JPH0224675B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention relates to a continuous printer for forms, which determines the vertical format of forms and then displays the beginning or top of form of continuous forms. When aligning the topmost printed line of a form,
The present invention relates to a positioning device for the uppermost printed line of forms in a printer, which is capable of sequentially aligning successive forms by counting the line advance of the forms.

(Prior art) This type of conventional continuous form printer prints the topmost edge of each continuous form by counting the line feed amount of the form using a mechanical vertical format counter using a tape reader or the like that reads paper tape. A configuration is adopted that allows line alignment and continuous printing on forms. With such a configuration, even if the platen is manually rotated to advance the lines of documents, the count of the vertical format counter and the position of the documents will not be out of synchronization. However, such mechanical vertical format counters have the drawback of poor workability, as when changing the type of forms, paper tape or the like must be created and replaced to match the forms. There is.

In addition, in printers that use conventional electrical vertical format counters to control the feed rate of forms, the vertical format can be rewritten to match the forms using interface signals from the host computer, making it easy to operate. It also has the advantage of being highly reliable since it does not have any mechanical parts such as a tape reader.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) However, in such printers, in order to cut continuous forms after printing is completed, the perforation position of the forms is sent out to the outside of the printer by manually rotating the platen knob. When performing line spacing for types of documents, the vertical format counter does not count the amount of line spacing for the forms, so the line position of the forms and the amount of line spacing counted by the vertical format counter will be out of sync. . Further, if the forms are jammed or there is no remaining amount of forms to be printed and a new set of forms is set, it is normal for the synchronization to be out of sync. Therefore, when starting printing again, it is necessary to set the line feed amount of the vertical format counter to the initial value and to align the topmost printed line position of the form. In this case, first operate the positioning switch on the printer's operation board and use the form line advance device until the line feed amount on the vertical format counter reaches the topmost printing line position of the next form. The line feed amount of the vertical format counter is reset to the initial value.
At this time, the amount by which the form is actually fed is determined by the line feed amount already counted by the vertical format counter when the positioning switch is operated, and is not necessarily the number of lines for one form.

Next, the platen knob is manually rotated to advance the lines of the forms and align the forms with the topmost printed line position.

If a line is advanced by manually rotating the platen, the vertical format counter does not count the amount of line advance, so the line advance amount of the vertical format counter remains at its initial value and synchronization is achieved. It turns out. It is easily understood from the above that this operation must not be performed in reverse order. In other words, if you operate the alignment switch after aligning the forms, the vertical format counter will be reset to the initial value, but at the same time the forms will be advanced by the form line advance device, so the previous The position of the forms that have been adjusted to deviate from the topmost print line position and cannot be synchronized. Additionally, the operator can advance the line of the form by operating the line advance switch, which is provided in the printer together with the positioning switch mentioned above and advances the form by one line. This cannot be used in place of the previously described manual rotation of the platen knob (either after or before operation of the alignment switch) to align the top print line position. When you operate this line feed switch, the vertical format counter counts the line feed amount for one line as well as the line feed amount for one line, so the line feed amount of the vertical format counter changes from the initial value set earlier. They are out of sync and cannot be synchronized.

In this way, in conventional printers, when the vertical format counter and the printing position of the form are out of synchronization, an operation to synchronize is to perform the operation of printing the form to align the topmost printing line position of the form. When feeding, the existing line feed switch cannot be used, and the operation is limited to manual rotation of the platen, which is difficult to operate, and the existence of a line feed switch can lead to erroneous operations caused by accidentally operating the line feed switch. It has problems such as:

