JPH085216B2 - Dot printer - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Industrial applications]

The present invention relates to a dot printer using a print head having a plurality of dot print elements.

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional dot printer. This dot printer comprises a print head 61 having a plurality of dot printer elements, a means 62 for moving the print head in the row direction, and a means 63 for conveying print paper in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the print head, Circuits 61c to 63c for driving and controlling the print head, print head moving means, and print sheet conveying means, a control unit composed of CPU65, ROM66, RAM67, character font memory 68 and interface circuit 69, and operation switches And an operation section 64 having a display lamp, and an operation switch of the operation section and a circuit 64c for controlling the display lamp. The dot printer is connected to a host device 610 such as a personal computer, and the code received from the host device is converted into character data in the control unit, and the print head 61 is moved by the print head moving means 62, 62c. While moving in the direction, the print head 61 is driven by the drive circuit 61c to print on the print paper. By the way, the print head 61 used in the above-mentioned conventional dot printer has an array structure of dot print elements as shown in FIG. That is, the dot print elements do not overlap each other in the row direction (print head moving direction), but the dot print elements do overlap in the column direction (print paper conveyance direction). For this reason, when printing, it is necessary to move the print head at all times, so the character direction is rotated in the control section of the dot printer to move the print head as desired for the direction of the printed character. However, it has been necessary to repeat the operation of printing one line, carrying a predetermined amount of printing paper after the printing of one line, and printing one line while moving the print head again.

[Technical problems to be solved]

As described above, conventionally, only the printing method by the combination of the rotation in the character direction and the movement of the print head can be performed.
As shown in the printing example in FIG. 7, the print formats (formats) that can be performed by the conventional dot printer are limited to four types: normal horizontal print, reverse horizontal print, normal vertical print, and reverse vertical print. To be That is, the conventional dot printer has a problem in that the degree of freedom of the printing format is limited based on the arrangement structure of the tip of the print head. This limitation on the degree of freedom of the printing format brings about the following inconveniences. That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, there are two types of passbooks, a horizontal passbook and a vertical passbook. In the case of a horizontal passbook, the thickness is different between the front half (a side) and the rear half (b side) of one page, but the thickness of the passbook in the row direction is uniform while printing one line. Therefore, if the gap between the print head and the passbook surface is set with respect to the passbook surface, it is not necessary to change the gap in the middle of one line. However, in the case of a vertical passbook, the thickness is different between the left half (c-side side) and right half (d-side side) of one page, so when printing one line, the gap between the print head and the passbook surface is constant. Therefore, it is necessary to obtain a two-step print head gap in the moving direction of the print head,
The mechanism becomes complicated. This will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 8 showing the structure around the print head. In the case of the horizontal passbook, as shown in FIG. 1A, the gap G ₀ between the print head H and the passbook N is adjusted to be constant. platen P ₁ to the can to set the gap G ₁ between the printing head H in one, in the case of vertical passbook, as shown in FIG. (2), two platens P ₁ , P ₂ are provided and the gap G ₀ between the print head and the passbook surface is made constant, the gaps G ₁ and G ₂ between the print head H and the platens P ₁ , P ₂ must be set. Therefore, the structure of the vertical passbook processing printer is complicated. As described above, according to the conventional dot printer, there is a problem that the structure cannot be unified depending on the type of passbook and the manufacturing cost is increased. The present invention has been made under such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a dot printer with an increased degree of freedom in the printing format. To provide a dot printer that can perform a printing operation with the same structure for both a horizontal passbook and a vertical passbook by selecting a print format suitable for each of the horizontal passbook and the vertical passbook. It is in.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a print head having a plurality of dot print elements, a print head moving means for moving the print head in a row direction, and a printing paper in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the print head. In a dot printer that prints characters and the like on the print paper, the print head includes a dot and a print paper carrying unit that carries the print paper, a print head, a print head moving unit, and a unit that drives and controls the print paper carrying unit. Among the intersections at which the tip of the print element intersects in the row direction and the column direction of an integral multiple of the print dot pitch, only one dot print element exists on each dot pitch line in the row direction and the column direction, and adjacent to each other. The dot print element is arranged so that it always exists on the matching dot pitch line, and the character data read from the character font memory is read. Character rotation means for rotating the direction of a character or the like in a designated direction by rotating the expansion of the character, and the print head moving means and the print paper conveying means to be driven and controlled in parallel with the drive of the character head. It has a drive control target selecting means for selecting either one or both of the means and the drive control target selection means by a combination of designation of the rotation direction of the character and the selection of the drive control target. It is characterized by printing characters.

