KR100210353B1 - Precision printing control apparatus of printer - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a precise printing control apparatus for a printer, and in a printer having a bi-directional printing function, due to the aging and tolerance of a carrier motor or a carrier transport mechanism, the printing position of the data in the forward printing direction and the reverse printing printing method for the interline printing position If an error occurs, in order to correct it accurately, count the clock signal of a predetermined frequency generated from the clock source and compare the counting number of the corresponding clock signal with a reference value corresponding to the print position between lines of data to be printed. To control the position of.

Therefore, since the line-to-line print position can be controlled in clock units, the line-to-line print position error can be finely compensated. As the frequency of the clock signal is varied, the positional line-to-line position error of the data is more precise. Can be corrected.

Description

Printer's Precision Printing Control Device

The present invention relates to a precise printing control apparatus for a printer, and more particularly, in a printer capable of bidirectional printing, generating a clock signal having a predetermined frequency and counting the clock signal to determine the position of the print head in bidirectional printing. The present invention relates to a precision printing control apparatus of a printer that can precisely control a printing position to be printed in both directions by controlling in clock units.

Generally, printers include a printer employing a unidirectional printing method and a printer employing a bidirectional printing method. Here, the unidirectional printer has the advantage of printing in a constant position every line since the printhead is always in the print mode after the printhead returns to the reference position at the time of printing, but the printhead is always in the reference position every line. There is a disadvantage that the printing speed is slow due to the time lost to return to.

On the other hand, most serial printers adopt the bidirectional printing method. In the bidirectional printing, the reverse printing (refer to the reference position due to the characteristics of the carrier motor and the carrier transport mechanism, and the aging and tolerances). The position at the time of printing in a returning state) shifts with respect to the position at the time of forward printing (printing from the reference position) from the reference position.

Therefore, in a conventional printer, when storing data of a line to be printed in reverse printing in a memory, the software corrects in advance to a position where an error occurs using software, and then stores the corrected data in the memory and prints the printer control logic. ) Reads the correction data stored in the memory and prints them. That is, in order to correct the position error between lines during bidirectional printing, the program to be printed by the software is shifted left and right in column units, corrected and stored in the memory, and the corrected data is read and printed during printing. In other words, since the resolution of a normal printer is defined as 300 DPI (dot per inch) or 600 DPI, the correction unit of position error is limited to the column unit in which each dot is printed.

However, as described above, the error in bidirectional printing is corrected in units of columns, thereby causing a problem in that errors within one column cannot be corrected.

Accordingly, the present invention is to solve the above-described problems, an object of the present invention is to adjust the time to print the circuit in the printer control logic, it is possible to more precisely control the inter-line print position of the data during bidirectional printing To provide a precise print control device for a printer.

In addition, another object of the present invention is to include a predetermined clock signal and a counter for counting the clock signal, and to precisely print by controlling the position between lines of data to be printed in clock units according to the value counted in the counter during bidirectional printing. It is to provide a precision print control device of a printer to enable.

In addition, another object of the present invention is to precisely control the printer to improve the performance of the system by reducing the burden on the central processing unit or processor by controlling the print position between the lines of the data in the bidirectional printing In providing a device.

1 is a schematic block diagram showing an apparatus for precise printing control of a printer according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an output waveform diagram of each part shown in FIG. 1.

* Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

1: printer control unit 2, 3: counter

4: counter control part 5, 6: drive part

7: Counter reference value generator 8: Multiplexer

A feature of the present invention for achieving the above object is a bidirectional printing method printer having a clock generation source for generating a clock signal having a predetermined frequency and a printhead: while simultaneously sending out data to be printed, A printer controller which outputs a drive control signal to perform a printing operation; A counter reference value generator for detecting a reference value indicating an inter-line print position of data in accordance with data applied from the printer controller; It is driven according to the drive control signal applied from the printer control unit, and simultaneously receives the clock signal generated from the clock generator and the reference value at the time of bidirectional printing detected by the counter reference value generator, and counts the clock signal. A counter unit for detecting a printing position of data; And a multiplexer for outputting a transport control signal for transporting the print head to the print position of the data detected by the counter unit.

In the aspect of the present invention, the counter unit receives the clock signal applied from the clock generator and the reference value at the time of forward printing detected by the counter reference value generator at the same time, and counts the clock signal to forward data at forward printing. A first counter for detecting a printing position of the; And a second counter that receives the clock signal applied from the clock generation source and a reference value at the time of reverse printing detected by the counter reference value generator, and counts the clock signal to detect a print position of data at the time of reverse printing. It is preferable to construct.

