, 44.45...casters.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A movement control section having a data processing means for converting drawing data into data for transmission, a transmission means for transmitting the converted data, a movable body having a pen section, and a movable body provided in the movable body. and a receiving means for receiving converted data from the transmitting means, a data control means for restoring the converted data to drawing data, and a driving means for driving the pen unit and the movable body using the restored drawing data. An autonomous device comprising: a mobile printer section; and a position detecting means on which the mobile printer section is movably mounted, detecting the position thereof, and supplying a position signal to the movement control section, and correcting the position of the pen section. Mobile printer device.