GB2213301A

GB2213301A - Printer

Info

Publication number: GB2213301A
Application number: GB8830414A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Won-Hoi Woo
Original assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 1987-12-30
Filing date: 1988-12-30
Publication date: 1989-08-09
Anticipated expiration: 2008-12-30
Also published as: GB8830414D0; DE3843104A1; GB2213301B; KR900003351B1; KR890009646A

Description

-S 2 2 13 3. 0, 1 PRINTER The present invention relates to printers and is

concerned particularly although not exclusively with the printer of an electronic cash register.

Referring to the drawings attached to this specification, Figure 1 shows the character arrangement 10 of a drum of a printer for a conventional cash register. An example of characters printed on a receipt by the printer is shown in Figure 2.

is When continuously printing data on a receipt as shown in Figure 2, the printer of a cash register prints the first line, and then feeds the paper. Thereafter, the second line is printed after drive of the drum of the printer is initiated by a reset pulse, and the third line is also printed after the drive of the drum is initiated by the reset pulse. Therefore, the character wheel of the drum must be rotated three times, thereby causing slowness of printing speed.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention aim to provide high speed printing in an electronic cash register.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided an ncolumn printer comprising: a character head carrying a plurality of characters to be printed; drive means for driving the character head through a plurality of positions in each of which a different one of said characters is presented for printing; print means for effecting printing on a.print medium of a character presented by said character head; n ports each arranged to receive a print signal and- to cause a presented character to be printed in a respective unique one of the n columns of the printer; a memory arranged to store print data for a current line to be printed, which data comprises a respective code stored for each port to represent the respective character to be printed for that port in the current line; and control means arranged to control operation of the printer such that:

(a) the character head is driven incrementally through a plurality of positions in which said characters are successively presented for printing; (b) a respective character code is generated to represent each character currently presented for printing; (C) each current character code is compared with the stored print data, and when it corresponds to a stored code for one or more of the ports, the or each such port is activated to cause printing of the desired character in the desired column; and (d) when a full line of n columns has been printed, a line feed is effected.

Preferably, the characters are arranged in an x x n array on the character head, such that there is provided for each of the n columns a choice of x possible characters to be printed.

At least some of the n columns of the character array may be identical.

Said characters may include one or more blank.

t, In an advantageous arrangement, the printer is a printer for a calculating machine and adapted to print numbers, at least principally.

The character head may be in the form of a drum.

The printer may be provided in combination with a keyboard arranged to input data to be processed and/or printed.

Preferably, the memory and control means are solid state electronic devices.

Preferably, the control means is arranged to control operation of the printer such that the character head is driven incrementally through a plurality of positions in which all of said characters are successively presented for printing.

The invention extends, with particular advantage, to a cash register provided with a printer embodying the first aspect of the invention.

in a second aspect, the invention provides a method of controlling a printing system in a printer of an electronic cash registersaid method comprising the steps of:- initiating drive of the drum by the reset pulse generated by rotation of a motor when continuously 30printing data in each line; increasing by one the value of the character pulse counter of a central processing unit whenever character pulses are inputted; and comparing the content of said character pulse 35counter with that of the print memory so as to drive the pertinent port when the both contents correspond with each other.

For a better understanding of the invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect reference will now be made, by way of example, to Figures 3 to 6 of the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:Figure 3 is a block diagram showing the functional parts-of a cash register employing a method of high speed printing; Figure 4 is a flow chart showing an example of operation of the cash register illustrated in Figure 3; is Figure 5 is a timing chart illustrating operation of the cash register; and Figure 6 is a diagram showing the structure of a print memory to explain operation of the cash register.

Referring to Figure 3, a central processing unit (CPU) 1 controls the system. ROM 4 contains a program for control means. RAM 5 stores the data required for the processing of the system. The system is operated by keyboard 6. Buzzer 7 indicates both key input and error state. A cabinet mechanism 8 is opened when a reckoning is completed, and stores the cash. Power supply 9 supplies the whole system with electric power, and includes a battery back-up so that all of the data produced during operation of the system may be stored in memory and be preserved during a mains power failure. Display 3 shows the user the state of reckoning. Printer 2 produces a receipt of reckoning.

The CPU 1 and printer 2 are connected by a line by which the CPU 1 provides a signal to control the motor for driving the drum of printer 2; a line to input a reset pulse by which the CPU 1 detects an initial value of the character wheel of the printer drum, a line to input character pulses by which the CPU 1 detects the present status of the character wheel; lines to control the paper and ribbon feeds of the printer, a line to control a solenoid for printing, a line to control a hammer solenoid, etc.

when checking or settling accounts to produce a receipt in use of the cash register, or changing the key input by the user, the data of several lines must be continuously printed on the receipt as shown in Figure 2. An example of the steps carried out to print such a receipt, utilising the cash register illustrated in Figure 3, will now be described with reference to the flow chart of Figure 4.

1 In Figure 4, the CPU 1 firstly enters print mode. It sets into an internal register the number of lines to be printed, switches on the printer motor, initialises the printer drum to an initial position, and resets an internal character pulse counter to 0, all by means of a reset pulse. At the same time, there is placed into a print memory the data to represent the first line of characters to be printed.

The CPU 1 then waits to receive a first character pulse from the printer 2.

Referring back to Figure 1, it may be seen that the array of characters on the drum comprises twelve columns, each of which contains thirteen characters. The f irst ten columns are identical, whilst the f inal two columns differ. - Associated with each row of characters on the 5 print drum array is a respective character pulse, which may have a value of between 0 and 12. Each of the twelve columns is assigned a respective port, numbered between port 0 and port 11.

The first character pulse to be received by the CPU 1 after print mode has been entered is the character pulse 11011, and this indicates that the printer drum is in such a position that the first row of characters is presented for printing. The value 1,011 of this character pulse corresponds to the current (initialised) setting of the character pulse counter that is shown on the flow chart of Figure 4. (Alternatively, the CPU 1 may regard generation of the initial reset pulse as equivalent to receipt of the first character pulse 0.) The CPU 1 compares the current value of the character pulse counter with codes stored in the print memory, for the first line of data to be printed. whenever the current value of the character pulse counter corresponds to the stored code for a respective one of the ports 0 to 11, then that port is activated, to cause printing of the character of the respective row on the printer drum, onto the print medium.

In the example illustrated in Figure 2, the first line of print comprises all of the characters shown in the first row of the printer drum - that is, a row of ten asterisks, followed by the characters 11CA11. Thus, in this example, the stored codes for all of the ports 0 to 11 indicate character pulse 11011, and therefore all of the Z1 -1 ports are activated to print the first line shown in Figure 2.

After one or more ports have been activated, the CPU 1 tests whether a whole line has been printed. For example, it may do this by checking whether all twelve ports 0 to 11 have been activated for the current line. If they have, then the current line is completed.

In the present example, with the completion of the first line after receipt of character pulse 11011, the decision box in Figure 4 "current line print completed?" gives the answer "YES". This results in the paper (or other print medium) being advanced by one line, and the register of lines to be printed being reduced by one.

A test is then made of whether the number of lines left to print equals 0. If the answer is "YES", then the print motor is switched off, and print mode is ended. If the answer is "NO", then the data for the next line to be printed is entered into the print memory.

Next, a test is made as to whether the character pulse counter has reached 12. If it has, it is reset to 0. If it has not, the character pulse counter is increased by one.

In the present example, after the first line of Figure 2 has been printed, then the print medium is fed by one line, and the value of the character pulse counter increased by one to 11111. The CPU 1 tests to see if the print memory contains a stored code of character pulse 11111 for any of the ports. In this example, the answer to this test is "NO", and therefore the character pulse counter is increased by one again, so that the character pulse counter then has a value of 11211.

In the present example, this is repeated until ther character pulse counter is incremented to the value 99511. This corresponds to the code stored for all of the print ports 0 to 11, and this is the example represented in Figure 6.

