WO2010118549A1

WO2010118549A1 - Printer, method of enlarging printing size and printing system

Info

Publication number: WO2010118549A1
Application number: PCT/CN2009/000390
Authority: WO
Inventors: 王红
Original assignee: 青岛尤尼科技有限公司
Priority date: 2009-04-13
Filing date: 2009-04-13
Publication date: 2010-10-21

Abstract

A printer which can print first size is disclosed. The printer includes a printing head (4), a control module (2) and a main beam frame which matches with printing of the first size. The printing head (4) is second size printing head, and its original transverse velocity is second size velocity, the second size being smaller than the first size. Furthermore, the printer includes a velocity regulating module (1) and a printing content conversion module (3). The velocity regulating module(1) regulates the transverse velocity from second size velocity to first size velocity in transverse proportion, thus the printing head can complete transverse printing at either size in the same time. The printing content conversion module (3) converts the longitudinal printing content in longitudinal proportion. The control module (2) controls an actuating unit of the printing head (4) according to a signal sending from the velocity regulating module to achieve printing. A method of enlarging printing size and a printing system having the printer are also disclosed. By applying the printing head and the control module of small-size printer, the present invention greatly reduces the production cost of large-size printer.

Description

Printer, printing format expansion method and printing system

The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, particularly in connection with a printer, a printing format expansion method of a printer, and a printing system. Background technique

The printer's print format, as its name suggests, is the area that the printer can print out. The so-called maximum print size refers to the maximum paper size that the printer can print. Usually, on a large format printer, you can also print small sheets of paper. At present, the printing format mainly has A3, A4, A5 and the like. The larger the print size of the printer, the larger the print range. The size of the print format is also an important measure of the printer's performance. However, for smaller format printers, the cost of large format printers has increased significantly. The cost of the printer is mainly on its print head and control module.

In general, large format printers can also choose to print small-format images, but the resolution of the images that are printed is not as good as the equivalent resolution of a small-format printer.

Therefore, reducing the production cost of large format printers and how to expand the format of existing printers has become an important issue. Summary of the invention

In view of the problems in the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a printer to reduce the production cost of a large format printer.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a printer web expansion method for retrofitting a larger format printer using an existing printer.

A third object of the present invention is to provide a printing system having the printer of the present invention.

In order to achieve the objects of the present invention, the specific technical solutions of the present invention are as follows:

A printer capable of printing a first web comprising a printhead, a control module for controlling the printhead, and a main beam for lateral displacement of the printhead;

The print head is a second web print head, the initial lateral speed is a second web speed, the second web is smaller than the first web, and the ratio of the first web to the second web is For the lateral ratio, the ratio of the longitudinal length is the longitudinal ratio; The length of the main beam matches the first web printing;

It also includes a speed control module and a content conversion module:

The speed control module adjusts the lateral speed to a first web speed according to the lateral ratio, so that the print head completes the horizontal printing on the first web with the same time as the second web, and The control module sends the adjusted lateral velocity signal;

The content conversion module performs a conversion of the longitudinal direction of the content to be printed to match the first format printing, and the printing head prints the converted content to be printed;

The control module controls the action unit of the print head to perform printing according to the lateral speed signal transmitted by the speed control module.

A printing web expansion method of the present invention for expanding a second web printer into a first web printer, the second web printer comprising a second web print head, a control module and a main beam for lateral displacement of the print head The initial lateral velocity is a second web speed, the second web is smaller than the first web, the ratio of the transverse length of the first web to the second web is a lateral ratio, and the ratio of the longitudinal length is a longitudinal direction. Ratio

Extending the length of the main beam to match the main beam of the first web printing;

Providing a speed control module between the print head and the control module, the speed control module adjusting the lateral speed to a first web speed according to the lateral ratio, so that the print head is on the first web Performing lateral printing at the same time as the second web, and transmitting the adjusted lateral velocity signal to the control module;

a content conversion module connected to the control module, the vertical direction of the content to be printed is converted according to the vertical ratio, and the converted content to be printed is transmitted to the control module;

The control module controls the action unit of the print head according to the lateral speed signal transmitted by the speed control module, and prints the content to be printed.

The printing system of the present invention includes a printer and an instruction module that issues an external print command to the printer, the printer being the printer of the present invention.

The invention has the beneficial effects that the printer and the printing web expansion method of the invention utilize the print head and the control module of the low-cost small-format printer to expand the web size, thereby greatly reducing the production cost of the large-format printer. The printer of the present invention has a simple structure and is easy to implement. Further, the printer of the present invention also achieves switching between different print formats. DRAWINGS

1 is a block diagram of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention; 2 is a schematic diagram of grating detection of a printer according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a schematic diagram of grating detection of a printer according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a schematic diagram of a pulse of a grating feedback circuit of a printer according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a waveform of a feedback signal according to a third embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

6 is a schematic diagram of a logic circuit according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

7 is a schematic diagram of a printing unit of a printer according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

8 is a schematic diagram of feedback signal selection of a printer according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

9 is a schematic diagram of a webpage switching of a printer according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of image processing of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. detailed description

The invention will now be further described with reference to the drawings and preferred embodiments.

The printer of the embodiment of the invention may be an inkjet printer or other type of printer, except for the print head and the control module, the feed mechanism, the carriage mechanism, the printer main board, the power supply module for feeding the motor, and the printer. The drive circuit, the input/output interface circuit, the detection circuit, and the like can be of various implementation types.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the printer of the embodiment of the present invention has a maximum format that can be printed as a first web, and a printing unit includes a print head, a control module for controlling the print head, and a speed control module and a content conversion module; Also included in the mechanical structure is a main beam for lateral displacement of the printhead.

The principle of the webpage expansion method of the printer and the printer of the present invention is as follows: since the printing process is a printer print head (such as an ink head) laterally moving in conjunction with the longitudinal feed and the ink jet device on the ink head ejects ink dots, the lateral movement can be performed. The width of the print becomes larger, but the print time remains the same, so that the print width becomes larger.

Wherein, the print head is a second print head having a maximum print width of the second web, and the initial lateral speed of the second print head is a second web speed. Here, the lateral speed means that the print head is in the horizontal direction when printing (ie, the main The moving speed of the beam direction, the second surface is smaller than the first surface, for example, the first surface is A3, and the second surface is A4; therefore, the second surface can be generally referred to as a small surface, and the first surface is a large format; In the specification, the transverse ratio refers to the ratio of the lateral length of the first web to the second web, and the longitudinal ratio refers to the ratio of the longitudinal length of the first web to the second web. Therefore, the transverse ratio and the longitudinal ratio are both greater than or equal to The value of 1; and in some cases, the longitudinal ratio is equal to the lateral ratio.

The length of the main beam is matched to the first web printing, and the length of the main beam is greater than the lateral width of the first web.

Usually, in the existing second format printer, the initial lateral speed of the print head is the second web speed, which is to be adapted. Printing of the first web, that is, to complete an entire line of printing in the same time, it is necessary to adjust its lateral speed to the first web speed matched with the first web printing, and the first web speed should be equal to the second web speed. The web speed is multiplied by the lateral ratio. This function is performed by the speed control module.

The speed control module is connected to the control module and the print head, and the lateral speed is multiplied by the lateral ratio to be adjusted to the first web speed, so that the print head is completed on the first web surface in the same time as the second web surface. Horizontally printing, and transmitting the adjusted lateral velocity signal to the control module; the control module receives the adjusted lateral velocity signal, and controls an action unit of the printer to implement printing.

The content conversion module, because the speed is adjusted in the horizontal direction, in order to maintain the proportional coordination of the content to be printed, the longitudinal direction of the content to be printed needs to be matched with the conversion of the first format printing, and the vertical ratio or the horizontal direction may be The print head prints the converted content to be printed. When the horizontal ratio is equal to the vertical ratio, the ratio of the image printed by the printer is the same as the original image. When the horizontal ratio is different from the vertical ratio, the ratio of the vertical adjustment of the image can be determined according to the user's printing requirements. Among them, the conversion of the smaller one of the vertical ratio and the horizontal ratio is selected to ensure that the printed content such as images can be printed at least.

In the printer of the embodiment of the present invention, the speed control module intercepts a feedback signal sent by the print head to the control module and reflects the speed of the print head, and replaces the second web speed reflected in the feedback signal with the first A speed of the surface. In the feedback signal, the second web speed can be reflected by different amounts, such as the displacement of the print head per unit time, the speed of the stepping motor, etc., mainly by the frequency of the signal.

Three specific embodiments of the speed control module are described below.

