JP2747078B2 - Line printer device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Overview] Regarding a line printer that performs high-speed printing on a printing paper line by line, in a line printer that limits the number of hammers that operate simultaneously, after one line of printing is completed In order to improve the throughput by eliminating the time delay until the paper feeding actually starts, a large number of printing hammers are arranged in the printing range of one line, and printing is performed line by line on the printing paper. Printing means,
A drive hammer number control means for limiting the number of hammers driven simultaneously when printing by the printing means; and a printing end signal generating means before the printing operation of one line in the printing means is completed. , A print end signal is generated, and the limitation of the number of hammers by the driving hammer number limiting means is released for the remaining printing of the line, so that all hammers can operate simultaneously.

[Industrial applications]

The present invention relates to a line printer device that performs high-speed printing on a printing paper line by line.

In a line printer device, a print head is configured to collectively print one line in order to perform high-speed printing. However, the line feed time has a great effect on the printing time of printing over a plurality of lines.

[Conventional technology]

In a line printer device, generally, a print end signal is output from a print control unit to a paper feed control unit at the same time when printing for one line is completed.
As soon as the print end signal is received, a paper feed signal is output to the drive circuit of the paper feed motor. As a result, the paper feed motor rotates to perform the paper feed (line feed).

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, it takes a long time from when the print end signal is output to when the paper feed motor actually rotates and the print paper starts to move, mainly due to a mechanical operation delay.

FIG. 5 is a time chart showing the operation, in which a delay time Td has elapsed from the end of printing until the printing paper actually starts moving. This time Td is a completely useless time in which neither printing nor paper feeding is performed, and is generally several milliseconds.
(Several hundredths of a second). This is a non-negligible loss time in a high-speed line printer, and has been a factor in reducing throughput.

In order to eliminate such a delay time, a method of generating a print end signal slightly before the end of the printing operation for one line can be considered. By doing so, the line feed operation of the printing paper can be started at the same time as the end of printing.

However, in a line printer device, generally, when a large number of hammers for performing dot printing are operated at the same time, the printing state is disturbed due to vibration due to impact during printing. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the number of hammers that operate simultaneously during printing is limited, and printing of one line is performed in a plurality of cycles.

However, in such a configuration, when a print end signal is issued, printing ends in that printing cycle.If printing for the rest of the line requires more than one cycle, printing is performed. Incomplete printing results due to chipping.

The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and in a line printer device in which the number of hammers that operate simultaneously is limited, the time from the end of printing of one line to the actual start of paper feeding. It is an object of the present invention to provide a line printer capable of improving throughput without delay.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, as shown in FIG. 1, the line printer device of the present invention includes a print hammer 1a that can print all dots of one dot line in a print range of one line at a time. A printing means 1 for arranging and printing the printing paper 100 in line units, a driving hammer number limiting means 5 for limiting the number of hammers 1a simultaneously driven when printing is performed by the printing means 1, Paper feed means 2 for feeding paper in a direction substantially perpendicular to the line direction in which printing by the printing means 1 is performed, and printing for generating a print end signal when printing of one line by the printing means 1 is completed. A line printer device having end signal generating means 3 and sheet feed signal output means 4 for outputting a sheet feed signal for operating the sheet feed means 2 when the print end signal is input. Prior to the end of the printing operation for one line in the printing means 1, a printing end signal is generated in the printing end signal generating means 3 and the driving hammer number limiting means 5 for the remaining printing in the line.
The limit on the number of hammers by
Are operated simultaneously, and the sheet feeding means is driven to feed the sheet.

[Action]

A printing end signal is generated before the printing operation of one line in the printing means 1 is completed, and a paper feed signal is output to the paper feeding means 2 in response to the signal. As a result, the printing paper 100 can start a line feed operation at the same time as the end of the printing operation for one line, or with almost no delay from the end of the printing operation.

At that time, simultaneously with the generation of the printing end signal, the limitation of the number of simultaneous operation hammers by the driving hammer number limiting means 5 is released. 1a is driven simultaneously.

In this way, even if the hammer 1a is driven all at once immediately before the end of printing of one line and a mechanical shock occurs, the vibration is suppressed during the paper feeding time and does not affect the printing result of the next line.

Embodiment An embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the line printer device. 1
Is a print head arranged opposite to the platen 21, and is constituted by arranging a number of impact dot type heads 11 to 18 in a line in a row direction.

