GB2145373A - Printing device with multiple margin setting - Google Patents

Abstract

A printer comprises a normal margin setting means, a second normal margin setting means and a provisional margin setting means having a particular key for setting a margin which is narrower than the width of the second normal margin, and a control unit which allows the printer to print characters and the like in accordance with the margins (RMPOS 1 & RMPOS 2) set by those two latter margin setting means. Under the control of the control unit, the margin is changed from the normal margin (RMPOS 1) to the provisional margin (RMPOS 2) due to depression of the particular key, while the margin is returned from the provision margin to the normal margin due to redepression of the particular key. The operation of the particular key is indicated by a lamp. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Electronic equipment BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present invention relates to an electronic equipment such as an electronic typewriter and the like and, more particularly, to such an equipment in which the margin setting operation can be easily performed.

Description of the prior art In conventional electronic equipment such as an electronic typewriter and the like, the operator can arbitrarily set the print start position, print end position and tabulation position by the margin setting operations. However, when the operator desires to temporarily set the print end position which has been preset, namely, the right margin into another position, he has to move the carriage to the right margin position which he wants to newly set, using the space key and backspace key and the like and thereby to set the new right margin.

In this case, since the right margin position which was previously set is extinguished, when the operator desires to reset the former right margin position, there is troublesomeness such that he has to newly carry out the operation to set the right margin position.

This resetting operation will be described in detail with reference to Fig. 1. For example, in case of printing sentences by providing a space S where nothing is printed as shown in the diagram, in order to set the right and left margin positions, the operator sets the left margin position into the position of LMPOS indicative of the print start position and further sets the right margin position into the position of RMPOSI representative of the print end position. Subsequently, after the sentences of the first to third lines Ll to L3 in the diagram were printed, it is necessary to provide the space S in the following fourth to seventh lines L4 to L7.

Therefore, the operator has to perform the printing operation while always paying attention to the position of RMPOS2 that is the leftmost position of the space S or has to reset the right margin position into the position of RMPOS2. In the latter case, uppon completion of the printing of the sentences until the seventh line L7, there is troublesomeness such that the right margin position has to be reset into the position of RMPOSI in the eight line L8.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an aim of the present invention to alleviate the above-mentioned drawbacks and to provide an electronic equipment which can temporarily set the margin by a simple operation by use of means which is capable of temporarily setting the margin when a space is provided on a print paper.

In accordance with the invention, there is provided an electronic equipment comprising: a printer; normal margin setting means; provisional margin setting means having a particular key for setting a margin which is narrower than the width of the normal margin; and a control unit which allows the printer to print characters and the like in accordance with the margins set by those two margin setting means. Under the control of the control unit, the margin is changed from the normal margin to the provisional margin due to depression of the particular key, while the margin is returned from the provision margin to the normal margin due to redepression of the particular key. The operation of the particular key is indicated by a lamp. Therefore, the temporary margin position can be easily set by a simple operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is an exaplanatory diagram showing an example of printing by a conventional apparatus and an electronic equipment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a schematic plan view showing an example of the arrangement of the electronic equipment according to the invention; Figure 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the system constitution of the electronic equipment of the invention of Fig. 2; Figure 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation procedure of the electronic equipment of the invention of Figs. 2 and 3; and Figure 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the control operation of the electronic equipment of the invention of Figs. 2 and 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The present invention will now be described in detail hereinbelow with reference to the drawings.

Figure 2 shows an example of the arrangement of an electronic equipment of the present invention. In the diagram, CRG indicates a carriage which moves a printing section (print head) in the main scanning direction with respect to a print paper. By depressing a space key SP and a backspace key BS, this carriage CRG can be moved along a guide rail GR within a range between a left limiter L.LMT and right limiter R.LMT.

LM denotes a left margin position setting key and RM is a right margin position setting key, and by depressing these keys LM and RM, the traveling range of the carriage CRG can be set. RTN return of the carriage CRG, and by depressing this key RTN, the carriage CRG is returned to the left margin position and the line-change is done. INDT indicates a left margin position setting key with an indication lamp Ll such as a light emitting diode or the like which is used when the left margin position is temporarily changed. R.INDT is a right margin position setting key with an indication lamp LR such as a light emitting diode or the like which is used when the right margin position is temporarily changed.Different from the ordinary right margin position setting key RM, the key R.INDT is used to set the right margin position into RMPOS2 to make, for instance, the space S shown in Fig. 1; therefore, it is referred to as the provisional right margin position setting key hereinbelow.

Figure 3 shows an example of the system constitution of the electronic equipment of the invention shown in Fig. 2. In this diagram, a reference numeral 1 denotes a keyboard unit which is equipped with character/symbol input keys such as alphabet keys and the like and various kinds of function keys (refer to Fig. 2) such as the above-described right margin position setting key RM and the like to instruct various functions. A numeral 2 is a control unit for controlling various components and elements such as the keyboard unit 1 and a print unit 3 (refer to Fig. 2) such as a serial printer or the like, etc. A memory unit 4 stores the information with regard to the line format of the right and left margin set positions, etc. An alarm unit 5 informs that the carriage CRG reached the provisional right margin position which had been set by the operator as will be explained later.

The input information input from the keyboard unit 1 is subjected to the processing in accordance with the input by the control unit 2. The processed result is sent to the print unit 3, memory unit 4 and alarm unit 5. At this time, the control unit 2 reads out the line format information stored in the memory unit 4. This line format information will be explained later.

The memory unit 4 has pointer and flag regions indicated at 4A to 4E. The pointer 4A indicates the left margin position which was set due to depression of the left margin position setting key LM. The pointer 4B indicates the right margin position which was set due to depression of the right margin position setting key RM. The pointer 4C indicates the position of the carriage CRG. The control unit 2 receives the key input information from the keyboard unit 1 and adds the traveling amount of the carriage CRG to a value of the pointer 4C when the print unit 3 is made operative.The pointer 4D indicates the provisional right margin position which was set due to depression of the provisional right margin position setting key R.INDT. The validity of the pointer 4D is discriminated in dependence upon a value of the flag 4E indicative of the provisional right margin position For example, when the value of the flag 4E is 1, the pointer 4D is determined to be valid and when it is "0", the pointer 4D is determined to be invalid.

Figure 4 shows an example of the operation procedure of the electronic equipment of the invention shown in Figs. 2 and 3, in which S41 to S48 represent each step of the operation procedure by the operator.

The case of Fig. 1 will be described. After the left and right margin positions were first set using the left margin position setting key LM, right margin position setting key RM, space key SP, and backspace key BS, the normal processings such as the input operation of the character keys and the like are performed from the keyboard unit 1(S41).

Thereafter, when it is determined that the carriage CRG reached the provisional right margin position RMPOS2 at the fourth line L4 of Fig. 1 (S42), the provisonal right margin position setting key R.INDT is depressed (S43). After confirming the lighting of the lamp of the key R.INDT due to this depression (S44), characters are input (S45). At this time, the position when the provisional right margin position setting key R.INDT was depressed is set into the provisional right margin position and the movement of the carriage CRG from the above-mentioned provisional right margin position RMPOS2 to the right is obstructed; therefore, it is possible to perform the inputting of characters and the like in the similar manner as in the case where the ordinary right margin position was set into the provisional right margin position RMPOS2.

Next, when it is determined that the above mentioned character inputting operation in the region between the left margin position LMPOS and the provisional right margin position RMPOS2 was finished (S46), the privisonal right margin position setting key R.INDT is again depressed (S47). This depression at the second time allows the lamp provided for the key R.INDT to be lit off, so that after confirming the extinction of the lamp (S48), the processing is returned to the normal processing again (S41). At this time, since the provisional right margin position is extinguished in association with the extinction of the lamp, the predetermined normal right margin position RMPOSI is made valid.

An example of the control operation of the electronic equipment of the invention shown in Figs. 2 and 3 will then be explained with reference to the flowchart of Fig. 5, in which SI to S15 indicate each step of the control procedure.

After the power supply was turned on, the normal left and right margin positions are set in accordance with the input and the like of the margin position setting keys LM and RM, space key SP, and backspace key BS, and the print unit 3 and the like are driven in accordance with the input of the character keys and the like, thereby performing the normal print processing operation (SI). Thereafter, when the provisional right margin position setting key R.INDT is depressed (S2), a value of the flag 4E indicative of the validitylinvalidity of the provisional right margin position setting key is discriminated to see if it is "1" or not (S3). If the value of the flag 4E is not "1", after "1" was stored in the flag 4E (S4), the value of the pointer 4C representing the position of the carriage CRG at this time is stored in the pointer 4D indicative of the provisional right margin position (S5). At theme time, the lamp of the provisional right margin position setting key R.INDT is lit on (S6).

Subsequently, by depressing the return key RTN, the line-change and return of the carriage CRG are done (57), then the inputting of the characters and print processing in response to the key input are performed, and the traveling amount of the carriage CRG is added to the pointer 4C (S8 to S10).

Whenever the traveling amount is added to the pointer 4C, the value of the pointer 4C and the value of the pointer 4D indicating the provisional right margin position are compared (sly). When the value of the pointer 4C is equal to or smaller than the value of the pointer 4D, namely, until the carriage CRG reaches the provisional right margin set position RMPOS2, the processing is returned to step S8 again and the above-mentioned operations are repeated.

Thereafter, when the carriage CRG reaches the provisional right margin set position RMPOS2 and the value of the pointer 4C becomes larger than the value of the pointer 4D, the alarm unit 5 is made operative (S12), thereby informing the operator that the carriage CRG reached the predeter mind provisional right margin position RMPOS2.

Then, the processing is returned to step S7 again and the foregoing operations are repeated. Thereafter, it is necessary to release the provisional right margin position (S13) and when the provisional right margin position setting key R.INDT is again depressed (52), it is determined in step S3 that the answer is YES since "1" is set into the flag 4E.

Thus, the value of the flag 4E is reset into "0" (S14) so as to release the provisional right margin position and the lamp of the provisional right margin position setting key R.INDT is lit off (S15).

Then, the processing is returned to step SI and the above-described processings are again repeated.

In this example, the case has been explained whereby the space S where nothing is printed was provided in the right portion of the print paper as shown in Fig. 1; however, this space S may be provided in other portions, for example, in the left portion of the print paper using the key INDT.

As described above, according to the present invention, the troublesomeness in setting of the margin position at every line can be eliminated by use of the particular key to set the provisional margin position; therefore, there is an effect such that the temporary margin position can be set by a simple operation. Further, if the state in that the particular key is kept depressed is indicated by the lamp, it is possible to easily check to see if the provisional margin is valid or not, thereby enabling the malfunction of the key to be avoided.

Claims (8)

1. An electronic equipment comprising: printing means; first magrin setting means; second margin setting means for setting a margin which is narrower than the width of said first margin; and control means for allowing said printing means to implement printing in accordance with the margins set given by said first and second margin setting means.

2. An electronic equipment according to claim 1, wherein said second margin setting means includes a particular key.

3. An electronic equipment according to claim 2, wherein said particular key is provided with indicator means for indicating that said key was operated.

4. An electronic equipment according to Claim 2, wherein said control means performs the control so as to change the margin from said first margin to said second margin due to depression of said particular key and to return the margin from the second margin to the first margin due to redepression of said, particular key.

5. An electronic equipment according to claim 1, wherein said second margin setting means also sets a right margin.

6. An electronic equipment according to Claim 5, further including alarm means for generating an alarm when the printing was performed until said right margin position by said printing means.

7. A printing control apparatus including means for setting margin to be left blank when matter is printed on a recording member, wherein said margin setting means is operable for the setting of a first margin, and a second margin which is to be used instead of the first margin but without cancellation of the first margin setting.

8. An electronic equipment substantially as herein before described with reference to the accompanying drawings.