JPH0678012B2 - Print control device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Outline] In a print control device for a shuttle line printer in which the reversing operation of the printing unit is performed in synchronization with the paper feeding operation, when the paper feeding time is longer than the reversing time of the printing unit,
The reversing operation of the printing unit is temporarily stopped so that printing is resumed from the printing start position when the paper feeding is completed.
Thereby, the printing efficiency can be improved.

[Industrial application field]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print control device for a line printer, and more particularly to a print control device improved to improve the printing efficiency of a shuttle line printer in which a reversing operation of a printing unit is performed in synchronization with a paper feeding operation of print paper.

[Conventional technology]

In a line printer, reciprocal printing is performed by a printing unit in order to speed up printing.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a print control system of a line printer which performs printing by the wire dot system. In the figure, 31
Is a printing paper, and 32 is a paper feeding mechanism unit that feeds the printing paper up to a predetermined number of lines.

Reference numeral 33 is a magnet unit, which drives a plurality of printing units (not shown) that perform printing by the wire dot method to perform printing respectively.

A shuttle mechanism 34 reciprocates each printing unit in a section corresponding to the printing unit interval. Each printing unit prints one line each in the forward and backward passes. 35
Is a platen, and 36 is an ink ribbon.

Next, the operation of FIG. 5 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 6. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the printing and reversing operation of the stamp unit, and FIG. 6 is an operation timing chart of the printing and reversing operation of the printing unit.

In FIG. 2, point P is a reciprocal print start position, point Q is a forward pass print end position, point N is a print unit stop position, point R is a reverse pass reverse end position, point S is a return pass print start position, and point T is a return pass. The printing end position, point M is the stop position of the printing unit, and point U is the forward path reversal end position. The backward inversion operation is performed in the QNR section. Therefore, the point Q is also the return inversion start position. Further, the outward inversion operation is performed in the TMU section. Therefore, the point T is also the outward inversion start position. The rightward direction is the forward printing direction, and the leftward direction is the backward printing direction.
Time from when the printing unit starts the reversing operation to when it stops (Q → N, T → M), and from the stop position to the end of the reversing operation after acceleration (N → R, M → U) a If you t _b, inversion time is 2t _b.

In the line printer, the paper feed time for one line of print paper is configured to be equal to the inversion time 2t _b . Therefore, at the time when the paper feeding operation for one line is completed, the reversing operation of the printing unit is completed and the next line can be printed. However, when there is a skip over a plurality of lines, the paper feed end time and the print unit reaction time generally do not match, so a printing process different from the former case is performed. The printing operation in both cases will be described below with reference to FIG.

The case where the print unit reversal time and the paper feed time are the same is the case where the paper is fed line by line as shown in FIG. 6 (A) and continuous printing is performed. In FIG. 6 (A), when the printing of the first line is started from time t ₁ , the printing unit is driven to the right by the shuttle mechanism 34 to perform the forward printing from the forward printing start position P.

When the printing unit at the time t ₂ reaches the forward path print end position Q, the first line of printing is completed, in accordance with the print control data sent from a host (not shown), the next printing operation is performed.

In the print control data, the line to be printed next is instructed. In the case of, since continuous printing is performed, the printing of the second line is instructed. In accordance with this instruction, the paper feed control for one line is performed, and the backward reversal operation of the printing unit is performed in synchronization with the paper feed control.

When the paper feeding operation for one line is completed at time t ₄ (point S), the backward path reversing operation of the printing unit is also completed at that time, and the second line is printed. In this case, the printing unit is driven leftward by the shuttle mechanism 34 to perform the backward printing.

When the printing unit reaches the backward print end position T at time t _6, the second line of printing is completed, the control for the next third row of printing operation is performed according to the print control data sent from the host.

That is, the paper feed control for one line of the print paper 31 is performed, and the outward reversal operation of the print unit is performed. Time t
_When the paper feed operation for one line is completed at ₈ (point P),
At that point, the outward reversal operation of the printing unit is also completed and the third
The line is printed.

In the following, the forward printing operation, the paper feeding and the backward reversing operation,
The return pass printing operation, the paper feed and the forward pass reversing operation are repeated to perform continuous printing.

