JPS6277952A - Line type printer having plural heads - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance printing quality by proving one character by one head and to make it possible to easily set the distances between heads, by setting the distances between the heads to an equal interval and the least common multiple of a printable line interval. CONSTITUTION:A plurality of heads 1a, 1b are arranged along the line direction of a paper 2 and the distance (d) between the heads 1a, 1b is set to an equal interval and the least common multiple of plural kinds of printable line intervals of the heads 1a, 1b. That is, the line interval is 1/4, 1/6 and 1/8 inch in a usual case and there are line feeds for one and two. Therefore, as actual line intervals, eight kinds of the above mentioned ones and 1/2, 1/3 and 1/4 inch twice the above-mentioned ones. The least common multiple of these intervals is 1 inch and the distance (d) between the heads is set to 1 inch. By this method, one character is printed by one head and printing grade is enhanced. Three heads 1a, 1b, 1c can be operated in an arrangement with one-inch intervals.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to improvements in line-type printers having multiple heads, such as dot printers.

[Conventional technology]

In a conventional line type printer having multiple heads, the number of heads is 1112, and the distance between the heads is one dot or several dots. Therefore, it takes 2 times to print one character.
Printing will be done using two heads. This situation is shown in FIG. 7 when the distance between the heads is one dot. In the same figure,
Each dot 21 is added up to display one character.

In this case, the first head prints 81 columns, the second head prints 32 columns at the same time, and then the paper prints 2 dots (2
column) moving downward in the park, the 'l and second heads are respectively b1. Print column b2, and print each subsequent column in the same way.

[Problems to be solved]

According to the conventional example, since one character is printed using two heads, if the spacing between the heads deviates from one dot, the printing quality is directly affected. For this reason, the conventional method does not improve the printing quality, and since it is necessary to precisely match the spacing between the heads, there is a problem that the manufacturing cost of the heads increases. Furthermore, since the number of heads is two, there is a problem in that there is a limit to the improvement in printing speed compared to a case where three or more heads are possible.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention solves the above problems, and provides a line type printer in which a plurality of heads are arranged along the row direction of paper, in which the distances between the heads are equal, and each head can print. It is set to be the least common multiple of several types of line spacing.

〔Example〕

Next, the embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the relationship between the heads and paper of an example of a dot-type printing printer, which is an embodiment of a line-type printer having multiple heads according to the present invention, and FIG.
1 is a diagram showing its operation, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a circuit that drives the head.

In FIG. 1, a pair of heads 1a and 1bI'i and 2ri sheets are used, and a sheet 2 is fed by a tractor 3 upward in the figure, that is, in the row direction. Head 1a, 1b l'a'
5(7) The dimension d is determined as follows. That is, in the normal case, the line spacing is 1 inch, - inch,! -1 in inches. Since there are roughly one and two line breaks, the actual line spacing is 1 inch, i inch, 1 inch, and twice that, 1 inch, - inch, -! - There are 8 types of inches. The least common multiple of these can be measured in 1 inch.

Therefore, the distance d between the heads is set to 1 inch.

Next, the printing operation will be explained with reference to FIGS. head l
Operate heads a and lb at the same time, each head la and lb perform a line feed after printing one line, and repeat this operation until each head l
A, lb prints 1 inch. For example, if one line is a sea inch and one line is a new line, each head la, lb
Each line prints the corresponding sea inch, and the line feed is performed four times, and each head la and lb has finished printing one inch each. This state is shown in Figure 03).
Since lb is 2gA, printing for a total of 2 inches is completed.

Thereafter, the paper 2 is fed for 1 inch, and the state shown in FIG.

Next, the control circuit will be explained with reference to FIG. In the figure, 11 is a CPU and 12 is a printer.

Print data is sent from the CPUI 1 to the printer 12. A receiving circuit 13 necessarily receives data from the CPU II. 14 is a reception buffer, which stores character code data sent from the CPU II. 15 is a CG (Yayaratatan" f-λ letter), 16 is a control circuit, which converts the character code data stored in the reception buffer 14 into a dot image by referring to the CG 15,
It is stored in an image buffer 17, which will be described later.

17 is an image buffer that stores 1 inch worth of dot images, but since there are two heads la and lb,
Each head has a one-inch dot image. 18 is a conversion circuit, and image buffer 17
The one-dot line data sent by the driver is converted into data for the head driver 19, which will be described later. A head driver 19 performs printing according to data. Furthermore, CPU
If the data sent from 11 is a dot image, control is performed so that it is directly stored in image buffer 17.

FIG. 4 shows another example of the above dot type line printer.

In this example, three heads 1a, 'xb, 1 are spaced 1 inch apart.
This is the case when c are arranged. Next, the fifth
This will be explained with reference to Figures ~ (0). In the same figure, each head is 1
This is the state in which the first line separated by inches is printed. Thereafter, the three heads 1a to 1c are operated simultaneously, each head prints one line and then performs a line feed, and this operation is repeated so that each head 1a to IC prints 1-inch group characters. This state is CB) in the same figure, and since there are three heads 1a to IC, there are a total of 3
Printing for inches is completed. Thereafter, the paper 2 is fed by 2 inches, and the state shown in FIG. 2C is reached. From now on, each head 1a-1c will print 1 inch. In other words, the situation is the same as that of the prisoner in Figure 5.

Next, the control circuit will be explained with reference to FIG. The difference between the figure and FIG. 3 is that it has an image buffer 17 for 3 inches, has three conversion circuits 18 corresponding to the number of heads, and has three conversion circuits 18 for converting one dot line data into head driver data. This point has three numbers 19 corresponding to the number of heads. Other operations are the same as in the case of FIG. According to this, by having three heads 1a to IC, a printing speed approximately three times higher than in the case of one head can be obtained.

In each of the above embodiments, an impact type dot type line type printer has been described, but it is clear that the present invention can also be applied to line type thermal transfer printers and thermal printers.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the present invention, in a line type printer having several heads, the distance between each head is set at equal intervals and the least common multiple of printable line spacing, so that one character Printing will be done with one head, improving the printing quality, making it easier to set the distance between the two heads, reducing head production costs, and furthermore, since the distance between the heads will be small, the printing quality will be improved. It is possible to arrange more than two heads in a row, which has the effect of increasing speed compared to the case of two heads.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the relationship between the heads and paper of an example of a dot-type line-type printer, which is an embodiment of the line-type printer with multiple heads according to the present invention, and Fig. 2-0 are diagrams showing its operation. , FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the circuit that drives the above-mentioned head, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the head and paper of another example of the above-mentioned dot-type line printer, and FIG.
6 is a block diagram of the circuit that drives the head, and FIG. 7 is an enlarged example of printing by a dot-type line printer, which is an example of a conventional line-type printer with multiple heads. FIG. la, lb, lc...Head 2...Paper 3...
Tractor 11... CPU 12... Printer 13... Receiving circuit 14... Receiving buffer 15... CG 16... Control 00 path 17... Image buffer 18/conversion circuit
19... Head driver 21... Dot's agent Patent attorney Mura 1) Mikio Figure 7 ooooooooo. az--000000000 a+,-=OOOOOO0000

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a line type printer in which a plurality of heads are arranged along the line direction of paper, the distance between the heads is set to be equal and the least common multiple of the plurality of types of line spacing that can be printed by each of the heads. A line-type printer with multiple heads characterized by: