JPH0481949B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an impact printer.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, there has been an impact printer as shown in FIG. 5, for example. In the figure, a recording paper 1 such as a cut of paper is frictionally fed by a platen 2, and a print head 3 faces the platen 2 and scans the recording paper 1 in the paper width direction. An ink ribbon 4 is stretched across the width of the paper between the print head 3 and the recording paper 1. The ink ribbon 4 is pulled out from within the ribbon cassette 5 and rewound into the ribbon cassette 5 again.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the above system, when cut paper is used as the recording paper 1, if the print head 3 waits at the left or right end for a long time, the print head 3 will be stuck on the opposite side of the recording paper 1. The end of the ink ribbon rose up and came into contact with the ink ribbon 4, as shown in FIG.

As a result, the recording paper 1 may get dirty, and if printing is started in this state, wrinkles may be formed on the recording paper.

The present invention aims to prevent recording paper from becoming stained and wrinkled.

[Means for Solving the Problem] The present invention feeds recording paper such as cut paper using a platen, and records the print head using an output generated from a timer when no printing is performed for a certain period of time or more. A control means for moving it to the center of the paper is provided.

[Example] In Figure 1, A is a CPU (central processing unit)
It has a built-in timer T that measures the printing stop time. P is an I/O port that controls input/output, M
is a head carrier (HC) motor.

The operation of the above configuration will be explained with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 2 and 3. First, the main processing shown in FIG. 2 will be explained. After initialization is performed by turning on the power, it is determined whether or not the device is in an online state with an external device (not shown) such as a personal computer. Next, it is determined whether the timer T has timed up, that is, whether printing has not been performed for a certain period of time (for example, several seconds) or not. If the certain period of time has not yet been reached, data input such as print data is stopped. It is determined whether there is. If there is data entry,
Data processing such as importing print data is performed, and when a print command arrives, printing is performed. The timer T is reset by this printing and starts counting the printing stop time again. That is, while printing is stopped, the interrupt process shown in FIG. 3 is performed every unit time, and the timer T is incremented.

If printing continues for a certain period of time or more without stopping, the above operations are repeated.

When printing stops for a certain period of time or more, the timer T times out and it is determined whether the HC motor M is at the center of the recording paper. If it is not at this position, the HC motor M is driven to start the recording paper. 4 Move the print head to the center of the recording paper as shown in the figure.

Therefore, even if you stand by in this state for a long time, as shown in Figure 4, the center of the recording paper is pushed by the print head, so the left and right ends of the recording paper float less and come into contact with the ink ribbon 4. There's nothing to do. Therefore, stains can be prevented, and the recording paper will not be wrinkled when printing starts next time.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, if printing has not been performed for a certain period of time or more, the print head is moved to the center of the recording paper, so when cutting, etc., the recording paper is used for a long time. Even in the standby state, it is possible to prevent the recording paper from floating up. Therefore, contact with the ink ribbon can be prevented, the recording paper can be prevented from being stained, and the recording paper can be prevented from being wrinkled when the next printing starts.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the circuit configuration of the present invention, Figs. 2 and 3 are flowcharts for explaining the operation, and Fig. 4 shows a state in which the print head is in the center of the recording paper. FIG. 5 is a front view showing the printing head at the left end. 1... Recording paper, 2... Platen, 3... Print head, 4... Ink ribbon, A... CPU, T...
...Timer, M...Head carriage motor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Impact printers that have a platen that feeds recording paper such as cut paper, have an ink ribbon stretched across the entire width of the recording paper, and print while scanning the print head in the width direction of the recording paper. An impact printer comprising: a timer that generates an output when printing is not performed; and a control means that moves the print head to approximately the center of the recording paper based on the output from the timer.