JPH0461376B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Technical Field The present invention relates to an interrupt control method for electronic equipment with a printer, such as an ECR or a credit card transaction processing device, which uses a CPU as a control unit.

(b) Conventional technology and its drawbacks The control section is equipped with a CPU, and the input/output section has input keys,
Electronic devices with printers, such as displays and printers, are usually equipped with a timer that sends a constant timing pulse to the CPU as an interrupt signal, and the control of the input keys and display is controlled by the timer. This is done by interrupt processing using timing pulses output by the CPU. In this case, since display control, key input control, etc. do not involve mechanical operations, there is no need to synchronize the control of the CPU with the operations of the display section and input key section. Therefore, in non-printing modes, ie, display mode, input mode, etc., there is no problem at all even if interrupt processing is performed using timing pulses from the above-mentioned timer, which are completely asynchronous with display control and key input control operations. Does not occur. However, in printing modes that involve mechanical operations, the printer's printing operation timing usually varies, so if you try to control the printing coil operation asynchronously in the CPU, even if the printing contents are output to the printer, the mechanical There may be cases where the operation does not follow normally, and if the tracking function deteriorates extremely, there is a possibility that printing misalignment will occur.

(c) Purpose of the Invention The purpose of the present invention is to input a print synchronization pulse generated each time a printer prints to the CPU as an interrupt signal, thereby controlling the printing coil operation control processing of the CPU and the printing operation of the printer. An object of the present invention is to provide an interrupt control method in which a printer always operates normally without affecting normal interrupt processing such as display control in print mode.

(d) Structure and Effects of the Invention In summary, the present invention provides a method for transmitting a print synchronization pulse from a printer to an interrupt input terminal of a CPU via an I/O interface connected to the printer together with a constant timing pulse from a timer. When in non-printing mode, normal interrupt processing including display control is performed using timing pulses from the timer.
In the print mode, the timing pulse from the timer is disabled and the print synchronization pulse is used to perform normal interrupt processing and print coil operation control processing of the printer. When such an interrupt control method is implemented, in the print mode, the CPU immediately shifts to the interrupt processing mode upon input of a print synchronization pulse from the printer, and sends a print command or print data to the I/O interface. Therefore, print control by the CPU is executed in complete synchronization with printer operations. In addition,
In this case, display control and key input control are performed by interrupt processing using print synchronization pulses in the same way as print control for printers, but the display section does not involve mechanical movement for key input control, and furthermore, Even if the period of the print synchronization pulse is longer than the period of the timing pulse, the period is generally very short compared to the sensitivity speed of the human eye or the operation speed of input keys, so the display section, key input There are almost no functional problems in the department.

As described above, according to the present invention, the timing pulse from the timer and the print synchronization pulse from the printer are applied to the interrupt input terminal of the CPU, and in the non-printing mode, normal interrupt processing is performed using the timing pulse from the timer. In print mode, the print synchronization pulse is used to perform both normal interrupt processing and printer print coil operation control processing. Therefore, in print mode, the printer is always properly operated without adversely affecting normal interrupt processing such as display control. Printing operation can be ensured, and printing defects such as printing misalignment can be completely prevented from occurring.

(e) Embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the main parts of an electronic device with a printer that implements the interrupt control method of the present invention.

In the figure, a CPU bus 1 including a data bus and an address bus includes a CPU 2, a memory 3, a display control unit 4, a programmable tire (PTM) 5,
A peripheral interface adapter (PIA) 6, which is an I/O interface, is connected to each. CPU2 clock input terminal EXTAL
A basic clock is input from a clock oscillator (CLK) 7. The basic clock from CLK7 is further input to a counter 8, where it is converted into pulses with a constant period and input to PTM5. The PTM 5 uses the output pulse of the counter 8 as a trigger and outputs a timing pulse with a period T=800 μs to the interrupt input terminal of the CPU 2 as an interrupt signal. PIA
6 is connected to the printer control circuit 9, data output terminals PB0 to PB7 of PIA6 are connected to data input terminals DOT1 to DOT7, DT of the printer control circuit 9, and control terminals PA0 and PA1 of PIA6 are connected to the printer control circuit, respectively. It is connected to control terminals R and T of 9. The interrupt input terminal CA1 of PIA6 is
It is connected to the terminal T of the printer control circuit 9 which outputs a print synchronization pulse in synchronization with the printing operation of the printer 10, and the print synchronization pulse with a period T'≒800 μs from the printer control circuit 9 is input as an interrupt signal to the PIA 6. I try to do that. PIA6 uses the print synchronization pulse input to the interrupt input terminal CA1 as the print synchronization pulse at timing T' of the same cycle to the CPU.
Output to interrupt input terminal 2. From PIA6
The print synchronization pulse applied to the interrupt input terminal of the CPU 2 and the timing pulse applied from the PTM 5 to the interrupt input terminal of the CPU 2 are wired-ORed. The printer 10 also has a print synchronization pulse associated with its printing operation.
The period T' is set to 800 μs, which is approximately equal to the period T of the timing pulse.
The multi-digit number display section 11, which is subjected to segment control by the display control section 4, is dynamically controlled for display by the display control processing of the CPU 2. The display control is performed at the time of interruption by a timing pulse or a print synchronization pulse from the PTM 5 or PIA 6. Although the input key section is not shown, it is controlled in the same way as the display section 11 when interrupted by a timing pulse or print synchronization pulse from the PTM 5 or PIA 6.

