JPH0330955A - Control apparatus of dot matrix printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform control while estimating actual temperature and to properly control the temperature of a printing head by reproducing the temperature state of each drive coil in a charge and discharge circuit. CONSTITUTION:A case having 24 printing pins is shown and printing pin driving data D1-D24 driving the respective printing pins of a printing head are generated from a printing data output part 1. A printing timing generating means 2 generates a printing timing signal T and sends the same to a charge and discharge circuit block 3 along with the printing pin driving data D1-D4. The charge and discharge circuit block 3 consists of 24 charge and discharge circuit parts 101-124 and the circuit constitutions thereof are same. Further, a printing control part 4 synthetically judges whether the temperature lowering means of the printing head is executed from the output results of the respective charge and discharge circuit parts 101-124.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a control method for a dot matrix printer that prints using a plurality of printing pins, and more particularly to a control method for a dot matrix printer that controls the temperature of a printing bed. .

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in order to keep the temperature of the print head below a certain temperature in this type of dot matrix printer, a temperature control unit is implemented in the print head, and the print control unit monitors the detected temperature and prevents the print head from exceeding a predetermined temperature. In such cases, means are activated to reduce the temperature. Methods for lowering the temperature include a method of always printing in one direction (for example, from left to right), a method of temporarily interrupting the printing operation, and a method of performing forced air cooling using a fan.

[Line layer that the invention attempts to solve]

In the conventional dot matrix printer mentioned above,
Usually, one or two temperature sensors are mounted for one print head. Further, the number of dot driving parts (print pins) in the print head is between 9 and 24, each of which serves as a heat generating element. Therefore, when monitoring using one or two temperature sensors, an error occurs between the actual temperature of the heating element and the temperature detected by the temperature sensor.

This temperature error varies depending on the quality of heat conduction between the heating element and the temperature sensor, but printers with a large number of printing pins have large errors that cannot be ignored. As a result, the temperature of the print head becomes too high, putting the printer in a dangerous condition.

On the other hand, it is possible to consider this temperature error and set the temperature at which the print head temperature reduction means is executed to a low value, but in this case, the temperature decreases even though the print head temperature is not very high. The disadvantage is that the method operates and slows down the processing speed.

An object of the present invention is to provide a control system for a dot matrix printer that can appropriately control the temperature of such a print head.

[Means to solve the problem]

A control method for a dot matrix printer according to the present invention is a control method for a dot matrix printer that performs printing using a plurality of printing pins, and the driving time and driving time for each of the plurality of printing pins is determined. The printer is equipped with a plurality of charging/discharging circuits that perform charging/discharging depending on the time when the printer is not in use, and is configured to control the temperature of the print head according to the output voltage of the charging/discharging circuits.

[Tip example]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printer control circuit for explaining one embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, this embodiment shows a case where there are 24 printing pins. Printing pin drive data D1 to 24 drive each printing pin of the printing head from the printing data output unit 1.
Generates D24. The print timing generating means 2 generates a print timing signal T, and prints the print pin drive data D1 to
It is sent to the discharge/discharge circuit block 3 together with D24. In addition, the charging/discharging circuit block 3 includes 24 charging/discharging circuit sections 101.
124, each having the same circuit configuration. Furthermore, 4 is a printing control section, and each charging/discharging circuit section 101 to 12
Based on the output result of step 4, it is comprehensively determined whether or not to execute the print head temperature lowering means.

FIG. 2 is a specific circuit diagram of the charging/discharging circuit section shown in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, each charge/discharge circuit section has an AND gate 11 that takes the logic of print pin drive data D1 to D24 and print timing signal T, and the output of this AND gate 11 drives the corresponding print pin. When the logic is ``1'', the logic is ``K'', and otherwise the logic is ``10''. In addition, 12 is an RC charging/discharging unit that has a resistor R and a capacitor C and performs charging and discharging, and the logic ``1'' is the logic ``1''. When it is discharged. Furthermore,
13 is a voltage comparator, which connects the output of the RC charge/discharge unit 12 to the (→ terminal) and connects the reference voltage Vc to the (→ terminal. At this time, the output of the RC charge/discharge unit 12 is lower than the reference voltage Vc. When it is low, the output is logic ``'O'' and when it is high, it is output as logic 11#.With this charging/discharging circuit section, it is possible to determine whether the frequency of driving the printing pin exceeds the set value. It becomes possible.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As invented above, the control method of the dot matrix printer of the present invention enables control while predicting the actual temperature by reproducing the temperature state of each drive coil in the charging/discharging circuit. This has the effect of appropriately controlling the temperature of the print head.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control circuit of a printer for explaining one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a specific circuit diagram of the charging/discharging circuit section shown in FIG. 1. 1...Data output section, 2...Print timing generation means, 3...Charging/discharging circuit block,
4...Print control section, 101-124...
・Charge/discharge circuit section, 11...AND gate, 12
...RC charging/discharging unit, 13...Voltage comparator.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a control method for a dot matrix printer that performs printing using a plurality of printing pins, a plurality of dot matrix printers charge and discharge each of the plurality of printing pins according to the time when each of the plurality of printing pins is driven and the time when it is not driven. 1. A control method for a dot matrix printer, comprising: a charge/discharge circuit; and a temperature of a print head is controlled according to an output voltage of the charge/discharge circuit.