JPH01249458A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance a data transfer speed at the time of inputting printing information and to simplify a transfer circuit, by converting a printing head drive signal to parallel data. CONSTITUTION:Parallel data printing information from an information processor is once inputted in a control part 10, and the 8-bit parallel data printing information is sent to a thermal head 4 with the drive control of a head shift mechanism 6 and a printing paper feed mechanism 8. The thermal head 4 converts the obtained information to 8-bit parallel data to print the same. Unit heating parts 40A-40D generate heat by driver circuits 41A1''-41D2''. Predetermined components are actuated with 8-bit parallel data Din, a clock signal CLK, a latch instruction LATCH, first control signals DST1-1, DST1-2, DST1-3, and DST1-4, and a second control signal DST2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a printer, and particularly to a printer with increased printing speed.

[Conventional technology]

As is well known, this type of conventional printer fixes and prints information to be printed on printing paper based on print information from an information processing device or the like.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the basic structure of such a printer.

The printer 2 shown in FIG. 5 includes a print head 4 that fixes information to be printed on printing paper, etc., and a head that moves the print head 4 relatively in a predetermined perpendicular direction to the moving direction of the printing paper P. A moving mechanism 6, a printing paper feeding mechanism 8 that relatively moves the printing paper P to the printing in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the rad 4, and driving the head moving mechanism 6 based on printing information from the outside. control, drive control of the printing paper feeding mechanism 8, and drive control of the printing paper feeding mechanism 8, and
and a control section 10 that controls printing.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram showing an example in which the print head 4 is configured with a thermal head.

The print head 4 shown in the figure is composed of a thermal head 4', and this thermal head 4' has a 256-dot heat generating section 40 and a block 64 dot unit heat generating section 40A.
, 40B, 40C, 40D, each heat generating part 40A,
40B, 40C, 40D are respectively 32-bit driver circuits 41A+, 41At, 41B+, 418z, 41
C+.

41Cz, 41D1. Terminal T configured to drive at 41Dz and for controlling the temperature of the heat generating section 40
A thermistor 42 having H and GND is provided. This thermistor 42 has a resistance value of 15 [KΩ
) (at 25°C) is used. That is, the unit heat generating parts 40A, 40B, 40C, 40D have one end in common and connected to the power supply ■, and the other end is connected to the driver circuit 41A1.41Az, 41B+, 418g, 41, respectively.
C+.

41Ct, 411)+, and 41Dz.

The driver circuits 41A+, 41Az, 41B+,
41B2.41C1, 41Cz, 41D0, 41Dz have a ground GND, a latch command LATCH, a second control signal DST2, a clock signal CLK, and a power supply VC.
The C1 electric BVP is input from the control unit 10 as a common signal.

In addition, each driver circuit 41A, 41B, 41C, .
41D+ is configured such that print information consisting of serial data is input from the control unit 10, and the output of each driver circuit 41Al, 41B+, 41C, 41D is output from the driver circuit 41A2, 41B, 41C2, 41D.
It is intended to be supplied to 2. The driver circuit 41
A,',41A! , 41B+, 41B! ,41C,,4
1C2, 41D, 41D2 have first control signals DSTI-1, DsTt-2, DSTI-3, DST.
The corresponding ones of 1 to 4 are supplied from the control section 10.

In such a printer 2, print information composed of serial data from an information processing device is transmitted to the control unit 10.
be taken in. The control unit 10 and the head moving mechanism 6
and controls the driving of the printing paper feeding mechanism 8, and sends the printing information made up of the serial data to the thermal head 4'. This thermal head 4' converts the print information consisting of the applied serial data into parallel data print information and prints it.

That is, unit heat generating parts 40A, 40B, 40C.