In these conditions, all of the ports 0 to 11 are -o print all of the characters corresponding activated, t to the character pulse 11511. As may be seen by comparing Figures 1 and 2, this results in a complete second line being printed, comprising ten digits 1,211 followed by the characters 11A011.

is After the second line has been printed, the paper is fed again by one line, and the character pulse counter continues to be incremented, along the lines described above.

when the character pulse counter reaches 111011, then the digits 11711 are printed via ports 6 and 9. When the character pulse counter is incremented to 111111, then the character 1'811 is printed via port 7. When the character pulse counter is incremented to 111211, then the numeral 11911 is printed via port 8.

Thereafter, the character pulse counter is reset to 11011, and this results in four asterisks being printed via ports 0 to 3. Finally, when the character pulse counter is incremented again to 1,111, two points are printed via ports 4 and 5, and the characters I'VK11 are printed via ports 10 and 11.

-g- This completes printing of the third line, which results in another line feed of the print medium. At this point, the register of line numbers to print reads 0,-which results in the print motor being turned off, and print mode being terminated.

It is to be understood that, in the above example, the print drum is incremented by one position, each time that a new character pulse is input to the CPU 10 10.

Thus, it will be appreciated that, in order to print the three lines of the receipt shown in Figure 2, it is necessary to drive the print drum through only one 15 complete revolution and two additional incremental steps. In comparison to the known printer system described at the beginning of this Specification, the speed of operation of the printer described with reference to Figures 3 to 6 may be approximately doubled.

-1 The above described example of operation is just one example, and alternative modes of operation may be employed.

The reader's attention is directed to all papers and documents which are filed concurrently with or previous to this specification and which are open to public inspection with this specification, and the contents of all such papers and documents are 30 incorporated herein by reference.

All of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or all of the steps of any 35 method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive.

Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example lo only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiment(s). The invention extends to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the steps of any method or process so disclosed.

Claims

1. An n-column printer comprising:

a character head carrying a plurality of characters to be printed; drive means for driving the character head through a plurality of positions in each of which a different one of said characters is presented for printing; print means for effecting printing on a print medium of a character presented by said character head; n ports each arranged to receive a print signal and to cause a presented character to be printed in a respective unique one of the n columns of the printer; a memory arranged to store print data for a current, line to be printed, which data comprises a respective code stored for each port to represent the respective character to be printed for that port in the current line; and control means arranged to control operation of the printer such that:

2. A printer according to Claim 1, wherein the characters are arranged in an x x n array on the character head, such that there is provided for each of the n columns a choice of x possible characters to be 5 printed.

3. A printer according to Claim 2, wherein at least some of the n columns of the character array are identical.

4. A printer according to Claim 1,2 or 3, wherein said characters include one or more blank.

5. A printer according to any of Claims 1 to 4, being a printer for a calculating machine and adapted to print numbers, at least principally.

6. A printer according to any of Claims 1 to 5, wherein the character head is in the form of a drum.

7. A printer according to any of Claims 1 to 6, in combination with a keyboard arranged to input data to be processed and/or printed.

8. A printer according to any of Claims 1 to 7, wherein the memory and control means are solid state electronic devices.

9. A printer according to any of Claims 1 to.8, wherein the control means is arranged to control operation of the printer such that the character head is driven incrementally through a plurality of positions in which all of said characters are successively presented for printing.

r 1 -13

10. A printer substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 3 to 6 of the accompanying drawings.

11. A cash register provided with a printer according to any of the preceding Claims.

12. A method of controlling a printing system in a printer of an electronic cash register, said method comprising the steps of:initiating drive of the drum by the reset pulse generated by rotation of a motor when continuously printing data in each line; increasing by one the value of the character pulse counter of a central processing unit whenever character pulses are inputted; and comparing the content of said character pulse counter with that of the print memory so as to drive the pertinent port when the both contents correspond with each other.

Published 1989 at The Patent Office, State lJouse, 6671 High Holborn,London WClR 4TP. Further copies inay be obta4nedfrom The patentoffice. Bales Branch, St Mary Cray, Orpington. Kent BR5 3RD. Printed by Multiplex techniques ltd, St MarY Cray, Kent, Gon. 1187