JPH0596808A - Printer paper feed control method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] A printer that eliminates the left-right unbalanced paper holding action of the card holder mounted on the carriage, thereby improving the paper feeding accuracy and eventually the printing quality. It is an object to provide a paper feed control method. [Structure] When a line feed operation is performed to feed a sheet of paper, the line feed operation to be performed from now on causes the perforation of the sheet to be in a carriage centering area that is continuously set in the front and rear of the sheet feed direction with the bail roller interposed. The carriage is centered, and the card holder mounted on the carriage presses the sheet against the platen via the central portion in the left-right direction of the sheet.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper feed control method for a printer, and more particularly to a paper feed control method for a printer, which uses continuous paper with perforations (so-called continuous paper).
The present invention relates to a device in which the perforations and the vicinity thereof are uniformly pressed in the left-right direction to prevent floating so that the paper feeding accuracy is improved and the printing quality is improved.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a paper feeding mechanism of a printer, for example, there is one as shown in FIG. This is a configuration in which a push tractor 1 serving as a sheet feeding unit is used to feed out a sheet 3. The push tractor 1 includes a driving pulley 4, a driven pulley 5, and a belt 7 wound around the driving pulley 4 and the driven pulley 5. A plurality of pins 9 are attached to the belt 7 at a predetermined pitch. Further, a rotational force is transmitted to the drive pulley 4 from a stepping motor (not shown). Further, the paper 3 is a continuous paper in which papers of a predetermined length are connected through perforations and folded, and holes on both sides of which the pins 9 of the push tractor 1 side are fitted have a predetermined pitch. Is formed by.

On the other hand, a platen 11 is arranged on the side of the paper 3 in the feeding direction. The platen 11 is driven synchronously with the push tractor 1 already described. Platen 1
The outer diameter of 1 is set so that the fed paper 3 can be slightly advanced to the push tractor 1 so as not to slacken. A bail roller 13 is arranged to face the platen 11 above the drawing. The bail roller 13 presses the sheet 3 against the platen 11.
A paper chute 15 is provided below the platen 11 in the figure.
Is installed. Further, pinch rollers 17 and 19 and a paper detection sensor 21 are arranged on the side of the paper chute 15 opposite to the platen 11. This paper detection sensor is of an optical type and detects the leading edge of the paper supplied. The paper chute 15 in the portion where the pinch rollers 17 and 19 and the paper detection sensor 21 are arranged.
Openings 23, 25, 27 are formed in the. still,
The pinch rollers 17 and 19 are in the state of being retracted to the pressure contact releasing position.

According to the above structure, the paper 3 delivered by the push tractor 1 passes between the platen 11 and the paper chute 15 and is wound around the platen 11. At the same time, the bail roller 13 presses the platen 11. In that state, predetermined printing is performed by a print head (not shown).

By the way, the perforations 29 are arranged on the paper 3 at a predetermined interval (boundary of each paper), and when the paper 3 is sent out, the perforations 29 are located on the platen 11.
It may rise more. In particular, as shown in the drawing, at the position immediately before passing through the bail roller 13, the uplift becomes remarkable. When such a perforation 29 and its vicinity are left undisturbed, the perforation 2 lifted from the platen 11
When the paper 9 passes the pressure contact point of the bail roller 13, the paper 3
The resistance is added to the sheet, the paper feeding accuracy is lowered, and the printing quality is deteriorated.

Therefore, the structure shown in FIG. 8 is adopted. That is, the platen 11 of the carriage 33, which is mounted with the print head 31 and is arranged so as to be movable in the left-right direction.
The card holder 35 is attached to the
5, the sheet 3 is pressed against the platen 11 side. That is, the carriage 33 appropriately moves in the left-right direction by a command signal from a host computer (not shown), and at that time, the print head 31 causes the paper 3
The predetermined printing is performed at the predetermined position of. Further, the carriage 33 stops immediately after the printing of one line is completed. Then, when the paper feeding operation (line feed) of the paper 3 is performed to print on the next line, the movement of the paper 3 is started again in an appropriate direction. During the paper feeding operation, the paper 3 is pressed against the platen 11 side by the card holder 35, so that the above-mentioned perforation 29 and the floating of the platen 11 in the vicinity thereof are also prevented.

