JPS6295070A - Optical writing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize a printing system in which a printer head part having plural diagonally arranged light emission dot groups is scanned in the row direction to print by rearranging the printing data supplied according to a printing block of a photosensitive drum in accordance with the number of columns of the light emission dot groups of the printer head part and the arrangement of the dots in the row direction. CONSTITUTION:A rotation direction of the photosensitive drum B is set to a direction of F and the printing blocks P (L, M) of a paper E and the photosensitive drum are addressed by reference making a left upper corner shown in the paper E a reference. Therefore, the arrangement of the printing data applied with respect to one scanning of a vacuum fluorescent tube A is obtained in such a manner that while only values corresponding to the number of columns of the emission dots are skipped with respect to the row direction, the printing data is rearranged in an increasing direction and while only values corresponding to multiples of pitches of the light emission dots in the row direction to the dimension of the light emission dots are skipped with respect to the row direction, the printing data is rearranged in a decreasing direction.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an optical writing device having an optical printer head in which a plurality of rows of light emitting dots are arranged, and particularly relates to an optical writing device having an optical printer head in which light emitting dots are arranged in multiple rows. The present invention relates to an optical writing device having a data arrangement conversion function.

[Prior art]

Printers can be divided into several types depending on their printing methods, and optical printers are non-impact printers with excellent printing speed.

This optical printer further uses a method that scans a laser beam to form an electrostatic latent image on a photoreceptor (photoreceptor tram or photoreceptor belt, etc.), and a method that uses a light-emitting dot array (including a type that combines a liquid crystal shutter and a light source) on printing paper. Arrange the width dimension of
There are two types of methods in which, for example, an electrostatic latent image is formed on a photosensitive drum by controlling individual light emitting dots to blink.

Laser printers are capable of high-resolution and high-speed printing, but have mechanically movable parts for beam scanning.
The device becomes large and expensive.

On the other hand, since light-emitting dot arrays can be produced inexpensively and compactly, various types have been developed, including the type that combines a liquid crystal and a light source as described above, the type that is composed of a light-emitting diode array, and the type that uses vacuum fluorescent tubes. ing.

By the way, with this light-emitting dot array type, if you want to print at a resolution of 12 lines/ffl11 on B4 size printing paper with an effective printing width of 256 mm, for example, 3,072 light-emitting dots must be arranged. Must be. Moreover, when forming a latent image on the photosensitive drum, it is necessary to individually control the light emission of these light-emitting dots, so if we adopt a method in which these 3,072 light-emitting dots are arranged in a line and each light emission is controlled, the wiring There are problems such as the processing of the lead wires becomes complicated and the number of driver circuits for driving each light emitting dot becomes enormous.

Therefore, in each element of liquid crystals, light emitting diodes, and vacuum fluorescent tubes, various measures have been taken, such as arranging light emitting dots in multiple rows or adopting a typomic drive system.

For example, for a vacuum fluorescent tube, a structure as shown in FIGS. 7(a) and 7(b) has been proposed by the present inventors.

FIG. 7(a) shows a plan view of a vacuum fluorescent tube for an optical printer head, and FIG. 7(b) is a partial plan view thereof.

Here, 11 is a substrate made of an insulating material such as glass, and on this substrate 11, a plurality of anode conductors (eight in the illustrated embodiment) 12 are arranged in a striped manner. Each anode conductor 12 is coated with a phosphor layer 13 in an oblique direction to form a light emitting dot.

On the other hand, 14 is a control electrode in which slits 15 are formed on the anode conductor 12 in an oblique direction facing each phosphor layer 13, each of which is electrically independent and led out to an external terminal 16. Further, above the control electrode 14, a plurality of linear cathodes 17 which are heated and emit electrons are arranged in a stretched manner, and these electrodes are connected to the side where the JIti3 edge of the substrate 11 is sealed. A vacuum fluorescent tube is formed by being sealed in a high vacuum state in an airtight container formed by a face plate 18 and a front plate 19.