If the paper feed time is longer than the reversal time of the print unit, skipping two or more lines is performed as shown in Fig. 6 (B), and the paper feed time becomes longer than the reversal time of the print unit. is there.

In FIG. 6 (B), the printing of the first line is started at time t ₁ (point P), the printing unit moves to the right and forward printing is performed, and at time t ₂ (point Q), The operation until the printing of the first line is completed is the same as the case.

When the printing of the first line is completed at time t ₂ (point Q),
The paper feeding operation and the backward reversing operation of the printing unit are performed by the printing code already sent from the host and the printing control data for instructing the next printing line. Now, it is assumed that the fifth line (skip four lines) is designated as the next print line.

Backward inversion operation of the printing unit in synchronization with a paper feeding operation is performed, as in the case of, backward inversion operation is terminated at time t _4. When the backward reversal operation is completed, the printing unit reaches the steady speed and runs to the left.

On the other hand, the paper feed of the printing paper 31 skips 4 lines, so t ₄
It does not end at the time point of, and ends at the time point of t ₅ (point V in FIG. 2). Therefore, during the SV, the printing paper 31 is controlled by the printing unit so that the backward printing is not performed.

At time t ₅ (point V), when the paper feed operation for the fourth line is completed, the fifth line is printed by the following two methods.

(I) As shown in FIG. 6 (B), printing of the backward pass starts immediately at time t ₅ (point V), and when the backward pass printing ends at time t ₆ (point T), printing is performed in the same manner as The outward reversal operation of the unit is performed.

At the time t ₈ (points U and P), when the outward reversal operation ends,
The printing unit runs to the right, but printing is not performed until the point W, which corresponds to the point V on the return path, is reached. When the printing unit reaches the point W at time t _9, the forward printing is started, it is performed whether printing of the rest of the fifth row which has not been printed in the backward printing described above, at time t ₁₀ (Q point) Fifth
All printing of the line ends.

(Ii) In FIG. 6 (B), the printing is not performed until the time point t ₈ (point P) at which the outward reversal operation ends, and the time point t ₈ (P
From the point), all lines of the fifth line are printed by the forward printing operation.

In both cases (i) and (ii), time point t ₁₀ (Q point)
At, the printing of the fifth line ends.

In the same manner, the print process for the next print line instructed by the print control data is performed.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In the above conventional wire dot line printer, when the paper feeding time of the printing paper is longer than the reversing time of the printing unit, the paper feeding is completed in the middle of the printing path as described above, so the printing of one line is completed. To do so, the printing time for the two paths, the forward path and the return path, was required.

In normal printing, skip printing is more often performed than continuous printing. Therefore, according to the conventional print control method, there is a problem that the skip print end time becomes longer than the normal print time, and the print efficiency decreases.

The above is a problem similarly occurring when printing is performed in only one direction instead of reciprocal printing.

According to the present invention, in a shuttle line printer in which the reversing operation of the printing unit is performed in synchronization with the paper feeding operation of the printing paper, even after the paper feeding time is longer than the reversing time of the printing unit, the printing after the paper feeding is completed is performed. An object of the present invention is to provide a print control device which is improved so that it can be printed quickly like a normal one-line print operation and has improved print efficiency.

[Means for solving problems]

The solution stage taken by the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 1 shows a basic block diagram of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a printing mechanism means, which constitutes a mechanical portion of a shuttle line printer in which the reversing operation of the printing unit is performed in synchronization with the paper feeding operation of the printing paper. A print control unit 20 controls the print mechanism unit 10 to perform a print operation.

Reference numeral 21 denotes a reversing stop control unit which notifies the print control means 20 to stop the reversing operation of the printing unit when the paper feeding time is longer than the reversing time of the printing unit.

Reference numeral 22 is a print restart control unit, which cancels the reverse stop control of the print control means 20 in association with the time when the paper feeding of the print paper is completed,
Resume printing from the print start position.

The reverse stop control unit 21 and the print restart control unit 22 may be provided inside the print control unit 20.

