JP3065488B2 - Automatic platen tilt correction method for printer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for automatically correcting the inclination of a platen of a printer, and more particularly to an automatic paper thickness adjusting mechanism (hereinafter, referred to as an AHG mechanism). The present invention relates to a platen inclination automatic correction method suitable for application to a printer device having a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 19 is a view showing an example of the configuration of a printer having an AHG mechanism as a premise of the present invention. FIG. 19A shows the entire configuration, and FIG. Is a view of the AHG sensor viewed from above, and FIG. In the figure, 71 is a platen, 72 is a print head, 73 is a carrier, 74 and 75 are axes, 76 is an AHG sensor for automatic paper thickness adjustment, and 76a is A
The shield plate of the HG sensor, 76b is a spring (b in the same figure), 7
7, 77 'are bearings which rotate when the carrier 73 moves in contact with the shaft 75. The bearing 77' is fixed to the carrier 73, and the bearing 77 is attached to the shielding plate 76a.

As shown in FIG. 1B, a shielding plate 76a and a bearing 77 are connected to a shaft 75 by a spring 76b.
And the shaft 75 is held between the bearings 77 and 77 '. Further, 78 is a carrier home position sensor for detecting that the carrier is at the home position, 78a is its shielding plate, 79 is an AHG adjustment cam, 80 is a cam home position sensor for detecting the position of the cam 79, 81 is a cam motor for rotating the cam 79.

In the printer shown in FIG. 1, when performing automatic paper thickness adjustment, paper is fed between a platen 71 and a print head, a cam 79 is rotated by a cam motor 81, and the platen 71 is moved upward. Let it. When the platen 71 moves upward, the print head 72 contacts the platen 71 via the paper, and the print head 72 moves upward by the platen 71.

A carrier 73 to which a print head 72 is fixed
Is rotatable about a shaft 74, and as described above, the bearing 77 is urged toward the shaft 75 by the spring 76b.
By being, it holds the position shown in FIG. Therefore, when the print head 72 moves upward, the carrier 7
3 rotates in the direction A in the same figure (a) against the spring 76b,
The shielding plate 76a of the AHG sensor 76 rotates in the direction B in FIG.

For this reason, when the platen 71 is pushed up by a predetermined amount by the cam 79, the shielding plate 76a enters the concave portion of the AHG sensor 76 and shields the light of the AHG sensor 76.
The AHG sensor 76 generates an output. When the platen 71 is pushed up by a predetermined amount by the cam 79 and the AHG sensor 76 generates an output, the driving of the cam motor 81 is stopped.
Next, the cam motor 81 is rotated backward by a predetermined amount, and the platen 71 is moved downward by a predetermined amount.

Thus, the platen 71 and the print head 7
A gap corresponding to the paper thickness is formed between the two, and the automatic paper thickness adjustment ends. In general, in a serial dot printer, a print head 72 and a platen 71 are provided.
The gap between them must maintain a predetermined accuracy regardless of the position of the head.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a platen 71 and a print head 72 of a serial dot printer. As shown in FIG. 20, the gap when the print head 72 is at the left end is δ, and the print head 72 is Assuming that the gap at the right end is δ ′, the accuracy is | δ−δ ′ | ≦ 1 /
An accuracy of 100 mm is required. Conventionally, in order to obtain the above accuracy, it was necessary to attach the shafts 74 and 75 or the platen while finely adjusting the attachment using an eccentric collar or the like.

However, even if the gap is finely adjusted as described above, if there is a drop, impact, vibration, or the like during transportation, the mounting of the shaft or the like may be incorrect, and a correct gap may not be obtained. In addition, the gap may go out of order due to aging or the like.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to improve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and a first object of the present invention is to provide a printing method using the above-described AHG mechanism. By automatically adjusting the gap between the platen and print head during assembly, adjustment during assembly is unnecessary, and it is not affected by disturbances such as drops, shocks, and vibrations. On the other hand, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for automatically correcting the inclination of a platen in a printer apparatus, which can maintain a gap between a platen and a print head at an appropriate value.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a method for automatically correcting the inclination of the platen, which can improve the throughput, facilitate the correction calculation, and reduce the deviation from an appropriate gap value.

[0012]

FIGS. 1A and 1B show the principle of the present invention. FIG. 1A shows a procedure for correcting the inclination of a platen in the present invention, and FIGS. 1B and 1C show driving of a cam motor in the present invention. 2 shows a processing procedure. In the figure, 1 is a printer, 2 is a platen, 3 is a carrier, 4 is a print head,
5 is a cam for moving the platen 2 to adjust the gap, 6
Is a cam motor, and 7 is a sheet.

[0013] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is directed to a platen 2 of a printer 1 having a mechanism for automatically adjusting a gap between a print head 4 and a platen 2.
When the self-repair command is input before printing or when the power is turned on, the paper on the platen 2 is detected, and when the paper is on the platen 2, the paper is moved until it comes off from the platen 2. Or after discharging
As shown in FIG. 1A , the carrier 3 is moved to at least two or more positions, and the relative inclination between the platen 2 and the print head 4 is measured and stored at the position of each carrier 3 using the above mechanism. Means for automatically correcting the relative tilt between the platen 2 and the print head 4 by correcting the gap according to the carrier position using the data stored in the storage means at the time of printing. Is kept constant.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the print head
In the method for automatically correcting the inclination of the platen 2 of the printer device having a mechanism for automatically adjusting the gap between the carrier 3 and the platen 2, the carrier 3 is moved to at least two or more places before printing, and Is used to measure the relative inclination between the platen 2 and the print head 4 and store it in the storage means. At the time of printing, the gap is corrected according to the carrier position using the data stored in the storage means, Carrier return in unidirectional printing,
Alternatively, at the time of moving the carrier without printing such as carrier escape to a position where printing can be started, a gap correction amount corresponding to the carrier position is obtained, and the carrier 3 is moved while correcting the gap, thereby forming the platen 2 and the print head. 4 is automatically corrected to keep the gap constant.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a cam motor is provided.
Rotate to move the platen 2 or print head 4,
In a method for automatically correcting the inclination of the platen 2 of a printer device having a mechanism for automatically adjusting the gap between the print head 4 and the platen 2, as shown in FIGS.
The carrier 3 is moved to at least two or more positions, and at the position of each carrier 3,
The distance between the carriers 3 when the inclination of the platen 2 was measured by measuring the relative inclination of the
And from the resolution of the cam motor that performs the gap correction ,
Number of drive pulses of the cam motor corresponding to the gap correction amount
And set the moving interval of the carrier 3 to 1
By dividing by the value obtained by adding
Calculate the moving distance of carrier 3 when driven
Because, during printing, to monitor the position of the carrier in motion, for each carrier 3, exceeds the position to drive the cam motor determined by said carrier moving distance from a reference carriers 3 reference position when the inclination measurement of platen 2, By driving the cam motor by one pulse, the relative inclination between the platen 2 and the print head 4 is automatically corrected, and the gap is kept constant.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the present invention, a carrier correction position which is ahead of the current position of the carrier 3 by a predetermined distance in the moving direction is obtained, and the carrier correction position is determined. Is the position of carrier 3,
Each time the carrier position exceeds a position where the cam motor should be driven, the cam motor is driven by one pulse.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect of the present invention, a plurality of predetermined distances are prepared, and one of the plurality of distances is selected according to the moving speed of the carrier 3. Is selected, and a position ahead of the current position of the carrier 3 by a predetermined distance in the moving direction is obtained using the distance. According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the invention, a plurality of predetermined distances are made to coincide with a distance at which the carrier 3 moves in a certain time at each carrier moving speed. is there.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the sixth aspect of the present invention, the predetermined time is made equal to the settling time of the cam motor.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, a cam motor is provided.
Rotate to move the platen 2 or print head 4,
In a method for automatically correcting the inclination of the platen 2 of a printer device having a mechanism for automatically adjusting the gap between the print head 4 and the platen 2, as shown in FIGS.
The carrier 3 is moved to at least two or more positions, and at the position of each carrier 3,
And the print head 4 are measured, and the first gap correction position in the moving direction of the carrier 3 is obtained from the measured inclination and the current carrier position, and the time until the carrier 3 reaches that position is calculated. set as the time until switching the first excitation phase from over activated cam motor for performing gap correction, addition, and inclination determined, the platen
The distance between carriers when measuring the inclination of 2, and the gap
The cam motor has a higher resolution than the
Travel distance that carrier 3 moves when driven by one pulse
Key look, and the moving distance, the moving speed of the carrier 3
Time required for the carrier 3 to move the moving distance,
The above time is set as an excitation phase switching time interval of the cam motor, and further, the number of driving pulses of the cam motor is obtained from the difference between the gap correction amount at the movement start position of the carrier 3 and the gap correction amount at the movement end position, and printing is performed. At this time, the cam motor is started at the same time as the movement of the carrier 3 is started, and the number of driving pulses and the cam motor are driven at the set excitation phase switching time interval, so that the relative inclination between the platen 2 and the print head 4 is automatically adjusted. The correction is made to keep the gap constant.

[0020]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the self-repair command is input before printing or when the power is turned on, when the sheet 7 is on the platen 2, the sheet is moved until it comes off the platen 2. discharged, moving the carrier 3 to at least two locations, at the location of each carrier 3, and stored in the measuring and storage means relative inclination between the platen 2 and the print head 4 with the mechanism, during printing Above
Using data stored in storage
By correcting according to the rear position, the platen 2
Since the relative inclination of the character head 4 is automatically corrected , an appropriate inclination can be measured even when there is a sheet of uneven thickness, and the parallelism between the platen 2 and the carrier sliding shaft is effectively reduced. Can be corrected.

In the invention of claim 2 of the present invention, when the carrier is moved without printing, a gap correction amount corresponding to the carrier position is obtained and the carrier 3 is moved while correcting the gap. There is no need to perform gap correction at that position at the start of printing, and the throughput can be improved.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the distance corresponding to the gap correction amount is determined from the interval of the carrier 3 when the tilt of the platen 2 is measured, the obtained tilt, and the resolution of the cam motor for performing the gap correction. Driving cam motor
The number of pulses is obtained, and the moving interval of the carrier 3 is set to
By dividing the value obtained by adding 1 to the pulse, the Kamumo chromatography
Movement of the carrier 3 when the carrier is driven by one pulse
The distance is obtained , the position of the moving carrier 3 is monitored during printing, and each time the carrier 3 exceeds the position to drive the cam motor determined by the carrier moving distance from the carrier reference position used as a reference when measuring the inclination of the platen 2. In addition, since the relative inclination between the platen 2 and the print head 4 is automatically corrected by driving the cam motor by one pulse, driving of the cam motor is always performed by one pulse.
For this reason, when starting from an interrupt, calculation such as slewing becomes unnecessary, and the time required for starting can be reduced. In addition, since the correction can be performed at an accurate position, the deviation from the appropriate gap can be reduced.