[0007]

According to the above conventional structure, there are the following problems. That is, when the carriage 33 is stopped after the printing of a certain line is completed, the stop position is not limited to the central portion in the left-right direction, and may be moved to the left end in the left-right direction and stopped, or conversely, left-right. Move to the right end of the direction and stop. Alternatively, when printing is finished on that line, the printer stops at that place. In any case, the place where the carriage 33 stops is usually a place displaced in either the left or right direction. In this way, the carriage 3
When the sheet 3 is pressed against the platen 11 side by the card holder 35 in a state where the sheet 3 is stopped at the position displaced in the left-right direction, when viewed from the side of the sheet 3, the platen 11 is unbalanced in the left-right direction. It will be pressed. That is, since one of the left and right sides of the sheet 3 is pressed against the platen 11 side by the card holder 35, there is almost no rise from the perforation 29 and the platen 11 in the vicinity thereof, and conversely, on the opposite side, Card halter 3
Since the press-contacting action of 5 is low, the perforation 29 and the vicinity of the perforation 29 from the platen 11 become large. Then, in that state, when the paper feeding operation is performed, the paper feeding accuracy is lowered (for example, a skew phenomenon), and even when the printing is performed by the print head 31, the printing quality is lowered. There was a problem.

The present invention has been made on the basis of such a point, and an object of the present invention is to eliminate an unbalanced paper holding action in the left and right direction by a card holder mounted on a carriage. It is an object of the present invention to provide a paper feed control method for a printer that can improve the print quality and thus the print quality.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a paper feed control method for a printer according to the present invention is a continuous paper fed by a paper feed means via a perforation between a platen and a print head mounted on a carriage. Feed the paper, and press the paper against the platen with the bail roller,
In a printer that performs predetermined printing on a sheet by the print head, in the paper feed control method of the printer that controls the paper feed of the paper, when performing a line feed operation to feed the paper, by the line feed operation to be performed, When the perforations of the paper are in the carriage centering area that is set continuously in the front and rear of the paper feed direction across the bail roller, the carriage is centered, and the card holder mounted on the carriage moves the paper to the center in the left-right direction of the paper. It is characterized in that it is pressed against the platen via. At this time, it may be possible to determine whether or not the perforation of the paper is in the carriage centering area by using the page management system of the printer.

[0010]

In the case of the present invention, when the perforation is in the carriage centering area set in advance, the carriage is centered in the left-right direction, and the paper is placed on the left and right sides of the paper by the card holder mounted on the carriage. The platen is pressed against the platen via the central portion in the direction. As a result, the paper can be pressed against the platen in a laterally balanced state, the paper feeding accuracy of the paper can be improved, and the printing quality can be improved. Whether or not the perforations of the paper are in the carriage centering area may be detected by using a page management system that the printer always has. Of course, it does not mean that detection by other means is excluded.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The configuration of the main part of the printer is as shown in FIG. 8 used in the description of the conventional example, and for the sake of explanation, the reference numerals of the parts shown in FIG. 8 are used as they are. In this embodiment, by using the page management system that the printer always has, the positional relationship between the perforations 29 of the sheet 3 and the bail roller 13 is detected, and the carriage 33 is moved in the left-right direction at a predetermined timing. Then, the sheet 3 is pressed against the platen 11 via the central portion of the sheet 3 in the left-right direction by the card holder 35 mounted on the carriage 33.

Therefore, first, the outline of the page management system will be described. That is, when the paper 3 is fed, the current position of the paper 3 is always stored by accumulating the number of steps (the number of line feeds) of the stepping motor. Further, the length of one page of the sheet 3 is determined in advance corresponding to the number of steps of the stepping motor. Therefore, when the total number of steps exceeds the number of steps corresponding to the page length of the sheet 3. Means that the page of paper 3 has changed. Also, regarding the page head of the paper 3, first,
When the power of the printer is turned on, if the paper 3 is already in the set state, the position is set to the page head, and if the paper 3 is not set, in the process of transporting the paper 3,
The leading edge of the paper is detected at the time when the "paper is absent" is changed to the "paper is present", and the paper is fed from the paper detection sensor 17 by a predetermined distance between the print heads 31 and then used as the page head.

The above page management system will be described more specifically. The page management section of the printer has a Vertical Locatio
n Counter (hereinafter referred to as VLC) is provided,
This VLC functions as a counter in a specific area on the RAM. When the paper 3 is fed by this VLC, the number of steps already described is constantly counted and accumulated. For example, the length of the paper 3 is 10 inches, and the paper 3 of 10 inches is 3600 (10 × 360).
Paper shall be fed in steps. In other words, the VLC starts counting from the top of the page of the sheet 3 and the page is changed when the cumulative total exceeds 3600 steps. And
If the cumulative total exceeds 3600 steps,
By subtracting 3600, the paper feed position of the paper on the next page can be known. In other words, by recognizing the number of steps from 0 to 3599, the paper 3
The current position of is always monitored. In this type of page management system, the number of steps for the entire length of the sheet 3 may be set arbitrarily, and the above 3600 steps are one example. In this way, the current position of the paper 3 is
It is constantly monitored by the page management system.

