JPS618363A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a recording device that prints single characters and symbols, and images and video patterns such as graphs and drawings, and particularly relates to a recording device that prints images such as single characters and symbols, and images and video patterns such as graphs and drawings. In the dot printing method, the printing head is moved by a distance smaller than the printing width of one dot to perform overlapping printing, thereby increasing the printing density of the first and last dots in a continuous row of dots. This is what I did.

[Prior art]

Traditionally, RO'M (read only memory) for character generation is controlled by a control circuit such as a microcomputer.
There is a dot-type recording apparatus that prints a dot pattern on a recording medium while sequentially reading out print data in a dot pattern. In such a recording device, a recording head portion (hereinafter referred to as a head) that performs printing is mounted on a carriage 7, and the carriage moves in the printing direction (
The print element of the head prints a dot pattern in synchronization with the timing of movement in the main scanning direction.

However, in such conventional devices, printing is performed by making the print width of one dot of the printing element equal to the amount of movement of one dot of the head, which causes variations in the amount of dot movement due to the movement of the head. When doing so, there was an inconvenience that the dots overlapped or separated. In particular, battery-powered printing devices have severe voltage fluctuations, so
The occurrence of the above-mentioned inconveniences was remarkable. In order to prevent this inconvenience, a method has been proposed in which the head moves one dot smaller than the head's 1-dot printing width to perform overlapping printing, but it is possible to make the print density of each dot uniform. Therefore, at both ends of a series of dot rows, there was a drawback that the printed characters were thinner than the overlapping printed portions, and the printed characters were not clear.

〔the purpose〕

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a dot-type recording device which can print clear characters by eliminating the above-mentioned drawbacks and which can be powered by batteries.

The present invention increases the print density of the first and last dots in a continuous dot row in a dryer I print system in which the printing width of the printing element is larger than the amount of movement of the head for one dot, and overlap printing is performed. The aim is to achieve the above objectives by doing so.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to one drawing.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the appearance of the device of the present invention. Here, 4 is a carriage on which a thermal head 8, which will be described later, is mounted, and is movable in the H direction in the figure. 6 is a keyboard for inputting characters, symbols, etc.;

FIG. 2 schematically shows the thermal head 8 of FIG. As shown in this figure, the thermal head 8 has a printing element group 10 arranged in one row. If the width of this printing element group 10 is A, then A is the printing width of one dot. fOa indicates each printing element.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the connection state of each element constituting the apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG. Here, 12 is an input control section, which converts input data such as characters from the keyboard 6 into an internal signal and outputs it to the control circuit 14. The control circuit 14 is internally equipped with a microcomputer, a storage circuit, a calculation section, a ROM for generating characters of a Φ dot pattern, and operates according to a pre-stored program. 16 is a motor drive circuit. 18 is a head motor necessary for bringing the thermal head 8 into contact with and separating from the printing paper; 20
is a carriage motor for driving the carriage 4, 22
is a paper feed motor that feeds the printing paper in the sub-scanning direction. A drive signal is applied from the above-mentioned control circuit 14 to each motor 18, 20, 22 via the motor drive circuit 16, and the head motor 18, carriage motor 20, and paper feed motor 22 are driven. 24 is a thermal head drive circuit that drives the thermal head 8. The control circuit 14 drives the carriage motor 20, reads out the contents (dot pattern) of the built-in character generation ROM according to the input data, and drives the thermal radar drive circuit 24 according to the read dot pattern data. Then, the printing elements 10a of the printing element group 10 of the thermal head 8 whose contents correspond to the contents read from the ROM described above are heated to print characters, etc. on the printing paper. 26 is a battery, and 28 is a power supply circuit connected between the battery 26 and the control circuit 14, and this power supply circuit 28 serves as a driving source for the entire apparatus.

FIGS. 4A to 4D show dots when three dots are successively printed by each printing element 10a of the printing element group 10 of FIG. In this example, the head 8 is moved by the drive control of the control circuit 14 described above via the motor drive circuit 18 so that the amount of movement of the head 8 by one dot corresponds to the printing width of the printing element 10a. and each printing element 10
Overlapping printing is performed by a. That is, the dot 30 indicated by diagonal lines on the upper right in this figure (A) is the first dot printed (hereinafter referred to as the 1st dot), and 32 indicated by horizontal lines in this figure (CB) is the dot printed for the first time (hereinafter referred to as the 1st dot). ) is printed for the second time using the same printing element 7-10a as the dot 30 (hereinafter referred to as dot 30).

The dot 34 indicated by diagonal lines downward to the right in this figure (C) is the dot (hereinafter referred to as the 3rd dot) printed for the third time by the same printing element 10a as the dot 30 in this figure (A). In Figure 0, A represents the printing width of one dot as in the case of Figure 2. Also, as shown in this figure (D), dot printing @A is one dot of the thermal head 8. (A = 2B), and in order to ensure that the dots are printed overlapping, the first dot
A second dot 32, which is an overlapping portion where the dots overlap, is formed between the dot 0 and the third dot 34.

FIG. 5 shows the heat generation time of the printing element 10a of the thermal head 8 when printing the dot pattern shown in FIG. At this time, the time T for heating the first dot 30 and the third dot 34
The magnitude relationship between I and the time T2 for heating the second dot 32 is TI>T2. As a result, the difference in print density between the first dot 30 and the third dot 34 that do not overlap with the second dot 32 in the overlapping area shown in FIG. Become. Furthermore, in this example, the dot printing width A is twice the head movement amount B for one dot, so even if there is variation in the amount of dot movement, the dots will be separated and printed until A=H. However, in this example, the printing width A of the printing element group lO and the moving amount B of the head by one dot are determined to have the relationship A = 2B. >H, other relations (e.g. A = 3
It is also possible to maintain B).

Next, an example of the operation of the control circuit 14 shown in FIG. 3 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, after turning on the power, it waits for a print operation command from the keyboard 6, and when it is determined that there is a print operation command (step S1), the carriage motor 20 is driven via the motor drive circuit 1B (step S2), and then the thermal・It is determined whether or not the heating of the print head 8 is started, that is, the first dot is to be printed (step S3). If it is the first dot, the thermal head drive circuit sets the heating time of the thermal head 8 to TI (see FIG. 5). 24, the process returns to step S4) and returns to the carriage motor drive routine of step S2.

If it is determined in step S3 that the first dot is not printed, then it is determined whether the thermal heating is finished, that is, the last dot is printed (step S5), and if it is the last dot, the heating time of the thermal head 8 is determined. T1 is set to print (step S6), and the drive of the carriage motor 20 is stopped via the motor drive circuit 16 (step S6).
7), On the other hand, if it is determined in step S5 that it is not the last dot printing, the heating time of the thermal head 8 is set to 72 (
(see FIG. 5) and then prints via the thermal head drive circuit 24 (step S8), and returns to the carriage motor drive routine of step S2 again.

〔effect〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, one of the recording heads
The dot movement distance is made smaller than the 1-dot printing width to perform overlap printing and increase the print density at both ends of the first and last consecutive dots. This eliminates variations in printing between dots and improves the print density at both ends. Since the color becomes darker, it is possible to realize clear printing, and since the above-mentioned printing can be performed at a low voltage, it is possible to achieve a battery drive with a long operating life.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of the external appearance of the apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view showing an example of a schematic configuration of the recording head of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration of the apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example. FIGS. 4A to 4D are explanatory diagrams showing examples of dots printed by the printing element of FIG. 2. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the timing of heat generation time for performing the printing shown in FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the control circuit shown in FIG. 2. 4... Carriage, 6... Keyboard, 8... Head, 10... Printing element group, 10a... Printing element, 12... Input control section, 14... Control circuit, 16. ...Motor drive circuit, 1B, 19.22...Motor, 24...Thermal head drive circuit Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 (A) CB) (C) - Eights (D > Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] The printing width of the printing element of the recording head is formed to be larger than the amount of movement of one dot of the recording head, and when the printing element performs overlapping printing in the dot method, the first and last dots of the continuous dot row are A recording device characterized by controlling so that only print density is increased.