The vacuum fluorescent tube with the structure shown in FIGS. 7(a) and (b) is
It has a so-called dynamic drive structure, and by sequentially scanning the five anode grooves 12 and applying a print signal to the control electrode 14 in synchronization with the scanning of the anode conductor 12, the printer head of this type of light emitting dot array described above is produced. This solves the problem.

[Problems with conventional technology]

However, when trying to form a latent image on a photosensitive drum using a vacuum fluorescent tube with the structure shown in Figure 7, there is a lack of correspondence between the luminescent dot array arrangement of the vacuum fluorescent tube and the print pattern on the paper. Therefore, when inputting print data to a vacuum fluorescent tube, the desired print pattern cannot be obtained unless the data arrangement order is converted. Moreover, if the vacuum fluorescent tube side is scanned using a dynamic drive method, the data array conversion work becomes even more complicated.

Therefore, in order to put this type of light-emitting dot array type printer head into practical use, it has been desired to realize an effective data array conversion method when applying given print data to the printer head side.

[Means to solve problems]

The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and
A plurality of light emitting dots are arranged in parallel along a row direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the photoreceptor and a column direction oblique to the moving direction of the photoreceptor, and the photoreceptor is arranged in parallel by the size of the light emitting dot. While moving, the printer head 1.1 scans once along the column direction of the group of light emitting dots, and prints the print data given corresponding to the print section of the photoreceptor. In the row direction, the printing areas covered by the light emitting dots are rearranged while skipping by a value corresponding to the number of rows of one light emitting dot, and in the column direction, the light emitting dots are pinched and emitted in the photoreceptor moving direction. The configuration includes a data converter that rearranges the data while skipping over a value corresponding to the ratio of the 1- to 1- dimensions.

[For production]

Therefore, in the optical writing device of the present invention, when the printer head is scanned once, the printing area of the photoconductor is printed intermittently, but the paper is printed against the photoconductor by an area corresponding to one column of the light emitting driver. By moving by 100 degrees, characters, figures, etc. can be printed using continuous line segments in the line direction.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an optical writing device according to the present invention. In this embodiment, a vacuum fluorescent tube is used as an optical printer head section. The part indicated by the overall symbol A is a schematic representation of a vacuum fluorescent tube.

The electrode structure itself of this vacuum fluorescent tube A is the same as that of the dynamic drive type vacuum fluorescent tube shown in FIG. 7 described above, so parts having the same function are given the same reference numerals. That is, the anode conductor 12 (121
128) (eight in this example) are arranged, and the phosphor layer 13 is applied on the anode conductor 12 thereof. and,
A control electrode 14 having a slit 15 defining the phosphor layer 13 is placed on the anode conductor 12 at a predetermined distance. 17 indicates a filamentary cathode.

Thus, the phosphor layer 13 is applied, and each portion of the control electrode 14 divided through the slit 15 forms a respective light emitting dot. In addition, the number of control@poles 14 varies depending on the target printing paper size, printing resolution, etc., but for example, for 84-plate printing paper, if there are 384, it is approximately 12 lines/m. resolution can be obtained. Therefore, in the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the number of external terminals to be led out to the outside is (8 terminals for anode conductor) + (384 terminals for control electrode) +
(2 for cathode) = 394, forming a vacuum fluorescent tube for dynamic drive.

In this case, in this embodiment, eight striped anode conductors 12 are arranged on the substrate 11, and these are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the photoreceptor and in a direction inclined to the direction of movement of the photoreceptor. - In the column direction.

That is, when rows and columns are defined in the direction shown in the figure, the light emitting dots D are arranged in parallel in a diagonal matrix shape of 8 rows and n columns.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 2, when the light emitting dots Dll in each row are moved in parallel by the column direction dot pitch Pd in the direction orthogonal to the row direction, the corner C1 of the light emitting dot Dll in the upper row
, C2 are positioned so that they coincide with the corners C1 and C4 of the light emitting dot D21 in the row immediately below.

