JPH0241427B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for detecting a carrier position in a serial dot printer, and in particular to a method for detecting a carrier position in a serial dot printer device, in particular, a method for detecting a carrier position based on a dot signal for detecting hammer excitation timing and a zone signal output in character units or character block units. In a serial dot printer device that performs hammer excitation, the carrier position is detected based on a zone signal that is output after the dot signal is counted and the count value reaches a predetermined value. The present invention relates to a carrier position detection method in a serial dot printer device.

Generally, when a pulse motor, for example, is used as a drive source for a carrier in a serial dot printer, the carrier vibrates during the initial startup region due to hunting of the pulse motor, vibration of mechanical parts, etc. That is, since the carrier moves while making a reciprocating movement, albeit a small amount, smooth movement of the carrier in a predetermined direction is not achieved. Therefore, the zone signal and dot signal output in response to the movement of the carrier,
Cracks occur as described below with reference to FIG.
Note that the above zone signals and dot signals are generated, for example, by a photo sensor that detects zone signal generation slits and dot signal generation slits provided in a slit disk that rotates in conjunction with a pulse motor that drives the carrier. generated. That is, reference numeral 1 in FIG. 1 is the above-mentioned slit disk, and the slit disk 1 includes a zone slit 2 and a zone slit 2 for generating a zone signal in character units or character block units. Dot slits 3 corresponding to the number of dots constituting the character or character block are formed between the dots 3 (the slit disk 1 shown in FIG. ).
Then, zone slit 2 and dot
Based on the sensor output (a shown in FIG. 1) corresponding to the slit 3, a pulse-like zone signal (hereinafter referred to as zone pulse or abbreviated as ZON・P) as shown in a' in FIG. Dot signal (hereinafter referred to as dot pulse)
(called POT・P) is generated. Figure 1 illustration a
indicates the sensor output when the rotation of the pulse motor that drives the carrier reaches a steady state,
The sensor output a has a regular waveform corresponding to the zone slit 2 and dot slit 3. Therefore, the zone pulse a' generated based on the sensor output a also corresponds to the zone pulse a'.
The pulse waveform has a period corresponding to slit 2. However, as mentioned above, in the initial startup region of the pulse motor, as shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, cracks occur in the sensor output. Now, assuming that the position of the photo sensor (not shown) before starting the pulse motor is the dotted line position shown in Figure 1, the output of the photo sensor after starting is equal to Under the influence of hunting, the waveform becomes, for example, as shown in FIG. 1 (b). The effect of hunting is greatest immediately after startup, and gradually decreases. The zone pulse generated based on the sensor output b is as shown in b' in FIG. That is, in the zone pulse corresponding to zone slit 2-i, a plurality of false zone pulses and dot pulses may be generated due to the aforementioned cracking of the sensor output b. Therefore, since the carrier position is detected by the zone pulse, the carrier position will be erroneously recognized. In order to prevent such erroneous recognition of the carrier position, conventional serial dot printer devices widen the zone spacing to prevent the pulse motor from crossing the zone in the initial startup region and during slewing. The method was adopted. However, in the case of a printer having a shortest distance printing function in both directions, the throughput of the carrier movement operation cannot be increased due to the wide zone interval.

The present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, and prevents erroneous recognition of the carrier position due to cracking of the zone signal caused by hunting in the initial startup region of the carrier drive pulse motor or vibration of the mechanical mechanism. The aim is to realize a more effective shortest distance printing function in both directions. Therefore, the method for detecting the carrier position in a serial dot printer device of the present invention includes means for generating a dot signal for detecting the hammer excitation timing and a zone signal for detecting the carrier position that is output in character units or character block units. In a serial dot printer device that moves the carrier and excites the hammer based on the dot signal and the zone signal, a counter that is initialized by the zone signal and counts the dot signal and a count value of the counter are predetermined. A flip-flop whose enable signal is a signal indicating that a prescribed value has been reached is used as an input signal, and the zone position of the carrier is controlled by the output of the flip-flop. It is characterized by This will be explained below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a time chart for explaining the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. In the figure, numeral 4 represents a counter, and 5 and 6 each represent a flip-flop. Further, the illustration in FIG. 3 is the output waveform of the photo sensor described at the beginning of this specification, and corresponds to illustration b in FIG. 1. The diagram shows zone pulse (ZON・P)
As mentioned above, it is generated based on the sensor output, but because the zone waveform of the sensor output that appeared immediately after startup was broken, multiple false signals were generated corresponding to the zone waveform. A zone pulse is generated. Then, a normal zone pulse corresponding to the zone waveform that appears after the time ts shown in FIG. 3 after the hunting of the carrier drive pulse motor is converged, that is, when the pulse motor starts rotating normally, is generated. Also, the illustration in Figure 3 is a dot pulse (DOT/P),
It is generated based on the above sensor output. The parts shown in FIG. 3 will be explained successively in the explanation of the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, which will be described later.

