JPS63162262A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent deterioration of printing quality and breakage of a printing head by cooling the printing head when a high temperature condition of the printing head is detected and giving a printing pause time which increases in proportion to a high temperature duration of the printing head while the printing heat is cooling. CONSTITUTION:When a detection signal sent from a temperature sensor is checked by printing line interval, and a detection signal is set to a 'H' level in which a printing head is at a high temperature exceeding a limit temperature, both-way printing is changed to one-way printing. If a detection signal from the temperature sensor is set to 'H' level through next checking, a single line is printed in the one-way printing mode and a 'T' sec printing pause is given after LF. Further, if the detection signal from the temperature sensor is at 'H' level through checking next to the above-mentioned checking, a '2T' sec printing pause is give. Subseqnetly, the printing head which is in high- temperature condition is always given sufficient printing pause for cooling and printing is resumed from a next line, thus causing no deterioration of printing quality or breakage of the printing head.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Object of the invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a printer device that performs bidirectional printing.

(Conventional Technique! i) A printer device that performs bidirectional printing prints two lines of paper on the paper set on the platen as the carriage carrying the print head makes one reciprocation along the axial direction of the platen. It is composed of In other words, whereas a unidirectional printing printer prints each character in one line from left to right, the gear ridge returns to the left and the next line is printed from left to right in the same way. Bidirectional printing printers print each character in one line from left to right, and then print the next line from right to left, and are much faster than unidirectional printing printers. It has become.

By the way, in such a bidirectional printing printer,
The temperature of the print head may become extremely high when a solid black pattern or a character pattern with a high print duty is continuously printed. When the temperature of the print head increases, the print head expands and the gap between the platen and the tip of the print head may close, resulting in a decrease in print quality, so cool the print head. Measures will be needed.

Therefore, as a measure to cool the print head, conventionally, a temperature sensor is attached to the print head, and the high temperature state of the print head is detected by comparing the temperature detected by this temperature sensor with a preset limit temperature. When the print head is in a high temperature state based on this detection, normal bidirectional printing is switched to unidirectional printing to cool the print head.

That is, to explain the operation of the conventional printer device in detail, as shown in FIG. 5, bidirectional printing is started in step S1, and when printing for one line is completed, the position of the next line to be printed is determined in step S2. Feed paper until (IX bottom, LF
In response to this LF violation, in step S3, the detection signal from the temperature sensor is checked, and it is determined from this check whether or not the print head is in the j% temperature state. Based on this determination, if the print head is in a high temperature state, the carriage is skipped in step S4. That is, if the carriage is located to the right when printing for one line is completed in step S1, the carriage is moved to the left, and if it is located to the left, it is moved to the right.

Note that no printing is performed during this skip. After skipping the carriage in this way, step S
In step 5, printing is performed by switching to unidirectional printing.

Next, when one line of printing is completed by this unidirectional printing, LF is performed in step S6, and then in step S7 it is determined whether the print head is in the a% temperature state based on the detection signal of the temperature sensor. According to this determination, if the print head is not in a high temperature state, that is, if the print head has returned to normal temperature, the process returns to step S1 to perform bidirectional printing and repeat the following process. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S7 that the print head is still in a high temperature state, the process returns to step S4, continues the unidirectional printing with the carriage skipped, and repeats the following process.

In this way, conventional printer devices normally perform bidirectional printing, and when the print head becomes hot, the printing is switched from bidirectional printing to unidirectional printing until the print head returns to normal temperature. The print head was cooled by allowing the print head to rest for a period of time.

However, in reality, when continuously printing character patterns with high print duty, the print head is not sufficiently cooled by the above skip time alone, and conventional printers print immediately after the above skip time. In order to start the process, the temperature of the print head rises rapidly, which not only deteriorates the print quality but also, in the worst case scenario, causes the head coil to burn out, causing damage to the print head.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, the cooling of the print head in conventional printer devices depends only on the skip time when switching to unidirectional printing, so sufficient cooling is not achieved. This had the disadvantage of causing a decline in print quality and damage to the print head.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printer device capable of cooling a print head without degrading print quality or damaging the print head.

[Structure of the invention] (Means and actions for solving the problem) namely,
The printer Si@ according to the present invention is a printer device that performs bidirectional printing, and when a high temperature state of the print head is detected, the bidirectional printing is switched to unidirectional printing until the print head returns to normal temperature. During the cooling period of the print head, a print rest time is provided at intervals of print lines or a fixed period of time, which increases in proportion to the time the print head is in a high temperature state.