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and is capable of reliably synchronizing the printing position of the vertical format counter with the printing position of the forms, thereby facilitating the feeding of forms using an electric vertical format with good operability. To provide a continuous form printer that can control the quantity.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) A continuous form printer of the present invention includes a printing device, a form feeding device for feeding continuous forms printed by the printing device, a vertical format, A vertical format counter consisting of a register indicating an initial address and a register indicating a current address counts the line feed amount of the form line feeder, controls the line feed of the form line feeder, and controls the line feed amount of the form line feeder. A control device that resets the line feed amount of the vertical format counter to an initial value when the mat counter counts the line feed amount to the topmost printed line position of the next form, and a control device that sends a positioning signal to this control device. a positioning switch that sends out a line feed signal, a line feed switch that sends a line feed signal to the control device, and a reset switch that sends a reset signal to the control device; The line feed device is controlled until the mat counter counts the line feed amount to the topmost printing line position of the next form, and the vertical format counter for one line is controlled based on the line feed signal. In addition to controlling the line advance of the counting and form line advance device, the register indicating the initial address is changed to the register indicating the current address without controlling the line advance of the form line advance device based on the reset signal. The initial address is set and the line feed amount of the vertical format counter is reset to the initial value.

(Function) The present invention uses a vertical format counter to count the line feed amount of the form by the form line feeder, controls the line feed amount of the form, and prints. Then, when the positioning switch is operated, the form is advanced until the count of the vertical format counter reaches the topmost printing line position, and the initial address of the register indicating the initial address is set in the register indicating the current address, and the vertical format is If you reset the format counter to its initial value and operate the line advance switch, the line will be advanced and the vertical format counter will be set to the position where the line was advanced, and when you operate the reset switch, the line advance by the form line advance device will be started. This resets the count of the vertical format counter to the initial value without having to do so.

(Embodiment) Next, the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Reference numeral 1 in FIG. 1 denotes a control device, which is composed of an interface control device 3, a central information processing device 4, and a memory 5, and this interface control device 3 has a function of transmitting and receiving signals from the outside. Further, a host computer 2 is connected to the control device 1 via this interface control device 3. This host computer 2 is a host computer that controls the printer.

Further, the central information processing unit (CPU) 4 performs various information processing.

Furthermore, the memory 5 consists of RAM and RCM,
This memory 5 is a vertical format 5-
1. Vertical format 5-1, register 5-2 indicating the initial address, register 5-2 indicating the current address, including register 5-2 indicating the initial address and register 5-3 indicating the current address.
-3 form an electrical vertical format counter. This counter is a register indicating the current address, for example 0, 1, 2, 3,...
64, 65, 0, 1, 2, 3, ..., 64, 65, 0, ...
It functions as a ring-shaped counter like...
As shown in Fig. 2, the vertical format 5-1 configured with RAM uses channel CH 1 at address 0 and CH ₂ and _{CH 3 at} address 65 to print the topmost printing line position (hereinafter referred to as the topmost line position) of the form. ), and when the bit is set, it is the top row position. and register 5 indicating the current address
-The count value by 3 is vertical format 5-
1 address is shown. A vertical format is formed in the host computer 2 according to the type of documents, and the vertical format corresponding to the documents is stored in the memory 5 of the printer via the interface control device 3 and the central information processing device 4. Selectively set to RAM.

The interface control device 3, central information processing device 4 and memory 5 are connected to each other and to an I/O port 6. This I/O port 6 transmits signals to the printer device, and transmits signals from the detector 7 and signals from various switches to the central information processing unit 4.

Next, the printer device connected to the I/O port 6 will be explained.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a carrier motor drive device of the printing device, which is composed of a carrier motor drive control circuit 9 connected to the I/O port 6, and a carrier motor 10 controlled by this control circuit 9. Drives a carriage equipped with a print head.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a print wheel motor drive device of the printing device, which is a petal-type wheel (tage wheel) of the print head provided in the carriage.
The print wheel motor drive control circuit 13 includes a wheel motor 12 that rotates a rotation shaft of the print wheel motor 12, and a print wheel motor drive control circuit 13 that controls the wheel motor 12 by a signal from an I/O port 6 to the wheel motor 12. And this wheel motor 1
2, the wheel is rotated to select the characters specified by the central information processing unit 4 to be printed.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a line feeding device for documents, which consists of a feed motor control circuit 15 for feeding documents in the row direction, and a feed motor 16 configured with a step motor connected to this control circuit 15.
Feed motor 16 by the signal from port 6
, rotates the platen, and feeds the documents attached to the platen.

