US3174415A - Floating type printing system - Google Patents

Floating type printing system Download PDF

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US3174415A
US3174415A US242794A US24279462A US3174415A US 3174415 A US3174415 A US 3174415A US 242794 A US242794 A US 242794A US 24279462 A US24279462 A US 24279462A US 3174415 A US3174415 A US 3174415A
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character
count
characters
recording medium
display device
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US242794A
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Kikuchi Yoshiyasu
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NEC Corp
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Nippon Electric Co Ltd
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06K—GRAPHICAL DATA READING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
    • G06K15/00—Arrangements for producing a permanent visual presentation of the output data, e.g. computer output printers
    • G06K15/02—Arrangements for producing a permanent visual presentation of the output data, e.g. computer output printers using printers
    • G06K15/12—Arrangements for producing a permanent visual presentation of the output data, e.g. computer output printers using printers by photographic printing, e.g. by laser printers
    • G06K15/1233—Arrangements for producing a permanent visual presentation of the output data, e.g. computer output printers using printers by photographic printing, e.g. by laser printers using a cathode-ray tube or an optical-fibre tube

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  • Printing systems which are presently in use have been developed to exhibit the capabilities of transferring a character image on to a recording medium through optical or electrostatic means.
  • Such printing systems are adapted to form the visually observable image through the employment of the conventionally known methods comprising a character display device which is capable ot displaying any character among a predetermined group of characters at a suitable position on the face plate of the display device, such as, for example, a general purpose or a special purpose display medium.
  • the visual character being displayed is then either optically or electrostatically transferred to a suitable sensitive document upon which the characters are printed.
  • Present day systems of this general type are provided with mechanical feed mechanism for controlling the recording medium feed rate.
  • Such feed mechanism are presented with the problems of being capable ot providing a continuous constant feed rate as well as being able to perform an intermittent operation such as, for example, the operation encountered in the printing of a new line of characters which requires the feed mechanism to either decelerate rapidly or come to a complete halt in order that the new line of characters which is to be transferred to the recording medium be suitably positioned thereon.
  • the manner in which characters are displayed on the face plate of the display means is the repetitive line scanning method which consists of scanning one character after another in succession and in a prescribed sequence, for example, from ⁇ left to right and then immediately moving back to the left-hand starting position for display of the next line.
  • the recording medium is fed at such a continuous constant rate there arises a need for allowing not only a predetermined time duration for the actual printing of each character, such as, the exposure time, for example, but also a like predetermined time duration for inserting a blank or space during which no character image is printed.
  • the number of characters that can be filled out in the blank part may amount to from 50% to 70% of the total number of printing positions.
  • the device of the instant invention provides electronic means for both varying the speed rate and for stopping the recording medium, as well as having the capability of controlling the positioning of the characters displayed on the display medium face plate in order to print the characters in the desired positions upon the recording medum.
  • the printing system of the instant invention is cornprised of means for generating an electronic count which relates characters to the feed rate of the recording medium and for keeping a cumulative count of same. Further means are provided for keeping a cumulative count ICC representative of how far printing has been progressed, such as, for example, the number of characters, the number of lines, and so forth, which have been printed starting from a reference point whereby said counter includes blank positions as well as character positions. Comparison means are provided for comparing the count generated by the feed rate of the recording medium against the count of characters printed and for generating an output which is employed to cause the character image on the character display medium displayed on the face plate of the character display device to be shifted in a direction corresponding to the feed direction of the recording medium in order that printing may be performed at a prescribed printing position.
  • the feed mechanism further comprises means for accelerating or decelerating the feed rate as Well as for stopping the feeding mechanism which control means operates responsive to the magnitude of the difference between the twoaforementioned quantities which act to control the acceleration, deceleration or stoppage respectively, of the
  • Another object of the instant invention is to provide a printing system for use with high speed electronic computers and the like which comprises novel electronic means to enable a line of characters to be printed on the recording medium which in the absence of such electronic means would be incapable of being printed due to the mechanical inertia of the feeding mechanism. when the feed of a recording medium is iirst temporarily stopped and is then started to continue the printing operation.
  • Still another object of the instant invention is to provide a printing system for use with high speed electronic computers and the like having novel means for altering the sequence of printing positions upon a recording medium in any desired manner from whatever type position in any line is required.
  • Another object of the instant invention is to provide a printing system for use in high-speed electronic computer systems and the like having electronic means for controlling the printing operation which is adapted to operate in a manner such that the mechanical parts appear to be operating in a intermittent manner.
  • FGURE 1 is a perspective view of a printing system designed in accordance with the principles of the instant invention.
  • FIGURE 2 is a block diagram of the electronic equipment employed for controlling the printing system electronic and mechanical elements of FIGURE l.
  • FIGURE 3 is a diagram showing a plurality of Waveforms presented for the purpose of describing the operation of the instant invention.
  • FIGURE l shows a perspective View of a printing system employing the principles of the instant invention and which comprises a cathode ray tube lill for use as the character display device.
  • the cathode ray tube 161 is provided with a deflection coil assembly 102 having suitable input terminals M4 and ilS for controlling respectively, the horizontal and vertical deiiection of an electron beam which impinges upon the face plate 116 of the cathode ray tube 102.
  • the cathode ray tube 102 has the capability of generating an arbitrary character image from a group of a prescribed number of characters by means of suitable signals impressed upon the control input terminal 117 of the cathode ray tube which character image is portrayed at a predetermined position on the face plate 116 by the deflection signals applied to the control input terminals 114 and 115 which deflect the electron beam in a plane of orthogonal axis and horizontal axis respectively.
  • the character image such as, for example, the character image 118 is focused upon a photosensitive recording medium 105 by means of an optical lens 103 and a reflecting -mirror 104.
  • the photosensitive recording medium 105 is wound upon a feed roller 119 and passes over two additional rollers 120 and 109 respectively, to be taken up by a suitable take-up spool or roller (not shown).
  • the recording medium 105 is fed in the direction shown by arrow 121 by means of rotating roller 109 in the direction shown by arrow 122. Recording medium 105 being sandwiched between roller 109 and roller 123 is thereby fed in the direction shown by arrow 121 due to the rotation of roller 109.
  • Roller 109 is controlled by a feed mechanism cornprised of a motor 106 which is designed so that the rotation of motor 106 may be accelerated, decelerated, or stopped by operating or releasing the control circuit 107 by applying suitable signals to terminals 124, 125, and 126 respectively.
  • Control circuit 107 may, for example, be comprised of suitable relay means (not shown) which may be moved to first, second and neutral positions respectively, to accelerate, decelerate, or stop motor 105.
  • Motor 106 is provided with a suitable shaft 127 having a straight worm gear 108 mounted thereupon which straight worm gear meshes with a circular gear 108e circled to shaft 109e of roller 109.
  • the feed assembly is further provided with a disc 110 secured to shaft 127.
  • Disc 110 is provided with a plurality of apertures arranged in a circular array adjacent the periphery of said disc. The apertures 11051 are provided for the purpose of generating an electronic count of the feed rate.
  • the count is developed by means of a light sensitive circuit which is comprised of a suitable light source 111 and an optical lens 112 for point focusing the light rays from said light source.
  • a light sensitive circuit which is comprised of a suitable light source 111 and an optical lens 112 for point focusing the light rays from said light source.
  • the pitch between adjacent apertures 110e in disc 110 is chosen so that the same number of signals as the number of characters per line are derived at output terminal 128 in the same time duration required to feed the recording medium 105 a distance corresponding to one line of recorded characters.
  • the number of and pitch between apertures 110e may be chosen so as to generate 128 electrical impulses in an application where it is desired to print 128 characters in a line upon reording medium 105. It should be understood in the embodiment of FIGURE 1 that the line of characters will be transverse to the feed direction, one such line being the phantom line 129 of FIGURE 1.
  • FIGURE 2 shows a schematic block diagram of the control system employed in conjunction with the system of FIGURE 1 to accurately control the position of the characters to be printed upon the recording medium 105.
  • the embodiment given herein finds application in a system in which the number of characters to be printed per line is 2r1 or 128 characters per line and further that the cathode ray device 101 of FIGURE 1 i has the capability of vertically aligning characters on its face plate 116 so as to generate up to 128 lines of characters upon its face.
  • the control means 200 of FIGURE 2 is comprised of a 14 stage binary add one counter 201 for counting the signals delivered to its input terminal 128 which can readily be seen to be the output terminal 128 of the photosensitive means 113 shown in FIGURE l.
  • each impulse generated by the counting means of FEGURE l is impressed upon 14 stage counter 201 causing it to add one binary bit to its cumulative count as each impulse is received at its input terminal 128'.
  • counter 201 has the capability of generating any binary count from Zero to 21L1 or 16,3 84.
  • input signals enter the printer control means 200 at terminal 202.
  • Such input signals may emanate from an electronic computer, a buffer memory, a register, et cetera.
  • the print signals impressed upon input terminal 202 are coded representations of the characters to be displayed and subsequently printed. Additional coded representations are provided for representing a blank space, a line skip, or a line reset operation, to cite a few examples.
  • print signals are impressed upon a discriminator circuit 203 which is designed to discriminate between character coded representations and blank code, line reset code, etc. representations. For example, if the print signals are coded representations of an alphameric character to be printed the input code impressed upon terminal 202 is converted into a suitable electrical signal and appears at output terminal 117 of discriminator circuit 203. The coded representation then passes through a suitable conversion circuit (it has been omitted for the purposes of clarity) and is then impressed upon the input terminal 117 of cathode ray device 101 in order to select the appropriate character image to be displayed.
  • a suitable conversion circuit it has been omitted for the purposes of clarity
  • discrimination circuit 203 Simultaneously with the transferring of the coded representation to terminal 117' discrimination circuit 203 generates a signal indicative of the discrimination operation just performed which signal appears at the output terminal 204 of discriminator means 203.
  • the signal is impressed upon suitable delay means 205 generating a delay period of a length sufficient to permit the printing operation which period is measured from the time the signal received at discriminating circuit 203 is transferred over output terminal 117.
  • the delayed signal is then transferred through lead 206 to a suitable gating circuit 207 which when controlled, in a manner to be more fully described, passes this signal to an output terminal 203;
  • the signal appearing at output terminal 208 which will hereinafter be designated as a one-character end signal is transferred to the computer (not shown) which feeds the control means 200 such that this signal enables the computer to transfer the next coded representation of the sequence to the input terminal 202 of discriminator means 203.
  • Discriminator means 203 has the further capability of identifying a blank space coded representation and in this instance generates a signal at its output terminal 239, which signal by-passes delay circuit 205 and enters the input terminal 206 of gate means 207 thus avoiding the generation of the delay period since no such period is needed for printing a blank space on the recording medium.
  • one-character end signal Simultaneously with the transferring of one-character end signal from discriminator means 203 to either delay circuit 205 or gating circuit 207 the one-character end signal is imposed upon a 14 stage binary add one counting circuit 210 so as to generate a count determinative of how far printing has been progressed. Ilhe one-character end signal enters the input terminal 211 of counter 210 via the output terminal 208 of gate circuit 207. Thus, each time one character or one blank space code is processed by discriminator 203 the count of counter circuit 211 increases by one.
  • circuit 203 If a line reset coded representation is received by discriminator circuit 203 circuit 203 generates a signal at its Output terminal 212 which is impressed upon the reset terminals 213 of the iirst seven stages of fourteen stage counter 211 and simultaneousl therewith upon the input terminal 214 of the eighth stage of fourteen stage counter 210.
  • the line reset coded representation thereby causes discriminator circuit 203 to reset the iirst seven stages of counter 210 to Zero while increasing by one the count in the last seven (Le. the 8 to 14) stages of counter 210.
  • the tirst seven stages of counter 210 generates a count indicative of the number of characters per line while the eighth through fourteen stages of counter 210 generates a count indicative of the number of lines of characters which have been printed.
  • the signals of stages 1-7 oi counter 210 appear at the output terminals 215 of these stages and are impressed upon the input of a digital to analog converter circuit 216 which generates a suitable analog signal at its output terminal 217 the magnitude of which is representative of the number of characters which have been printed thus far.
  • the analog output signal generated at output terminal 217 is impressed upon suitable amplier means 21S which generates an amplitied analog signal at its output terminal 114 which is connected to the input terminals 114 which is the input terminal for the horizontal deection coil of deliection coil assembly 102.
  • the analog signal is employed to select the appropriate horizontal position for the next character to be displayed on the face plate of cathode ray tube 101.
  • the printing time required for a printing operation diliers from the time required for a non-printing operation such as, for example, a blank space and assuming further that the recording medium 105 moves at approximately a constant speed it is impossible to print at a desired position upon recording medium 105 if characters are displayed along a single horizontal line, such as, for example, the horizontal line 130 along the face plate 116 of cathode ray tube 102. Therefore, as a consequence of this problem which confronts the printing system the vertical alignment of the horizontal display on the face plate 116 of character display device 102 must be altered whereby the alteration is determined by the relation between the amount generated by the counting means associated with the recording medium 105 and the selected position to be printed.
  • control means 200 transfers the output terminals of 14 stage counter 210 to the set input terminals 217 of a 14 stage NOT or inverter circuit 216 which is provided to generate a binary complement of the binary status of counter 210 for any code from Zero to 214 or 16,384.
  • the complementary coded representation appearing at the output terminals 218 of NOT circuit 216 are impressed upon one associated input terminal of the 14 stage adder circuit 219.
  • the other input terminals of each stage of the 14 stage adder circuit 210 are adapted to receive the coded representation of the count stored in 14 stage count 201 which signals appear at the output terminals 220 of each stage of the counter.
  • the count of counter 201 is added to the complementary count generated by NOT circuit 216 and by causing more than 14 binary bits overilow the difference in the cumulative counts between counter 201 and counter 210 is thus computed.
  • the aforementioned difference of the cumulative counts corresponds to the physical distance between the position ot a character image displayed on the face plate 116 of character display device 101 and a reference position on said face plate.
  • the difference generated by adder circuit 219 appears at the output terminals 221 of the adder stages and is impressed upon the input terminals of a digital to analog converter circuit 222 which generates at its output terminal 223 an analog signal having a magnitude which is representative of the difference between the two aforementioned counts.
  • the analog signal is impressed upon a suitable ampliiier circuit 223 which provides an amplied analog signal at its output terminal This output terminal is connected to the input terminal 115 of the deflection coil assembly 102 and is thereby utilized to control the vertical deiiection of the electron beam in order to suitably position the character image on face plate 116.
  • Such a condition iS recognized by coincidence gate circuit 224 which is elect trically connected to adder circuit 219 such that when the output of adder circuit 219 exceeds a numeric value which is larger than a suitably selected value which selected value is smaller than 214 such a condition is detected by coincidence circuit 224 causing a signal to be generated at its output terminal Terminal 125 is connected to input terminal 125 of control circuit 107 of FIGURE l and upon the receipt of a signal at terminal 125 control circuit 107 acts to decelerate motor means 106.
  • coincidence circuit 224 If the difference output of adder circuit 219 is smaller than a second suitably selected value which second suitably selected value is dierent from the iirst suitably selected value mentioned previously, coincidence circuit 224 generates an output signal at its terminal 124 which is connected to the terminal 124 of control circuit 107 shown in FIGURE 1. The presence of such a signal at control terminal 124 causes control circuit 107 to accelerate mo tor means 106.
  • coincidence circuit 224 If the difference iigure generated by adder circuit 219 becomes Zero, coincidence circuit 224 generates a signal at its output terminal 22S which is impressed upon one input terminal of gating circuit 207 which signal acts as the forementioued one-character end signal employed to apprise the computer (not shown) connected to control means 200 that the next character may be impressed upon the input terminal 202 of control means 200 by the computer circuit.
  • discriminator circuit 203 When the computer circuit impresses a print signal upon discriminator circuit 203 representative of a ters mination of a printing operation discriminator circuit 203 generates a signal at its output terminal 226 which appears at therrninal 126 for electrical connection to control terminal 126 in FIGURE 1. The stopping signal thereby causes control means 107 to deenergize motor means 106.
  • control means 200 of FIGURE 2 will now be described with reference to the diagram of FIG- URE 3 which shows the various waveforms employed in the control circuit 200.
  • the counter 201 at a time to has generated a count representative of the decimal number 901. While the binary representation for the decimal number 901 is 00001110000101, for the purposes of clarity, only, decimal numbers will be used in the example of operation given herein.
  • the count of counter 201 is increased by one binary bit each time an impulse A is received at its input terminal 128.
  • counter 210 contains a count representative of the decimal number 501 which in binary format is 00000111110101. Again for the purposes of clarity, only the decimal representations will be employed as opposed to the binary coded representations, for purposes of clarity.
  • the count of counter 210 is increased in a iirst manner by the receipt of a printing signal designated by the letter B and by the receipt or" a blank or no-print signal represented by the letter C as shown in waveform B of FIGURE 3. in addition to character and no-character print signals B and C a line reset signal represented by the letter D, as previously described, resets stages l-7 of counter 210 while adding a count of one through stages 8-14 of counter 210.
  • the count of counter 210 changes from a numeric count of 506 to a numeric count of 512.
  • This count represents the condition that even though a full group of 2 128 characters have not been printed the computer nevertheless is requesting printing to begin upon the next succeeding line of the recording medium 105, thus requiring the counter 210 to indicate such a condition by containing a count representative of the decimal number 512.
  • FIGURE 3c shows the one-character end signals designated by the letter E which as previously described is employed to notify the computer that the printing system is ready to receive the next coded character.
  • the output information of adder circuit 219 is expressed by the numerical values shown in Waveform d of FGURE 3 the heights of which correspond to the differences in counts between the two aforementioned counters 201 and 210 and the analog signal applied to the vertical detiection coil terminal 115 of FIGURE 1, shown by waveform e of FIGURE 3. lt is therefore possible to adjust the display position of each character image on the face plate 116 of the character display device, which image is moved in the vertical direction by the analog waveform e to a position corresponding to the printing position on the recording medium 105 upon which the printing takes place.
  • control means 260 The operation of the control means 260 is as follows:
  • the count 501 is compared against the count 901 generating a difference of 400 which appears at the Aoutput of adder circuit 219. rhis generates the analog signal at time t2 whose magnitude is ⁇ related to the difference 400 generated by the adder circuit 219.
  • control means d processes a blank signal coded representation causing the difference at this time to be 402, thus generating the difference analog voltage at time t3.
  • Two subsequent blank space coded representations are processed at times t4 and t5 causing the diminishing analog voltage steps at these times as shown by waveform e.
  • control means 200 processes an end of line coded representation D which simultaneously clears the first seven stages of counter 210 to Zero and adds one to the last seven stages of counter 210 thus causing the cumulative count in counter 210 to ⁇ represent the decimal number 512 which is indicative of the fact that four lines of characters and/ or blank spaces have been processed by control means 200.
  • the difference voltage at this time is 397 causing the downward step at time t1 to control the vertical deiiection coil of the coil assembly 102.
  • the generation of the feeding device count and the processed characters count and comparison of these counts generate an analog voltage the magnitude of which determines the vertical positioning of a character image upon the cathode ray tube face plate in order to control the positioning of this character image upon the ultimate recording medium 105.
  • a floating type printing system for use in high speed electronic computers and the like having recording equipment utilizing a character image display device for generating a plurality of characters along a substantially straight line and being capable of shifting the characters in a direction transverse to said straight line of characters and on the plane surface of the display device at a predetermined time and a recording medium that moves continuously at a controlled speed, which comprises iirst means for generating a first count representing the feed rate of the recording medium; second means for generating a second count representing the number of characters which have been processed; third means for controlling the display position of each character being processed by said printing system upon the faceplate of said character display device in a direction parallel to the feed direction of the recording medium; and fourth means for computing the numerical difference between the feed rate count and the characters processed count for controlling said third means to suitably position the characters being processed along the faceplate of the character display device transverse to said line of characters.
  • a floating type printing system for use in high speed electronic computers and the like having recording equipment utilizing a character image display device capable of displaying a selected character at any desired position on the plane surface of the display device at a predetermined time and a recording medium that moves continuously at a controlled speed, which comprises first means for generating a irst count representing the feed rate of the recording medium; second means for generating a second count representing the number of characters which have been processed; third means for controlling the display position of each character being processed by said printing system upon the faceplate of said character display device in a direction parallel to the feed direction of the recording medium; and fourth means for computing the numerical difference between the feed rate count and the characters processed count for controlling said third means to suitably position the character being processed along the faceplate .of the character display device; fth means connected between the printing system and the computer for controlling the rate at which coded characters are transferred to said printing system.
  • a iloating type printing system for use in high speed electronic computers and the like having recording equipment utilizing a character image display device capable of displaying a selected character at any desired position on the plane surface of the display device at a predetermined time and a recording medium that moves continuously at a controlled speed, which comprises first means for generating a first count representing the feed rate of the recording medium; second means for generating a second count representing the number of characters which have been processed; third means for controlling the display position of each character being processed by said printing system upon the faceplate of said character display device in a direction parallel to the feed direction of the recording medium; and fourth means for computing the numerical difference between the feed rate count and the characters processed count for controlling said third rneans to suitably position the character being processed along the faceplate of the character display device; said fth means further comprising sixth means responsive to said numeric difference for controlling the feed rate of said recording medium.
  • a floating type printing system for use in high speed electronic computers and the like having recording equipment utilizing a character image display device capable of displaying a selected character at any desired position on the plane surface of the display device at a predetermined time and a recording medium that moves continuously at a controlled speed, which comprises first means for generating a rst count representing the feed rate of the recording medium; second means for generating a second count representing the number of characters which have been processed; third means for controlling the display position of each character being processed by said printing system upon the faceplate of said character display device in a direction parallel to the feed direction of the recording medium; and fourth means for computing the numerical difference between the feed rate count and the characters processed count for controlling said third means to suitably position the character being processed along the faceplate of the character display device; said second'means comprising means for generating an analog voltage representative of said second count for controlling the horizontal detiection of said character display device.