Further, by dividing the movement distance of the carrier 3 with the value obtained by adding 1 to the drive pulse of the cam motor 6, since to obtain the carrier moving distance for one pulse drives the cam motor 6, the last carrier movement section Therefore, for example, when the number of drive pulses is one, gap correction can be performed at an intermediate position. Therefore, it is possible to approach an ideal gap.

In the invention of claims 4 to 7 of the present invention,
A carrier correction position ahead of the current position of the carrier 3 by a predetermined distance (distance that the carrier 3 moves during the settling time of the cam motor) in the moving direction is obtained, and the carrier correction position is set as the position of the carrier 3. Since the cam motor 6 is driven by one pulse each time the carrier position exceeds the position where the cam motor 6 is to be driven, it is possible to start up in anticipation of the time delay of the excitation phase switching in the pulse motor, and The deviation from the gap value can be further reduced.

In the invention of claim 8 of the present invention, the time from the start of the cam motor 6 to the first switching of the excitation phase is determined after the initial gap correction position is obtained. , The inclination of the platen 2 was measured
Of the carrier 3 and the gap
The cam motor is driven by one pulse according to the resolution of the
The distance traveled by the carrier 3 when the
The carrier 3 moves according to the separation speed and the moving speed of the carrier 3
The time required to move the distance is obtained, set as the excitation phase switching time interval of the cam motor 6, and further, the number of drive pulses of the cam motor 6 is obtained from the gap correction amount. Since the cam motor 6 is started and driven by the number of drive pulses obtained at the set excitation phase switching time interval, it is not necessary to start the cam motor for each pulse during the carrier movement. The burden on the device can be reduced. This is particularly effective when there is not enough time to start from interrupt processing. Further, since it is not necessary to monitor the carrier position during the movement of the carrier in the main routine, it is possible to save time for another process.

[0026]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, reference numeral 21 is shown in FIG. 19 AHG
In the printer device 21, the same components as those shown in FIG. 19 are denoted by the same reference numerals, 71 is a platen, 72 is a print head, 73 is a carrier, and 74 is a carrier. A shaft, 76 is an AHG sensor for automatic paper thickness adjustment, 79 is an AHG adjustment cam, 80 is a cam home position sensor for detecting the position of the cam 79, 81 is a cam motor for rotating the cam 79, and 82 is a carrier It is a carrier motor for driving. Also, 22
Is an interface for connecting the printer device 21 and the processing device 23, 23 is a processing device for controlling the printer device 21, 24 is a nonvolatile RAM storing correction data for automatically correcting the inclination of the platen, 25 is a program ,
This is a memory that stores data.

[0027] In the printer apparatus shown in FIG. 2, in the automatic paper thickness adjustment, perform gap adjustment between the platen 71 and the print head 72 by the method described with reference to FIG. 19. Further, when the printer is shipped or when the operation is started, the inclination between the print head 72 and the platen 71 is obtained in advance by using the AHG mechanism, and the correction data is stored in the nonvolatile RAM 2.
4, the cam motor 81 is driven based on the correction data stored in the nonvolatile RAM 24 during printing to automatically correct the inclination of the platen 71.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of measuring the inclination of the platen. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 71 denotes a platen, 72 denotes a print head, and 79 denotes a cam. Next, FIGS. 2 and 3
The measurement of the inclination of the platen, which is a premise of the embodiment of the present invention, will be described. First, when the printer is shipped, the inclination of the platen is measured as follows.

The carrier 73 is moved to the point A in FIG. 3A (a distance a from P), and the AHG mechanism is operated at the point A. That is, the cam motor 81 of FIG. 2 is driven to rotate the cam 79, and the platen 71 is moved upward until the AHG sensor 76 operates. Then, the rotation angle θA of the cam 79 when the AHG sensor 76 operates is obtained,
It is stored in the nonvolatile RAM 24 of FIG.

Next, the carrier 73 is moved to the point B in FIG. 3 (a) (distance b from P), and the AHG mechanism is operated at the point B in the same manner as described above, and the cam 79 when the AHG sensor 76 operates is operated. Of the non-volatile R in FIG.
It is stored in AM24. As described above, the rotation angles θA and θB of the cam 79 are obtained at the points A and B, and when the distance between the points A and B is L (= ab), the tip of the print head 72 is obtained from the following equation. And the platen 71 are determined.

The inclination of the inclination = (θA−θB) / L The above operation is performed for a plurality of points, and the distance from each point to P and the rotation angle θ of the cam 79 at that point are calculated as follows.
The tip of the print head 72 and the inclination curve of the platen 71 are approximated by, for example, the least-squares method, etc., to obtain map data of the carrier position and the cam correction amount.
24.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are flow charts showing the above-described platen inclination measuring process. In the figure, the carrier 73 and the cam 79 are moved to the home position in step S1, and the carrier 73 and
To move. In step S3, it is determined whether or not the carrier 73 has moved to the distance L = a, and if not, the process returns to step S2. Then, this process is repeated to move the carrier 73 to the distance L = a.