Each of the heads 11 to 18 is provided with a plurality of impact hammers 1a.
Printing of one line on the printing paper 100 can be performed all at once. Reference numeral 19 denotes a drive circuit for driving the print head 1.

However, when all the hammers 1a are driven at the same time, printing disturbance occurs due to vibration generated at the time of impact.Therefore, the number of the hammers 1a driven at the same time is limited by the printing control unit 31, which will be described later, and they are driven simultaneously The hammers 1a are divided into a plurality of groups, and the hammers 1a not driven in the first printing cycle are driven in the subsequent printing cycles.

The print head 1 is attached to a shuttle 8 movably provided along a stay 6, and the shuttle 8 is
It is driven along the stay 6 during printing by a shuttle motor 9 constituted by a linear motor. The driving direction of the shuttle 8 is alternately changed from left to right and then right to left each time the printing cycle changes.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a drive circuit for the shuttle motor 9, which reversely excites the shuttle motor 9 each time the drive direction of the shuttle 8 changes, and drives the shuttle 8 to move from left to right or from right to left.

Reference numeral 22 denotes a pin tractor for feeding a sheet, and a pin 22a that engages with a feed hole 101 formed along a side edge of the printing sheet 100 rotates to move the printing sheet 100 in the direction of arrow F. Send out. The pin tractor 22 is rotationally driven by the paper feed motor 2 via the belt 23, and at the same time, the platen 21 is also rotationally driven by the second belt 24. With such a configuration, the printing paper 100 is fed in a direction perpendicular to the line direction in which printing is performed. 25 is a drive circuit for driving the paper feed motor 2.

Reference numeral 31 denotes a print control unit for controlling the operation of the print head 1 and the operation of the shuttle motor 9. 32 is the paper feed motor 2
Is a sheet feed control unit for controlling the operation of the sheet feeder. The paper feed controller 32 outputs a paper feed signal to the drive circuit 25 of the paper feed motor 2 when a print end signal is input from the print controller 31.

FIG. 3 is a time chart showing the operation of the line printer of the above embodiment. Here, the print control unit 31 outputs a print end signal to the paper feed control unit 32 before the print head 1 ends printing of one line. Thus, printing ends in that cycle, and no right-to-left or left-to-right inversion is performed on that line.

At the same time that the print end signal is issued, the limitation on the number of the hammers 1a to be driven at once is released, and all the necessary hammers 1a are driven at once for the remaining printing on the line.

The time before the generation of the print end signal precedes the end of the actual printing of one line is set to be the same as the time Td from when the print end signal is generated until the printing paper 100 actually starts moving for a line feed.

Therefore, when a print end signal is output to the paper feed control unit 32 and a paper feed signal is output from the paper feed control unit 32 to the drive circuit 25, the printing operation for exactly one line ends, and at the same time, the printing paper 100 Starts the actual paper feeding operation for

Then, the shuttle motor 9 is reversely excited while the paper feed operation for the line feed is being performed, and when the paper feed operation is completed, the shuttle 8 moves in the opposite direction to the previous line and the next line is printed. Will be

FIG. 4D and FIG. 4D are processing flowcharts in the print control unit 31 for performing the above operation. s indicates a step.

Here, first, initial settings are made in s11, and the shuttle 8 is retracted to the left end in s12.

Then, after setting the counter I to I = 0 in s13, until the print head 1 reaches the print start position in s14 and s15,
The shuttle motor 9 is excited to move the shuttle 8 to the right.

When the print head 1 reaches the print start position, the drive hammer number limit flag is turned on in s16, and the drive hammer number is limited. However, in the next 17, the limitation of the number of driving hammers will be solved.

Next, in s18 and s19, the shuttle motor 9 is excited to move the shuttle 8 rightward until the print timing signal is input.

If a print timing signal is input in s19, the state of the drive hammer number limit flag is determined in s20. When the flag is off, the limit of the number of drive hammer is released in s21, and the print timing of the print head 1 is determined in s24. The data is sent to the drive circuit 19, and the hammer 1a is driven to perform impact dot printing.

When the drive hammer number limit flag is on in s20, s22
Then, it is determined whether it is necessary to limit the number of hammers to be driven in the current impact operation. If the number of hammers is not limited, the process proceeds to s21 in the same manner as described above. The necessity of limiting the number of hammers is determined based on the number of dots to be printed at one time. For example, if the number of print dots exceeds 30% of the total number of hammers, it is assumed that the number of hammers must be restricted. Then, when it is necessary to limit the number of hammers, the number of hammers driven in the current impact operation is limited to a certain number in s23, and impact dot printing is performed in s24.