Reference numeral 17 denotes an ink ribbon feeding device of the printing device, which includes a ribbon feeding drive circuit 18 and a ribbon feeding motor 19. The ribbon feeding motor 19 is driven by a signal from the I/O port 6, and the ink ribbon is moved.

Reference numeral 20 denotes an electromagnet that drives the printer hammer of the printing device, and after the printer wheel motor drive device 11 sets the characters to be printed on the wheel at the printing position, the electromagnet 20 is activated by a signal from the I/O port 6. A flying hammer is activated by applying an electric current to hit the type on the wheel against the forms.

Reference numeral 21 denotes a positioning switch called a top-of-form switch provided on the panel 22 for aligning the top row, and a signal from this switch 21 is input to the central information processing unit 4 via the I/O port 6. The central information processing unit 4 determines that the form line advance device 14 is moved until the count of the vertical format counter set in the memory 5 reaches the top row position (TOF), which is said to be the beginning of the form. Activate. By closing the positioning switch 21 in the top row, the register 5-3 indicating the current address of the vertical format counter in the memory 5 is set to 1 as shown in FIG.
The central information processing unit determines whether or not the top row position (TOF) of the vertical format 5-1 at the address indicated by this register 5-3 is set, that is, bits are set in both CH ₂ and CH ₃ . 4, and if they do not match, the form line advance device 14
is activated to send out one line of forms, and this operation is repeated until the contents of the vertical format 5-1 at the address indicated by the register 5-3 indicating the current address of the vertical format counter are at the top of the forms. When the central information processing unit 4 determines that it is the row position (TOF), for example, if the address is 65, the contents of the vertical format 5-1 at address 65 will be 1 for both CH ₂ and CH ₃ . Therefore, the line advance device 14 advances one line and then stops, and the register 5--indicating the current address is read.
3, the contents of register 5-2 indicating the initial address, that is, the initial address, are set and reset to the initial value. At this time, the forms are aligned to the top row position.

Further, a line feed switch 2 provided on the panel 22
3, the central information processing unit 4 judges the signal from this switch 23 through the I/O port 6, operates the form line feeder 14 through the I/O port 6, and feeds the form one line at a time. It will be done. As shown in FIG. 4, when the line advance switch 23 is closed, the central information processing unit 4 adds 1 for one line to the register 5-3 indicating the current address, and displays the vertical form of the address indicated by this register. The central information processing unit 4 determines whether or not the content of the format 5-1 is the top row (TOF).
When CH ₂ and CH ₃ are both 1, such as the address 65 of ``-1'', the content, that is, the initial address is set in the register 5-2 indicating the initial address in the register indicating the current address, and the document line advancing device 14 Activates one line.

Also, when the address of the register indicating the current address is not the topmost row (TOF) or when the initial address is set in the register indicating the current address, the form line feeder 14 is driven and the form line is moved one by one.
Send a line.

Further, when the reset switch 24 provided on the panel 22 receives its operation signal and enters the central information processing unit 4 through the I/O port 6, the central information processing unit 4 resets the vertical The register indicating the current address of the format counter is reset to the initial address, that is, the initial value, and the position of the form is assumed to be the top row position (TOF), and the central information processing unit 4 starts the carrier motor drive unit 8. It operates reciprocally and generates a reset confirmation sound.

Further, 25 is a speaker which receives a signal from the central information processing unit 4 when the memory 5 is aligned to the top row by the reset switch 24 and generates a reset confirmation sound. .

Further, the panel 22 is provided with a panel display device 26 such as a power lamp, a document shortage indicator lamp, and a line indicator lamp.