In step S4, the cam 79 is rotated in the + direction, and in step S5, the AHG sensor 76 is rotated.
It is determined whether or not is turned on. If the AHG sensor 76 is not on, the process returns to step S4, and the cam 7
9 in the + direction, and in step S5, AHG
It is determined whether or not the sensor 76 is on. The above operation is repeated, and when the AHG sensor 76 is turned on, the process proceeds to step S6, and the rotation angle θa of the cam 79 is calculated.

As described above, for the plurality of points L = b to L = z, the AHG sensor 76 calculates the rotation angles θb to θz of the cam 79 to calculate the correction amount (steps S7 to S9 in FIG. 4). In steps S10 to S14 in FIG. 5, map data is created in step S15 in FIG. 5, and in step S16, the map data is stored in the nonvolatile RAM 24 (step S16).

The above processing is performed when the power of the printer device is turned on or when a self-repair command is input, so that the platen 71 and the print head 72 can be protected against shock, vibration, or aging over the course of transportation. The parallelism with the tip can be measured. Note that the platen inclination measurement process can be performed when a sheet of uniform thickness is located at all positions of the inclination correction amount measurement position on the platen, but when the sheet is narrow, the sheet is discharged. Must.

Therefore, as shown in FIG.
Is provided in the vicinity of the printer, when the self-repair command of the printer is input or when the power is turned on, the sensor S detects the presence of the sheet, and when the sheet is on the platen,
Move the paper until it comes off the platen, or
It can be configured to determine the tilt after discharging.

After measuring the platen inclination as described above, when printing, the print head 7 is printed as follows.
Adjustment of the gap between the tip of No. 2 and the platen 71 is performed. That is, the processing device 23 of FIG.
Is driven to move the carrier 73 for printing, the position L 'of the carrier 73 is obtained from the driving amount of the carrier motor 82 or the like, and based on the position L' of the carrier 73 as shown in FIG. The rotation amount θX of 79
The motor 79 is driven.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described. (1) Gap correction when gap adjustment is performed while paper is placed on the platen By the way, the automatic paper thickness adjustment mechanism described above can be mounted on the platen or mounted on the platen. The gap at the place where the gap adjustment has been made can be constant even on a sheet of paper that has been adjusted (if the gap adjustment is made on the sheet, the gap will be from the top of the sheet).

This gap is adjusted to be constant before shipment in order to absorb variations in the apparatus. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, even when the platen 71 is tilted by g, the gap GA obtained as a result of performing the gap adjustment at the position A.
And the gap GB resulting from the gap adjustment at the position B.
The platen 71 at each position rises to the height of H so that is the same. That is, when the gap adjustment is performed at the position B, the platen 71 rises by g compared to when the gap adjustment is performed at the position A. This g is the amount that must be corrected when the carrier moves from position A to position B during printing.

When the gap adjustment is performed while the paper is placed on the platen with the platen 71 inclined by g as described above, the correction amount of the platen is as follows. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a state where the gap adjustment is performed at a predetermined position C on the sheet 31 in a state where the sheet is placed on the platen 71.

In the same figure, at a position C, the platen 71 has risen to the height of H. In addition, since the platen 71 does not rise to the height H at the position D, it is necessary to perform a correction to raise the platen by g ′ when printing at the position D when the gap is adjusted at the position C. The correction amount is g ′ = g (L ′ / L). Note that L ′ is the distance between the position C and the position D, and L is the distance between FIG.
Is the distance between the position A and the position B.

When the carrier moves from the position D to the position on the left side of the position C from the position C at the time of printing, it is necessary to make a correction to lower the platen from the state shown in FIG. That is, when the gap adjustment is performed when the sheet is placed on the platen 71 and the carrier is at the position C, the correction amount based on the position C is as shown in FIG.

As described above, when the gap is adjusted at the position C according to the thickness of the sheet while the sheet is placed on the platen, at the time of printing, as shown in FIG. Based on the cam position θ at the gap adjustment position (position C),
What is necessary is just to correct the platen position. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a process for correcting the position of the platen when the gap adjustment is performed at the position C as described above.

In step S1, the carrier is moved to the gap adjustment position, and in step S2, the gap is adjusted to determine the cam position θ. In step S3, platen inclination data is read, and in step S4, printing is started. During printing, in step S5, a correction amount is calculated for the current carrier position with reference to the gap adjustment position. In step S6, the cam position θ is corrected based on the correction amount, and the corrected cam position is calculated. Turn the cam.

When printing is completed, the process proceeds from step S7 to step S8, where it is determined whether or not all print data has been completed. If not, the process returns to step S4 and repeats the above processing. By the way, in the case of FIG. 8, the case where the position of the platen is corrected using the gap adjustment position C as the reference position has been described. However, the platen position can be corrected using the position A where the inclination of the platen is measured as the reference position.

Next, an embodiment for correcting the inclination of the platen using the position A as a reference position will be described. FIG.
Is a diagram for explaining the present embodiment, the solid line in the figure, the position of the platen when the gap adjustment is performed at the position C,
The dotted line indicates the position of the platen when the gap adjustment is performed at the position A.