  • a oating type printing system for use in high speed electronic computers and the like having recording equipment utilizing a character image display device capable of displaying a selected character at any desired position on the plane surface of the display device at a predetermined time and a recording medium that moves continuously at a controlled speed, which comprises first means for generating a first count representing the feed rate of the recording medium; second means for generating a second count representing the number of characters which have been processed; third means for controlling the display position of each character being processed by said printing system upon the faceplate of said character display device in a direction parallel to the feed direction of the recording medium; and fourth means for computing the numerical difference between the feed rate count and the characters processed count for controlling said third means to suitably position the character being processed along the faceplate of the character display device; said fourth means furthe-r comprising means for generating an analog voltage representative of said numeric difference for controlling the vertical deflection of said character display device.
  • a oating type printing system for use in high speed electronic computers and the like having recording equipment utilizing a character image display device capable of displaying a selected character at any desired position on the plane surface of the display device at a predetermined time and a recording medium that moves continuously at a constant speed which comprises first means for generating a rst count representing the feed rate of the recording medium; second means for generating a second count representing the number of characters which have been processed; third means for controlling the display position of each character being processed by said printing system upon the faceplate of said character display device in a direction parallel to the feed direction of the recording medium; and fourth means for computing the numerical difference between the feed rate count and the characters processed count for controlling said third means to suitably position the character being processed along the faceplate of the character display device; said fourth means further comprising means for generating an analog voltage representative of said numeric difference for controlling the vertical deflection of said character display device; sixth means connected between said second means and said fourth means for generating the complement of said second count for presentation to the input of said fourth means.
  • a floating type printing system for use in high speed electronic computers and the like having recording equipment utilizing a character image display device capable of displaying a selected character at any desired position on the plane surface of the display device at a predetermined time and a recording medium that moves continuously at a controlled speed, which comprises rst means for generating a first count representing the feed rate of the recording medium; second means for generating a second count representing the number of characters which have been processed; third means for controlling the display position of each character being processed by said printing system upon the faceplate of said character display device in a direction parallel to the feed direction of the recording medium; and fourth means for computing the numerical difference between the feed rate count and the characters processed count for controlling said third means to suitably position the character being processed along the faceplate of the character display device; said fourth means further comprising means for generating an analog voltage representative of said numeric dif ference for controlling the vertical deection of said character display device; sixth means connected between said second means and said fourth means for generating the complement of said second count for presentation to the input of said fourth means;
  • a floating type printing system for use in high speed electronic computers and the like having recording equipment utilizing a character image display device capable of displaying a selected character at any desired position on the plane surface of the display device at a predetermined time and a recording medium that moves continuously at a controlled speed, which comprises rst means for generating a first count representing the feed rate of the recording medium; second means for generating a second count representing the number of characters which have been processed; third means for controlling the display position of each character being processed by said printing system upon the faceplate of said character display device in a direction parallel to the feed direction of the recording medium; and fourth means for computing the numerical difference between the feed rate count and the characters processed count for controlling said third means to suitably position the character being processed along the faceplate of the character display device; said fourth means further comp-rising means for generating an analog voltage representative of said numeric difference for controlling the vertical deflection of said character display device; sixth means connected between said second means and said fourth means for generating the complement of said second count for presentation to the input of said fourth means; said sixth
  • a floating type printing system for use Iin high speed electronic ycomputers and
  • a floating type printing system for use in high speed electronic computers and the like having recording equipment utilizing a character image display device capable of displaying a selected character at any desired position on the plane surface of .the display device at a predetermined time and a recording medium that moves continuously at a controlled speed, which comprises first means for generating -a rst count represen-ting the feed rate of the recording medium; second means for generating a second count representing the number of characters which have been processed; third means for controlling the display position of each character being processed by said printing system upon the faceplate of said character display device in a :direction parallel to the feed direction of the recording medium; and fourth means for computing the numerical difference between the feed rate count and the characters processed count for controlling said third means to suitably position the 'character being processed .along the faceplate of the character display device; said ourth means further comprising means -for generating an analog voltage representative of said numeric difference 'for controlling the vertical deilection of said character display device; sixth means connected between said second means and said fourth means for for

Description

March 23, 1965 YosHlYAsu KlKUcHl 3,174,415
FLoATING TYPE PRINTING SYSTEM Filed Dec. 6, 1962 2 sheets-sheet 1 Jr E. El
IWI "2l will VMI valfavl sul :alf/a I y//l f/IAAAAAA/{AAA March 23, 1965 YosHlYAsu KlKucHl 3,174,415
FLOATING TYPE PRINNNG SYSTEM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 6, 1962 r E.. E.
United States Patent 3,174,415 FLATHNG TYPE PRENTENG SYSTEM Yoshiyasu Kiirnehi, Tokyo, Japan, assigner to Nippon ilectric Company Ltd., Tokyo, lapan, a corporation ot apan Filed Dec. 6, 1962, Ser. No. 242,794 Claims priority, application Jlapan, Dec. S, 196i, fio/44,529 l?. Claims. (Ci. 95-45) This invention relates to printing systems and more particularly to printing systems for use with high-speed electronic computers, which printing system employs novel electronic means for controlling the positioning of characters to be printed as well as the speed of the document upon which characters are printed in order to avoid the necessity for stoppage of either the character source or the feeding of the document.
Printing systems which are presently in use have been developed to exhibit the capabilities of transferring a character image on to a recording medium through optical or electrostatic means. Such printing systems are adapted to form the visually observable image through the employment of the conventionally known methods comprising a character display device which is capable ot displaying any character among a predetermined group of characters at a suitable position on the face plate of the display device, such as, for example, a general purpose or a special purpose display medium. The visual character being displayed is then either optically or electrostatically transferred to a suitable sensitive document upon which the characters are printed.
Present day systems of this general type are provided with mechanical feed mechanism for controlling the recording medium feed rate. Such feed mechanism are presented with the problems of being capable ot providing a continuous constant feed rate as well as being able to perform an intermittent operation such as, for example, the operation encountered in the printing of a new line of characters which requires the feed mechanism to either decelerate rapidly or come to a complete halt in order that the new line of characters which is to be transferred to the recording medium be suitably positioned thereon.
Such a capability is necessary for the reason that the manner in which characters are displayed on the face plate of the display means, such as for example, cathode ray tube display means, is the repetitive line scanning method which consists of scanning one character after another in succession and in a prescribed sequence, for example, from` left to right and then immediately moving back to the left-hand starting position for display of the next line. If the recording medium is fed at such a continuous constant rate there arises a need for allowing not only a predetermined time duration for the actual printing of each character, such as, the exposure time, for example, but also a like predetermined time duration for inserting a blank or space during which no character image is printed. In printing bills, for example, the number of characters that can be filled out in the blank part may amount to from 50% to 70% of the total number of printing positions.
The device of the instant invention provides electronic means for both varying the speed rate and for stopping the recording medium, as well as having the capability of controlling the positioning of the characters displayed on the display medium face plate in order to print the characters in the desired positions upon the recording medum.
The printing system of the instant invention is cornprised of means for generating an electronic count which relates characters to the feed rate of the recording medium and for keeping a cumulative count of same. Further means are provided for keeping a cumulative count ICC representative of how far printing has been progressed, such as, for example, the number of characters, the number of lines, and so forth, which have been printed starting from a reference point whereby said counter includes blank positions as well as character positions. Comparison means are provided for comparing the count generated by the feed rate of the recording medium against the count of characters printed and for generating an output which is employed to cause the character image on the character display medium displayed on the face plate of the character display device to be shifted in a direction corresponding to the feed direction of the recording medium in order that printing may be performed at a prescribed printing position. The feed mechanism further comprises means for accelerating or decelerating the feed rate as Well as for stopping the feeding mechanism which control means operates responsive to the magnitude of the difference between the twoaforementioned quantities which act to control the acceleration, deceleration or stoppage respectively, of the feeding mechanism.