40D is driver circuit 41A+, 41Az,
41B+, 418g, 41C+, 41C2, 41D,,
Generates heat due to 41Dz. The driver circuit 41A,
41A2.41B, 41Bz, 41C+, 41C2,
41D+, 41Dz are each driver circuit 41A, 41
Print information consisting of serial data supplied to B, 41C, 41D, clock signal CLK, latch command LATCH1 first control signal DSTI-1, D
Predetermined components operate according to STl-2, DSTI-3, DSTI-4, and second control signal DST2. As a result, the driver circuit 41A+.

411.41B,,41B,,41C,,41C2,4
1D, 41Dz are predetermined unit heat generating parts 40A, 40B.
, 40C, and 40D are made to generate heat.

Printing can be performed by repeating this operation for the required number of lines.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the conventional printer 2 described above, the print information to be printed is sent to each driver circuit 41p, 41B of the thermal head 4'.
, , 41C, , 41D as serial data, it takes time to transfer the data, the transfer method is complicated, and a special circuit is required for this purpose. . In other words, in the conventional printer 2 described above, the print head 4 is driven by serial data, so it takes time to transfer the data, the transfer method is complicated, and a special circuit is required for this purpose. There were some drawbacks.

The present invention has been made to solve the problems of the prior art described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printer that increases printing speed and facilitates transfer.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the printer according to the present invention includes:
In a printer that uses a print head to print information to be printed on print paper based on serial data from an information processing device, etc., a signal converting means that converts the serial data into parallel data and supplies it to the print head is used for the printing process. It is characterized in that it is provided in the cutting part of the head.

[Effect]

According to this invention, since the signal conversion means converts the print head drive signal into parallel data, the data transfer speed is increased to input print information, and the transfer circuit is It becomes easier.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on concave surfaces.

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing an embodiment in which the print head of a printer according to the present invention is constituted by a thermal head.

In this figure as well, the same members as in FIG. 6 are given the same reference numerals and will be explained.

The thermal head 4' has a 256 dont heat generating part 40 -
Unit heat generating part 4OA of block 64 dots.

Separated into 40B, 40C, 40D, each heat generating part 4°A, 4
0B, 40C, 40D are each 32-pin driver circuit 4'l A+", 41 At", 41B,
', 41B, ', 41C, ', 41Cz', 41 D
+', 4 i D z ', and is provided with a thermistor 42 having terminals TH and GND for controlling the temperature of the heat generating portion 4o. That is, the unit heat generating parts 40A, 40B,
40C and 40D have one end in common and the electric 'IX V P
and the other end is connected to the driver circuit 41A+'
, 41Ax", 41B,", 41B2', 41C+',
41G2', 41D,'.

41 Connected to Dt'. The driver circuit 4
1A, ', 41A2', 41B1', 418z", 41
C+', 41C2#, 41D+', and 41D2'' are input with the ground GND, launch command LATCH, second control signal DST2, clock signal CLK, and power supply VCC1 and power supply V as common signals from the control unit 10#. It's Nishide.

In addition, each driver circuit 41A+', 41B1'', 4
Parallel data printing information is input to 1C+1.41D+1 from the control unit 10#, and each driver circuit 41A+', 41B+', 4IC+y, 4i
The parallel data output of ``D+'' is the sonotoriha circuit 41.
Ag', 4182', 41C2#, 41D2'.

The driver circuits 41A+'', 41A2#, 41B
,',41B%,41C,',41C%,41D,',
41D! ', the first control signal DSTI-1,
Each of the corresponding DSTI-2, DSTI-3, and DSTI-4 is supplied from the control unit 10''.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing the structure of the thermal head 4'.

The thermal head 4' shown in FIG. 2 has a ground GND,
Latch command LATCH1 first control signal DSTI
-1, DST 1-2, DSTI-3, DSTI-4,
second control signal DST2, clock signal CLK,
Power ■. 8. Power supply ■ 1.8-bit parallel data Drn manually and buffers BF, ~BF
, , and an input stage 41 having a negative logic AND circuit AND
1 and 8-bit parallel data D in from the input stage 411, and by shifting the 32-bit output end in 8-bit increments using the clock signal CLK from the input stage 411, parallel data printing information is sent to the print head. Shift register SR that converts into a drive signal - Serial data/parallel data conversion unit consisting of a latch circuit LC that takes in signals from the output end of the shift register SR and latches those output signals in response to a latch command LATCH from the input stage 411. 412, a NAND circuit group NG consisting of 32 NAND circuits that take the NAND of a 32-bit signal and a signal from the AND circuit AND, and 32 three-state gates that take in and output the output of the NAND circuit group NG. SSG, three-state gate S
The output stage 413 includes an oven collector type three-state gate O8G that amplifies the signal from the SG.

The operation of such an embodiment will be explained below.

FIG. 3 is a time chart shown to explain the operation of the same embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a flow chart shown to explain the action of the same embodiment.

The operation of such printer 2 is as follows. The parallel data printing information from the information processing device is first taken into the control section 10''.The control section 10'' controls the drive of the head moving mechanism 6 and the printing paper feeding mechanism 8, and also controls the 8-focus parallel The data printing information is sent to the thermal head 4'', which converts it into the given 8-bit parallel data and prints it.The unit heat generating parts 40A, 40B, 40C, 40D are connected to the driver circuits 41A, 40D, 41A,', 41B,',
41B, ', 41C+', 41G2", 41D+', 4
1Dz'' generates heat.The driver circuits 41A,'
, 41A,', 41B+'+ 41B2', 41C+
″, 41C, 4ID, 4tD, and 41D represent the driver circuits 41A, 41B, 41C, 41D,
' 8-bit parallel data D1lls clock signal CLK, latch command LATCH1 first control signal DSTI-1, DSTI-2, DSTl-3
, DSTI-4, and the second control signal DST2, predetermined things operate. As a result, the driver circuits 41A, 411', 41BI', 418',
41C1#, 41Cz'', 41D, and 41D2# are used to generate heat in predetermined dots of predetermined unit heat generating parts 40A, 40B, 40C, and 40D.

The operation of this thermal head 4' will be explained in detail.

First, the power supply Vcc (+5V) is turned on (step 100 in FIG. 3). Then, the power supply v2 is also turned on (step 101). Then, the second control signal DST2 is set to low level (step 102).

Assume that these are executed one line at time t.

Next, the print data for -block (8 pulses of 8-bit parallel data) is sent to each driver circuit 41A,' together with the clock signal CLK.

41At#, 41B+', 418g', 41C+",
41C, ″, 41D+ ″, 41D! ' is given to (
Step 103, period t2-ti. Next, when the latch command LATCH is given at time 3, each driver circuit 41A+', 41A2', 41B1', 41Bt'
, 41C1', 41Cg'', 41D+', 410z'
latches the signal (step 104, period t3
~t.

). Then, during the latch period t3-t, the first control signal DSTl-1 is output during the period t4-t, so that the first block is printed (step 105). This means that the printing process for the block has been completed.

When this process is completed, it is determined whether the fourth block has been completed (step 106). In this step 106, only the first block is completed, so step 103
Return to

Further, print data for -blocks (eight pulses of 8-bit parallel data) is sent to each driver circuit 41A,' together with the clock signal CLK.

41A,', 41B,', 41B%, 41C.

", 4tCz', 41D, ', 41Dz' (step 103, period t4-t, ,). Next, at time t
When the latch command LATCH is given at &, each driver circuit 41A,', 41A%, 41B+', 418
z', 41C+', 41C2', 41D+'', 41
D2' latches the signal (step 104, period ~t9). Then, during the latch period t, ~t, the first control signal DST is also applied during the period ~t.
Since I-2 is output, the second print is printed (step 105). When this process is completed, it is determined whether the fourth block is completed (step 106).
. In this step 106, the second block is only completed, so the process returns to step 103. This essentially means that the printing process for the second block has been completed.