In the same figure, assuming that the distance from the reference position A to the position C where the inclination of the platen is measured is L ″, when the gap adjustment is performed at the position C, the correction amount at the position C is g ″ = g ( L ”/ L), the platen is further increased by g ″ at the position A in the state of the solid line in FIG. That is, if the gap is adjusted at the reference position A, the heights of the platen and the paper should be as shown by the dotted lines in FIG. The height of the platen when the gap adjustment is performed at the reference position A can be obtained.

Therefore, by using the platen position of the dotted line obtained as described above as a reference position and obtaining the platen height at the time of printing according to the distance from position A, the correction amount of the platen using position A as the reference position Can be requested. For example, when printing is performed at the position D, it suffices that g ′ = g (L ′ / L) be corrected for the platen position indicated by the dotted line in FIG.

In FIG. 10, when the reference position A at the time of measuring the inclination is within the printing area, the direction of correcting the platen at the position on the left side of the reference position A is the direction of correction on the right side of the position A. Opposite to the direction. For this reason,
The calculation of the correction amount becomes complicated, and the platen must be moved in the positive and negative directions when the carrier is moving in one direction, which complicates the correction operation.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11, the reference position A for obtaining the inclination of the platen is set outside the printing range. Thereby, the correction direction can be made one direction, and the correction can be simplified. Further, as shown in FIG. 11, if the reference position B for calculating the inclination of the platen is set outside the printing range, the correction amount can be limited to 0 or the maximum correction value when the carrier is outside the measurement region, so that the correction can be easily performed. Can be

Further, if the inclination of the platen is measured at a narrow measurement interval, a measurement error increases. Therefore, it is desirable that the position B is located outside the printing area similarly to the position A. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the processing of the embodiment of FIG. The carrier is moved to the gap adjustment position (position C in FIG. 9) in step S1 of FIG. 9, and the gap is adjusted in step S2, and the cam position at that time is set to θ.

In step S3, the platen inclination data is read, and in step S4, the expression g ″ =
The correction amount g ″ at the gap adjustment position is determined by g (L ″ / L).
Ask for. In step S5, the cam position θ ′ when the gap is adjusted at the carrier reference position (position A in FIG. 9) at the time of inclination measurement from θ and g ″ is calculated backward.
In 6, printing is started, and in step S7, a correction amount is obtained for the current carrier position with reference to the carrier reference position (position A in FIG. 9) at the time of measuring the inclination.

In step S8, the cam position θ 'obtained in step S5 is corrected based on the correction amount, and the cam is rotated to the corrected cam position. When printing is completed, the process proceeds from step S9 to step S10, where it is determined whether or not all print data has been completed. If not, the process returns to step S4 to repeat the above processing. (2) Platen Tilt Correction Process When Carrier Moves without Printing FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating platen tilt correction processing when the carrier moves without printing. FIG. 7A shows the case of carrier return, and FIG. 7B shows the case of carrier escape. In FIG. 7, hatched portions indicate printing positions where printing is performed, and arrows indicate the carrier positions. The moving direction is shown.

In the case of carrier return, when the printing is performed as shown in the figure, the cam position has changed since the correction amount of the platen has changed from the start at the end of the printing. Therefore, if the carrier is moved without correction when returning the carrier, the correction must be made before the start of the next printing, and the throughput decreases.

Therefore, in this embodiment, when the carrier returns, the carrier is moved while being corrected. As a result, at the end of the printing, the gap required for the next printing start has been changed, so that the next printing can be started without correction as described above before the printing is started, and the throughput can be improved. it can. Also, in the case of carrier escape, as shown in FIG. 13B, when printing is not performed, if movement is performed while applying gap correction, printing without correction before printing is similarly performed. The necessary gap can be set at the start, and printing can be started as it is. (3) Platen Tilt Correction Processing When a Pulse Motor is Used as the Cam Motor Next, a description will be given of a processing in which a pulse motor is used as the cam motor 81 shown in FIG. 2 and the platen tilt is corrected in pulse units.

Generally, when the excitation phase of the pulse motor is switched, it is necessary to increase the motor current value a predetermined time before the excitation phase switching to stabilize the excitation phase of the motor.
FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a time chart at the time of the excitation phase switching. At the time of the excitation phase switching of the pulse motor, as shown in FIG. 14, first, the current value flowing to the motor is increased by the current control signal to change the excitation state of the motor. Let it stabilize. Then, after the settling time (about 5 ms), the excitation phase is switched, and after the settling time, the current control signal is turned off to reduce the current value, and the driving is completed. That is, when the pulse motor is driven, it is necessary to start the pulse motor before the settling time before the actual switching of the excitation phase.

The pulse motor has the above characteristics. When a pulse motor is used as the cam motor, it is necessary to control the motor in consideration of the above characteristics. Next, after the carrier movement is started, each time the carrier reaches a predetermined position, the cam motor is started one pulse at a time, and the excitation phase of the cam motor is switched to perform gap correction.
Before starting the movement of the carrier, the settling time, the correction time interval, the number of driving pulses are set in advance, and immediately before the start of the movement of the carrier, the cam motor is started and the cam motor is driven by the preset value, An embodiment for performing the gap correction will be described. (A) Embodiment 1 FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining a method of calculating a correction interval when the above-described cam correction is performed by activating the cam motor one pulse at a time, and FIG. (B) shows the relationship between the amount of carrier movement and the correction interval.

