JPS6367158A - Printing method in dot printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain high quality printing of half dot constitution at a high printing speed, by a method wherein the interval of dots in a lateral direction is set to a 1/2 dot pitch and, when separate dots to be printed are present within a 3/2 dot pitch from the dots printed by the printing element of one printing row, printing is performed by the printing element of the other printing row. CONSTITUTION:When the a-rows of the fifth pin and the seventh pin are printed by a left printing row L, and the e-rows of the fifth pin and the seventh pin are printed by a right printing row R, since the f-row of the seventh pin is printed by the right printing row R and presents within a 3/2 dot pitch with respect to an e-row, said f-row is printed by the left printing row L. Therefore, the fifth pin and seventh pin of the right printing row R are driven in a step 3 to print a part of a d-row, and the seventh pin 7 of the right printing row is driven in a step 10 to print a part of the f-row. By this constitution, the min. interval wherein the same printing element of the same printing row is driven becomes four steps of a carriage 4, that is, a two- dot pitch. By this method, the response frequency of a printing head can be delayed by 1/2 and to the one-dot pitch running of the carriage and, when the response frequency of said head is supposed to be the same F, the running of the carriage can be increased to two times.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a printing method for a dot printer that is capable of high-quality printing at a high printing speed.

(Prior Art) In recent years, dot printers have been widely used as output devices for computers, word processors, and the like. and,
In order to increase the printing speed, dot printers that use two vertical rows of print heads consisting of a left print row and a right print row in which a plurality of printing elements are arranged in two parallel left and right rows are becoming popular.

Here, a printing method in a conventional dot printer using two vertical rows of print heads will be explained with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram in which the left print column and right print column are alternately driven every time the conventional carriage moves by one tod pitch in one step, and FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the printing method shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing characters having a full dot structure to be printed.

In FIG. 6, the left print row and right print row R are, for example, 2
The carriages arranged at dot pitch intervals and carrying the print heads move, for example, in the direction of the arrow in the figure, with each step being one dot pitch. First, in step (1), the right printing row R is driven to print the b row of dots forming the characters shown in FIG. Next, in step (2), the left printing column is driven to print the dots in column a of FIG. Then, in step (3), dots in column d are printed by the right printing column R, and in step (4)
In step (5), dots in column f are printed by the left printing column R, and dots in column e are printed by the left printing column in step (6). is printed to complete the full-dot character.

In this printing method, since R is driven alternately in the left and right print rows, the minimum interval at which the same print row is driven is two steps of the carriage, that is, two dot pitch intervals. For this reason, if the response frequency for driving the print element once while the carriage travels one dot pitch per step is F, then the response frequency of the two vertical rows of print heads described in I-- above may be F/2. If it is driven at the same speed response frequency as a single vertical row of print heads, the printing speed of a dot printer using two vertical rows of print heads will be twice that of a single vertical row of print heads. The speed can be as high as .

However, as shown in FIG. 7, full-dot characters have a serious drawback of poor resolution and poor print quality.

Therefore, in order to improve printing quality, a method for printing characters with a half-dot structure has been proposed in which the horizontal spacing between the dots forming the characters to be printed is set to 1/2 dot pitch. A method for printing characters having a half-dot structure will be explained with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. Figure 8 shows
This is an explanatory diagram in which a conventional carriage drives the left print column and the right print column alternately every time the carriage moves by 1/2 dot pitch in one step. It is a diagram showing characters.

In FIG. 8, a carriage carrying a print head in which a left print row and a right print row R are arranged at intervals of 2 dot pitches travels, for example, in the right direction in the figure in the direction of the arrow, at a 1/2 dot pitch per step. . Then, first step (1
), the right printing row R is driven, and five rows of dots forming the characters shown in FIG. 9 are printed. Next, step (2)
Then, the left print row is driven, but there are no dots to print. Then, in step (3), d is set by the right print string R.
The column dots are printed. In step (4), column a is printed by the left print column, in step (5), column f is printed by the right print column R, and in step (6), the left print column R is driven, but no printing is performed. There is no dot to do. In this way, the steps proceed one after another, the left and right printing rows are arranged, and R is driven alternately to complete a half-dot character.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The half-dot characters shown in FIG. 9 have finer resolution and superior print quality than the full-dot characters shown in FIG. However, if the response frequency for driving the printing element once while the carriage travels in two steps [one dot]/pitch is F, then the response frequency of the two vertical rows of print heads for printing half-dot characters is also Must be F. For this reason, if the response frequency of the print head is the same, the printing speed of half-dot characters is 1/2 of the printing speed of full-dot characters.
There is a problem that the printing speed is slow.

An object of the present invention was to solve the above-mentioned problems with the conventional printing method, and to provide a printing method for a dot printer that is capable of high-quality printing in a half-dot configuration at a high printing speed. It is in.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the printing method in the dot printer of the present invention is such that the print head is connected to a left printing column and a right printing column in which a plurality of printing elements are arranged in two parallel horizontal and vertical columns. One step of the carriage carrying this print head is run at a 1/2 dot pitch, and the horizontal spacing of the dots that make up the characters to be printed is set at a 1/2 dot pitch. If there is another dot to be printed within 3/2 dot pitch from the dot to be printed by the printing element of the printing string, the character data is formed so that the printing element of the other printing string prints, and a character with half dot composition is printed. be done.

(Function) One step of the carriage is moved at a 1/2 dot pitch, and if there is another dot to be printed within 3/2 dot pitch from the dot printed by the printing elements of one printing row with two vertical rows of print heads, Since the character data is formed so as to be printed by the printing elements of the other printing string, the minimum interval at which the same printing elements of the same printing string are driven is four steps of the carriage, that is, two dot pitch intervals. Therefore, if the response frequency of the print head is the same, the same printing speed as the conventional full-dot character can be obtained at twice the printing speed of the conventional half-dot character. Furthermore, high-quality printing with a half-dot configuration is possible.

(Description of Embodiments) Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. FIG. 1 shows that a carriage according to an embodiment of the present invention moves by 1/2 dot pitch in one step, and if there is another dot to be printed within 3/2 dot pitch from the dot to be printed by the printing element of one printing row. FIG.
The figure shows characters in a half-dot configuration printed by the printing method shown in Figure 1, and Figure 3 shows an explanation of repeating driving and non-driving of the left print line and right print line every two steps of the carriage. 4 is a diagram showing characters in a half-dot configuration printed by the printing method of FIG. 3,
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of print heads arranged in two vertical rows.

As shown in FIG. 5, for example, seven printing elements are arranged vertically in parallel at intervals of 5/2 dot pitch to form a left printing column and a right printing column R. A column of printheads is configured. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the carriage carrying this print head travels, for example, in the right direction in the drawings in the direction of the arrow, with one step at a 1/2 dot pitch. Further, the horizontal spacing of the dots constituting the characters to be printed is a half-dot configuration with a 1/2 dot pitch. Then, print data is formed as follows.

First, in FIG. 3, in step (1), R is driven in the left and right printing rows, and the right printing row R prints the b row of dots that constitute the characters in FIG. 4. Next, in step (2), only the right printing row R is driven, but there are no dots to be printed.

Then, in step (3), R is not driven in both the left and right print rows, and in step (4), although the left print row is driven, there are no dots to be printed.

Further, in step (5), R is driven in the left and right printing rows to print dots in rows a and f, and step (6)
), the right printing row R is driven, but there are no dots to be printed. Furthermore, in step (7), neither the left nor right printing rows R are driven, in step (8) the left printing row prints column d, and in step (9) the left printing row prints column e. is printed, and in step (12),
The h column is printed, and in step (13) the i column is printed to complete the half-dot character.

As mentioned above, the left I〒print row and R are alternately driven and not driven every two steps of the carriage, and print two rows of 1/2 dot pitch that make up a character.
The left printing column and the right printing column R are printed alternately one by one. Since the same printing element in the same printing line does not print continuously at an interval of 172 dots, the minimum interval at which the same printing element in the same printing line is driven is the 5th pin and As in rows a and e of 7 bins, the dot pitch is 3/2. Therefore, as shown in Figure 2,
The pin and the a row of the 7th pin are printed as they are in the left printing row,
The row e of the 5th pin and the 7th bin is changed to be printed in the right printing row R. Then, the f column of the 7th bin is the right print column R.
Since it is printed within 3/2 dot pitch of column e, change the column f of the 7th pin to be printed as the left printing column.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, in step (3), the fifth and seventh pins of the right printing row R are driven to print a part of the d row. Further, in step (10), the seventh bin in the right printing row is driven to print a part of column f.

By driving with such print data, the minimum interval at which the same print elements of the same print row are driven becomes four steps of the carriage, that is, a two-dot pitch interval. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the response frequency of the print head to 1/2 with respect to the one-dot pitch movement of the carriage. If the response frequency of the print head is set to the same F, the carriage travel can be doubled. Therefore, high-quality printing with a half-dot configuration can be performed, and a high printing speed can be obtained, which is twice as fast as that of conventional characters with a half-dot configuration and the same as that of characters with a conventional full-dot configuration.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the printing method in the dot printer of the present invention, high-quality printing with a half-dot configuration can be performed.Moreover, if the response speed of the print head is the same, printing with a conventional half-dot configuration can be achieved. This has an excellent effect in that the same high printing speed as that of the conventional full-dot configuration can be obtained at twice the speed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows that a carriage according to an embodiment of the present invention moves by 1/2 dot pitch in one step, and if there is another dot to be printed within 3/2 dot pitch from the dot to be printed by the printing element of one printing row. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of driving the print head to print with the other print line; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing half-dot characters printed by the printing method of FIG. This is an explanatory diagram in which the left print column and the right print column are repeatedly driven and not driven every two steps of the carriage, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing characters in a half-dot configuration printed by the printing method of FIG. 3. , Figure 5 shows vertical 2
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram in which a conventional carriage alternately drives a left print column and a right print column each time the carriage moves one dot pitch in one step;
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing full-dot characters printed by the printing method shown in FIG. 6, and FIG. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of alternately driving the print strings, and FIG. 9 is a diagram showing characters in a half-dot configuration printed by the printing method of FIG. 8. L: Left print string, R: Right print string. Patent applicant Alps Electric Co., Ltd. Agent Patent attorney Tetsuo Moriyama acegi bdfh

Claims (1)

[Claims] The print head is formed by a left print row and a right print row in which a plurality of print elements are arranged in two parallel horizontal and vertical rows, and one step of a carriage carrying this print head is moved at a 1/2 dot pitch. The horizontal spacing of the dots that make up the characters to be printed is set to 1/2 dot pitch, and there is another dot to be printed within 3/2 dot pitch from the dot printed by the printing element of one printing row. 1. A printing method for a dot printer, characterized in that character data is formed so as to be printed by printing elements of the other printing string.