Furthermore, the corners C1 and C of the light emitting dots D81 in the bottom row of each column
2, the arrangement is selected so that if it is translated upward by the number of rows, it will coincide with the corners C, C4 of the first light emitting dot D12 in the primary column. By doing so, by moving the light emitting dots D in the same column downward in parallel to the lowest row position, a continuous line segment can be formed between the column pitches Pr. In addition, in the example shown in FIG. 2, the height dimension Ph of each light emitting dot D is
and the gap Ps between adjacent light emitting units 1280 in the column direction are equal, but this is because the gap Ps is equal to the height dimension p.
It suffices if it is an integral multiple of h. Furthermore, each light emitting dot D
The shape is not limited to a diamond shape.

It can be square, circular, etc.

Further, in FIG. 1, 21 is an anode scanning unit that generates a scanning signal for sequentially scanning the anode conductor 12 at a predetermined timing, and 22 is a print mark given in accordance with the scanning timing of the anode conductor 12. the signal to the predetermined control electrode 1
4. This print control unit 22 prints light-emitting dots D (D month, D12...D21.D22...D81.D82) from a data conversion unit to be described later.
The print data whose arrangement order has been converted in accordance with the arrangement manner of is received and applied to the control electrode 14.

24 is, for example, a character/figure reading device or a vacuum fluorescent tube A for displaying the arrangement of print data output from a computer.
The data conversion section 23 that converts data according to the side is a timing circuit section that provides timing signals for scanning or driving to each section.

That is, the optical writing device according to the present invention uses vacuum fluorescent vA
While sequentially scanning the anode conductor 12 at a constant period, a print signal is applied to the control electrode 14 in synchronization with this scanning according to the content of the print data given from the data converter 24,
A latent image is formed on a photosensitive drum. FIG. 3 shows a schematic positional relationship among the photosensitive drum B, the vacuum fluorescent tube A serving as the printer head, and the paper E on which printing is performed in this case.

The photosensitive drum B generally rotates at a constant speed and in a constant direction due to its mechanical requirements.

However, the rotation direction of this photosensitive drum B is shown in the diagram.
It is also assumed that the vacuum fluorescent tube A faces the photosensitive surface of the photosensitive drum B via an optical system (not shown).

By causing each light-emitting dot of the vacuum fluorescent tube A to emit light, a latent image is formed in a printing section P (L, M) on the photosensitive drum B shown by a broken line in the figure.

In addition, in FIG. 3, for convenience of explanation, the printing section P (L, M) (
L is a line number in which the printing sections of the same line along the axial direction of the photosensitive drum B are one line, and M is the dot number of the printing section in each line) is drawn large, but in reality it is one print. The dimensions of the sections are approximately equal to the size of the light emitting dots D, and are approximately several tens of micrometers square.

When the paper E is supplied to the photosensitive drum B from the direction G in the figure, a latent image is transferred onto the photosensitive drum B to the paper E side by a transfer unit (not shown), and each printing section P ( Printing is performed on L and M).

By the way, as shown in FIG. 3, the numbering of each printing section P (L, M) is as shown in FIG.
If the line number is returned in the column direction and the dot number M is returned in the row direction, then this P(L.

Each printing section numbered M) must be filled without any gaps by driving and scanning a vacuum fluorescent tube A having an array of light-emitting dots D shown in FIG.

On the other hand, the print data given to the data converter 24 shown in FIG.
1,1), P (1,2), P (1,3)...
P(2,1).

It is given as serial data in line number order and dot number Σ- order, such as P(2,:2)...

Therefore, it is necessary for the data converter 24 to change the arrangement order of the given data in accordance with the scanning order of the vacuum fluorescent tubes A.