Next, the counter I is set to I = I + 1 in s25, and s26
Then, it is determined whether or not I has reached a level at which a print end signal should be generated. That is, M: reversal start timing N: timing for instructing paper feed start T: print timing cycle (second) Td: paper feed operation delay time (second) described above: N ≒ (M · T−Td) / T The value of N is set in advance. With this formula, the printing end occurrence timing in consideration of the electrical and mechanical operation delay time is calculated.

Then, in s26, it is determined whether or not I = N.
= N, it is determined in s27 whether or not the number of drive hammer is limited, and if not, a print end signal is output to the paper feed controller 32 in s28, and the drive hammer number limit flag is set in s29. Turn off and return to s18, and perform the remaining printing on that line without limiting the number of driving hammers.

Accordingly, the hammer 1a is simultaneously driven to generate a mechanical shock, but the vibration is suppressed during the sheet feeding time and does not affect the printing result of the next line.

The paper feed control unit 32 immediately outputs a paper feed signal to the drive circuit 25 of the paper feed motor 2 upon input of the print end signal of s28. As a result, the printing paper 100 starts to be fed after a delay time Td from the generation of the printing end signal.

If the number of driven hammers is limited in s27, the left part of the line has a portion to be printed in the next print cycle. Turn off the restriction flag and return to s18.

If I = N is not satisfied in s26, that is, if I <N or I> N, it is determined in s30 whether or not the final printing of the line is completed, that is, whether I = M is satisfied. When it returns to s18. When I = M at s30, s31 to s33
Then, the shuttle motor 9 is reversely excited so that the shuttle 8 moves from right to left, and the counter I is returned to I = 0,
If the inversion is not being performed, the process proceeds from s33 to s41, which is the next stamp cycle of the line.If the inversion is being performed in s33, the process returns from s34 to s31 until the inversion is completed, and repeats it. Proceed to s41 to perform printing.

In s41 to s61, the movement of the shuttle is only from right to left, and the other operations are exactly the same as in s14 to s34, and the next print cycle of the line or the print of the next line moves the print head 1 to the right. From left to right. After that, the process returns to s13 again.

As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, the delay time from when the printing operation for one line is completed to when the paper feeding is actually started can be completely reduced to zero. However, even if the delay time is not completely set to zero, it is possible to shorten the delay time and improve the throughput by making the generation of the print end signal a predetermined time earlier than the print end operation.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the present invention, in a line printer device in which the number of hammers that operate simultaneously is limited, the sheet feeding for a line feed is actually started after the printing operation for one line is completed without causing a lack of printing or the like. There is an excellent effect that the time delay before is shortened or completely eliminated as compared with the conventional case, the slope is improved, and the printing time can be shortened without difficulty.

[Brief description of the drawings]

 FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the embodiment, FIG. 3 is a time chart showing the operation of the embodiment, FIGS. 4A to 4D are processing flowcharts of the embodiment, FIG. 5 is a time chart showing the operation of the conventional example. In the figure, 1 ... printing means, 1a ... hammer, 2 ... paper feeding means, 3 ... printing end signal generating means, 4 ... paper feeding signal output means, 5 ... driving hammer number limiting means, 100 ... printing Paper.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Akinori Kamada 1015 Kamikodanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Fujitsu Limited (56) References JP-A-55-154675 (JP, A) JP-A-59-93371 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A printing hammer that can print all dots of one dot line in a printing range of one line at a time and moves relative to a printing paper in a line direction to perform printing. Printing means, driving hammer number limiting means for limiting the number of hammers driven simultaneously when printing is performed by the printing means, and paper feeding in a direction substantially perpendicular to the line direction in which printing is performed by the printing means. Paper end means for performing printing, a print end signal generating means for generating a print end signal when one line of printing is completed by the printing means, and operating the paper feed means when the print end signal is input N ≒ (M · T−Td) / T, where M is the reversal start timing, and When the print timing cycle and Td are the paper feed operation delay time, and when the driven hammer is limited in printing up to the Nth digit, from the (N + 1) th digit to the last digit without generating a print end signal After printing, the moving direction of the printing means is reversed and printing is performed again on the same line, and when the driven hammer is not limited,
A line printer device wherein after the printing end signal is generated, the paper feed is performed following printing from the (N + 1) digit to the last digit.