[Action]

The operation of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 2 in the case of performing bidirectional printing.

When the paper feed time is equal to the reversal time of the printing unit When the rightward forward path printing is completed and the forward path printing end position Q is reached, the paper reverse time is equal to the paper reverse time, so the reversal stop control section 21 does not operate, and printing is performed. Under the control of the control means 20, the paper feeding operation of the printing paper and the backward reversal operation of the printing unit are performed in synchronization with the paper feeding operation. Since the operation time of both is the same, the printing unit also ends the backward path reversing operation at the time when the paper feeding operation ends, and reaches the print reversing end position R.

Since the reverse stop controller 21 is not operating, the print controller 20 controls the leftward return print operation similarly to the forward print regardless of the output of the print restart control unit 22. When the return print end position T is reached, the forward movement of the print unit is performed in synchronization with the paper feed operation of the print paper. When the paper feed operation is completed, the printing unit also completes the outward path inversion operation and reaches the outward path inversion end position U.

In the same manner, the forward print and reverse print operations, the reverse operation, and the paper feed operation are repeated, and continuous printing is performed.

When the paper feed time is longer than the reversal time of the printing unit When the rightward outward printing is completed and the forward printing end position Q is reached, the paper feeding time is longer than the reversing time of the printing unit. The control unit 20 is notified and the reversing operation of the printing unit is stopped. On the other hand, the paper feeding operation of the printing paper is performed as it is.

Print restart control unit related to the paper feed end time of print paper
Reference numeral 22 cancels the reverse stop control of the print control means 20 and restarts the backward pass printing from the backward pass printing start position S. To cancel the reverse stop control of the print control means 20, the print control means
This is performed by directly controlling 20 or by stopping the operation of the inversion stop control unit 21.

As a result, when the feeding of the printing paper is completed, the backward pass printing is restarted from the backward pass start position S.

Only one side is printed, for example, the outward print in the right direction is performed.
Even when the print reversing operation for returning from the point to P is performed, the print reversing operation is similarly stopped, and when the paper feeding of the printing paper is completed, the forward printing is restarted from the forward printing start position P.

By the above, even when the paper feeding time of the printing paper is longer than the reversing time of the printing unit, the printing is restarted immediately after the paper feeding is completed, and the printing time is the same as the normal printing time for one line. It becomes possible to print after restarting in a time, and the printing efficiency can be improved.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a processing flowchart of the embodiment.

This embodiment is an embodiment in the case where forward printing and backward printing are performed.

(A) Configuration of the Embodiment In FIG. 3, the print mechanism means 10, the print control means 20, the reversal stop control portion 21, and the print restart control portion 22 are as described in FIG.

In the print mechanism means 10, 11 is a print sheet, and 12 is a paper feed mechanism section that feeds the print sheet to a predetermined line.

Reference numeral 13 denotes a magnet unit, which drives a plurality of printing units (not shown) that perform printing by the wire dot method to perform printing respectively.

A shuttle mechanism unit 14 reciprocates each printing unit in a section corresponding to the printing unit interval. Each printing unit prints one line each in the forward and backward passes.

15 is a platen and 16 is an ink ribbon. A position sensor 17 detects a print start position, a reverse end position, a print end position, and a reverse start position on the forward and return paths.

The print mechanism means 10 is a shuttle line printer that performs reciprocal printing using the wire dot method.

In the print control means 20, 23 is a shuttle control unit,
The operation of the shuttle mechanism unit 14 is controlled. The output signals of the position sensor 17, the print restart controller 22, and the reverse stop controller are sent to the shuttle controller 23.

A print controller 24 controls the operation of the magnet unit 13. A paper feed control unit 25 controls the operation of the paper feed mechanism unit 12. The output signal of the paper feed control unit 25 is used for the print restart control 22
Added to. A print control unit 26 controls the operation of each unit and the print control unit 20 as a whole.

Every time one host finishes printing a line, print control data including print control data including information designating the line to be printed next and print code is sent to the print control unit 26. The print control unit 26 creates predetermined print data based on the print code. Further, the print control data is sent to the reversal stop control unit 21.

(B) Operation of the embodiment In this embodiment, the paper feed time for one line and the reversal time of the printing unit are equal. Therefore, when the paper is fed by two lines or more, the paper feeding time becomes longer than the reversing time of the printing unit.
It is determined whether the paper is fed in two lines or more, and if it is two lines or more, an inversion stop signal of the printing unit is output.

The operation of the embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 and according to the processing steps of the processing flowchart of FIG.

Steps S ₁ and S _{2 The} printing mechanism means 10 and the printing control means 20 are powered on, necessary initial settings are made, and printing is started (step S ₁ ). The shuttle control unit 23 determines from the detection signal from the position sensor 17 whether or not the printing for one line is completed, and when it is completed, notifies the print control unit 26 (step S ₂ ). Now, it is assumed that the rightward outward printing is completed and the printing unit reaches the outward printing end position Q (see FIG. 2).

Steps S ₃ and S _{4 When} the printing of one line is completed, the print control unit 26 interrupts the host to determine the presence or absence of paper feed control data from the next print information received during printing ( step S _3). If there is paper feed control data, the paper feed control data is sent to the reversal stop control unit 21 and the paper feed control unit 25 is instructed to start the paper feed control (step S ₄ ).

When the paper feed of the printing paper is one line, in particular since the print control data for instructing the next line it may not be sent from the host, in step S _3, when the paper feed control data is not detected, immediately step performing inversion processing of the printing unit shifts to S _6.

Step S _{5 The} inversion stop control unit 21 determines whether or not the number of lines designated by the print control data is two or more (step S ₅ ).

If the paper feed is one line, the next (step S ₆ ~
The S _10), the conventional method as well as conventional printing unit inversion process and the next line of printing is performed. If the paper feeding is more than one line, the printing unit inversion processing and print processing according to the present invention (step _{S 11 ~S 16, S 9 ~S} 10) is performed.

When the paper feed is one line The print control unit 26 instructs the shuttle control unit 23 to start the backward reversal operation of the printing unit (step
S ₆ ).

Upon receipt of this instruction, the shuttle control unit 23 decelerates and stops the printing unit, and controls the acceleration to the right. As a result, when the printing unit stops at the N point, it accelerates in the right direction (return pass printing direction) and reaches the return pass reversal end position R (see FIG. 2). At this time, the printing unit has a steady printing speed. The shuttle control unit 23 detects from the detection signal from the position sensor 17 that the backward path inversion operation of the printing unit is completed (step S ₇ ), and further the printing start position Q
When detecting, and notifies the printer control unit 20 (Step S _8).

Print control unit 26 receives the notification, to confirm that the preparation of the print data is completed (Step S _9), and starts the printing i.e. backward printing of the next line (Step S _10).

Hereinafter, the above-described processes are repeated to perform continuous printing with one line feed.

In the case where the print data is not created in step S _9, since printing is when all finished or fails to stop instructs the shuttle control unit 23.

When Paper Feed is 2 Lines or More In step S ₅ , when the paper feed indicated by the paper feed control data is 2 lines or more, the reversal stop control unit 21 generates a reversal stop signal and adds it to the shuttle control unit 23. and temporarily stopping the shuttle mechanism 14, to stop the inverting operation of the printing unit (step S _12).

On the other hand, the paper feed control of the print paper is continuously continued, and the print control unit 25 notifies the print restart control unit 22 when the paper feed of the predetermined line is completed (step S ₁₃ ).

Upon receiving this notification, the print resumption control unit 22 sends a print restart signal to the shuttle control unit 23, to release the pause of the shuttle mechanism 14 (step S _14). Note that, as indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 3, a print restart signal may be sent to the inversion stop control unit 21 and the inversion stop signal may be turned off.

Once the stop is released, the shuttle control unit 23 accelerates the shuttle mechanism unit 14 to the left (reverse pass printing direction), and controls it so that when the print unit reaches the backward pass reversal end position R, the steady printing speed is achieved. (step S _15).

Furthermore, the shuttle control unit 23 detects that the print unit from the detection signal from the position sensor 17 has reached the backward printing start position Q (see FIG. 2), and notifies the print control unit 26 (step S ₁₆₎ .

Print control unit 26, by the aforementioned step S ₉ following process receives this notification, performs backward printing.

By doing the above, even when feeding two or more lines, the printing of one line is started from the beginning when the feeding of the printing paper is completed, so the printing is performed quickly and the printing efficiency is improved. It can be done.

(C) Other Embodiments In the above embodiment, after the paper feeding of two or more lines is completed,
The steps S ₁₄ and S ₁₅ is performed a process of accelerating the printing direction the print unit from the rest position. Therefore, there is a delay between the time when the paper feeding ends and the time when the printing unit reaches the printing start position by being added to the steady printing speed.

On the other hand, since the instructed number of paper feed lines and the paper feed time for one line are all known, the time when the paper feed ends can be easily obtained before the paper feed ends.

Therefore, the paper feed end time is calculated, the stop of the shuttle mechanism unit 14 is released slightly before the time when the paper feed ends, and the reversal operation of the printing unit ends when the paper feed ends and the steady printing is performed. If the speed is reached, printing can be resumed immediately without causing a delay.

When this print control device is implemented, print control data is sent from the print control unit 26 to the print restart control unit 22 as shown by the dotted line in FIG.

Upon receiving the notification of the paper feed control start from the paper feed control unit 25, the print restart control unit 22 calculates the paper feed end time from the number of paper feed lines and the paper feed time for one line instructed by the print control data. Then, a print restart signal is generated at a time point (this value corresponds to 1/2 of the reversal time) required for accelerating the printing unit to the steady printing speed from the time when this paper feeding is completed, and the shuttle control unit 23 (Or inversion stop controller 21).

Upon receiving the print restart signal, the shuttle control unit 23 releases the stop of the shuttle mechanism unit 14 and accelerates the print unit in the print direction.

As a result, since the reversing operation of the printing unit has already been completed at the end of feeding the printing paper, the printing is immediately started from the printing start position, and the printing efficiency can be further improved as compared with the above-described embodiment.

Although the embodiment in which the reciprocal printing is performed has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the case of the reciprocal printing,
As described above, the present invention is also applied to the case where only one-way printing is performed.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, when the paper feeding time of the printing paper is longer than the reversing time of the printing unit, the printing is restarted promptly after the paper feeding is completed, and the normal printing time for one line It is possible to print after restarting in a short time similar to the above, and it is possible to improve the printing efficiency.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 ... Explanatory diagram of basic configuration of the present invention, FIG. 2 ... Explanatory diagram of printing and reversing operation of a printing unit, FIG. 3 ... Explanatory diagram of configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 ... Of the present invention FIG. 5 is a process flow chart of the embodiment, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a print control system of a conventional line printer, and FIG. 6 is an operation timing chart of a print control system of a conventional line printer. In FIGS. 1 and 3, 10 ... Print mechanism means, 12 ... Paper feed mechanism section, 13 ... Magnet unit, 14 ... Shuttle mechanism section, 20 ... Print control means, 21 ... Reverse stop control section, 22 ... Printing restart Controller, 23 ...
Shuttle control unit, 24 ... Printing control unit, 25 ... Paper feed control unit,
26 ... Print control unit.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A print mechanism means (10) and print control means (20) for controlling the shuttle line printer operation of the print mechanism means (10), wherein the reversing operation of the printing unit is synchronized with the paper feeding operation of the printing paper. In the print control device of the shuttle line printer, which is performed as follows, (a) when the paper feed time of the print paper is longer than the reversal time of the print unit, the print control means (20) is notified and the reversal operation of the print unit is stopped. Inversion stop control unit (2
1) and (b) a print restart control section (22) for canceling the reverse stop control of the print control means (20) and restarting printing from the print start position in relation to the time when the paper feeding of the print paper ends. A printing control device characterized by the above. 2. A print restart control section (22) releases the reverse stop control of the print control means (20) at a time earlier than the paper feed end time by the time required to bring the stopped printing unit to the reverse end state. The printing control device according to claim 1, wherein the printing is restarted.