As described above, the vacuum fluorescent tube A applied to the present invention has a configuration in which the anode conductor 12 is sequentially scanned and a print signal is applied to the control electrode 14 in accordance with the scanning of the anode conductor.

When eight anode conductors 12 are arranged as in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the anode conductors 12 in the first row
．． When scanned, the light emitting dot D11°D12. D
Print sections 1 on the photosensitive drum B facing 13... For example, P (1,1), P (L9), P (1,1
7) It is necessary to apply the print data to the control electrode 14. Next, when the anode conductor 12□ is scanned,
Luminous dot D 2L D 22. D Print sections P (3, 1), P on the photosensitive drum corresponding to 23...
Print data of (3,9), P (3,17)... must be given to the control electrode.

That is, the data conversion unit 24 converts the given data into, for example, P (1,1), P (1,9), P (1,
17)...P(3,1).

They will be rearranged in the order of P (3, 9), P (3, 17), and so on.

Now, how to convert the arrangement of this data is to arrange four anode conductors 12 (12□, 122, 12...12.), and to set the gap Ps between the light-emitting dots D in the rotational direction of the photosensitive drum as follows: An example will be explained in which the height is selected to be equal to the height ph.

FIG. 4 shows the luminescent dots of the vacuum fluorescent tube A and the photosensitive drum B in this case, which are developed in a plane to form each printing section P (L, M).
FIG. The arrangement relationship between the vacuum fluorescent tube A and the photosensitive drum B is the same as shown in FIG. 3 described above.

As a result, the photosensitive drum B rotates in the direction of the arrow F in the figure, and the first row of printing sections P (1,1), P (1,2),
P(1,3)... reaches a position facing the anode conductor 121 of the first row. In this case, the unit period in which each row of the photosensitive drum B faces each anode conductor 12 and a printing operation is performed for each printing section is called a field as shown in FIG. 5(a). , within each field, the anode conductor 12 (four anode conductors in FIG. 4) is scanned - times. That is, as shown in FIGS. 5(b) to 5(e), four anode conductors 121 are connected during the first field period.
.about.124 will be sequentially scanned. In other words, one field is a period in which the photosensitive drum B rotates by the height Ph of the light emitting dot D. During this period, the photosensitive drum B is continuously rotating, so when the fourth anode conductor 124 is scanned, the time is There is a delay between the first light-emitting dot D scanned and the last scanned light-emitting dot D within the same field.
If viewed microscopically, it is somewhat inclined with respect to the axis of the photosensitive drum B. However, the height ph of the light-emitting dot D itself is about several tens to several hundreds of micrometers, and if the scanning period of the anode conductor is made smaller than the field period shown in FIG. The deviation is slight and poses no practical problem.

Returning to FIG. 4, print section P (1,
1), P (1, 2), P (1, 3)...
When it reaches the position of the anode conductor 12□ in the first row, the light emitting dot D11. D12 and D13 are print sections P (1,1) and P (1,5), respectively.

Face to face with P(1,9). Therefore, first of all, Figure 5 (a
), the anode conductor 12□ is shown in the same figure (b).
When the control electrode 1 is scanned by the scanning pulse Sll of
4 through printing sections P (1,1), P (1,5)
, P (1,9)... is applied for the period shown in FIG. 5(f). Next, in this first field, the anode conductor 12□ is scanned by the scanning pulse S12 shown in FIG. 5(c). Light-emitting dots D connected to 21. D22. D23...
does not have a corresponding print area on the photosensitive drum B.

Similarly, the anode conductor 123.12 in the first field
4, the light-emitting dots driven via the anode conductors do not have a printing section on the photosensitive drum B, so in the first field, these anode conductors 12□ to 12
4 is scanned, no print data is given to the control electrode 14, as shown in FIG. 5(f). A constant potential is applied, and a constant positive potential is applied in the case of a regular development method).