The correction interval ΔL, that is, the cam motor
In order to obtain the moving amount ΔL of the carrier to be pulse-driven, as shown in FIG. 7A, the gap difference corresponding to the inclination of the platen shown in FIG. Then, the distance L is divided by a value obtained by adding 1 to the number g of driving pulses. As a result, FIG.
As shown in (1), the correction amount of the platen when the carrier moves by the distance L can be set as the gap difference.

Here, in FIG. 15, the number of drive pulses g is 1
By dividing the distance L by the value obtained by adding
Although the moving amount ΔL of the carrier to be pulsed is obtained,
By doing so, the gap between the platen and the print head can be made closer to the ideal value. That is, if 1 is not added to the number g of drive pulses and the interval for performing correction is “ΔL = L / (number of drive pulses)”, FIG.
As shown in (a), when the number of driving pulses is one, the correction is not applied until the carrier reaches B.
In the case where the number of drive pulses is two, similarly, FIG.
As shown in (c), the second pulse is not corrected until the carrier reaches B.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 15, if the distance L is obtained by dividing the distance L by a value obtained by adding 1 to the number g of the driving pulses, if the driving pulse is one pulse, it is shown in FIG. The correction can be performed at the intermediate position as described above, and even when the driving pulse is two pulses, the correction of the second pulse can be performed before the carrier reaches B as shown in FIG.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a processing procedure of the first embodiment, and this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. First,
The moving distance ΔL of the carrier to be corrected is determined by the procedure shown in FIG. Next, in step S1 of FIG. 17, the first correction position X of the platen is obtained from the current carrier position, and in step S2, the carrier motor is started.

Next, the carrier position correction value ΔPN corresponding to the current speed in the interrupt routine accompanying the carrier movement.
, ΔPH (ΔPN <ΔPH), reads the current carrier position P, and selects the correction value ΔPN selected for that value.
, ΔPH are added or subtracted depending on the moving direction to determine the carrier position after the settling time. Thus, the driving of the cam motor can be started earlier by the settling time, and the switching timing of the excitation phase can be matched with the change point of the correction value.

That is, in step S3, P is set to the current carrier position, and in step S4, the moving direction of the carrier is determined. If the moving direction of the carrier is the reverse direction (left direction in FIG. 14 (b)), go to step S5, determine whether or not high-speed printing. If not, go to step S7. Carrier position P = P−ΔPN, and for high-speed printing, step S
8 and assume that P = P-.DELTA.PH.

Further, the moving direction of the carrier is positive (see FIG. 1).
4 (b), go to step S6 to determine whether or not high-speed printing is to be performed. If not, go to step S9 and go to step S9 where the carrier position P = P +
.DELTA.PN, and in the case of high-speed printing, go to step S10 and set P = P + .DELTA.PH. Note that the correction value ΔPN,
ΔPH can be obtained from the amount of carrier movement within the settling time at the carrier moving speed during normal printing and high-speed printing. If a plurality of the above correction values are obtained in advance in accordance with several types of carrier moving speeds, , Can be uniquely selected according to the moving speed of the carrier.

The correction values ΔPN and ΔPH can also be obtained by calculation each time from the settling time and the carrier moving speed. Next, the control device that controls the cam motor monitors whether or not the position of the moving carrier has exceeded the correction position by an interrupt process accompanying the carrier movement or a main routine that monitors the carrier movement. When the correction position X is reached, the cam motor is driven by one pulse.

That is, in step S11, it is determined whether or not the position P of the carrier is equal to the above-described correction position X. If not equal, the flow proceeds to step S16. 1
Pulse drive. Next, the moving direction is determined in step S13, and in the case of the reverse direction (leftward in FIG. 14B), X = X−ΔL is set in step S14,
In the case of the forward direction (rightward direction in FIG. 14B) in step S15, X = X + ΔL is set, and the next correction position is set.

In step S16, it is determined whether or not the carrier movement has been completed. If not, the process returns to step S3 and repeats the above processing. As mentioned above,
In this embodiment, since the gap correction is performed by driving the cam motor one pulse at a time, in the pre-processing for starting the cam motor, the processing device performs calculations such as slewing for smoothly starting the cam motor. There is no need to perform this, and the startup time can be shortened.

Further, since the driving start position of the cam motor is changed according to the speed of the carrier, the carrier position where the cam motor is corrected becomes accurate, and the gap value can be corrected more accurately. (B) Embodiment 2 FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a processing procedure of the above embodiment,
This embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

In step S1, the moving distance .DELTA.L of the carrier to be corrected is determined by the procedure shown in FIG. 15A, and the first corrected position X of the platen is determined from the current carrier position. In step S2, the corrected position is determined. The movement time T1 to X is obtained. In step S3, ΔL
The time T2 required to move the motion is calculated, and the number of corrections N from the start to the end of the motion is calculated in step S4.

In step S5, it is determined whether or not the time T1 is longer than a required minimum settling time. If the time T1 is longer, the process proceeds to step S8. If it is not large, the process goes to step S6, in which the current of the cam motor is increased to wait for a time obtained by subtracting the time T1 from the required minimum settling time. In step S8, the cam motor is started using T1 as a settling time, T2 as a switching interval time, and N as a driving pulse.