Further, the rotation angle and speed of the wheel motor 12 of the print wheel motor drive device 11 are detected by the detector 7, and this rotation angle signal is sent to the central information processing device 4 through the I/O port 6 to print the selected type. position and outputs a speed signal to the print wheel motor drive control circuit 13 to control the speed of the wheel motor 12.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

Among the vertical format units configured in the host computer 2 of the control device 1, a vertical format corresponding to the forms to be printed is set in the RAM of the memory 5. Next, a form is attached to the platen of the printer device and the platen is rotated manually, or the platen is rotated by driving the feed motor 16 of the form line feeder 14 which is activated by operating the line feed switch 23. By doing this, the top edge of the printed form is aligned (TOF).

Then, when the reset switch 24 is closed,
The register 5-3 indicating the current address of the vertical format counter in the RAM of the memory 5 is reset to the initial value, and the vertical format counter sets the current print position of the form to its top line. By resetting the initial value of the vertical format counter, the central information processing unit 4 outputs an output to the carrier motor drive control circuit 9, and confirms that the vertical format counter in the memory 5 has been reset by reciprocating the carriage. generate sound.

In this state, the documents are printed one after another, and the data is stored in the memory 5.
A command signal is output from the central information processing unit 4 according to the vertical format set in the RAM, and a pulse is sent to the feed motor 16 of the line feed device 14 to feed the line of the form. A line feed command from the central information processing unit 4 is counted by the vertical format counter in the memory 5, and when printing is completed, the form is fed, and this line feed is counted by the vertical format counter in the memory 5. Then, the topmost line of the next form is aligned, and the next form is prepared for printing.

In the above embodiment, a printer device using a petal type wheel (dage wheel) has been described, but the structure is not limited to this, and the present invention can be applied to various serial printers and line printers.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, by providing a reset switch, the line feed amount of the form counted by the electric vertical format counter can be reset to the initial value without causing the form line advance device to advance the line of the form. Therefore, when installing continuous forms for new or replacement purposes, or manually rotating the platen to cut forms, it is possible to synchronize the printing position of the vertical format counter and forms. If the line is out of alignment, use a line advance switch or positioning switch to align the line of the form to the topmost printed line position without being limited to manually rotating the platen. If you operate either of the two switches, you only need to operate the reset switch afterwards.Also, if you manually rotate the platen to match, it is extremely convenient to operate the reset switch either before or after that operation. In addition to improving the performance, it is also possible to prevent erroneous operations since only the last reset switch is pressed.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a continuous form printer showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the vertical format of the above RAM, Fig. 3 is a flowchart of the operation of the above position alignment switch, and Fig. 4
This figure is a flowchart when the forward feed switch is operated, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart when the reset switch is operated. 1...control device, 5-1, 5-2, 5-3...
Vertical format counter, 8...Carrier motor drive device of printing device, 11...Print wheel motor drive device of printing device, 1
4... Line feed device for documents, 17... Ink ribbon feed device of the printing device, 20... Electromagnet that drives the print hammer of the printing device, 21... Positioning switch, 23... Line feed switch, 24...
Reset switch.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A printing device, a form advancing device that advances continuous forms printed by this printing device, a vertical format, a register indicating an initial address, and a register indicating a current address. The vertical format counter counts the line feed amount of the form line feeder and controls the line feed of the form line feeder, and the vertical format counter prints the topmost edge of the next form. A control device that, when counting the line feed amount to a line position, sets the initial address of the register indicating the initial address in the register indicating the current address, and resets the line feed amount of the vertical format counter to an initial value. a positioning switch that sends a positioning signal to the control device; a line feed switch that sends a line feed signal to the control device; and a reset switch that sends a reset signal to the control device; controls the line feed of the form line feed device based on the alignment signal until the vertical format counter counts the line feed amount to the topmost printing line position of the next form type, and controls the line feed according to the line feed signal. Based on the reset signal, the vertical format counter for one line counts and the line advance control of the form line advance device is performed, and the current address is calculated without controlling the line advance of the form line advance device based on the reset signal. A continuous printer for forms, characterized in that an initial address of a register indicating the initial address is set in a register indicating the initial address, and a line feed amount of a vertical format counter is reset to an initial value.