Furthermore, the photosensitive drum B rotates to print the second line of the printing area,
That is, the printing sections P (2, l), P (2, 2)
.

P (2, 3)... is a light emitting dot D 11. D1
2. When the anode conductor 12□ is scanned by the scanning pulse S21 shown in FIG. 5(b), the control electrode 1 enters the second field in FIG.
4, the printing sections P (2,1), P (2,
5) Give print data of P (2,9)...

At this time, the printing sections P (1, 1), P (1, 2)
, P (1,3)... rows are anode conductors 12□ and 12
It is located in the gap □ and is not scanned by the light emitting dots D. Furthermore, since the light-emitting dots D driven through the anode conductors 122 to 124 do not have a corresponding printing area on the photosensitive drum B, the anode conductors are driven in the second field as shown in FIG. 5(f). 12□ to 124 are scanning pulses S22.
No print data is given during the period of scanning in S23 and S24.

Then, P (3, 1), P on the third line of the print area
(3,2)P (3,3)... faces the anode conductor 121 in the first row, that is, the printing section P (1,1) in the first row.

When P (1, 2), P (1, 3)... rotate to the position facing the anode conductor 12° of the third row, the fifth
Enter the third field shown in Figure (a).

In this third field, one luminous dot D11. D1
2, D 13... and luminescent dot D 21. D
22. D23... have printing sections facing each other, so first, the anode conductor 12 is printed by the scanning pulse S31.
When □ is scanned, the print sections P (3, 1), P (3
, 5), P (3, 9)... is applied to the control electrode 14 as shown in FIG.
When 2□ is scanned, the print area P(1,2).

Print data corresponding to P (1, 6), P (1, 10), . . . is applied to the control electrode 14.

In this way, as the photosensitive drum B rotates, the data conversion unit 24 converts the arrangement of the given data according to the scanning order of the light emitting dots D and the arrangement structure in the matrix direction, and prints the data on the control electrode 14. Applied as data.

Now, Table 1 shows the arrangement of print data in each field when the light emitting dots D have the structure shown in FIG. 4 and are driven at the timing shown in FIG. 5.

(The following is a margin) In the first table, in the seventh field, the first line of the printing section P (1,1), P (1,2), P (1,3)
The photosensitive drum B rotates until the photosensitive drum B faces the anode conductor 124 in the fourth row, and the anode conductor 124 is scanned by the scanning pulse S74 shown in FIG.
1,4).

When print data corresponding to P (1, 8), P (1, 12), . . . is applied to the control electrode 14, the printing operation for the first row printing section is completed.

Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG.
When attempting to print a straight line between 1, 1) and P (1, 4), the light emitting dot Dll during scanning of the anode conductor 121 of the first field is turned on, and the anode conductor 1 of the third field is printed.
By lighting up the light-emitting dot D21 when scanning 22, lighting the light-emitting dot D31 when scanning the anode conductor 123 of the fifth field, and lighting the light-emitting dot D41 when scanning the anode conductor 124 of the seventh field, the diagonal line shown in the figure is turned on. The straight line shown is formed.

In other words, the printing of each line of each printing section is completed only by rearranging the luminescent dots, which are originally arranged in a straight line, in a diagonal direction and moving the photosensitive drum by the area of this slanted arrangement. .

Therefore, it is necessary to rearrange the order of transfer of print data to the vacuum fluorescent tube A side according to the arrangement of the light emitting dots and the scanning method. For example, in the example shown in FIG. By rearranging as shown in FIG. 2, print data can be supplied to the entire area of the photosensitive drum B, and thus to the entire area of the printing paper E.

Next, the procedure for rearranging the print data, that is, the data arrangement procedure in the data conversion section shown in FIG. 1 will be generalized and explained with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 6.