In step S9, the carrier motor is started, and in step S10, the process waits until the carrier movement is completed. When the carrier movement is completed, the process ends. In the above embodiment, the settling time, the correction time interval, and the number of drive pulses are set in advance before the start of the carrier movement, and the cam motor is started immediately before the start of the carrier movement. , The position of the carrier is monitored during the movement of the carrier as in the first embodiment, and there is no need to start the cam motor, thereby reducing the load on the processing apparatus during the movement of the carrier. it can.

This is effective when the processing device does not have enough time to start the cam motor from within the interrupt processing. Further, since it is not necessary to monitor the carrier position during the movement of the carrier by the main routine, the processing device can use time for another process. The application of the present invention is not limited to the printer having the above-described AHG mechanism, but can be applied to a printer having another configuration of the AHG mechanism. That is, in addition to the printer having a mechanism for moving the platen as shown in the present embodiment, for example, a mechanism for adjusting the gap between the print head and the platen by moving the shaft 74 or the shaft 75 shown in FIG. Can be applied to a printer device having

[0073]

As described above, the following effects can be obtained in the present invention. (1) When a self-healing command is input before printing or when the power is turned on, the paper is moved or ejected until it comes off the platen, the relative inclination between the platen and the print head is measured and stored in the storage means, and before printing. At the time of the gap adjustment, the carrier is moved to a predetermined gap adjustment position on the sheet to set the gap according to the thickness of the sheet, and at the time of printing, the gap is set using the data stored in the storage means. Correction makes it possible to set an appropriate gap for the sucked paper and correct the gap, so that even if the parallelism between the platen and the carrier The deviation from the appropriate gap value can be minimized. Also, when the self-repair command is input before printing or when the power is turned on, the paper is moved or ejected until it comes off the platen, so that even if there is paper on the platen, the proper inclination can be measured,
The parallelism between the platen and the carrier sliding shaft can be effectively corrected. Furthermore, before printing, to move the carrier into two or more locations outside the range at least one is printing,
If the relative inclination between the platen and the print head is measured , the gap correction direction can be set to one direction, and the correction calculation can be simplified. In addition, since the printing area falls within the area where the tilt measurement is performed, when the carrier is located outside the measurement area, the correction value is set to the maximum correction value, or
The correction value can be fixed to the minimum correction value, and the correction calculation can be simplified. (2) When moving the carrier without printing, it is necessary to calculate the gap correction amount according to the carrier position and move the carrier while correcting the gap, so that the gap correction at that position is required at the start of the next printing. And the throughput can be improved. (3) Carrier spacing when measuring platen tilt,
From the obtained inclination and the resolution of the cam motor for performing the gap correction, the cam motor corresponding to the gap correction amount is determined.
The number of drive pulses is determined, and the moving interval of the carrier 3 is set as described above.
By dividing by the value obtained by adding 1 to the dynamic pulse, the cam
Carrier 3 moves when motor is driven by one pulse
The moving distance is obtained , and at the time of printing, the cam motor is driven by one pulse every time the carrier exceeds the position to drive the cam motor determined by the moving distance of the carrier to perform gap correction. Is unnecessary, and the time required for activation can be reduced. In addition, since the correction can be performed at an accurate position, the deviation from the appropriate gap can be reduced. Further, since the seeking carrier moving distance dividing one pulse drives the cam motor and the movement distance of the carrier by a value obtained by adding 1 to the drive pulse of the cam motor, last without take gap correction of carrier movement section, The deviation from the appropriate gap can be reduced. (4 ) A carrier correction position ahead of the current carrier position by a predetermined distance (the distance the carrier moves during the settling time of the cam motor) in the moving direction is obtained, and the carrier correction position is set as the carrier 3 position. By driving the cam motor by one pulse each time the carrier position exceeds the position at which the cam motor should be driven, it is possible to start up in anticipation of a time delay of switching the excitation phase in the pulse motor. (5) The first to set the time to switch the excitation phase from over the start-up to the cam motor, Also, the slope obtained, Pula
The distance between the carriers 3 when the inclination of the ten 2 was measured, and
From the resolution of the cam motor that performs
The carrier 3 moves when the data is driven by one pulse.
The moving distance is obtained, and the moving distance and the moving speed of the carrier 3 are calculated.
The time required for the carrier 3 to move the moving distance is
The time interval is set as the excitation phase switching time interval of the cam motor 6, and further, the number of driving pulses of the cam motor is determined from the gap correction amount. At the time of printing, the cam motor is started simultaneously with the start of movement of the carrier. By driving the cam motor at the determined number of drive pulses and the cam motor, it is not necessary to start the cam motor one pulse at a time during the carrier movement, and the load on the processing apparatus during the carrier movement can be reduced. This is particularly effective when there is not enough time to start from interrupt processing. Further, since it is not necessary to monitor the carrier position during the movement of the carrier in the main routine, it is possible to save time for another process.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a method of measuring the inclination of a platen.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a processing procedure of platen inclination measurement.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a processing procedure for measuring the inclination of the platen.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an attachment position of a sheet detection sensor.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the size of a gap at a gap measurement position.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating gap correction when a gap adjustment position is set as a reference position.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a processing procedure when a gap adjustment position is set as a reference position.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating gap correction when a tilt measurement position is set as a reference position.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a correction amount when a position for obtaining an inclination is outside a printing range.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a processing procedure when a tilt measurement position is set as a reference position.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a correction process when the carrier moves without printing.

FIG. 14 is a time chart at the time of excitation phase switching.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a method for obtaining a correction interval.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a method of obtaining a carrier movement amount for driving the cam motor by one pulse.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a procedure for driving a cam motor.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a drive processing procedure of the cam motor.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a printer device including an AHG mechanism.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a platen and a print head.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 21 Printer device 2, 71 Platen 3, 73 Carrier 4, 72 Print head 5 Cam 6, 81 Cam motor 7 Paper 22 Interface 23 Processor 24 Non-volatile RAM 25 Memory 74 Axis 76 AHG sensor 79 AHG adjustment cam 80 Cam・ Home position sensor S sensor

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 11/20

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for automatically correcting a tilt of a platen of a printer device having a mechanism for automatically adjusting a gap between a print head and a platen, the method comprising: inputting a self-repair command before printing, or turning on a power supply; Is detected, and when the sheet is on the platen, the sheet is moved or ejected until the sheet comes off the platen, and then the carrier is moved to at least two or more locations. The relative inclination between the print head and the print head is measured and stored in the storage means. At the time of printing, the gap is corrected in accordance with the carrier position using the data stored in the storage means, so that the platen and the print head are corrected. Automatically correcting the relative tilt of the printer to keep the gap constant Method. 2. A method for automatically correcting the inclination of a platen of a printer device having a mechanism for automatically adjusting a gap between a print head and a platen, wherein a carrier is moved to at least two or more positions before printing, and The relative inclination between the platen and the print head is measured using the above mechanism and stored in the storage unit. At the time of printing, the gap is corrected according to the carrier position using the data stored in the storage unit. When moving a carrier without printing, such as carrier return in one-way printing or carrier escape to a printable position, determine the gap correction amount according to the carrier position and move the carrier while correcting the gap. Automatically corrects the relative tilt between the platen and print head to keep the gap constant. A method for automatically correcting the inclination of a platen of a printer device. 3. Rotating a cam motor to rotate a platen or
Moving the print head, the platen inclination automatic correction method of a printer device having a mechanism for automatically adjusting the gap between the print head and the platen, before printing, to move the carrier into at least two portions, each carrier At the position, the relative inclination between the platen and the print head is measured using the above mechanism, and the gap correction is performed based on the carrier interval when the platen inclination is measured, the obtained inclination, and the resolution of the cam motor that performs the gap correction. Driving the cam motor according to the amount
Obtain the number of pulses and set the carrier movement interval to the value obtained by adding 1 to the above drive pulse.
The above cam motor is driven by one pulse.
Obtains the moving distance of carriers move when, during printing, to monitor the position of the carrier in motion, carrier, to drive the cam motor determined by said carrier moving distance from a reference carriers the reference position when the inclination measurement of the platen The tilt of the platen of the printer is characterized by automatically correcting the relative tilt between the platen and the print head to keep the gap constant by driving the cam motor by one pulse every time the power position is exceeded. Automatic correction method. 4. A carrier correction position ahead of the current carrier position by a predetermined distance in the movement direction is determined, and the carrier position should drive a cam motor with the carrier correction position as a carrier position. 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the cam motor is driven by one pulse each time the position is exceeded. 5. Preparing a plurality of predetermined distances,
Selecting one of the plurality of distances according to the moving speed of the carrier, and using the distance to determine a position ahead of the current carrier position by a predetermined distance in the moving direction. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the inclination of the platen is automatically corrected. 6. The platen inclination of the printer device according to claim 5, wherein a plurality of predetermined distances are made to coincide with a distance at which the carrier moves in a certain time at each carrier moving speed. Automatic correction method. 7. The method for automatically correcting the inclination of a platen of a printer device according to claim 6, wherein the predetermined time is made equal to the settling time of the cam motor. 8. Rotating the cam motor to rotate the platen or
In a method for automatically correcting the inclination of a platen of a printer device having a mechanism for moving a print head and automatically adjusting a gap between the print head and a platen, a carrier is moved to at least two or more locations before printing, and a position of each carrier is set. The relative tilt between the platen and the print head is measured using the mechanism described above, and the first gap correction position in the carrier moving direction is determined from the measured tilt and the current carrier position, and the carrier reaches that position. Is set as the time from when the cam motor for performing gap correction is started to when the excitation phase is switched for the first time, and when the calculated inclination and the inclination of the platen are measured.
Cam motor for carrier spacing and gap correction
When the cam motor is driven by one pulse,
The travel distance of the carrier is determined, and the travel distance and the carrier are determined.
Carrier moves the moving distance by rear moving speed
, The above time is set as the excitation phase switching time interval of the cam motor, and the difference between the gap correction amount at the carrier movement start position and the gap correction amount at the movement end position is determined by the driving pulse of the cam motor. When printing, the cam motor is started at the same time that the carrier starts moving, and the number of drive pulses and the cam motor are driven at the set excitation phase switching time interval to obtain the relative inclination between the platen and print head. Automatically correcting the gap so as to keep the gap constant.