It is therefore one object of the instant invention to provide a printing system for use with high speed electronic computers and the like having novel means for eliminating the printing time necessary for printing a blank space among a group of characters to be recorded.
Another object of the instant invention is to provide a printing system for use with high speed electronic computers and the like which comprises novel electronic means to enable a line of characters to be printed on the recording medium which in the absence of such electronic means would be incapable of being printed due to the mechanical inertia of the feeding mechanism. when the feed of a recording medium is iirst temporarily stopped and is then started to continue the printing operation.
Still another object of the instant invention is to provide a printing system for use with high speed electronic computers and the like having novel means for altering the sequence of printing positions upon a recording medium in any desired manner from whatever type position in any line is required.
Another object of the instant invention is to provide a printing system for use in high-speed electronic computer systems and the like having electronic means for controlling the printing operation which is adapted to operate in a manner such that the mechanical parts appear to be operating in a intermittent manner.
These and other obiects of the invention will become apparent when reading the accompanying description and drawings in which:
FGURE 1 is a perspective view of a printing system designed in accordance with the principles of the instant invention.
FIGURE 2 is a block diagram of the electronic equipment employed for controlling the printing system electronic and mechanical elements of FIGURE l.
FIGURE 3 is a diagram showing a plurality of Waveforms presented for the purpose of describing the operation of the instant invention.
Referring now to the drawings, FIGURE l shows a perspective View of a printing system employing the principles of the instant invention and which comprises a cathode ray tube lill for use as the character display device. The cathode ray tube 161 is provided with a deflection coil assembly 102 having suitable input terminals M4 and ilS for controlling respectively, the horizontal and vertical deiiection of an electron beam which impinges upon the face plate 116 of the cathode ray tube 102.
The cathode ray tube 102 has the capability of generating an arbitrary character image from a group of a prescribed number of characters by means of suitable signals impressed upon the control input terminal 117 of the cathode ray tube which character image is portrayed at a predetermined position on the face plate 116 by the deflection signals applied to the control input terminals 114 and 115 which deflect the electron beam in a plane of orthogonal axis and horizontal axis respectively.
The character image, such as, for example, the character image 118 is focused upon a photosensitive recording medium 105 by means of an optical lens 103 and a reflecting -mirror 104. The photosensitive recording medium 105 is wound upon a feed roller 119 and passes over two additional rollers 120 and 109 respectively, to be taken up by a suitable take-up spool or roller (not shown). The recording medium 105 is fed in the direction shown by arrow 121 by means of rotating roller 109 in the direction shown by arrow 122. Recording medium 105 being sandwiched between roller 109 and roller 123 is thereby fed in the direction shown by arrow 121 due to the rotation of roller 109.
Roller 109 is controlled by a feed mechanism cornprised of a motor 106 which is designed so that the rotation of motor 106 may be accelerated, decelerated, or stopped by operating or releasing the control circuit 107 by applying suitable signals to terminals 124, 125, and 126 respectively. Control circuit 107 may, for example, be comprised of suitable relay means (not shown) which may be moved to first, second and neutral positions respectively, to accelerate, decelerate, or stop motor 105.
Motor 106 is provided with a suitable shaft 127 having a straight worm gear 108 mounted thereupon which straight worm gear meshes with a circular gear 108e circled to shaft 109e of roller 109. Thus the energization of motor 106 causes rotation of shaft 127 and gears 108 and 108a to impart rotation to roller 109. The feed assembly is further provided with a disc 110 secured to shaft 127. Disc 110 is provided with a plurality of apertures arranged in a circular array adjacent the periphery of said disc. The apertures 11051 are provided for the purpose of generating an electronic count of the feed rate. The count is developed by means of a light sensitive circuit which is comprised of a suitable light source 111 and an optical lens 112 for point focusing the light rays from said light source. When one of the apertures 110a is suitably positioned then light ray is passed therethrough and impinges upon the sensitive surface of a photoelectric transducer 113. The light ray is intermitently blocked and passed due to the apertures 110e causing the light impinging upon the photosensitive device 113 to take the form of periodic impulses. These light impulses are converted into electrical impulses which appear at the output terminal 128 of photosensitive device 113.
The pitch between adjacent apertures 110e in disc 110 is chosen so that the same number of signals as the number of characters per line are derived at output terminal 128 in the same time duration required to feed the recording medium 105 a distance corresponding to one line of recorded characters. As one example, the number of and pitch between apertures 110e may be chosen so as to generate 128 electrical impulses in an application where it is desired to print 128 characters in a line upon reording medium 105. It should be understood in the embodiment of FIGURE 1 that the line of characters will be transverse to the feed direction, one such line being the phantom line 129 of FIGURE 1.
FIGURE 2 shows a schematic block diagram of the control system employed in conjunction with the system of FIGURE 1 to accurately control the position of the characters to be printed upon the recording medium 105. As a preface to the explanation of the circuit constituents and operation of the control means of FIGURE 2, it will be assumed that the embodiment given herein finds application in a system in which the number of characters to be printed per line is 2r1 or 128 characters per line and further that the cathode ray device 101 of FIGURE 1 i has the capability of vertically aligning characters on its face plate 116 so as to generate up to 128 lines of characters upon its face.
The control means 200 of FIGURE 2 is comprised of a 14 stage binary add one counter 201 for counting the signals delivered to its input terminal 128 which can readily be seen to be the output terminal 128 of the photosensitive means 113 shown in FIGURE l. Thus each impulse generated by the counting means of FEGURE l is impressed upon 14 stage counter 201 causing it to add one binary bit to its cumulative count as each impulse is received at its input terminal 128'. Being a 14 stage counter, counter 201 has the capability of generating any binary count from Zero to 21L1 or 16,3 84.
Simultaneously with the count impulses generated in FIGURE l input signals enter the printer control means 200 at terminal 202. Such input signals may emanate from an electronic computer, a buffer memory, a register, et cetera. The print signals impressed upon input terminal 202 are coded representations of the characters to be displayed and subsequently printed. Additional coded representations are provided for representing a blank space, a line skip, or a line reset operation, to cite a few examples.
These print signals are impressed upon a discriminator circuit 203 which is designed to discriminate between character coded representations and blank code, line reset code, etc. representations. For example, if the print signals are coded representations of an alphameric character to be printed the input code impressed upon terminal 202 is converted into a suitable electrical signal and appears at output terminal 117 of discriminator circuit 203. The coded representation then passes through a suitable conversion circuit (it has been omitted for the purposes of clarity) and is then impressed upon the input terminal 117 of cathode ray device 101 in order to select the appropriate character image to be displayed. Simultaneously with the transferring of the coded representation to terminal 117' discrimination circuit 203 generates a signal indicative of the discrimination operation just performed which signal appears at the output terminal 204 of discriminator means 203. The signal is impressed upon suitable delay means 205 generating a delay period of a length sufficient to permit the printing operation which period is measured from the time the signal received at discriminating circuit 203 is transferred over output terminal 117. The delayed signal is then transferred through lead 206 to a suitable gating circuit 207 which when controlled, in a manner to be more fully described, passes this signal to an output terminal 203; The signal appearing at output terminal 208 which will hereinafter be designated as a one-character end signal is transferred to the computer (not shown) which feeds the control means 200 such that this signal enables the computer to transfer the next coded representation of the sequence to the input terminal 202 of discriminator means 203.