On the other hand, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the carriage centering area 101 is formed in the front and rear of the paper feed direction with the perforation 29 at the boundary between the nth page and the (n + 1) th page of the paper 3 being sandwiched. It is set. In the case of the present embodiment, the carriage centering area 101 is set to a range from a position of 1 inch before the perforation 29 of the sheet 3 passes through the bail roller 13 to a position of 1/3 inch after passing the bail roller 13. To do. That is, when the paper 3 is gradually fed and the bail roller 13 approaches the carriage centering area 101, the carriage 3
Force 3 to center. That is, the carriage 33 is located at the center in the left-right direction. As a result, the paper 3 is pressed against the platen 11 at the center by the card holter 35 mounted on the carriage 33. As a result, the paper is pressed in the left-right direction of the paper 3 in a well-balanced manner, the paper feeding accuracy is improved, and the printing quality is improved. It should be noted that although the above-mentioned paper 3 is the paper 1 having a predetermined length as shown in FIG.
03 is a continuous paper connected through perforations 29, and as shown in FIG.
A hole 105 into which the pin 9 is fitted is formed.

The operation will be confirmed in detail below with reference to the flow charts of FIGS. 4 to 7. First, as shown in FIG. 4, when the paper sensor 17 detects the leading edge of the paper 3 (step a), page length management is initialized (step b). Next, the line feed operation will be confirmed with reference to FIG. When performing a line feed, the line feed operation to be performed from now causes the perforation 29 of the paper 3 to be within the area from the position 1 inch before the paper feeding direction of the bail roller 13 to the position 1/3 inch rearward of the bail roller 13 in the paper feeding direction. That is, it is determined whether or not it is in the carriage centering area 101 described above (step c). This determination is easily made by the page management system described above. In other words, the current position of the sheet 3 is always confirmed by the page management system, so that the position of the perforation 29 can be easily confirmed.

When the perforation 29 is in the carriage centering area 101, the carriage 3
Centering of 3 is performed (step d). On the other hand, when the perforation 29 is not within the carriage centering area, the line feed operation is performed without centering the carriage 33 (step e). When the carriage 33 is centered, a line feed operation is performed thereafter. When the line feed operation is performed, the current position of the sheet 3 is updated by the page management system (step f). Less than,
When performing a line feed operation, the same steps are repeated.

The management when the power of the printer is turned on is carried out in the process shown in FIG. First, after the power is turned on (step g) and the paper presence flag OFF (step h) is cleared, the page length selection switch is discriminated (step i). For example, when there are two types of paper 3 that are 10 inches in length and 11 inches in length, when 10 inches of paper 3 is selected, “ON”, when 11 inches of paper 3 is selected Is "OFF". The page length selection switch is usually composed of a DIP switch, etc., and is set to switch according to the page length of the paper used by the user, and either standard 10 inch paper or 11 inch paper is selected. I am able to do it. The paper present flag is for managing on a program whether or not the paper 3 is in the set state. Next, the presence or absence of the sheet 3 is confirmed (step J). This confirmation is performed by a signal from the paper sensor 17.

When the sheet 3 is not present, the standby is off-line (step k). On the other hand, when there is the sheet 3, the sheet presence flag is turned on (step l), VLC is cleared (step m), and the online standby is performed (step n). Note that, as described above, the VLC clear means that the total number of steps is updated and the state returns to the initial state when the page of the sheet 3 is changed.

Now, in the case of the above-mentioned offline standby, in this case, basically, the state of the panel switch is always monitored, and when the operation of any switch is detected,
Processing will be performed according to the function of the switch. Among the panel switches, there are, for example, an online switch, a paper feed switch, and various other types of switches, and in the figure, the processing corresponding to the operation of the online switch and the paper feed switch is mainly shown. First, it is determined whether or not the panel switch has been pressed (step o). If the panel switch is pressed, then
Whether the pressed panel switch is an online switch, that is, ON / OF of the online switch
The determination of F is made (step p). When the online switch is turned on, the process j already described
Move to. On the other hand, when the online switch is OFF, whether or not the pressed panel switch is the paper feed switch, that is, ON / OFF of the paper feed switch.
Is determined (step q). If the paper feed switch is ON, it is determined whether the paper presence flag is ON or OFF (step r). If the paper presence flag is OFF, the presence or absence of the paper 3 is determined (step s). When there is the sheet 3, the sheet is fed by L steps (step of realizing a predetermined feed length to a predetermined loading position) (step t), the paper present flag is turned on (step u), and , VLC is cleared (step v), and then online standby is performed (step w).