The apparatus may further include a counter selector configured to generate a counter select signal for selecting one of the first counter and the second counter according to the drive control signal output from the printer controller.

The apparatus may further include: a first driver configured to control a driving state of the first counter according to the counter selection signal applied from the counter selector; And a second driver for controlling the driving state of the second counter according to the counter selection signal applied from the counter selector.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention Preferred embodiments of a precise printing control apparatus for a printer according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a precise print control apparatus for a printer according to the present invention.

Referring to Fig. 1, a printer control section 1 controlling each component of a printer and a clock signal of a predetermined frequency applied from a clock generation source (not shown) and a reference value indicating a print position of data to be printed in the forward direction are simultaneously applied. The first counter 2 which counts the clock signal according to the print position of the data to be printed at the time of forward printing, and the reference value indicating the print position of the data to be printed in the reverse direction from the clock signal of the predetermined frequency applied from the clock source. The second counter 3 which counts the clock signal according to the printing position of the data to be printed at the time of reverse printing, and the fire strobe in signal outputted from the printer control unit 1 is applied. Output from counter selector 4 and counter selector 4 for generating a selection signal (Select) for selecting any one of the second counters (2, 3) First and second drivers 5 and 6 that receive a counter selection signal Select and generate driving signals Load1 and Load2 for driving the first and second counters 2 and 3, and a printer controller ( 1) a counter reference value generator 7 which detects a printing position of data to be printed on a corresponding line during bidirectional printing from data applied from 1) and respective fire signals output from the first and second counters 2 and 3 ( It is composed of a multiplexer 8 which receives Fire1 and Fire2 simultaneously and selectively outputs only one of the fire signals of each of the fire signals Fire1 and Fire2 for controlling the printing position of the data.

Here, the aforementioned clock generation source can be composed of any device capable of generating a clock signal having a predetermined frequency, such as a normal crystal oscillator.

The operation of the present invention having the configuration as described above is as follows.

The clock signal applied from the clock generation source is applied to the first counter 2, the second counter 3 and the multiplexer 8, respectively.

On the other hand, if the printer control unit 1 outputs a fire strobe in signal (Fire-Strobe-In) so that the printer can perform a printing operation, will the counter selector 4 print the data to be printed in the forward direction? Alternatively, either the first driver 5 or the second driver 6 is enabled depending on whether to print in the reverse direction. When either one of the first driver 5 and the second driver 6 is enabled, the driving signals Load1 and Load2 are output from the enabled driver accordingly, and the driving signals Load1 and Load2 are firstly provided. The counter of either the counter 2 or the second counter 3 is driven.

In addition, the counter reference value generator 7 analyzes the data applied from the printer control unit 1 to detect the line-to-line print position of the data to be printed, and then converts the line-to-line print position of the detected data into a reference value to obtain a first value. And the second counters 2 and 3. The first and second counters 2 and 3 are driven according to the driving signals Load1 and Load2 applied from the first and second drivers 5 and 6 to count clock signals supplied from a clock generation source. Here, the printing operation is performed until the counted clock is equal to the reference value applied from the counter reference value generator 7. Thereafter, any one of the fire signals Fire1 and Fire2 output through the first and second counters 2 and 3 is input to the multiplexer 8, and the multiplexer 8 is input to the fire signals Fire1 and Fire2. By controlling the print position of the data by selectively outputting the Fire Strobe Out signal.

Referring to Figure 2 with respect to the operation of the present invention as described above in detail as follows.

When the print mode is set, the counter selector 4 maintains the initial state. At this time, when the user selects the printing function, the printer control unit 1 recognizes that the printing function is selected, and outputs a fire-strobe-in signal to the counter selection unit 4. The counter selector 4 is initialized according to the Fire Strobe-In signal applied from the printer controller 1 and then enables the first driver 5. That is, when data is initially printed, the print head is returned to the initial position, and printing in the normal direction is common. Thus, the counter selector 4 enables the first driver 5 for driving the first counter 2 so as to control the printing position of the data in the forward printing.

When the first driver 5 is enabled, the first driver 5 outputs a driving signal Load1 to the first counter 2 to drive the first counter 2. At the same time, the printer controller 1 outputs data information to be printed to the counter reference value generator 7 via a data bus. The counter reference value generator 7 detects one line of data from the data applied from the printer controller 1, calculates a reference value (number of clocks) to be counted while one line of data is being printed, and then calculates the first counter 2. ) Accordingly, the first counter 2 counts the clock signal applied from the clock generation source, and outputs a fire signal Fire1 until the counting value is equal to the reference value applied from the counter reference value generator 7. The multiplexer 8 receives the fire signal Fire1 output from the first counter 2 and outputs a fire strobe out signal to control the printer to print one line of data.

