JPH0662033B2 - Plotter - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a drawing apparatus such as an XY plotter and a drawing machine.

-Prior Art-As is well known, the conventional multi-pen type XY plotter has a guide shaft 1 which is sent in the direction of arrow X by an input signal as shown in FIG. Is movably supported in the Y direction, and the pen storage unit 3 of the apparatus main body 3 is supported.
recording pen P (e.g. ink pens, felt-tip pen, an aqueous ballpoint pen, scribing pen) located in _a raised picked a selected one of the pen carriage 2, driving an X-Y direction pen carriage 2 to the recording start position, The pen writing surface is brought into contact (pen down) by a pen up / down control device provided in the pen carriage 2.
Is moved in the X-Y direction according to the drawing figure, and the pen is separated from the writing surface (pen-up) as necessary to perform recording on the writing surface.

The pen carriage 2 is configured, for example, as shown in FIG.
The pen carriage body 11 is driven in the Y-axis direction along the guide shaft 12, and a pen holding unit 14 driven by the sliding shaft 13 in the Z-axis direction (pen up / down direction) is driven on the pen carriage body 11. It is provided. The pen holder 14 includes a drive coil 15 and a plate-shaped permanent magnet 16 integrated on the pen carriage body 11.
It is provided between A and 16B, and is configured to obtain a driving force in the pen-down direction by energizing the driving coil 15. Further, the pen holding portion 14 is provided with a pen holding claw 18 that projects from the pen carriage body 11 and clamps the recording pen 17, and holds the recording pen 17. Reference numeral 19 is a recording paper.

In a drawing device such as a multi-pen type XY plotter that exchanges recording pens for drawing, a deviation may occur in the pen tip center of the recording pens exchange-held on the pen carriage. This is caused by the deformation of the pen tip or the eccentricity of the pen tip with respect to the center of the pen cylinder, and there is a problem that the drawing point shifts or the position of the drawing figure shifts when the pen is replaced during drawing.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, conventionally, before drawing is started, line segments l _x and l _Y are drawn in the X and Y directions at equal intervals in advance by a reference recording pen as shown in FIG. The line segments L _{X1 to} L _xn and L _{Y1 to} L _Yn are drawn by the individual recording pens using the same X and Y coordinate data as the line segments l _x and l _Y, and as shown in the enlarged view of FIG. Positional deviations in the X and Y directions of the line segments L _{X1 to} L _Xn and L _{Y1 to} L _Yn with respect to the line segment l _x and l _Y positions are measured as error values ΔX _n and ΔY _n with a loupe or the like for each recording pen. The error value is registered as position correction data in the drawing apparatus, and the coordinate correction of the pen carriage is performed by the position correction data of the pen every time the drawing is changed.

Therefore, conventionally, in order to eliminate the positional deviation of each recording pen, it is necessary to read the error values ΔX _n and ΔY _n for each recording pen and to input the position correction data. Therefore, it was necessary to replace the pen with a new one each time, which reduced the efficiency of drawing work and made it difficult to perform accurate continuous automatic work.

-Object of the Invention-In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a drawing apparatus capable of accurately and automatically correcting the deviation of the pen tip center position for each recording pen. .

-Structure of the Invention-The present invention relates to a plotting device for plotting on a recording sheet by a recording pen held on a pen carriage while moving the pen carriage in the XY directions according to XY coordinate data. A plurality of recording pens that can be held in a state and have specific information such as type in the barrel portion, and by reading these specific information, the recording pens held on the pen carriage can be distinguished and Using a pen discriminator provided on the pen carriage, a line segment sensor for detecting a line segment drawn on the recording paper by the movement of the pen carriage holding one of these recording pens, and predetermined drawing coordinate data After the line segment is drawn by the recording pen, the coordinate data and the drawing when the line segment sensor detects the line segment by the movement of the pen carriage. Control means for obtaining the pen tip position deviation amount of the recording pen from the difference with the coordinate data; and a storage device for storing the pen tip position deviation amount together with the specification information corresponding to the recording pen,
A plotting apparatus including a correction control unit that, when the printing pen held on the pen carriage is replaced, recalls a positional deviation amount corresponding to the printing pen from the storage device and corrects plotting coordinate data by the printing pen. It is in.

-Embodiment- FIG. 1 is a control circuit diagram of a multi-pen type XY plotter showing an embodiment of the present invention. MPU21, ROM22, RAM2
3, and the microprocessor including the input / output circuit 24,
Drawing data DATA is taken in via the input / output circuit 24, X-direction position coordinate data is given to the motor drive circuit 25 according to this data, Y-direction position coordinate data is given to the motor drive circuit 26, and the motor is driven according to these data. Drive circuit
25 and 26 drive the pulse motors 27 and 28, respectively, to move the above-mentioned pen carriage according to the drawing data and the pen exchange movement according to the pen type designation used for drawing. Further, the microprocessor gives a pen up / down control signal UP / DOWN to the pen drive circuit 29 according to the drawing data, and the pen drive circuit 29 supplies a current in the down direction to the drive coil 15 according to this control signal to hold the pen. Part 14
Drive in the pen down direction.

In such a pen movement, replacement, and up / down control device using a microprocessor, a pen discriminator 30 is connected to the input / output circuit 24, and a line segment sensor 31 is used as a sensor amplifier.
Connected via 32. The pen discriminator 30 discriminates the pen on the replaced pen carriage. For example, as shown in FIG. 2 showing a part of the pen carriage, various recording pens 17 stored in the pen storage unit have different types. The colored tapes 17 _a , 17 _b , and 17 _c (specification information) for identifying the colored tape 17 _a , 17 _b , and 17 _{c of} the pen 17 picked up by the pen holding unit 14 are attached to the pen. The discriminator 30 optically detects to obtain pen discrimination code data associated with the pen 17.

Further, when the recording pen rotates because the frequency of replacement of the recording pen increases, an error occurs between the detected pen tip position deviation amount and the actual position deviation amount. This error can be eliminated by attaching a rotation stopping tip 20 to the recording pen 17 in advance as shown in FIG. 2 so that the holding by the pen holding claw 18 is at a constant rotation position. That is, since the anti-rotation tip 20 is provided with a flat surface on the back surface that can come into contact with the flat surface of the base of the pen holding claw 18, the relationship between the rotation directions of the recording pen 17 with respect to the pen holding claw 18 due to the contact between these flat surfaces. Identify.

As shown in FIG. 2, the line segment sensor 31 is provided in the pen carriage body 11, and is a light emitting source 31A for irradiating the recording paper surface with spot light and a light receiver 31 for detecting the reflected light amount of the spot light.
The presence / absence of the line segment D having B and drawn on the recording paper 19 by the recording pen 17 is detected by the voltage signal level as a difference in light reflectance from the surface of the recording paper.

The pen discriminator 30 and the line segment sensor 31 are used for the pen tip position deviation correction control by the microprocessor. The correction control by the microprocessor will be described in detail below.

First, the switch 33 for starting the pen tip position deviation correction control or the processing command before starting the drawing causes the MPU 21 to perform drawing control while exchanging the pen for a predetermined test pattern as shown in FIG. For example, the line segments L _x1 and L _Y1 are drawn with an ink pen, L _X2 and L _Y2 are water-based ballpoint pens, and L _Xn and L _Yn are drawn with a felt-tip pen, and these line segments have appropriate intervals (equal intervals in the drawing). Plotted by data. The position actually plotted by the above-described plotting control has a coordinate value which is displaced by the displacement of the pen tip position of each recording pen with respect to the coordinate data position for plotting.

After the line segment drawing control up to the above, the microprocessor automatically detects the pen tip position deviation amount (error amount) of each recording pen using the line segment sensor 31. For this control, the pen carriage is moved in the direction crossing the test pattern shown in FIG. 3, and the pen carriage coordinate value when the line segment sensor 31 detects each of the line segments L _{X1 to} L _Xn and L _{Y1 to} L _Yn. Ask.

FIG. 4 shows a control flow of automatic detection of an error amount, and a line segment L
_This is a case of detecting the shift amount of _{X1 to} L _{Xn in} the X-axis direction. After setting the line segment number N to the numerical value "1" (step S1), the microprocessor positions the line segment sensor 31 at a position (point A in FIG. 3) deviating from the coordinates of the line segments L _{X1 to} L _Xn . Then, the output level of the line segment sensor 31 at the point A is stored as the current level (step S3). Next, it is determined whether or not the detection level of the line segment sensor 31 has changed from the current level (step S4), and when there is no change, the current X coordinate value is incremented by 1 (step S5), and a movement pulse of only +1 minute. Is supplied to the motor drive circuit 25, and the pen carriage is moved from the point A by one pulse in the direction of the line segments L _{X1 to} L _Xn . The movement control in steps S4 to S6 is performed until the line sensor 31 changes from the current level.
That is, the process is performed until the line segment sensor 31 detects the line segments L _{X1 to} L _Xn . When a level change appears in the line segment sensor 31 (step S4), it is determined whether the level change is the leading edge or the trailing edge of the line segments L _{X1 to} L _Xn (step S7). This determination is based on the line segment sensor with respect to the sensor level stored in step S3.
It is determined by whether the output level of 31 is low or high. That is, when the line segment sensor 31 crosses the drawing line segment L _XK in the arrow direction as shown in FIG.
The output berel V _{S of} 31 becomes high when it crosses the leading edge position of the line segment L _XK , and returns from the previous high level to the low level when it crosses the trailing edge position. With respect to the detection level V _S of the line segment sensor 31, the microprocessor has a threshold level V _TH to determine the leading edge and the trailing edge,
(Step S7) The pen carriage coordinate values at this time are stored as the leading edge coordinate value X _K F and the trailing edge coordinate value X _K B. Returning to FIG. 4, when the edge determination in step S7 is determined to be the leading edge, the coordinate value X _K F at this time (the coordinate value X ₁ F when the line segment L _X1 is detected) is set to the line segment L. _It is stored as the leading edge coordinate value of _XK (step S8), and the process returns to step S3 to update the current detection level of line segment sensor 31 (high level on line segment L _XK ). After that, when the line segment sensor 31 is sent to the trailing edge position of the line segment L _XK in steps S4 to S6, the trailing edge is determined in step S7, and the trailing edge coordinate value X at this time is obtained.
_K B is stored (step S9).

By the processing up to above, the line segment L _XK of the leading and trailing edges coordinate values X _K F of the center coordinate values X _K C of following equation line segment L _XK from X _K B (Step S10).

After _obtaining the central coordinate value X _k C of the line segment L _xk , the line segment number N is set to N.
It is set to +1 (step S11), and it is judged whether or not the line segment number N has reached the number of line segments of the line segment L _Xn (step S12). The detection of the edge coordinate value and the calculation of the center coordinate value are repeated.

After repeating such control, the microprocessor detects the central coordinate values X ₁ C to X _n C detected for each of the line segments L _{x1 to} L _xn.
ΔX between the line segment and the plotting coordinate data set when plotting the line segment
_{By respectively} obtaining _n , the pen tip position shift amount in the X-axis direction of the recording pen used for drawing each line segment L _{X1 to} L _xn is obtained. Then, this detection data is stored in the RAM 23 (storage device), and when the pen is replaced, the replacement pen is determined by
Identification is performed at 30, and the pen tip position deviation amount corresponding to this discrimination code is added / subtracted as the correction amount of the drawing coordinate data to perform drawing without the pen tip position deviation.

Although the positional deviation correction control up to the above has been described only in the X-axis direction, the deviation amount ΔY _n is similarly obtained for the Y-axis,
Drawing is performed by correcting both the X and Y axes to eliminate the displacement of the pen used for drawing in the X and Y axis directions.

In the embodiment, the recording pen having a narrow line width among the recording pens is not used for drawing the test pattern shown in FIG.
By performing drawing a plurality of times with the drawing coordinate data being slightly shifted so that the line width of the book becomes thicker, accurate detection can be performed even when the resolution of the line segment sensor is low.

Further, when the detection system including the line segment sensor 31 and the sensor amplifier 32 has hysteresis, the leading edge coordinate value X with respect to the line segment.
_A hysteresis error occurs between _k F and the trailing edge coordinate value X _k B. This error is eliminated by controlling the leading edge and trailing edge detection levels so as to always increase or decrease. For example, in FIG. 5, the line segment sensor 31 is moved in the arrow direction to detect the leading edge coordinate value X _K F, and the trailing edge is detected by passing the line segment sensor 31 past the line segment L _X K position once. , Move in the opposite direction of the arrow and set the trailing edge coordinate value X.
Detect _K B.

Further, after drawing the pen carriage in the forward direction (for example, the direction from L _X1 to L _Xn ) in drawing the line segments L _{X1 to} L _Xn and L _{Y1 to} L _Yn in FIG. L _Xn to L
The width of each line segment becomes wider by the backlash of the pen carriage moving mechanism by performing the drawing while moving it in the direction toward _X1 ), and the backlash is compensated by using the detection of the previous return. You can

Further, in the embodiment, the center coordinates of the line segment are not limited to those obtained from the coordinate values of the leading edge and the trailing edge of the line segment, but in the case of a recording pen (for example, a mechanical pencil) whose line width does not change, the leading edge or the trailing edge. It is possible to appropriately change the design such that the center coordinate value can be obtained by adding / subtracting the half value of the line width from one of the detected coordinates.

Further, although the embodiment shows the case of the pen replacement direction XY plotter, it can be applied to an in-line type drawing device to obtain the same effect.

-Effects of the Invention-As apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the pen tip position deviation amount is stored for each of a plurality of recording pens to be used, and the corresponding recording pens are held on the pen carriage. In addition, the correction amount according to the recording pen can be automatically set. In other words, this correction amount is automatically performed by identifying the recording pen by the recording pen held by the pen carriage in the rotation stop state and the pen discriminating device that discriminates the type of the recording pen held by the pen carriage. be able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a control circuit diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating the line segment sensor in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a test pattern drawing with a recording pen in the embodiment. 4 and FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a control flowchart of the main part of the microprocessor in FIG. 1, FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the line segment detecting operation of the line segment sensor in FIG. 1, and FIG. 6 is a multi-pen type XY. FIG. 7 is a plan view of the plotter, FIG. 7 is a partially cutaway side view of the pen carriage, FIG. 8 is a drawing of a test pattern for explaining the conventional pen tip position deviation correction, and FIG. 9 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. It is a figure. 2 ... Pen carriage, 14 ... Pen holder, 15 ... Drive coil, 17 ... Recording pen, 18 ... Pen holding tab, 19 ... Recording paper, 20 ... Rotation stop chip, 24 ... Input / output Circuit, 25, 26 ...... Motor drive circuit, 27, 28 ...... Pulse motor, 29 ...... Pen drive circuit, 30 ...... Pen discriminator, 31 ...... Line segment sensor, 32 ...... Sensor amplifier, 17 _a , 17 _b , 17 _c ... coded colored tape, 31A ... light emitting source, 31B ... light receiver.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plotting device for plotting on a recording sheet by a recording pen held on a pen carriage while moving the pen carriage in the XY direction in accordance with XY coordinate data, and holding the pen carriage in a non-rotating state. And a plurality of recording pens that have specific information such as type in the barrel portion, and the recording pens held by the pen carriage can be discriminated by reading these specific information, and A pen discriminator provided, a line segment sensor for detecting a line segment drawn on the recording paper by the movement of the pen carriage holding one of these recording pens, and the recording pen using predetermined drawing coordinate data. After the line segment is drawn by, the coordinate data and the drawing coordinate data when the line segment sensor detects the line segment by the movement of the pen carriage. Control means from the difference determining the pen tip position shift amount of the recording pen, a storage device for storing together with specifying information that corresponds to the pen tip position deviation amount in the recording pen,
When the recording pen held on the pen carriage is replaced, a correction control unit for calling the positional deviation amount corresponding to the recording pen from the storage device and correcting the drawing coordinate data by the recording pen is provided. Characteristic plotting device.