Next, the operation of the printer-equipped electronic device having the above configuration at the time of an interrupt will be explained with reference to FIG.
Figure A shows a flowchart showing part of the main routine, and Figure B shows a flowchart at the time of an interrupt.

When the electronic device starts operating and completes the specified program processing in step ni, ni+
In step 1, it is determined whether to shift to print mode. As a result of program processing, if the mode does not change to print mode, proceed to ni+2 and issue a command to mask the interrupt signal output terminal of PIA6.
Send to 6. Also, as a result of program processing, when transitioning to print mode, ni+1 → ni+
3, and sends a command to the PTM5 to mask the interrupt signal output terminal of the PTM5.
Therefore, in non-printing mode, CPU2
The timing pulse from the PTM 5 is accepted as an interrupt signal, and normal interrupt processing such as display control is executed accordingly. Also, in print mode, the timing pulse from PTM5 is disabled,
The print synchronization pulse from the PIM 6 is accepted as an interrupt signal, and the interrupt processing executes normal interrupt processing including display control as well as printing coil operation control processing of the printer.

When the CPU 2 receives an interrupt signal from the PTM 5 or PIA 6, the process proceeds to n10 in FIG. 2B. On the n10, first, the masked interrupt signal output pin is
Determine whether it is PTM5 or PIA6. When the interrupt output terminal of the PIA 6 is masked, dynamic display control is performed on the display unit 11 at n11, and other normal interrupt processing such as key input control is executed at n12, and the process returns. On the other hand, when the interrupt signal output terminal of PTM5 is masked, display control and other normal interrupt processing are performed in n13 and n14 in the same way as n11 and n12 above, and then the process proceeds to n15 to execute printer printing coil operation control processing. and return.

As described above, when the execution mode is in the non-printing mode, the timing pulse from the PTM5 is accepted as an interrupt signal, and when the execution mode is in the printing mode, the print synchronization pulse from the PIA6 is accepted as an interrupt signal. , the printing coil operation of the printer 10 can be controlled in synchronization with the mechanical operation of the printer. In this case, normal interrupt processing including display control is also performed by print synchronization pulse interrupt processing, but these normal interrupt processing do not involve any mechanical operation, and the intervals between interrupt timings may be slightly different. This prevents the display from flickering significantly or the response to key operations to deteriorate significantly.
Even when changing from non-printing mode to printing mode, the display state and the like are exactly the same as in printing mode.

Note that by making the period T of the timing pulse from the PTM 5 and the period T' of the print synchronization pulse from the PIA 6 substantially the same as in the above embodiment,
The operation of CPU2 can be made almost the same in both printing mode and non-printing mode.
It is possible to further improve the prevention of flickering in the display state.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the main parts of an electronic device with a printer that implements the interrupt control method according to the present invention. Further, FIGS. 2A and 2B are a flowchart of a part of the main routine and a flowchart at the time of an interrupt, showing the operating procedure of the electronic device with the printer. 1...CPU bus, 2...CPU, 5...Programmable timer, 6...Peripheral interface adapter (I/O interface), 9
... printer control circuit, 10 ... printer,
(CPU2)...Interrupt input terminal.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Using a constant timing pulse as an interrupt signal
It is equipped with a timer that is given to the CPU, and an I/O interface that is connected to the CPU bus and sends print data related to print coil operation control processing to the printer control circuit, and when interrupted by the timing pulse, normal interrupts such as display control etc. In a control device for an electronic device equipped with a printer that performs processing, a timing pulse from the timer and a print synchronization pulse from the printer are applied to an interrupt input terminal of the CPU via the I/O interface, and a non-printing In the printing mode, the timing pulse from the timer is used to perform normal interrupt processing, and in the print mode, the timing pulse from the timer is disabled and the printing synchronization pulse from the printer is used to perform normal interrupt processing and print coil operation control processing of the printer. An interrupt control method for an electronic device equipped with a printer, characterized in that printing data is transmitted. 2. The interrupt control method for an electronic device with a printer according to claim 1, wherein the cycle of the print synchronization pulse is set to be substantially the same as the cycle of the timing pulse.