Discriminator means 203 has the further capability of identifying a blank space coded representation and in this instance generates a signal at its output terminal 239, which signal by-passes delay circuit 205 and enters the input terminal 206 of gate means 207 thus avoiding the generation of the delay period since no such period is needed for printing a blank space on the recording medium.
Simultaneously with the transferring of one-character end signal from discriminator means 203 to either delay circuit 205 or gating circuit 207 the one-character end signal is imposed upon a 14 stage binary add one counting circuit 210 so as to generate a count determinative of how far printing has been progressed. Ilhe one-character end signal enters the input terminal 211 of counter 210 via the output terminal 208 of gate circuit 207. Thus, each time one character or one blank space code is processed by discriminator 203 the count of counter circuit 211 increases by one.
If a line reset coded representation is received by discriminator circuit 203 circuit 203 generates a signal at its Output terminal 212 which is impressed upon the reset terminals 213 of the iirst seven stages of fourteen stage counter 211 and simultaneousl therewith upon the input terminal 214 of the eighth stage of fourteen stage counter 210. The line reset coded representation thereby causes discriminator circuit 203 to reset the iirst seven stages of counter 210 to Zero while increasing by one the count in the last seven (Le. the 8 to 14) stages of counter 210. Thus it can be seen that the tirst seven stages of counter 210 generates a count indicative of the number of characters per line while the eighth through fourteen stages of counter 210 generates a count indicative of the number of lines of characters which have been printed.
The signals of stages 1-7 oi counter 210 appear at the output terminals 215 of these stages and are impressed upon the input of a digital to analog converter circuit 216 which generates a suitable analog signal at its output terminal 217 the magnitude of which is representative of the number of characters which have been printed thus far. The analog output signal generated at output terminal 217 is impressed upon suitable amplier means 21S which generates an amplitied analog signal at its output terminal 114 which is connected to the input terminals 114 which is the input terminal for the horizontal deection coil of deliection coil assembly 102. Thus the analog signal is employed to select the appropriate horizontal position for the next character to be displayed on the face plate of cathode ray tube 101.
Assuming that, as has previously been mentioned, the printing time required for a printing operation diliers from the time required for a non-printing operation such as, for example, a blank space and assuming further that the recording medium 105 moves at approximately a constant speed it is impossible to print at a desired position upon recording medium 105 if characters are displayed along a single horizontal line, such as, for example, the horizontal line 130 along the face plate 116 of cathode ray tube 102. Therefore, as a consequence of this problem which confronts the printing system the vertical alignment of the horizontal display on the face plate 116 of character display device 102 must be altered whereby the alteration is determined by the relation between the amount generated by the counting means associated with the recording medium 105 and the selected position to be printed. In order to provide such a relationship the control means 200 transfers the output terminals of 14 stage counter 210 to the set input terminals 217 of a 14 stage NOT or inverter circuit 216 which is provided to generate a binary complement of the binary status of counter 210 for any code from Zero to 214 or 16,384. The complementary coded representation appearing at the output terminals 218 of NOT circuit 216 are impressed upon one associated input terminal of the 14 stage adder circuit 219. The other input terminals of each stage of the 14 stage adder circuit 210 are adapted to receive the coded representation of the count stored in 14 stage count 201 which signals appear at the output terminals 220 of each stage of the counter. Thus the count of counter 201 is added to the complementary count generated by NOT circuit 216 and by causing more than 14 binary bits overilow the difference in the cumulative counts between counter 201 and counter 210 is thus computed. In order to print at a desired position along the recording medium 105 the aforementioned difference of the cumulative counts corresponds to the physical distance between the position ot a character image displayed on the face plate 116 of character display device 101 and a reference position on said face plate. The difference generated by adder circuit 219 appears at the output terminals 221 of the adder stages and is impressed upon the input terminals of a digital to analog converter circuit 222 which generates at its output terminal 223 an analog signal having a magnitude which is representative of the difference between the two aforementioned counts. The analog signal is impressed upon a suitable ampliiier circuit 223 which provides an amplied analog signal at its output terminal This output terminal is connected to the input terminal 115 of the deflection coil assembly 102 and is thereby utilized to control the vertical deiiection of the electron beam in order to suitably position the character image on face plate 116.
If the difference between the two aforementioned counts becomes extremely large, this is indicative of too rapid an advance of recording medium 105. Such a condition iS recognized by coincidence gate circuit 224 which is elect trically connected to adder circuit 219 such that when the output of adder circuit 219 exceeds a numeric value which is larger than a suitably selected value which selected value is smaller than 214 such a condition is detected by coincidence circuit 224 causing a signal to be generated at its output terminal Terminal 125 is connected to input terminal 125 of control circuit 107 of FIGURE l and upon the receipt of a signal at terminal 125 control circuit 107 acts to decelerate motor means 106. If the difference output of adder circuit 219 is smaller than a second suitably selected value which second suitably selected value is dierent from the iirst suitably selected value mentioned previously, coincidence circuit 224 generates an output signal at its terminal 124 which is connected to the terminal 124 of control circuit 107 shown in FIGURE 1. The presence of such a signal at control terminal 124 causes control circuit 107 to accelerate mo tor means 106. If the difference iigure generated by adder circuit 219 becomes Zero, coincidence circuit 224 generates a signal at its output terminal 22S which is impressed upon one input terminal of gating circuit 207 which signal acts as the forementioued one-character end signal employed to apprise the computer (not shown) connected to control means 200 that the next character may be impressed upon the input terminal 202 of control means 200 by the computer circuit.
When the computer circuit impresses a print signal upon discriminator circuit 203 representative of a ters mination of a printing operation discriminator circuit 203 generates a signal at its output terminal 226 which appears at therrninal 126 for electrical connection to control terminal 126 in FIGURE 1. The stopping signal thereby causes control means 107 to deenergize motor means 106.
The operation of control means 200 of FIGURE 2 will now be described with reference to the diagram of FIG- URE 3 which shows the various waveforms employed in the control circuit 200. For the purpose of explaining such operation7 let it be assumed that the counter 201 at a time to has generated a count representative of the decimal number 901. While the binary representation for the decimal number 901 is 00001110000101, for the purposes of clarity, only, decimal numbers will be used in the example of operation given herein. The count of counter 201 is increased by one binary bit each time an impulse A is received at its input terminal 128.
Simultaneously with this operation, let it be assumed that counter 210 contains a count representative of the decimal number 501 which in binary format is 00000111110101. Again for the purposes of clarity, only the decimal representations will be employed as opposed to the binary coded representations, for purposes of clarity. The count of counter 210 is increased in a iirst manner by the receipt of a printing signal designated by the letter B and by the receipt or" a blank or no-print signal represented by the letter C as shown in waveform B of FIGURE 3. in addition to character and no-character print signals B and C a line reset signal represented by the letter D, as previously described, resets stages l-7 of counter 210 while adding a count of one through stages 8-14 of counter 210. Thus in the example given, at the time f1 the count of counter 210 changes from a numeric count of 506 to a numeric count of 512. This count represents the condition that even though a full group of 2 128 characters have not been printed the computer nevertheless is requesting printing to begin upon the next succeeding line of the recording medium 105, thus requiring the counter 210 to indicate such a condition by containing a count representative of the decimal number 512.