In the management during the above-described offline standby, when the panel switch is OFF in step o, the process returns to the original and the determination of step o is repeated, and when the paper feed switch is OFF in step g. , The process corresponding to another switch (step x). That is, since the pressed panel switch is a switch other than the align switch and the paper feed switch, it is sequentially determined. Then, the process returns to the step o again.
If the paper present flag is ON in step r,
After a line feed (process y), the process returns to process o. Furthermore, process s
In the case where there is no sheet 3, the sheet feeding step 1 (step z) is performed and the process returns to step s.

As described above, in the carriage centering area, the carriage 33 is centered, but in other areas, the normal line feed operation is performed. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the carriage 33
In the arbitrary n-th row, the print area 109 is entered through the acceleration area 107, and then the deceleration area 111 is passed, and then the printing area 109 is stopped at an arbitrary position, for example, the left end, the right end, or the end of the deceleration area 111. In that state, a line feed operation is performed and the printing operation of the next (n + 1) th line is started.

According to this embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. First, when a line feed operation is performed, the carriage 33 is centered when the perforation 29 of the sheet 3 is in the carriage centering area 101 by the line feed operation from now on. At the center of the sheet 3, the sheet 3 can be pressed against the platen 11 by the card holder 35. Therefore, when viewed from the side of the sheet 3, it is pressed against the platen 11 side in a state of being balanced in the left-right direction, and only one of the left-right direction is pressed against the platen 11 and the other is lifted, which is an unbalanced state. The state can be lost. Therefore, the paper feeding accuracy is also greatly improved, which in turn can improve the printing quality.

Further, in the case of the present embodiment, the determination as to whether or not the perforation 29 of the paper 3 is in the carriage centering area 101 is detected by using the page management system which the printer has. Therefore, it is not necessary to newly add another structure, and the desired operation / effect can be realized with a relatively simple structure.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment. For example, the carriage centering area 10
The range in which 1 is set is not particularly specified, and may be set arbitrarily based on the outer diameter of the platen 11, the bail roller 13, and various other conditions. The determination as to whether or not the perforation 29 is in the carriage centering area 101 may be detected by means other than the page management system. For example, after the perforation 29 is detected using an optical sensor or the like, the carriage 33 may be centered for a certain number of steps or a certain number of steps after a certain number of steps or a certain time. Conceivable. In addition, it is conceivable that sensors are attached to the start end and the end of the carriage centering area 101 and the perforations 29 are detected by these sensors to center the carriage 33.

[0025]

As described above in detail, according to the paper feed control method of the printer of the present invention, when the perforation is in the preset carriage centering area, the carriage is centered in the left-right direction and the carriage is centered. The built-in card holder pushes the paper against the platen via the center of the paper in the left-right direction, so the paper can be pressed in the left-right direction on the platen in a balanced state. The accuracy can be improved, and thus the printing quality can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention and is a diagram showing a carriage centering region.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a paper sheet showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a sheet as a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the paper feed mechanism used in the description of the conventional example.

FIG. 8 is a side view of the paper feeding mechanism, which is used for explaining the conventional example and also for explaining one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Push Tractor (Paper Feeding Unit) 3 Paper 11 Platen 13 Bail Roller 31 Print Head 33 Carriage 35 Card Holder

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A sheet of paper, which is continuous paper, is fed through a perforation between a platen and a print head mounted on a carriage by a paper feeding means, the paper is pressed against the platen by a bail roller, and the print head is used. In a paper feed control method for a printer that controls the paper feed of a paper in a printer that performs predetermined printing on the paper, when a line feed operation is performed to feed the paper, When the eyes are in the carriage centering area that is set continuously in the front and rear of the paper feed direction across the bail roller, the carriage is centered, and the card holder mounted on the carriage moves the paper through the platen through the center of the paper in the left-right direction. A paper feed control method for a printer, characterized in that the paper feed control method is applied to the printer. 2. The printer paper feed control method according to claim 1, wherein whether or not the perforation of the paper is in the carriage centering area is determined by using the page management system of the printer. Paper feed control method for a printer.