[Action]

Since the dot printer elements of the print head are arranged as described above, the dot print elements do not overlap in either the row direction (print head moving direction) or the column direction (print paper conveyance direction). Therefore, it is possible to continuously print characters and the like on the extension of the rotation direction of the characters and the like by a combination of designation of the rotation direction of the characters and the like when the print head is driven and selection of the drive control target. Therefore, it is possible to print in the following various printing formats. (A) When the direction of rotation of characters or the like is horizontal or reverse and the drive control target is the print head moving means, the normal horizontal writing or reverse horizontal writing mode is used. (B) When the direction of rotation of characters or the like is vertical or reverse vertical and the drive control target is the print head moving means, the normal vertical writing or reverse vertical writing mode is used. (C) When the rotation direction of characters, etc. is horizontal (or reverse horizontal) or vertical (or reverse vertical) and the drive control target is the print paper transporting means, horizontal writing (or reverse horizontal writing) is performed in the paper transporting direction (vertical direction). ) Or vertical writing (or reverse vertical writing). (D) When the direction of rotation of characters and the like is horizontal or vertical and the drive control targets are the print head moving means and the print paper conveying means,
The print format is diagonal. Therefore, for the horizontal passbook, the posture in which the fold is parallel to the moving direction of the print head, that is, the thickness of the passbook is uniform with respect to the moving direction of the print head Normal horizontal writing can be performed depending on the print format. On the other hand, with respect to the vertical passbook as well, in the same posture as described above, horizontal writing can be performed in the conveyance direction of the passbook by the printing format of (C) above.

【Example】

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings from FIG. 1 to FIG. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing an example of the arrangement structure of the tip of the print head used in the dot printer according to the present invention, and explaining the directional rotation of characters and the like, and FIG. 2 is added to the control unit of the dot printer. FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing an example of printing when printing is performed using the dot printer according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing printing modes of a horizontal passbook and a vertical passbook. is there. The dot printer according to the present invention is also basically the fifth
It has the same configuration as the conventional dot printer shown in the figure. Therefore, in order to avoid duplication of description, only the configuration according to the present invention will be referred to. The print head used in this dot printer has one dot print line on each dot pitch line in the row direction and the column direction among the intersections where the tip of the dot print element intersects in the row direction and the column direction at an integral multiple of the print dot pitch. The dot print elements are arranged so that only the dot print elements exist and the dot print elements always exist on the adjacent dot pitch lines. As the array structure satisfying such an arrangement condition, the structures exemplified in FIGS. 1 (1) to (4) can be considered. Explaining FIG. 1 (1), this example is
For a print head using 24 pins, DP ₁ , DP
₂ , DP _{3 to} DP ₂₃ , DP ₂₄ are dot pin numbers, and DP is the dot pitch. In the case of such a dot pin array structure, if the direction of the characters is horizontal and the print head is moved along with the drive of the print head, an example of expanding the character of "Den" in (a) of FIG. As shown in, normal horizontal writing is possible in the line direction, and the character direction is
If is rotated 180 degrees, reverse horizontal writing is possible. Furthermore, if the character direction is vertical and the print head is conveyed along with the drive of the print head, it is also possible to print in the column direction, which is normal vertical writing, as shown in FIG.
In addition, if the direction of characters is the same as that shown in (b) rotated by 180 °, reverse vertical writing is possible. Therefore, in the dot printer according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, in the CPU 65, the character rotation means 65a for specifying the direction of characters and the like, and the drive control for specifying the drive control target at the time of printing. The target selecting means 65b is provided as a new configuration. The character rotating means 65a, in accordance with the code of the character to be printed stored in the RAM 67, when reading the character font memory 68 and converting into data such as the character currently printed,
Characters read based on the direction designation data preset in the ROM 66, or the direction designation data stored in the RAM 67 based on the interrupt input from the operation unit 64, or the command included in the code received from the host device 610. The data is expanded and rotated so that the direction of the printed characters matches the specified direction. Based on the rotated character data,
The print head drive circuit 61c drives each dot print element of the print head. When the print head illustrated in FIG. 1 is used, the character rotating means 65a rotates the direction of characters or the like for line direction printing or column direction printing. Switching from row-direction printing to column-direction printing is performed by marking the driving of each of the dot print elements DP _{1 to} DP _{24 on} the right side of each character dot number, as shown in a separate table attached to the last page of this specification. It is possible by converting the number of dot print elements to drive. Further, the drive control target selecting means 65b is for selecting one or both of the print head moving means 62c, 62 and the print paper transporting means 63c, 63 as a drive control target at the time of printing, and whichever is selected. Whether to do, control target designation data corresponding to the print mode preset in the ROM 66, or control target designation data stored in the RAM 67 based on an interrupt input from the operation unit 64, or a command received from the host device 610. It is determined by the control target designation data stored in the RAM 67 based on the above. Normally, when the direction of the character and the drive control target are not designated as an interrupt from the operation unit 64, for example, the direction of the character is horizontal and the control target is the print head moving means by presetting in the ROM 66. Then, by inputting a command from the operation unit 64 or a command from the host device 610, various combinations of the direction of characters and the drive control target can be performed. That is, the direction of the character can be horizontal, reverse horizontal, vertical, reverse vertical,
The drive control at the time of driving the print head may be only the movement of the print head, only the conveyance of the print paper, or the simultaneous control of the movement of the print head and the conveyance of the print paper. The control unit (CPU65,
The corresponding ones of the ROM 66, RAM 67, character font memory 68, drive circuit 61c, control circuits 62c, 63c) are drive-controlled. As described above, in the dot printer according to the present invention, by designating the character direction by the character rotating means 65a and selecting the object by the drive control object selecting means 65b, as shown in FIG. It is possible to print in various impossible printing formats. Is the print direction when printing is performed by moving the print head, and the printing direction is when printing is performed by moving the print head. is there. And are vertical and reverse vertical, respectively, and print by moving the print head, and are vertical and reverse vertical, respectively, and are print examples in the case of printing by moving the print paper. In addition, diagonal writing is possible if the print head is moved and the print paper is conveyed at the same time. As described above, the advantage of using a dot printer having a high degree of freedom in the printing format will be described with reference to FIG. 4 when printing on a passbook. In FIG. 4, (1) is a horizontal passbook, and (2) is a vertical passbook. As for the passbooks, the passbooks are bound from the folds, but when printing on these, they are opened centering on the folds and printed on the inner paper consisting of a plurality of sheets. Therefore, in the state where the passbook is opened, the left and right thicknesses are often different with the fold line in-between, except when the same number of inner sheets are distributed. Generally, when printing on a medium with a print head of a dot printer, the distance between the tip of the print head and the medium must be 1 mm or less because the stroke of the dot print element is small, and the distance must be the same. In the case of a horizontal passbook, as shown in FIG. 4 (1), the thickness of the passbook is uniform and does not change in the direction of printing one line. After printing, the passbook is repeatedly conveyed again, and when the passbook is conveyed over the folds of the passbook, the print head gap is set to a predetermined distance using a known print head gap adjusting means (not shown),
Printing is performed by printing or conveying paper. In the horizontal passbook shown in FIG. 4 (1), printing is performed by moving the print head with the character direction set to the same horizontal direction as in FIG. 1 (a). On the other hand, in the case of the vertical passbook, as shown in FIG. 4 (2), it is necessary to print on the spread pages having different thicknesses of the left and right passbooks with the fold line in between. The print head is moved along the c-face of the passbook to the position to be printed, and the character direction is turned 90 ° to the right by the character rotating means (Fig. 1 (b)).
(Corresponding to the direction rotated by 180 °)
The print head is driven while transporting with the surface first.
On the way, the print head distance is reset to a predetermined distance by the print head distance adjusting means at the fold position of the passbook, and the print head is driven while being conveyed again. By operating in this manner, it is possible to print on a vertical passbook as well as a horizontal passbook. In this case, since the passbook has a uniform thickness in the length direction of the platen, only a single platen need be used as in the case of FIG. 8 (1), and the structure is simple. .