Further, print data for -blocks (eight pulses of 8-bit parallel data) is sent to each driver circuit 41A,' together with the clock signal CLK.

41Az', 41B+', 418z',
41C+', 41Cz", 41D+', 41Dz'
(step 103, period t b = t
q). Next, at time t, the latch command LATCH
is given, each driver circuit 41A, ″, 41Az
', 41B1', 41B'2#, 41C+ ', 41C
2'', 41D1', and 41Dz' latch the signal (step 104, period ~L1t). Then, in the latch period ~m, □, period tI71~
1+1, the first control (f No. D 5T1-3 is output), so the second block is printed (step 105). When this process is completed, it is determined whether the fourth block has been completed (step 106).In this step 106, the third block is only completed, so the process returns to step 103.This means that the printing process of the third block is substantially completed.

In addition, -blocks worth of print data (eight pulses of 8-bit parallel data) are sent to each driver circuit 41A,' together with the clock signal CLK.

41A2', 4.1B+", 418g', 41C+"
, 41C21, 41D+", 41D2" (
Step 103, period t, ~t1□), then time ta
When the latch command LATCH is given at g, each driver circuit 41A,', 41A2', 41B,', 41
B2', 41C,', 41Cz', 41D+', 4
10z” latches the signal (step 104
, period 1. □~L1,). Then, the latch period t+
Since the first control signal DST1-4 is output during the period t13 to tea from z to t+v, the second block is printed (step 105). When this process is completed, it is determined that the fourth block has been completed (step 106). In this step 106, since the fourth block has been completed, the process proceeds to step 107, which means that the printing process for the fourth block is substantially completed.

When the processing of the fourth block is completed, the printing paper feed mechanism 8
The step motor is controlled by drive pulses φ1 to φ4 (step 107, period tIs to t0.). Next, it is determined whether the printing is completed or not (Step 108), and if the printing is not completed, the process returns to Step 103 and returns to Step 10.
The process from step 3 is executed (after the period tl?), but if printing is completed, the process advances to step 109 and the second control signal D is executed.
ST2 is raised to a high level and the process ends.

This embodiment is a printer that uses a print head 4'' to print information to be printed on printing paper P based on print information from an information processing device, etc., and prints information based on serial data from the information processing device, etc. In a printer that prints information on printing paper using a print head, a signal conversion means for converting the serial data into parallel data and supplying it to the print head is installed in the human power section of the print head, and the signal The converting means (serial data/parallel data converter 412) converts the parallel data into a print head drive signal, so the data transfer speed is high for inputting print information, and the transfer circuit is simple. become.

Although the above embodiment has been explained using the thermal head 4' as an example, the present invention is effective in the case of a printer that processes a large amount of signals using serial data.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention provides a printer that prints information to be printed on print paper using a print head based on serial data from an information processing device or the like, in which the serial data is converted into parallel data and the print head The print head is provided with a signal conversion means supplied to the print head at its input section, and the signal conversion means converts parallel data into a print head drive signal.
The data transfer speed is faster when inputting printing information,
Moreover, there is an effect that the transfer circuit is simplified.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the print head used in the printer of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a circuit diagram showing details of the print head section, and Fig. 3 is shown to explain the operation of the embodiment. 4 is a time chart shown to explain the operation of the embodiment, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the basic structure of the printer, and FIG. 6 is a profile diagram showing a conventional print head. 2... Printer, 4... Print head, 40... Heat generating paper 41A+', 41A2', 41B+', 418
z', 41C,', 41C,', 41D+'', 41D
2#...Driver circuit, SR...Shift register (
signal conversion means). Agent Patent Attorney Tomo Murakami - Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a printer that uses a print head to print information to be printed on print paper based on serial data from an information processing device, etc., a signal conversion means that converts the serial data into parallel data and supplies it to the print head is provided. , provided in an input section of the print head.