With this configuration, the print head rest time, which is the print head cooling time, is not only the skip time in unidirectional printing but also the above print rest time, and the print head rest time is the time when the print head is in a high temperature state. Since the increase is proportional to the time, the print head can take a break depending on the current temperature condition. Therefore, the print head can be cooled without deteriorating print quality or damaging the print head.

(Example) Hereinafter, a printer device of the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of a printer device according to an embodiment, and 11 in the figure is a 1111m11 circuit (hereinafter referred to as C
(referred to as PLJ). A system bus 12 is connected to the CPU 11, and a timer 13, a ROM 14, an output port 15, and an input port 16 are connected to the system path 12, respectively.

The timer 13 is a timer for determining print head operation timing and printing rest time. The ROM 14 is a control memory that stores data such as programs. Further, a head driver 17 , a carriage motor driver (hereinafter referred to as CR motor driver) 18 , and a feed motor driver (hereinafter referred to as LF motor driver) 19 are connected to the output boat 15 . Print head 20 and CR motor 21 via CR motor driver 18 and LF motor driver 19, respectively.
, the LF motor 22 is driven.

On the other hand, a temperature sensor 24 is connected to the input boat 16 via an amplifier 23, and is configured to input a detection signal from the temperature sensor 24 via the amplifier 23. The temperature sensor 24 is provided to detect the temperature of the print head 20 and to detect a high temperature state of the print head 20 by comparing the detected temperature with a preset limit of 1 degree. When the temperature exceeds the limit temperature, an rHJ level detection signal is output.

The operation of the printer device having the above configuration will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, when print data is transferred from a host device (not shown), the CPU
11 is a head driver 17, a CR motor driver 18,
each print head 2 via an LF motor driver 19.
By driving the 0, CR motor 21 and LF motor 22, bidirectional printing is started in step A1, and when printing for one line is completed, LF is performed in step A2.

Next, in step A3, a detection signal from the temperature sensor 24 is output immediately after the end of LF, that is, at the timing when printing of the next line is about to start, and based on this detection, it is determined whether the print head 20 is in a high temperature state or not. to judge. In this step A3, the print head 20 is at normal temperature! 11
If (the temperature of the print head 20 is below the limit temperature), the process returns to step A1 and printing of the next line is started.

On the other hand, if the print head 20 is in a high temperature state (the temperature of the print head 20 is higher than the limit temperature), a coefficient n at a print rest time of 0 seconds, which will be described later, is initialized in step A4, and then, in step A5, the coefficient n Add "1" to. Then, in step 80, the carriage is skipped, and in step A7, bidirectional printing is switched to unidirectional printing to print one line.

In this way, when printing for one line by unidirectional printing is completed, LF is performed in step 88, and after this LF is completed, in step A9, the preset time T is set to the coefficient n set in step A5. The print head 20 is allowed to rest for a printing rest time of n7 seconds, which is created by riding on and tightening the print head 20.

Then, after the above-mentioned printing pause of fllnT seconds, the detection signal of the temperature sensor 24 is detected at the timing when printing is about to start in step AIO, and it is determined whether the print head 20 is in the in state or not. to decide. In this step A4+-, if the print head 20 has returned to the normal temperature state due to the printing break in step A9, the process returns to step A1, bidirectional printing is performed, and the following process is repeated.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step A10 that the print head 20 is in a high temperature state, it is determined in step A11 whether the coefficient n has reached the setting 1i1k, and if the coefficient n has not reached the setting value k, Return to step 80,
Add 1 to the coefficient n at that time and repeat the following process. On the other hand, if the coefficient n has reached the set value k, the process returns to step A5 and the following process is repeated using the coefficient n at that time (nk in this case).

That is, the coefficient n is limited to the set value k, and when the print head 20 is in a high temperature state exceeding the set value k, the print rest time is set to kT seconds.

In this way, in this printer II, as shown in FIG. 3, the detection signal from the WAa sensor 24 is
1i, and at this time, if the detection signal is at rHJ level, that is, the print head 20 is in a high temperature state exceeding the limit temperature, bidirectional printing is changed to unidirectional printing by 1.7
Jl! If the detection signal of the temperature sensor 24 is at the rHJ level in the next check, after one line of unidirectional printing is completed, a 1-second printing break is taken after L″F, and the next check also shows that the temperature The detection signal of the sensor 24 is rHJ
If it is level, a printing break of 2T seconds is taken.

That is, according to this printer device, the print head rest time, which is the cooling time of the print head, is not only the skip time in unidirectional printing but also the above-mentioned print rest time, and moreover, during the print rest Fft, Since it is increased in proportion to the time the print head is in a high temperature state, the print head can take a break depending on the density state at that time.

Therefore, the print head, which has been in a high temperature state, will always resume printing from the next line after taking a sufficient printing break time necessary for cooling down, resulting in the deterioration of print quality and printing Do not cause damage to the head.

In this embodiment, the temperature sensor 24 is checked and a printing rest time is taken at intervals between printed lines, but the temperature sensor 24 may be checked and a printing rest time is taken at intervals of a certain fixed period, for example. This is possible, and even with this configuration, the same effects as in the above embodiment can be obtained.

Next, the operation of the printer device according to another embodiment will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. That is,
The operations from step 81 to step B1 are similar to those shown in FIG.
After performing LF in (Step B1) (Step B2)
, it is determined whether the print head 20 is in a high temperature state by checking the detection signal of the sensor 24 once (step 8).
3).

If the print head 20 is in a high temperature state, the coefficient n is initialized (step B4), and this coefficient n is set to "1".
(Step B5), skip and print one line by unidirectional printing, and after finishing printing one line by unidirectional printing, perform LF (step 86) with printing rest time of 07 seconds. The print head 20 takes a print break.

In this way, after a printing break of 07 seconds is performed in step B7, it is determined in step B8 whether or not the print head 20 is in a high temperature state. This step B
If the print head 20 has returned to the normal temperature state in Step 8, "1" is subtracted from the coefficient n at that time in Step B9, and then, in Step 310, it is determined whether the coefficient n is "1" or not. Do the following. As a result of this conditional judgment, if the coefficient n is not "1", that is, if the current printing rest time nT is greater than T, the process returns to step B6 and the following process is repeated. Further, if the coefficient n is "1", that is, if fmnT at the time of intermittent printing rest is T, the process returns to step B1 and the following process is repeated.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step B8 that the print head 20 is in a high temperature state, "1" is added to the coefficient n at that time in step B11, and the process is skipped in step B12, and unidirectional printing is performed. 1 line printing,
After performing LF, in step 813, the above step Bt
A printing break is performed for the printing break time of 07 seconds set in i.

After taking a printing break in step B13, it is determined again in step 1314 whether the print head 20 is at a temperature of 1 s, and if the print head 20 has returned to the shielding temperature, the process from step B9 is performed. Process. Further, if the print head 20 is in a high temperature state, step 31
At step 5, it is determined whether the coefficient n at that time has reached the set value k, and if it is n-, the process returns to step 812, and if it is not n-, the process returns to step B4+, and the following process is repeated.

As described above, in this embodiment, if the print head has returned to the normal temperature when the printing interval vf is nT seconds, the routine returns to the previous printing interval 11111 (n-1>1 seconds). With this configuration, compared to the actual tIM example shown in Fig. 2, when printing the same duty pattern continuously, the printing rest interval R is always about the same, and the printing head temperature can be made uniform.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the high temperature state of the print head can be reduced! !
! When this is detected, the print head is cooled by switching from bidirectional printing to unidirectional printing until the print head returns to normal temperature, and during this print head cooling period, the Print head S temperature status B
By taking the printing rest time which increases in proportion to the time, it is possible to cool the print head without deteriorating print quality or damaging the print head.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation in the same actual flow example, and Fig. 3 is the output of the 1-degree sensor in the simultaneous collision M example. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 51 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of a conventional printer device. . 11...CPLJ, 13...Timer, 14...R
OM, 15...output boat, 16...input boat,
17... Head driver, 18... CR motor driver, 19... LF motor driver, 20... Print head, 21... CR motor, 22... LF motor, 23... Amplifier, 24...Temperature sensor. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 1 Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a printer device that performs bidirectional printing, a high temperature state detection means detects the temperature of the print head and detects a high temperature state of the print head by comparing the detected temperature with a preset limit temperature. , print head cooling control means for cooling the print head by switching from bidirectional printing to unidirectional printing until the print head returns to normal temperature when a high temperature state is detected by the high temperature state detection means; The present invention is characterized by comprising a print control means that takes a print rest time that increases in proportion to the time in which the print head is in a high temperature state at a print line interval or at a fixed period interval during a print head cooling period by the print head cooling control means. printer device.