In Fig. 2, the counter 4 counts dot pulses (POT/P shown in Fig. 3), and outputs a carry (CRY shown in Fig. 4) when the count value reaches a predetermined value. . The specified value is from startup (time t ₀ shown in Figure 3) until no cracks occur in the sensor output (time ts shown in Figure 3).
The number of dot pulses (in the example shown in Figure 3, it is "4". This is because the counter 4 does not count the broken dot pulses that occur simultaneously with the zone pulses due to the clearing effect of the zone pulses. This is a numerical value determined by Note that the counter 4 is cleared by a zone pulse (ZON.P shown in FIG. 3).
Flip-flop 5 (FF1) provides a start signal for the carrier drive pulse motor (as shown in Figure 3).
ON (Q=
“H”) and flip-flop 6
It outputs an enable signal to (FF2),
Set flip-flop 6 (FF2) to ON with the first pulse of the broken zone pulse ZOZ・P. Also, flip-flop 5 (FF1) is
By the carry signal from counter 4 mentioned above, Q
The output (FF1/Q shown in FIG. 3), that is, the enable signal for the next stage flip-flop 6 is output, and is cleared by the zone pulse. However, counter 4 shows the broken zone/pulse ZON/
When P and dot pulse DOT.P are input simultaneously, the zone pulse has a clearing effect, so dot pulses are not counted. The flip-flop 6 is operated by the zone pulse (ZON・P shown in FIG. 3) and outputs Q (FF2・Q shown in FIG. 3), that is, ZON・P.
Outputs F signal. As is clear from the above, by the action of counter 4 and FF1, signal ZOZ・P
If there are no more than a certain number of signals DOT/P generated between ZON/P and the next ZON/P,
By ignoring ZON・P, that is, by not outputting ZON・F, the erroneous detection of ZON・P cracked by vibration is ignored (FF2・F in Figure 3).
In Q, ZON・F for the second and third shots of ZON・P that broke immediately after t ₀ are not output).
When ZON.F is output, the signal is sent to a control section of the printing device (not shown), where the carrier position is confirmed and the carrier movement is controlled. In addition, the clearing of the flip-flop 6 is the above-mentioned ZON・F.
This is done by an ACK signal (ZON・FACK shown in FIG. 3) which is responded from the circuit to be used.

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent misrecognition of the carrier position due to cracking of the zone signal caused by hunting in the initial startup region of the carrier drive pulse motor, vibration of the mechanical mechanism, etc. - It is possible to provide a method for detecting a carrier position in a serial dot printer device, which allows the output interval of pulses to be reduced, and therefore enables the realization of a more effective bidirectional shortest distance printing function.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram regarding the generation of cracks in the carrier position detection signal, which is the premise of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining one embodiment of the present invention.
The figure shows a time chart for explaining the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. In the figure, 4 is a counter, 5 and 6 are flip
Represents a flop.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A means for generating a dot signal for detecting hammer excitation timing and a zone signal for detecting carrier position which is output in character units or character block units is provided, and carrier movement and hammer excitation are performed based on the dot signal and zone signal. a counter initialized by the zone signal and counting the dot signals;
A flip-flop is provided which uses a signal indicating that the count value of the counter has reached a predetermined value as an enable signal and receives the zone signal as an input signal. A method for detecting a carrier position in a serial dot printer device, characterized in that position control is performed.