FIGURE 3c shows the one-character end signals designated by the letter E which as previously described is employed to notify the computer that the printing system is ready to receive the next coded character. The output information of adder circuit 219 is expressed by the numerical values shown in Waveform d of FGURE 3 the heights of which correspond to the differences in counts between the two aforementioned counters 201 and 210 and the analog signal applied to the vertical detiection coil terminal 115 of FIGURE 1, shown by waveform e of FIGURE 3. lt is therefore possible to adjust the display position of each character image on the face plate 116 of the character display device, which image is moved in the vertical direction by the analog waveform e to a position corresponding to the printing position on the recording medium 105 upon which the printing takes place. I
The operation of the control means 260 is as follows:
At time to counter 201 receives a pulse A causing the count contained therein to be representative of the decimal number 901 indicating that the feed mechanism comprised of gears S and 108a have caused 901 pulses to be presented to counter 201. Att time t2 the one-character end signal appears at gate circuit 207 which signal is impressed upon the input 211 of counter 210. immediately prior t-o the receipt of the one-character end signal counter 210 contained a count of 500 (i.e., binary signals representative of the decimal number 500), thus the receipt of the one-character end signal B increases the count in counter 210 to 501. This decimal number is indicative of the fact that 501 characters and/ or blank spaces have been processed by control means 200. The count 501 is compared against the count 901 generating a difference of 400 which appears at the Aoutput of adder circuit 219. rhis generates the analog signal at time t2 whose magnitude is `related to the difference 400 generated by the adder circuit 219.
At time t3 the count in counter 201 increases to 904 and simultaneously therewith control means d processes a blank signal coded representation causing the difference at this time to be 402, thus generating the difference analog voltage at time t3. Two subsequent blank space coded representations are processed at times t4 and t5 causing the diminishing analog voltage steps at these times as shown by waveform e. At time t1 control means 200 processes an end of line coded representation D which simultaneously clears the first seven stages of counter 210 to Zero and adds one to the last seven stages of counter 210 thus causing the cumulative count in counter 210 to `represent the decimal number 512 which is indicative of the fact that four lines of characters and/ or blank spaces have been processed by control means 200. The difference voltage at this time is 397 causing the downward step at time t1 to control the vertical deiiection coil of the coil assembly 102.
Thus it can be seen that the generation of the feeding device count and the processed characters count and comparison of these counts generate an analog voltage the magnitude of which determines the vertical positioning of a character image upon the cathode ray tube face plate in order to control the positioning of this character image upon the ultimate recording medium 105.
Although the principles of this invention have been described above in connection with specific embodiments, those descriptions are made by way of examples and hence, should not be construed as limitations to the scope of this invention.
For example, it is possible, within the scope of this invention, to send to the printer several characters or several lines as a block, for example, instead of calling up an input code corresponding to one character individually at such a time as indicated by said one-character end signal or to prepare format by use of a boardgram or a skip-control tape. lt is also possible to employ analog means in lieu of digital means in counting, subtraction, etc. of the feed amounts.
Although there has been described a preferred embodiment of this novel invention, many variations and modifications will now be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, this invention is to be limited, not by the specic disclosure herein, but only by the appending claims.
The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive privilege or property is claimed are defined as follows :V
1. A floating type printing system for use in high speed electronic computers and the like having recording equipment utilizing a character image display device for generating a plurality of characters along a substantially straight line and being capable of shifting the characters in a direction transverse to said straight line of characters and on the plane surface of the display device at a predetermined time and a recording medium that moves continuously at a controlled speed, which comprises iirst means for generating a first count representing the feed rate of the recording medium; second means for generating a second count representing the number of characters which have been processed; third means for controlling the display position of each character being processed by said printing system upon the faceplate of said character display device in a direction parallel to the feed direction of the recording medium; and fourth means for computing the numerical difference between the feed rate count and the characters processed count for controlling said third means to suitably position the characters being processed along the faceplate of the character display device transverse to said line of characters.
2. A floating type printing system for use in high speed electronic computers and the like having recording equipment utilizing a character image display device capable of displaying a selected character at any desired position on the plane surface of the display device at a predetermined time and a recording medium that moves continuously at a controlled speed, which comprises first means for generating a irst count representing the feed rate of the recording medium; second means for generating a second count representing the number of characters which have been processed; third means for controlling the display position of each character being processed by said printing system upon the faceplate of said character display device in a direction parallel to the feed direction of the recording medium; and fourth means for computing the numerical difference between the feed rate count and the characters processed count for controlling said third means to suitably position the character being processed along the faceplate .of the character display device; fth means connected between the printing system and the computer for controlling the rate at which coded characters are transferred to said printing system.
3. The printing system of claim 1 wherein the character display device is a cathode ray tube.
4. A iloating type printing system for use in high speed electronic computers and the like having recording equipment utilizing a character image display device capable of displaying a selected character at any desired position on the plane surface of the display device at a predetermined time and a recording medium that moves continuously at a controlled speed, which comprises first means for generating a first count representing the feed rate of the recording medium; second means for generating a second count representing the number of characters which have been processed; third means for controlling the display position of each character being processed by said printing system upon the faceplate of said character display device in a direction parallel to the feed direction of the recording medium; and fourth means for computing the numerical difference between the feed rate count and the characters processed count for controlling said third rneans to suitably position the character being processed along the faceplate of the character display device; said fth means further comprising sixth means responsive to said numeric difference for controlling the feed rate of said recording medium.
5. A floating type printing system for use in high speed electronic computers and the like having recording equipment utilizing a character image display device capable of displaying a selected character at any desired position on the plane surface of the display device at a predetermined time and a recording medium that moves continuously at a controlled speed, which comprises first means for generating a rst count representing the feed rate of the recording medium; second means for generating a second count representing the number of characters which have been processed; third means for controlling the display position of each character being processed by said printing system upon the faceplate of said character display device in a direction parallel to the feed direction of the recording medium; and fourth means for computing the numerical difference between the feed rate count and the characters processed count for controlling said third means to suitably position the character being processed along the faceplate of the character display device; said second'means comprising means for generating an analog voltage representative of said second count for controlling the horizontal detiection of said character display device.
6. A oating type printing system for use in high speed electronic computers and the like having recording equipment utilizing a character image display device capable of displaying a selected character at any desired position on the plane surface of the display device at a predetermined time and a recording medium that moves continuously at a controlled speed, which comprises first means for generating a first count representing the feed rate of the recording medium; second means for generating a second count representing the number of characters which have been processed; third means for controlling the display position of each character being processed by said printing system upon the faceplate of said character display device in a direction parallel to the feed direction of the recording medium; and fourth means for computing the numerical difference between the feed rate count and the characters processed count for controlling said third means to suitably position the character being processed along the faceplate of the character display device; said fourth means furthe-r comprising means for generating an analog voltage representative of said numeric difference for controlling the vertical deflection of said character display device.
7. A oating type printing system for use in high speed electronic computers and the like having recording equipment utilizing a character image display device capable of displaying a selected character at any desired position on the plane surface of the display device at a predetermined time and a recording medium that moves continuously at a constant speed which comprises first means for generating a rst count representing the feed rate of the recording medium; second means for generating a second count representing the number of characters which have been processed; third means for controlling the display position of each character being processed by said printing system upon the faceplate of said character display device in a direction parallel to the feed direction of the recording medium; and fourth means for computing the numerical difference between the feed rate count and the characters processed count for controlling said third means to suitably position the character being processed along the faceplate of the character display device; said fourth means further comprising means for generating an analog voltage representative of said numeric difference for controlling the vertical deflection of said character display device; sixth means connected between said second means and said fourth means for generating the complement of said second count for presentation to the input of said fourth means.