【The invention's effect】

As described above, according to the dot printer of the present invention, the dot print elements of the print head do not overlap in either the row direction (print head moving direction) or the column direction (print paper conveyance direction). In addition to the above arrangement, it is possible to combine the rotation direction of the character by the character rotating means and whether to drive the print head while moving the print head or drive the print head while conveying the print paper. Therefore, the degree of freedom of the printing format on the paper is remarkably expanded, and various types of printing can be performed. Also, when printing on a passbook,
A posture in which the fold line is parallel to the moving direction of the print head,
That is, normal horizontal writing can be performed with the posture in which the thickness of the passbook is uniform with respect to the moving direction of the print head. On the other hand, with respect to the vertical passbook, in the same posture as described above, horizontal writing can be performed in the conveyance direction of the passbook. Therefore, for both the horizontal passbook and the vertical passbook, it is possible to print in a posture in which the passbook has a uniform thickness in the moving direction of the print head by selecting a printing format suitable for each. it can. Therefore, the dot printer only needs to have a single platen, and its structure can be unified, so that there is an effect that reliability is improved and value is reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing an arrangement example of the tip of a print head used in a dot printer according to the present invention, and explaining directional rotation of characters and the like, and FIG. 2 is means added to a control unit of the dot printer. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a printing example when printing is performed using the dot printer according to the present invention, FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a printing mode of a horizontal passbook and a vertical passbook, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a dot printer, FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing an arrangement example of the tip of a print head used in a conventional dot printer, and FIG. 7 is a printing example by a conventional dot printer. FIGS. 8A and 8B are explanatory diagrams regarding the gap adjustment between the print head and the platen in the case of the horizontal passbook and the vertical passbook, respectively.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A print dot having a plurality of dot printing elements, a print head moving means for moving the print head in a row direction, and a print paper transporting means for transporting print paper in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the print head. A dot printer for printing characters and the like on the printing paper, which comprises means for driving and controlling the printing head, the printing head moving means, and the printing paper transporting means, wherein the printing head has a tip of a dot printing element, Among the intersections that intersect in the row direction and the column direction that are integer multiples of the print dot pitch, only one dot print element exists on each dot pitch line in the row direction and the column direction, and on the adjacent dot pitch lines. The dot print element is arranged so that it is always present, and the expansion of the character data read from the character font memory is rotated. And a character rotating means for rotating the direction of a character or the like in a designated direction, and one of the print head moving means and the print paper transporting means, which is driven and controlled in parallel with the drive of the character head. Or, it has a drive control target selection means for selecting both simultaneously, and prints characters etc. continuously on the extension of the rotation direction of characters etc. by a combination of designation of the rotation direction of characters etc. and selection of the drive control target. A dot printer that is characterized by: