JPS6387274A - Dot matrix printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent printing quality of a recording paper from being lowered and facilitate control of a carriage, by stopping the driving of print wires when a ribbon end is detected, and after resetting a ribbon, resuming printing at the part of the paper at which the ribbon end is detected. CONSTITUTION:When a ribbon end detection signal is inputted from a ribbon end detecting part 4, driving pulses for print wires and a fixed-time timer are stopped, a ribbon end flag is set, and interrupt processings after the detection of the ribbon end and the generation of the driving pulses for the print wires are stopped. With the ribbon end flag thus set, information on the position where the ribbon-end condition has occurred is protected, and a carriage motor 12 is driven by a carriage motor-driving circuit 9 to move only a carriage unit. When a ribbon is reset, a processing for moving a carriage to a home position is performed, and when the carriage has reached the home position, the position for restarting printing is calculated from the position where the ribbon-end condition has occurred, and a command for reprinting is given.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dot matrix printer using a ribbon with ribbon ends.

BACKGROUND TECHNOLOGY In general, dot matrix printers drive a carriage carrying a print wire at a constant speed as shown in FIG. By pushing the recording paper through the ribbon with the tip of the ribbon, the color of the ribbon is applied as dots to the recording paper, and letters and numbers are constructed from a matrix of these dots. In addition, the pulse signal data input to this print wire is read out for one line on which the carriage runs, and while the carriage runs, the print wire is driven by the pulse signal data and printed. The print wire drive alone is not stopped midway while the line is running.

Akira tries to understand-I? F In a dot matrix printer configured in this way, if a ribbon with a ribbon end is used, if the ribbon end comes in the middle of the l line, the print wire will be driven even in the part where there is no ribbon, and the print wire will not be able to record. There is a problem in that unevenness is formed on the paper, and when printing on it again, the print quality deteriorates. Furthermore, when the ribbon runs out in the middle of one line, when resetting the ribbon and printing again, it is not possible to restart printing from the part where the ribbon runs out.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a dot matrix printer using a ribbon with a ribbon end, a ribbon end detection means for detecting the ribbon end, and a ribbon end detection means. means for immediately stopping the drive of the print wire when the ribbon end is detected by the above, means for driving the carriage for driving the print wire to the original printing end position of the print line and stopping it, and resetting the ribbon. When the ribbon end is detected, reprinting is performed from the portion of the recording paper where the ribbon end is detected.

According to the present invention, even if a ribbon with a ribbon end is used, when the ribbon end is detected, the printing wire is stopped, the carriage is driven to the original stop position, and when the ribbon is reset, the print wire is stopped. Since reprinting can be performed from the portion of the recording paper where the ribbon end is detected, the print quality of the recording paper does not deteriorate, and since the carriage is not stopped midway, the carriage can be easily controlled.

Figure 1 is a block diagram of a dot matrix printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a master CPU and a slave CPU are connected.
2 is provided, and the master CPU 1 is provided with an input/output device 3.
, ribbon end detection section 4, read-only memory ROM5
, a read/write memory RAM 6, and a print wire drive circuit 7 are connected to the print wire drive circuit 7, and a print wire 8 is connected to the print wire drive circuit 7. Also slave C
A carriage motor drive circuit 9, a paper feed motor drive circuit 10, and a read-only memory ROMII are connected to PtJ2, and motors 12 and 13 are connected to the carriage motor drive circuit 9 and paper feed motor drive circuit 10, respectively.

Further, a serial signal line and a carriage emergency stop signal line are provided between the master CPU I and the slave CPU 2.

Next, the operation of the dot matrix printer from analyzing and processing data to printing in the main routine shown in FIG. 2 will be briefly explained. First, after turning on the printer and completing the initial settings (Step 1), if there is no data from an external device (such as a personal computer), it may be an error (Step 2), a self-test (Step 3), or an online ( Step 4) and data input (step 5) are always determined, and if rYesJ, the respective processes are performed and the operations are performed in order. If data is input here (step 5), this data is read out (step 6), and whether or not it is controlled is determined (step 7), and if it is not controlled, editing processing (step 8) is performed. , if it is control, after analysis processing is performed (step 11), it is determined whether to print (step 9), and if the printing start conditions are not met, step 2 is performed again.
Return to and repeat steps 2 to 9, where:
When the printing start conditions are met, in step 9 of determining whether to start printing, the process moves to a print processing routine (step 10). In this print processing routine (step 10), the slave CPU 2 sends a signal to the carriage motor drive circuit 9 based on the print information, drives the motor 12 to move the carriage unit, and print wire drive circuit 7
Driving of the print wire 8 is then started. This process of driving the print wire 8 is handled as a periodic interrupt process.

That is, FIG. 3 shows the print wire drive pulse and the dot (
In a dot matrix printer, printing is performed by creating dots 15 using regular print drive pulses 14 and interrupt processing while moving the carriage unit at a constant speed. ,
In the interrupt processing routine for driving the print wire shown in FIG. 4, when the ribbon end detection section 4 shown in FIG.
), the pulse and fixed time timer for driving the print wire are stopped (step 2), the ribbon end flag is set (step 3), and interrupt processing and generation of print wire drive pulses after the ribbon end are stopped. Note that if the ribbon end detection signal is not input from the ribbon end detection section 4, the next position information is set in the register (step 4).

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 5, when the ribbon end flag is set in step 1, the ribbon end occurrence position information (carriage and dot) is protected (step 2).
The carriage motor 12 shown in FIG. 1 is driven by the carriage motor drive circuit 9, and only the carriage unit is operated (step 3). After this carriage unit stops,
An error flag is set (step 4) and the process returns to the main routine. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 2, in the main routine, it is recognized in step 2 that an error has been set, and error processing is performed in step 12.

Until this error is recovered, the main routine of FIG. 1 operates in the order of step 2 -> step 12 -> step 9 -> step 2.

After replacing the ribbon, in the error handling routine shown in Figure 6,
When the ribbon is reset (step 1), the carriage moves to the home position (step 2), and waits until the carriage moves to the home position (step 3). The error flag is reset (step 4),
Also, the ribbon end flag is reset (step 5).
, Calculate the print start position from the ribbon end occurrence position protected in the routine shown in Figure 5, and give an instruction to reprint (step 6), then proceed to the printing process from step 9 to step 10 of the main routine in Figure 2. Transition. In the printing process of step 10, the remaining printing when the ribbon end occurs is executed. After executing this printing,
Return to normal state.

In addition, when stopping the carriage when a ribbon end occurs,
In order to stop the normal carriage movement as shown in FIG. 7, an emergency stop signal as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 1 is required. Furthermore, it is necessary to control this emergency stop signal when a ribbon end occurs in step 2 of FIG. 5. Furthermore, it is a matter of course that the slave CPU 2 adds processing based on the carriage emergency stop signal.

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above explanation, even if a ribbon with a ribbon end is used, when the ribbon end is detected, the printing wire is stopped and the carriage is driven to the original stop position. and when I reset the ribbon,
Since reprinting can be performed from the portion of the recording paper where the ribbon end is detected, the print quality of the recording paper does not deteriorate and the carriage does not stop midway.

This has the advantage that the carriage can be easily controlled.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a dot matrix printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a main routine for explaining the operation of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a relationship between print wire drive pulses and dots. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an interrupt processing routine for driving the print wire, FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a part of the print routine explaining the operation of the printer of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the ribbon resetting portion of the error handling routine in the printer shown in FIG. 7, and shows the carriage speed and printing range. 1... Master CPU, 2... Slave CPU, 3
... Input/output device, 4... Ribbon end detection section, 5.
... Read-only memory ROM, 6... Read/write memory RAM, 7... Printed wire drive circuit, 8...
- Print wire, 9... Carriage motor drive circuit, 10... Paper feed motor drive circuit, 11... Read-only memory ROM, 12.13... Motor. Tokyo Heavy Equipment Industry Co., Ltd., Figure 5, Figure 7

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a dot matrix printer using a ribbon with a ribbon end, a ribbon end detection means for detecting the ribbon end, and means for immediately stopping driving of the print wire when the ribbon end is detected by the ribbon end detection means. means for driving the carriage that drives the print wire to the original print end position of the print line and stopping it, and when the ribbon is reset;
A dot matrix printer comprising means for reprinting from the portion of the recording paper where the ribbon end has been detected.