On the other hand, when all the data of one line is printed, the printer control unit 1 stops the output state of the Fire Strobe-In signal so that no further printing operation can be performed, and at the same time, Position it in the final position.

Next, in order to print the data of the next line in the reverse direction, the printer controller 1 outputs a fire strobe in signal to the counter selector 4 so as to perform the reverse print mode. The counter selector 4 enables the second driver 6 according to the Fire Strobe-In signal applied from the printer controller 1. That is, in the case of printing the data of the next line, the print head is moved to the final position, and it is common to print in the reverse direction. Thus, the counter selector 4 enables the second driver 6 for driving the second counter 3 so as to control the print position of data to be printed in reverse printing.

When the second driver 6 is enabled, the second driver 6 outputs a drive signal Load2 to the second counter 3 to drive the second counter 3. At the same time, the printer controller 1 outputs data information to be printed to the counter reference value generator 7 via a data bus. The counter reference value generator 7 detects data of the next one line of the data applied from the printer controller 1, calculates a reference value (clock count) to be counted while the next one line of data is being recorded, and then the second reference value. Output to the counter 3. Here, the reference value output to the second counter 3 includes the position value of the print head when the data to be printed is in the blank state. Accordingly, the second counter 3 counts the clock signal applied from the clock generation source, and the counting value is the same as the reference value after moving the print head by the position value of the print head applied from the counter reference value generator 7. Outputs the fire signal Fire1. The multiplexer 8 receives the fire signal Fire1 output from the second counter 3 and outputs a fire strobe-out signal to control the printer to print the next one line of data.

On the other hand, when all the next one line of data is printed, the fire strobe in signal (Fire-Strobe-In) output from the printer control unit 1 is stopped so that no further print mode can be performed, and at the same time, Move to the initial position.

Therefore, the present invention can control even minute errors between lines during bidirectional printing, as the printing position between the lines of data in the forward printing and the reverse printing is controlled by the unit of the clock signal generated from the clock generating source, and generated from the clock generating source. By varying the frequency of the clock signal, the basic unit controlling the position of the print head can be arbitrarily adjusted.

As a result, according to the precision printing control apparatus of the printer according to the present invention, counting by detecting the reference value of the counting pulse according to the inter-printing position of the data to be printed during bidirectional printing, counting the number of clock signals generated from the clock generation source, By controlling the inter-line print position of the data according to the number of clock signals and the reference value, the inter-line print position of the data can be controlled in clock units, so that the inter-line print position of the data can be more precisely controlled. There is this.

By controlling the printing position between lines of data in the case of bidirectional printing, there is an advantage that the performance of the system can be improved by reducing the burden on the central processing unit or the processor.

Claims (4)

In a bidirectional printing printer having a clock generation source for generating a clock signal having a predetermined frequency and a print head: A printer control unit which outputs a drive control signal to transmit data to be printed and to perform a printing operation; A counter reference value generator for detecting a reference value indicating an inter-line print position of data to be printed according to data applied from the printer controller; It is driven according to the drive control signal applied from the printer control unit, and simultaneously receives the clock signal generated from the clock generator and the reference value at the time of bidirectional printing detected by the counter reference value generator, and counts the clock signal. A counter unit for detecting a printing position of data; And And a multiplexer for outputting a feed control signal for feeding the print head to the print position of the data detected by the counter. The method according to claim 1, The counter unit, A first counter that receives the clock signal applied from the clock generation source and a reference value at the time of forward printing detected by the counter reference value generator, and counts the clock signal to detect a print position of data at the time of forward printing; And A second counter configured to simultaneously receive the clock signal applied from the clock generation source and the reference value at the time of reverse printing detected by the counter reference value generator, and count the clock signal to detect the print position of data at the time of reverse printing. Precision printing control device of the printer, characterized in that. The method according to claim 2, And a counter selection unit for generating a counter selection signal for selecting any one of the first counter and the second counter according to the driving control signal output from the printer control unit. . The method according to claim 3, A first driver controlling a driving state of the first counter according to the counter selection signal applied from the counter selector; And And a second driver for controlling the driving state of the second counter in accordance with the counter selection signal applied from the counter selector.