The printer of the first embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, the speed control module is realized by grating and grating detection feedback. When the ink head of the print head moves, the sensor detects the grating (such as the grating ruler), and the action unit receives the control. The control signal of the module drives the left and right movement of the ink head, and the movement of the action unit is checked by the grating ruler and fed back to the control module. Here, the second web print head of the prior art is generally a second web scale, and in the speed control module of the printer of the first embodiment of the present invention, the first web scale is used. The speed replacement in the feedback signal is achieved by the replacement of the scale. The ratio of the total length of the first web scale, the width of the grid line and the grid line spacing to the total length of the second web scale, the width of the grid line and the grid line spacing are equal to the lateral ratio, ie the total length of the first web scale, the grid line The width and grid line spacing are equal to the total length of the second web scale, the gate line width, and the grid line spacing, respectively, multiplied by the lateral ratio.

As shown in Fig. 2, the original feedback signal is changed in the grating detection feedback link to achieve the effect of adjusting the lateral speed of the ink head, and the lateral speed of the action unit is indirectly changed to realize large-format printing. The grating grid line spacing is changed. Assuming that the sensor reading grating 500 grid moving unit moves by one centimeter, the distance of the grating is now increased to 500 grids and two centimeters, and the action unit is moved by two centimeters. By this replacement, it is possible to increase the width of the lateral movement of the print head, but the time does not change. Raster detection list In the element, the grating sensor that implements the grating detection determines the direction by two-way feedback, as shown in Fig. 3.

In addition to the grating ruler, a ring grating can also be used, as shown in Figure 3.

In the printer of the second embodiment of the present invention, the ring grating is used to realize the feedback of the lateral movement of the print head, and the ring grating is rotated by the motor that drives the movement of the print head. On the ring grating, the grid lines (or grating strips) are spaced. Arranged in a fan shape, the grid lines themselves are fan-shaped, and the spacing between the grid lines is naturally also fan-shaped. By increasing or decreasing the number of gate lines on the ring grating, the print width of the print head can be adjusted to achieve a larger format. A typical second format printhead, corresponding to a second format grating. Now that the second format printhead prints the first web, the second web raster needs to be replaced with the first web raster. The grating strip of the first web grating is more than the grating strip of the second web grating, and the ratio of the number of grating strips is equal to the lateral ratio.

The lateral velocity signal replacement in the feedback signal is achieved by the replacement of the ring grating. Preferably, the ratio of the radius and the number of cells of the first surface ring grating to the radius and the number of cells of the second ring grating is equal to the lateral ratio, that is, the radius and the number of cells of the first ring grating are equal to the ring grating of the second frame respectively. By multiplying the radius and the number of cells by the lateral ratio, the movement of the action unit can be determined by the number of cells, and the radius is increased to increase the strength of the feedback signal, ensure accuracy, and facilitate the manufacture of the ring grating. . In an application, it is also possible to replace the second web ring grating with a first web scale or the second web ring grating with a first web ring grating. As shown in Figure 3, the rotation of the ring grating can be driven by the motor of the print head.

The speed module adjusts the lateral speed of the print head. As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, in the printer of the third embodiment of the present invention, the feedback signal of the speed control module is a feedback signal of the servo motor of the print head, and the speed adjustment is performed by dividing the feedback signal by a logic circuit. Assuming that the lateral ratio is k, according to the principle of the fractional divider, if the print width (ie, the lateral print width of the print format) is required to be extended by k times, it is necessary to make k for the feedback signals A and A. Multiplier.

In the printer of the third embodiment of the present invention, the feedback signal of the servo motor is an orthogonal coded signal containing position information, and the phase difference between the two signals is 90 degrees, the frequency of the signal reflects the level of the motor speed, and the lead and lag of the two signals The relationship reflects the direction of rotation of the motor. By changing the feedback signal of the ink jet printer's ink head motor, the movement stroke of the ink head can be changed, thereby enabling the small-format print head to print a larger format image or other printed content.

As shown in Figure 5, the pre-frequency signals are: A, B. The divided signals are A', B'. If the two signals are simply divided, the logical relationship between the two signals cannot be maintained. According to the printer of the fourth embodiment of the present invention, the corresponding logic circuit is designed according to the following logic equation to obtain two pulses satisfying the speed regulation requirement.

A ' =C

B ' =Q1 θ Q2 e B A schematic diagram of the circuit is shown in FIG. 6. The specific circuit can be implemented by an integrated IC by a person skilled in the art, or by programming with a programmable logic device CPLD.

