JPH0459360A - Control method for overload printing in printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce printing time without effecting unnecessary multiple pass printing in a printing mode at a low load by a method wherein the number of simultaneous printing dots is computed, the reference voltage is made high when the number of the simultaneous printing dots is large and the reference voltage is made low when the number of the simultaneous printing dots is small. CONSTITUTION:In a character mode printing at a low load, source voltage is set at a low value and one pass printing is made. In a graphic mode printing, the number of simultaneous printing dots is computed before printing to set the voltage at a value of the minimum voltage required for the printing of the number of the dots. Upon start of printing, the voltage drops sharply and, when the voltage value reaches at most the preset value, a signal is sent from a comparator 16 to a printer control part 11. At this point, the printing is stopped and, to reduce the number of the simultaneous printing dots, the number of printing patterns is divided to effect a multiple pass printing. In this case, the reference voltage is made low and the number of the simultaneous printing dots becomes small. When a voltage drop is detected again, a shift is made to a multiple pass printing of even more times. The printing continues until the end of the one line with the reference voltage set at a lower value.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an overload printing control method for a printer.

(Prior art) Conventionally, in a printer equipped with a wire dot print head, when moving from a character mode for printing normal characters to a graphics mode for printing closing and business graphics, the number of dots printed per unit time increases. ,
The printer's power supply voltage may drop as the load increases.

In that case, in order to perform overload printing control, a certain reference voltage t
1. The voltage is set, and when the t source voltage drops during printing and becomes lower than the reference value, printing is stopped at that point, the remaining printing pattern is divided into multiple parts, and printing is continued in multiple batches. (hereinafter referred to as "multi-pass printing").

FIG. 6 is a power supply voltage waveform time chart when printing is performed using a conventional printer overload printing control method.

As shown in the figure, when moving from character mode to graphics mode, the printer's t source voltage ■ decreases, and the reference voltage ■
, multiple pass printing is performed and the power supply voltage V is recovered accordingly.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the overload printing control method for the printer configured as described above, a high power supply voltage is required when printing in a graphic mode with a high load, and the setting value is high. , multiple pass printing may be performed even when printing in character mode with low load.
Throughput will decrease.

Conversely, if the set value is too low, overload may not be detected even when printing in graphic mode.

FIG. 7 is a power supply voltage waveform diagram during overload printing.

As shown in the figure, when changing from character mode to graphics mode, if the setting value V0 is low, the time until switching to multiple pass printing (between 76 and T3) will be longer, and during that time, printing will be performed with fewer multiple passes, Before and after that, the shading of the print changes greatly.

The present invention solves the problems of the conventional overload printing control method for printers, and can shorten the printing time without performing unnecessary multiple pass printing during printing in a mode with a low printing load. An object of the present invention is to provide an overload printing control method for a printer that can eliminate the difference in shading of printing when performing multiple pass printing and improve printing quality.

(Means for Solving the Problem) For this purpose, in the overload printing control method for a printer of the present invention, when the load is small, such as when printing a character pattern, the printing pattern is usually printed without dividing it. It is possible to select between printing and multiple-pass printing, in which the print pattern is divided and printed in multiple passes when the load is high, such as when printing a graphic pattern.

This selection is made by comparing the power supply voltage with a reference voltage, and when the power supply voltage becomes lower than the reference voltage, normal printing is switched to multi-pass printing.

The reference voltage can be set in multiple stages, and the reference voltages in multiple stages can be selected depending on the level of the load.

That is, the number of dots to be simultaneously printed is calculated, and when the number of simultaneously printed dots is large, the reference voltage is set high, and when the number of simultaneously printed dots is small, the reference voltage is set low.

(Function) According to the present invention, as described above, it is possible to select between normal printing when the load is low and multi-pass printing when the load is high, and this selection is made by comparing the power supply voltage and the reference voltage. It is recommended that you do it accordingly.

Therefore, when printing with a high load such as graphic printing, the power supply voltage decreases depending on the printing load, so compare the power supply voltage with the reference voltage and check if it is lower than the reference voltage. It is now possible to switch from normal printing to multiple pass printing.

The reference voltage can be set in multiple stages, and the reference voltages in multiple stages can be selected depending on the level of the load.

That is, the number of dots to be simultaneously printed is calculated, and when the number of simultaneously printed dots is large, the reference voltage is set high, and when the number of simultaneously printed dots is small, the reference voltage is set low.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a control block diagram of a printer to which the printer overload printing control method of the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the inside of the printer control section.

In Fig. 2, 1 is a microprocessor (CPtl) that controls the printer, 2 is a read-only processor that stores programs and font data such as characters and symbols.
3 is a random access memory (RAM) that temporarily stores data received from the outside;
4 is I1 driven by the command from the CPU 1.
0 driver, 5 is the above CPU 1, ROM2, RA?
This is a pass line that connects the I3 and I10 varibars 4. The I10 driver 4 is connected to an interface circuit with an external device (not shown), a print head, a line feed motor, and a spacing moke for moving the print head in the printing direction. When performing a printing operation, when receiving printing information such as a character code from a system such as a personal computer, RO! 'The font data corresponding to the above character code is extracted from the storage address of I2, converted to dot drive information of the print head,
The print head is driven by the dot drive information to perform printing.

Next, in FIG. 1, numeral 11 is a printer control unit that receives printing information such as character codes transmitted from a system such as a personal computer, and controls the printing head 12, printing hand feeding mechanism, etc. based on the printing information. or detect a drop in the illumination voltage and change the printing method. Further, 13 is a print drive circuit for driving the print head 12, 14 is a 1!1 source for supplying voltage to the print head drive circuit 13, etc., and 15 is a base 1!1 for detecting voltage p of the power supply 14. ! The voltage setting voltage setting port setting 16 is a comparator.

In the printer overload printing control method of the present invention, the printer control unit 11
The number of simultaneous printing doors) is calculated. Then, depending on the number of simultaneously printed dots, a reference value is set to detect the minimum voltage required to print that number of dots in multiple stages, i.e., the overload state.
A reference voltage setting value setting circuit Lj as shown in FIG. 3 is provided.

In the figure, resistors R, , Rz are provided in series between the reference voltage IT source V rat and the ground.

The resulting partial voltage is input to the comparator 16 as a reference voltage. And the above resistances R,,R
Resistors R3, Ra,
Rs are arranged in parallel, and the boat b of the printer control unit 11
Connected to x, b+, and be. Said boat bx, b+
, b can be changed by selectively applying output to them.

For example, a reference voltage setting value setting circuit 1 as shown in FIG.
In the case of 5, the setting values that can be set are 8 levels.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram when setting is performed by the printer control unit. The voltage setting value is set in stages based on the signals output from the ports bz, b+, I)o of the printer control unit 11. be done. The above base t1! The voltage setting value is set higher as the number of simultaneously printed dots increases, and lower as the number of simultaneously printed dots decreases.

FIG. 5 is a waveform diagram of a power supply voltage and a diagram of a state in which multiple pass printing is performed when the overload printing control method for a printer according to the present invention is implemented.

In the overload printing control method for the printer configured above, when the load is low, such as when printing in character mode,
Set low IE power supply voltage setting value ■2 to perform l-pass printing. Also, in graphic mode printing, before printing, calculate the number of simultaneous printing dots and calculate the number of dots necessary to print that number. ■ Set value to the lowest voltage value. Set. When printing is started, the voltage suddenly drops and changes as shown by the solid line, and when it falls below the setting *VO, a signal is output from the comparator 6 to the printer control section 11. At that point, printing is stopped and the number of simultaneously printed dots is not lost.
The number of printing patterns is divided and multiple pass printing is performed.

In this case, the reference voltage setting value is lower than before and the number of simultaneously printed dots is reduced. If printing continues in this state and no voltage drop is detected with this setting value, multiple pass printing will continue as is, and if a voltage drop is detected again, the process will proceed to multiple pass printing with an even higher number of passes. do. Then, the reference voltage setting value is lowered and printing in one line is continued until the end.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments,
Various modifications are possible based on the spirit of the present invention, and these are not excluded from the scope of the present invention.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to select between normal printing when the load is low and multi-pass printing when the load is high, and this selection is made depending on the power supply voltage. Toad a! This is done by comparing the voltages, and if the voltage becomes lower than the reference voltage, it is possible to switch from normal printing to multi-pass printing.

Therefore, if the power supply voltage drops below the reference voltage due to overload during pattern printing performed line by line with a dot matrix printer, this will be detected and the remaining print pattern that has not been printed at that point will be divided into multiple parts. It is divided and printing is performed for each divided part.

In addition, the reference voltage mentioned above can be set in multiple stages, and multiple stages of reference voltage can be selected depending on the level of load. The value is lowered to reduce the possibility of multiple pass printing.

Therefore, unnecessary multiple-pass printing is not performed, which not only improves throughput, but also prevents print quality from deteriorating due to differences in print shading before and after the number of times multiple-pass printing increases.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a control block diagram of a printer to which the overload printing control method of the printer of the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the inside of the printer control unit, and FIG. Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram of the reference voltage setting value setting circuit diagram for implementing the printer control unit, and Figure 5 is a diagram of the power supply voltage when implementing the printer overload printing control method of the present invention. Waveform diagram and multi-pass printing implementation state diagram; Figure 6 is a power supply voltage waveform time chart when printing is performed using a conventional printer overload printing control method; Figure 7 is a power supply voltage waveform diagram during overload printing. It is. 1...Microprocessor (CPU), 2...RO
M, 3...RAM, 4...Bow 10 driver, 11
. . . Printer control unit, 12 . . . Print head, 13.
...Print head drive circuit, 14...Power supply, 15...
Reference voltage set value setting circuit, 16... comparator. Patent Applicant: Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. Agent, Patent Attorney: Makoto Kawai (1 other person) Yakan Yuun Nao V circuit diagram Figure 3 Funonta f% i7 lock part 1 - from? 5o
41j voltage - 5 zigzag diagram 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] (a) It is possible to select between normal printing in which the printing pattern is printed without dividing it, and multi-pass printing in which the printing pattern is divided and printed multiple times, and (b) power supply voltage and When the power supply voltage becomes lower than the reference voltage after comparing the reference voltages, it switches from normal printing to multi-pass printing, (c) the reference voltage can be set in multiple stages, and (d) the number of dots to be printed simultaneously can be changed. (e) When the number of simultaneously printed dots is large, the reference voltage is set high, and when the number of simultaneously printed dots is small, the reference voltage is set low.