8. A floating type printing system for use in high speed electronic computers and the like having recording equipment utilizing a character image display device capable of displaying a selected character at any desired position on the plane surface of the display device at a predetermined time and a recording medium that moves continuously at a controlled speed, which comprises rst means for generating a first count representing the feed rate of the recording medium; second means for generating a second count representing the number of characters which have been processed; third means for controlling the display position of each character being processed by said printing system upon the faceplate of said character display device in a direction parallel to the feed direction of the recording medium; and fourth means for computing the numerical difference between the feed rate count and the characters processed count for controlling said third means to suitably position the character being processed along the faceplate of the character display device; said fourth means further comprising means for generating an analog voltage representative of said numeric dif ference for controlling the vertical deection of said character display device; sixth means connected between said second means and said fourth means for generating the complement of said second count for presentation to the input of said fourth means; said sixth means further comprising coincidence means connected to said fourth means for controlling the feed rate of said recording medium.
9. A floating type printing system for use in high speed electronic computers and the like having recording equipment utilizing a character image display device capable of displaying a selected character at any desired position on the plane surface of the display device at a predetermined time and a recording medium that moves continuously at a controlled speed, which comprises rst means for generating a first count representing the feed rate of the recording medium; second means for generating a second count representing the number of characters which have been processed; third means for controlling the display position of each character being processed by said printing system upon the faceplate of said character display device in a direction parallel to the feed direction of the recording medium; and fourth means for computing the numerical difference between the feed rate count and the characters processed count for controlling said third means to suitably position the character being processed along the faceplate of the character display device; said fourth means further comp-rising means for generating an analog voltage representative of said numeric difference for controlling the vertical deflection of said character display device; sixth means connected between said second means and said fourth means for generating the complement of said second count for presentation to the input of said fourth means; said sixth means further comprising coincidence means connected to said fourth means for controlling the feed rate of said recording medium, said coincidence means further comprising iirst means responsive to numeric values greater than a rst selected magnitude for decelerating said recording medium.
l0. A floating type printing system for use Iin high speed electronic ycomputers and |the like having recording equipment utilizing a character image display device capable of displaying a selected character 'at any desired position on the plane surface of the display device at a predetermined time and a recording medium that moves continuously at la controlled speed, which comprises iirst means for generating a rst count representing the feed rate of the recording medium; second means for generating a second count Vrepresenting the number of characters which have been processed; third means for controlling the display yposition of each character being processed by said printing system upon the faceplate of said character display device in a direction parallel to the feed direction of the recording medium; and fourth means for computing the numerical difference between the feed rate count and the characters processed count for controlling sta-id third means to suitably position the character being processed along the faceplate of the character display device; said fourth means further comprising means for generating an analog voltage representative of said numeric difference for controlling the vertical deflection of said character display device; sixth means connected 'between said second means and said fourth means for generating the complement of said second count rfor presentation to the input of said fourth means; said sixth means further co-mpri-sing coincidence means connected to said fourth means for controlling the feed rate of said recording medium, said coincidence means further comprising rst means responsive to numeric values greater than -a first selected magnitude for decelerating said recording medium and second means responsive to numeri-c values smaller than a second selected magnitude for accelerating said recording medium.
11. A floating type printing system for use in high speed electronic computers and the like having recording equipment utilizing a character image display device capable of displaying a selected character at any desired position on the plane surface of .the display device at a predetermined time and a recording medium that moves continuously at a controlled speed, which comprises first means for generating -a rst count represen-ting the feed rate of the recording medium; second means for generating a second count representing the number of characters which have been processed; third means for controlling the display position of each character being processed by said printing system upon the faceplate of said character display device in a :direction parallel to the feed direction of the recording medium; and fourth means for computing the numerical difference between the feed rate count and the characters processed count for controlling said third means to suitably position the 'character being processed .along the faceplate of the character display device; said ourth means further comprising means -for generating an analog voltage representative of said numeric difference 'for controlling the vertical deilection of said character display device; sixth means connected between said second means and said fourth means for generating the complement of said second count for presentation to the input of said fourth means; said sixth means further comprising coincidence means connected to said fourth means for controlling the feed rate of said recording medium, said coincidence means further comprising rst means responsive to numeric values `greater than a first selected magnitude for decelerating said recording medium and second means responsive to numeric values smaller than a second selected magnitude for accelerating said recording medium and third means responsive to numeric values less than said rst selected magnitude and greater than said second selected magnitude for retaining the present speed of said recording medium.
References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,379,880 7/45 Burgess 178-15 2,736,770 2/56 McNaney 178-15 3,012,239 12/61 Clemens l78-l5 X NORTON ANSI-IER, Primary Examiner.
JOHN M. HORAN, Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. A FLOATING TYPE PRINTING SYSTEM FOR USE IN HIGH SPEED ELECTRONIC COMPUTERS AND THE LIKE HAVING RECORDING EQUIPMENT UTILIZING A CHARACTER IMAGE DISPLAY DEVICE FOR GENERATING A PLURALITY OF CHARACTERS ALONG A SUBSTANTIALLY STRAIGHT LINE AND BEING CAPABLE OF SHIFTING THE CHARACTERS IN A DIRECTION TRANSVERSE TO SAID STRAIGHT LINE OF CHARACTERS AND ON THE PLANE SURFACE OF THE DISPLAY DEVICE AT A PREDETERMINED TIME AND A RECORDING MEDIUM THAT MOVES CONTINUOUSLY AT A CONTROLLED SPEED, WHICH COMPRISES FIRST MEANSFOR GENERATING A FIRST COUNT REPRESENTING THE FEED RATE OF THE RECORDING MEDIUM; SECOND MEAND FOR GENERATING SECOND COUNT REPRESENTING THE NUMBER OF CHARACTERS WHICH HAVE BEEN PROCESSED; THIRD MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE DISPLAY POSITION OF EACH CHARACTER BEING PROCESSED BY SAID PRINTING SYSTEM UPON THE FACEPLATE OF SAID CHARACTER DISPLAY DEVICE IN A DIRECTON PARALLEL TO THE FEED DIRECTION OF THE RECORDING MEDIUM; AND FOURTH MEANS FOR COMPUTING THE NUMERICAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE FEED RATE COUNT AND THE CHARACTERS PROCESSED COUNT FOR CONTROLLING SAID THRID MEANS TO SUITABLE POSITION THE CHARACTERS BEING PROCESSED ALONG THE FACEPLATE OF THE CHARACTER DISPLAY DEVICE TRANSVERSE TO SAID LINE OF CHARACTER.
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* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0094719A2 (en) * 1982-05-14 1983-11-23 Philips Patentverwaltung GmbH Method for compensating synchronism fluctuations in the record carrier drive of non-mechanical matrix printers

Citations (3)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2379890A (en) * 1942-06-20 1945-07-10 Masonite Corp Esterification of lignins and ligninlike material
US2736770A (en) * 1952-06-25 1956-02-28 Gen Dynamics Corp Printer
US3012239A (en) * 1955-09-21 1961-12-05 John E Clemens High speed printer

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2379890A (en) * 1942-06-20 1945-07-10 Masonite Corp Esterification of lignins and ligninlike material
US2736770A (en) * 1952-06-25 1956-02-28 Gen Dynamics Corp Printer
US3012239A (en) * 1955-09-21 1961-12-05 John E Clemens High speed printer

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0094719A2 (en) * 1982-05-14 1983-11-23 Philips Patentverwaltung GmbH Method for compensating synchronism fluctuations in the record carrier drive of non-mechanical matrix printers
EP0094719A3 (en) * 1982-05-14 1984-12-12 Philips Patentverwaltung Gmbh Method and arrangements for compensating synchronism fluctuations in the record carrier drive of non-mechanical matrix printers

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