While performing the speed regulation, the printer of the present invention can also perform the selection of the web. As shown in FIG. 9, the printer of the fourth embodiment of the present invention further includes a web selection unit, the web selection unit and the speed control. A speed selection unit provided within the module is coupled, and the speed selection unit selects a web speed that matches the web as the lateral speed. The specific format selection can be selected by the user through the interface or buttons.

As shown in Fig. 7, the printer of the fourth embodiment of the present invention comprises a print head 16, a control module 11, and the like, and the print head 16 is moved on the main beam 15 by the stepping motor 12 to realize a printing process. The stepping motor simultaneously drives the ring grating 13 (also known as the code wheel or the grating plate) to rotate, and the action information of the print head is fed back to the control module through the sensor 14. The annular grating comprises two gratings coaxial, one being a first-face annular grating and the other being a second-surface annular grating. As shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, each code disc has a code disc feedback circuit for detecting the disc, and the disc feedback circuit transmits the signal to the web selection unit to perform switching selection of the feedback signal, and the selected signal is transmitted to the signal. The processor, which is transmitted to the control module, performs print control on the print head action unit according to the user's selection.

In the above embodiments of the present invention, image processing suitable for the first format is performed in the longitudinal direction of the printed content, which can be realized by the flow shown in FIG. First enter the picture to be printed. The format of the picture can be tmp\jpg\Jpeg. The PC software processes the picture. The software can be written by a programming language (such as ddphi6). After processing, it is stored in the third-party control image control (that is, the image is filled in the control). Then, the width of the picture is stretched in the software. After stretching, the aspect ratio of the image printed by the printer of the present invention is moderate, that is, if the original is circular, the output is still circular; if it is an ellipse, the output is still elliptical.

The printing web expansion method of the present invention will now be described.

A printing web expansion method according to an embodiment of the present invention is for expanding a second format printer into a first format printer, for example, an A4 format printer can be expanded into an A3 format printer. That is, the small format printer is extended to a large format printer.

The second format printhead and control module of the existing second format printer are still retained, and other components can also be selected for retention. The main beam for the lateral displacement of the printhead is extended to match the main beam of the first web print, which can be done by lengthening, or it can be recreated into a complete main beam that can conform to the length. The initial lateral velocity of the second web printhead is the second web speed and needs to be adjusted to the first web speed.

a speed control module is disposed between the print head and the control module, and the speed control module can be a speed control module according to various embodiments of the present invention, and the function is to adjust the horizontal speed to the first according to the lateral ratio. a web speed such that the printhead completes the lateral printing on the first web at the same time as the second web and sends the adjusted to the control module The lateral velocity signal;

The content conversion module connected to the control module is further configured to convert the vertical direction of the content to be printed according to the vertical ratio, and the converted content to be printed is transmitted to the control module;

In the printing format expansion method of the embodiment of the present invention, the speed control module replaces the second image grating that feeds back the print head displacement with the first image raster, and the speed replacement is implemented by raster replacement. The grating used is also divided into two cases, a grating scale and a ring grating. The first web scale of the printer or the ring grating of the second web can be replaced by the first web scale as described above; or the first web ring grating as described above can be used to replace the printer. a grating grating of the second web or a ring grating of the second web;

In the printer webpage expansion method of the embodiment of the present invention, the speed adjustment can also be realized by dividing the feedback signal of the print head servo motor.

The method of expanding the format of the embodiment of the present invention, if it is not replaced, selects the addition of the grating, and can be expanded to a large format printer of a selectable format. And a second surface ring grating which feeds back the displacement of the print head and a grating detecting unit thereof, and is connected with the signal selection circuit, and is selected by a grating feedback signal The speed selection is the format selection.

Next, a printing system of an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

A printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a printer and an instruction module that issues an external print command to the printer, which may be the printer of the above-described embodiments of the present invention.

Preferably, the instruction module is an instruction module based on an ARM embedded system, and the instruction module may further be provided with a liquid crystal display and an external external memory to support browsing of files stored on the external memory; the control module further includes The USB hub chip further expands the system to four USB external interfaces for connecting printers, USB sticks, mice and keyboards.

In the printing system of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the user can select the printing format of the printer through the instruction module, and can preview the printing effect when printing in different formats before printing, giving the user a flexible choice.

The printer of the printing system of the embodiment of the present invention can further expand the system into four USB external interfaces through a USB hub chip for connecting external devices such as a printer, a USB flash drive, a mouse, and a keyboard. Also included is SDRAM memory.

The above are only the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and the embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the patent protection of the present invention. Therefore, equivalent structural changes made by using the description of the present invention and the contents of the drawings are the same. Should be included in Within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

Rights request

What is claimed is: 1. A printer capable of printing a first web comprising a printhead, a control module for controlling the printhead, and a main beam for lateral displacement of the printhead, wherein

The print head is a second web printhead having an initial lateral velocity of a second web speed, the second web being smaller than the first web, and a ratio of a transverse length of the first web to the second web For the lateral ratio, the ratio of the longitudinal length is the longitudinal ratio;

The length of the main beam matches the first web printing;

It also includes a speed control module and a content conversion module:

2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the speed control module intercepts a feedback signal sent by the print head to the control module to reflect the speed of the print head, and the feedback signal is embodied The second web speed is replaced by the first web speed.

3. The printer according to claim 2, wherein the speed control module includes a first web grating that feeds back the displacement of the print head, and the feedback signal is for the grating when the print head moves The detected raster detection signal is subjected to raster replacement by raster replacement.

4. The printer according to claim 3, wherein the grating is a first web scale, the total length of the first web scale, the width of the gate line, and the grid line spacing and the total length of the second web scale The ratio of the gate line width to the gate line pitch is equal to the lateral ratio.

The printer according to claim 3, wherein the grating is a first-format annular grating, and the ratio of the number of gate lines of the first-format annular grating to the number of gate lines of the second-format annular grating is equal to The lateral ratio is described.

6. The printer of claim 2, wherein the feedback signal is a feedback signal of a printhead servo motor, and the speed adjustment is achieved by dividing the feedback signal.

7. The printer according to claim 6, wherein: the feedback signal and the inverted signal of the feedback signal are both divided by the horizontal ratio.

8. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the content to be printed is an image, and the content conversion module stretches the image according to the longitudinal ratio or the lateral ratio.

9. The printer of claim 1 wherein: said longitudinal ratio is equal to a lateral ratio.

10. The printer of claim 1 further comprising: a web selection unit, said web selection unit being coupled to a speed selection unit disposed within said governor module, said speed selection unit selecting said The web-matched web speed is the transverse speed.

1 1. The printer according to claim 10, wherein: the speed control module comprises a first web grating and a second web grating, and the speed selecting unit realizes the selection of the speed by selecting a grating feedback signal.

12. A printer web expansion method for expanding a second web printer into a first web printer, the second web printer comprising a second web print head, a control module, and a main beam for lateral displacement of the print head The initial lateral velocity of the frame is a second web speed, the second web is smaller than the first web, and the ratio of the transverse length of the first web to the second web is a lateral ratio, and the ratio of the longitudinal length is Longitudinal ratio

It is characterized by:

The method according to claim 12, wherein the speed control module replaces the second web grating that feeds back the print head displacement with the first web raster, and the speed replacement is implemented by raster replacement. .

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the grating is a grating scale or a ring grating, and the total length, the gate line width, the grid line spacing, and the second width grating of the first web scale The ratio of the total length, the gate line width, and the grid line pitch is equal to the lateral ratio; the ratio of the number of gate lines of the first-face annular grating to the number of gate lines of the second-format annular grating is equal to the lateral ratio.

15. The web expansion method of claim 13 wherein said speed adjustment is achieved by dividing a feedback signal of a printhead servo motor.

16. The method of expanding a web according to claim 13, wherein: the step of feeding back the displacement of the print head The second auxiliary ring-shaped grating shaft is provided with a first-face annular grating and a grating detecting unit thereof, which are also fed back to the displacement of the printing head, and is connected with the signal selection circuit to realize speed selection by grating selection.

A printing system comprising a printer and an instruction module for issuing an external print command to the printer, wherein the printer is the printer of any of claims 1-11.

The printing system according to claim 17, wherein: the instruction module is an instruction module based on an ARM embedded system, and the instruction module is further provided with a liquid crystal display, an external external memory, and is supported on the external memory. The browsing of the stored file; the control module further includes a USB hub chip, which can further expand the system into four USB external interfaces for connecting the printer, the USB flash drive, the mouse and the keyboard.