First, let each printing section of the photosensitive drum B be P(L, M). Then, the number of anode conductors in the vacuum fluorescent tube A is determined by the pitch of the light emitting dots D in the column direction Pd = Ph + Ps with respect to the height Ph of the light emitting dots (m1) (see Figure 2).
Ph) is n, and the light-emitting square L=I-n(J-1) M=m(K-1)+J Therefore, while counting up ■, J, and K in the above equation, the sixth P(L,
M), and according to this printing order, the first
The print data may be rearranged by the data converter 24 shown in the figure.

By the way, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the rotation direction of the photosensitive drum B is set in the F direction shown in FIG. Because of the addressing, the arrangement of print data given for one scan (-field period) of the vacuum fluorescent tube A is as shown in each field in Table 1, in the row direction. The print data is rearranged in an increasing direction by skipping a value corresponding to the number of rows of one luminous dot, and in the column direction, the data is rearranged according to the multiple of the luminous dot pitch in the column direction relative to the luminous dot size (2 in the example). The print data is rearranged in a decreasing direction while skipping over the specified value.

However, whether this data arrangement is in ascending order (the direction in which the print section addresses increase) or in descending order (the direction in which the print section addresses decrease) depends on the rotational direction of the photosensitive drum B and the arrangement of the print section addresses. The first
It is not limited to tables.

Furthermore, although the above-described embodiments have been described using vacuum fluorescent tubes as the printer head section, it goes without saying that the printer head section can also be constructed using other LEDs, LCDs, ELs, and the like.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, but can be implemented with various modifications without changing the gist thereof.

〔effect〕

As described above, the optical writing device according to the present invention supplies print data according to the printing section of the paper, and hence the printing section of the photosensitive drum, according to the number of rows and column direction dot arrangement of the group of light emitting dots in the printer head. This configuration includes a data conversion section that rearranges the data.

As a result, it is possible to realize a printing method in which printing is performed by scanning a printer head section formed by diagonally arranging a plurality of groups of light emitting dots in the column direction, that is, in the direction of movement of the photosensitive drum.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an optical writing device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the light-emitting dot arrangement structure of a printer head used in the same embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the positional relationship between the drum, printer head, and paper; FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the printing mode in the same embodiment; FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the same embodiment. 6 is a flowchart showing the print data rearrangement procedure in the same embodiment, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of a vacuum fluorescent tube used as the printer head section of the same embodiment. A... Vacuum fluorescent tube B... Photosensitive drum D... Light emitting dot E... Paper 21... Anode scanning unit 22... Printing control unit 24.
...Data Conversion Department Patent Applicant Futaba Electronics Co., Ltd. Figure 4 Figure 6

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) an optical printer head that faces the photoreceptor and in which a plurality of light emitting dots are arranged in parallel along a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the photoreceptor and a row direction that is inclined to the direction of movement of the photoreceptor; a scanning unit that scans the light-emitting dots of the optical printer head once along the column direction while the photoreceptor moves by the size of the light-emitting dot; The optical printer head section covers print data given correspondingly to each of the print sections partitioned in a matrix, with the direction in which the photoreceptor moves as the row direction and the direction in which the photoreceptor moves as the column direction, In the row direction, the light-emitting dots are rearranged while skipping by a value corresponding to the number of rows, and in the column direction, the light-emitting dots are rearranged by a value corresponding to the ratio of the light-emitting dot pitch and the size of the light-emitting dot in the direction of movement of the photoreceptor. an optical writing device comprising: a data converter for rearranging the light emitting dots; and a print control unit for applying print data output from the data converter to the light emitting dots in synchronization with column direction scanning of the light emitting dots. (2) The light emitting dot pitch of the optical printer head section is
The optical writing device according to claim 1, wherein the size is an integral multiple of the size of the light emitting dot. (3) The light-emitting dots of the optical printer head are made continuous in the direction orthogonal to the photoconductor movement direction by moving each light-emission dot in parallel to the photoconductor movement direction by the emission dot pitch in the photoconductor movement direction. The optical writing device according to claim 1 or 2, which has an array structure in which: