JPH05162412A - Controlling method for printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve printing efficiency by making adjustment to head gap without stopping printing operation as much as possible when thickness of printing paper varies extremely. CONSTITUTION:In the case where a carriage driving motor fails in driving operation (203), printing paper is retreated by reverse line feeding (209), then the carriage driving motor is started again (208) for driving operation and after head gap is adjusted automatically (204), the printing paper is fed by normal line feeding (206) for the amount equivalent to the previous reverse line feeding, and printing operation is continued (207) afterward.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of controlling a printer having an automatic head gap adjusting mechanism using a carriage drive motor as a drive source.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a conventionally known automatic head gap adjusting mechanism.
FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the main part thereof. 4 and 5, the head gap automatic adjustment mechanism is assembled with the case 1 as a base body and is fixed to the carriage frame 29 by a carriage drive motor 2 as a space motor.
Is placed on the upper surface of. On the upper surface of the carriage driving motor 2, an adjusting screw 3 having a gear 3a integrally formed thereon is provided, and a gear 4 attached to a rotary shaft 2a of the carriage driving motor 2 so as to be integrally rotatable. It is arranged.

On the other hand, the case 1 is made of a synthetic resin material in the shape of a hexahedron and has an open upper surface. A hole 5 is formed in the lower surface of the case 1 so that the gear 3a on the carriage drive motor 2 side is disposed therethrough.
And a hole 6 for arranging the gear 4 therethrough are formed, and the four posts 7, 8, 9, 10 are integrally provided in a state of directly projecting toward the upper surface side. There is. Of these, a circumferential groove 12 with which the snap ring 11 is engaged is provided on the upper end side of the post 9 (see FIG. 5). Further, a detent bar 13 is integrally formed on the lower surface of the case 1. This detent bar 13 has one end fixed to the lower surface,
The other end side extends freely along this lower surface. Further, a semicircular projection 13a is integrally provided on the free end side of the detent bar 13, and the entire detent bar 13 has a spring property. In addition, inside the case 1, in addition to the reinforcing ribs 14, a stay 15 and a projecting wall 16 are provided. Of these, the stay 15 has a spring property,
A stay post 17 is integrally provided on the upper surface in a state of protruding upward. On the other hand, on the upper surface of the protruding wall 16, a pair of posts 18 are integrally provided in a protruding state.

In the case 1 thus constructed, an idle gear 19 is rotatably attached to the post 7. A cam 20 is attached to the post 8 and a change gear 21 is attached to the post 9. Further, the post 10 has a gear portion 22 at both ends.
An idle gear 22 having a and 22b is rotatably attached. In the post 9, the spring 23 is attached after the change gear 21 is attached. Further, after that, the snap ring 11 is engaged with the circumferential groove 12 in a state where the spring 23 is compressed, and the change gear 21 is always pushed downward by the urging force of the spring 23. In addition, a metallic stopper 24 is integrally attached to the stay post 17 on the stay 15 by inserting and engaging a stopper hole 24a provided at the substantially center of the stopper 24, and attached to the post 18 of the projecting wall 16. Plunger 25
The stopper hole 25a of the plunger 25 is inserted and engaged and attached. In addition, this plunger 25
Is composed of a core portion 25A and a coil portion 25B, and the coil portion 25B is attached by being connected to a power source 27 via a switch 26 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. Then, as shown in FIG. 7, the switch 26 is closed to close the coil unit 2.
When a current I is applied to 5B, a magnetic field is generated, whereby the stopper 24 can be attracted.

The cam 20 as a single piece is shown in FIGS.
As also shown in detail in its structure, the gear portion 20A
And a cam portion 20B formed in the shape of a disc having a larger outer dimension than the gear portion 20A, a detent portion 20D, and a gear portion 20E, etc. are sequentially stacked below the gear portion 20A. , Are integrally formed of a synthetic resin material. Of these, the gear unit 20A is the gear unit 20A.
When the thickness dimension of H is H, a toothless portion 20F is formed in the half portion above the half with toothless portions 20f provided at eight positions at 45 degree intervals. ing. Further, the cam portion 20B includes a portion 20F of the toothless portion 20F.
Flat portions 20b are provided at eight positions with substantially the same width as f. The flat portions 20b are mountain-shaped, and the height of the apex is substantially flush with the lower surface of the gear portion 20A. On the other hand, the detent portion 20D is provided with the protrusion 13a of the detent bar 13 and the detent recess 20d capable of detent locking at eight positions at the same pitch of 45 degrees as the portion 20f of the toothless portion 20F. ..

In this head gap automatic adjusting mechanism, when the case 1 is arranged on the upper surface of the carriage drive motor 2, the gear 3a is arranged in the case 1 through the hole 5 and the gear 4 is formed in the hole. It is disposed in the case 1 through 6.

On the other hand, in the case 1, the gear 3a is meshed with the gear 19, and the gear 19 is further meshed with the gear portion 20E of the cam 20. On the other hand, the gear 4 meshes with the gear portion 22a of the idle gear 22, and the gear portion 22b of the idle gear 22 meshes with the change gear 21.

On the other hand, a rack 28 meshed with the gear 4 is provided outside the case 1. Further, the rack 28 has a carriage frame 29 and a print head 3 attached thereto.
0 is attached so that it can move integrally.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show the operating states of the above-described automatic head gap adjusting mechanism during printing (FIG. 6) and during head gap adjustment (FIG. 7). This Figure 6
The operation of the automatic head gap adjusting mechanism shown in FIG. 4 will be described below with reference to FIG.

First, the operation of the carriage frame 29 is as follows.
When the carriage drive motor 2 power-connected to the carriage frame 29 via the rack 28 and the gear 4 rotates, the carriage drive motor 2 moves in the arrow X or Y direction in FIG. 4 according to the rotation direction of the carriage drive motor 2. This is repeated during the printing operation, and therefore the gear 4, the idle gear 22, and the change gear 21 are always in the X position.
Or it is rotating in the Y direction. However, at the time of printing, as shown in FIG. 6, the change gear 21 is at the same height as the portion 20f of the toothless portion 20F of the cam 20, and the change gear 21 and the gear portion 20A of the cam 20 mesh with each other. The cam 20, the idle gear 19, and the adjusting screw 3 do not rotate because the cam 20 is not in operation.

Next, when adjusting the head gap,
Rotate the adjusting screw 3. The adjusting screw 3 is rotated as follows.
That is, as shown in FIG. 7, when the carriage frame 29 is moving in the X (or Y) direction in FIG. 4, that is, when the gear 4 is rotating in the arrow X (or Y) direction in FIG. When the switch 26 is turned on and the current I is supplied from the power source V to the coil portion 25B of the plunger 25, the core portion 2
A magnetic field is generated at 5A. Then, the stopper 24, which has been displaced to the cam 20 side by the stay 15 and held at the position having the gap G (see FIG. 6) between the stay 15 and the plunger 25, is elastically deformed by the stay 15 and then the plunger 2 moves.
5 is sucked. As a result, the overlap amount of the portion A between the stopper 24 and the change gear 21 disappears, and the change gear 21 falls downward due to the urging force of the spring 23. Further, at this point, the power supply to the coil portion 25B of the plunger 25 is cut off.

On the other hand, when the change gear 21 falls downward, the change gear 21 meshes with the gear portion 20A of the cam 20. In addition, the carriage drive motor 2 is, for example, X
When rotated in the (or Y) direction, the cam 20 is also rotated in the X (or Y) direction. At that time, change gear 2
Since a part of the bottom portion of No. 1, that is, the portion B in FIG. 4 is on the cam portion 20B of the cam 20, the change gear 21 is pushed upward along the mountain shape of the cam portion 20B at the same time as the rotation of the cam 20. Be done. When the change gear 21 reaches the peak of this mountain shape, the coil portion 25B has already been reached.
Since the energization to the stopper 25 is cut off, the stopper 24 released from the plunger 25 slips under the change gear 21 by the elastic deformation force of the stay 15, and the stopper 24 shown in FIG.
Return to the printing state of.

When the change gear 21 is pushed upward, the height of the toothless portion 20F of the cam 20 is reached, so that the change gear 21 and the cam 20 are disengaged from each other.
This prevents the cam 20 from rotating any further. At this time, the tip projection 13a of the detent bar 13 is attached to the cam 2
The change gear 21 and the cam 20 are prevented from meshing with each other due to a disturbance factor such as vibration, which is positioned and engaged with a recess 20d provided in the detent portion 20D of No. 0. With the above operation, the cam 20 rotates 45 degrees. At the same time, the gear 20
The adjusting screw 3 is also rotated by a certain amount due to the engagement of E and the gear 3a. Therefore, if this operation is performed n times, the adjusting screw 3 also rotates n times in the X (or Y) direction. As a result, the adjusting screw 3 rotates by a certain amount in both X and Y directions, and at the same time, the carriage frame 29 rotates about a carriage shaft (not shown) to adjust the head gap.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing an example of a processing procedure when the printing paper becomes extremely thick in the line feed direction during the printing operation in the conventional printer. The conventional processing procedure will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 13 together with the automatic head cap adjustment mechanism shown in FIGS. First, in step 101, when it is detected that the printing paper has become extremely thick,
The coil portion 25B of the plunger 25 is energized.
Then, the head gap is adjusted and printing is continued (steps 102 to 105). However, if the thickness of the printing paper becomes extremely thick, the printing paper is caught between the ribbon guide and the platen (not shown), and the carriage drive motor 2 is driven NG, that is, stopped by the overload at this time, The drive of the carriage drive motor 2 is retried n times, and if the drive is still impossible, an alarm is issued and the printing operation is stopped (steps 106, 1).
07).

[0015]

As described above, in the conventional printer control method, when the print sheet becomes extremely thick in the line feed direction, the carriage drive motor is tried to drive n times, and still When it cannot be driven, an alarm is generated and the operation is stopped. For this reason, the printing operation is immediately stopped, and the head gap adjusting mechanism cannot sufficiently exert its function. Further, since the printing operation is frequently stopped, there is a problem that the printing efficiency is poor.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to prevent the printing operation from stopping as much as possible when the carriage drive motor stops due to an extreme change in the thickness of the printing paper. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printer control method capable of improving the printing efficiency by adjusting the head gap and continuing the printing operation.

[0017]

In order to achieve the above object, a printer control method according to the present invention uses a carriage drive motor which is used as a drive source of an automatic head gap adjusting mechanism having a carriage drive motor as a drive source. When the drive cannot be driven, the carriage drive motor is tried to drive n times. If it is still not possible, the print paper is retracted by a new line and the carriage drive motor is tried again, and the head gap is automatically adjusted. After performing the above, the line feed is continued by the line feed amount corresponding to the previous line feed, and the printing operation is continued.

[0018]

According to this structure, when the carriage drive motor cannot be driven, the printing paper is returned by a reverse line feed, the carriage drive motor is set in the drivable state, the head gap is adjusted, and the printing operation is continued. Therefore, even if an extreme change occurs in the thickness of the printing paper, the head gap can be adjusted without stopping the printing operation as much as possible.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a printer including an automatic head gap adjusting mechanism using a carriage drive motor as a drive source according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In the printer to which the present invention is applied, it is possible to use general mechanical parts as they are, such as the head gap automatic adjusting mechanism and the printing mechanism part. Therefore, in the description of the embodiments of the present invention, it is assumed that the automatic head gap adjusting mechanism uses the mechanism portion shown in FIGS. 4 to 12 as it is, and the members corresponding to FIGS. And explain.

The block diagram of the essential parts of the printer shown in FIG. 2 will be further explained.
U) 31. Further, the control unit 31 includes a random access memory (RAM) 32 for storing print characters and print control commands given from the control unit 31, and a read only memory (RO) in which a control program is burned.
M) 33, the counter 34, and the sensor 35 are connected, the carriage drive motor 2 via the carriage drive control circuit 36, the line feed motor 38 via the line feed motor drive control circuit 37, and the print head drive control circuit. The print head 30 is connected via 39, and the plunger 25 and the like are connected via a plunger control circuit 40.

FIG. 1 is a ROM 33 in the printer according to this embodiment for executing a process in a predetermined procedure when the printing paper becomes extremely thick in the line feed direction during the printing operation. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a flow chart showing an example of a built-in program, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an operating state of a printer controlled by this program. In FIG. 3, the print head 3 is located at the print position.
A rotatable platen 41 is arranged so as to face 0, and a continuous printing paper 43 is provided between the platen 41 and the print head 30 by a push tractor 42.
Is being fed. Further, the rotation of the platen 41 and the drive source of the push tractor 42 here use the line feed motor 38, and the drive force of the line feed motor 38 is transmitted via the gears 44, 45, 46 to the platen 41 and the push tractor 42. Be transmitted to.

Next, the control procedure shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. First, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), the push tractor 42 causes the print paper 43 to move to the print head 30.
In the state where the printing operation is performed while being fed between the platen 41 and the platen 41, the printing paper 43 is fed by the sensor 35.
When it is detected (step 201), the coil portion 25B of the plunger 25 is energized and the coil is coiled only when the head gap is widened, that is, when the cam 20 operates in one direction of the X (or Y) direction. Energize the portion 25B to widen the head gap (step 2
02). Then, in step 203, if the carriage drive motor 2 does not become the drive NG, that is, if the drive is continued without stopping, the process proceeds to step 204, and FIG.
The same operation as described with reference to FIG. 5 is performed to adjust the head gap between the print head 30 and the platen 41. Further, after the head gap adjustment, the routine proceeds to step 204, and at the time of the head gap adjustment, it is judged whether or not the line feed motor 38 is reversely rotated for the head gap adjustment and the line feed is performed (step 205). Here, since the line feed was not performed backward, steps 205 to 20 are executed.
7, the printing operation is continued.

On the other hand, in step 202, the thickness of the printing paper 43 is larger than the adjustment amount, even though the head gap is widened, and the platen 41 is moved.
If the print paper 43 bites between the print head 30 and the print head 30 and the load on the carriage drive motor 2 is increased, and the carriage drive motor 2 is stopped, that is, the drive becomes NG, the carriage drive is performed. Retry driving the motor 2. The number of trials (number of NGs) is counted by the counter 34 in step 208. If the carriage drive motor 2 is driven before the number of trials reaches n, the process proceeds to step 204 and is processed.

On the other hand, if the carriage drive motor 2 is not driven even if the number of trials reaches n, the process proceeds to step 209 and the line feed motor 38 is rotated in the reverse direction. Then, as shown in FIG. 3B, the platen 41 and the push tractor 42 are also reversed, and the printing paper 43 is reversely fed by a predetermined amount. As a result, the print paper 43 is not bited between the platen 41 and the print head 30 and the load is reduced, and when the carriage drive motor 2 is driven,
From step 210 to step 204, the head gap adjustment is performed. Also, after adjusting the head gap,
The process proceeds to step 205, and it is determined in this step 205 whether or not a reverse line feed has been performed for head gap adjustment. In this case, since the reverse line feed has already been performed in step 209, the process proceeds to step 206. And this step 206
3. The line feed motor 38 is rotated in the forward direction, and the line feed is performed by the amount of the reverse line feed as shown in FIG. 3C, the print head 30 is aligned with the line before the reverse line feed, and the process proceeds to step 207 to print. To continue.

On the other hand, in step 210,
If the carriage drive motor 2 is still not driven, an alarm is issued and at the same time the printing operation is stopped to prompt the operator for processing.

Therefore, in this embodiment, it is not necessary to stop the entire printing operation every time the carriage drive motor 2 stops, and it is sufficient to stop the carriage drive motor 2 only when the carriage drive motor 2 is not driven even if the line feed is reversed. become.

In the above embodiment, the case where continuous paper is used as the printing paper 43 has been described, but this may be a single-cut paper.

[0028]

As described above, according to the printer control method of the present invention, when the carriage drive motor cannot be driven, the printing paper is returned by the reverse line feed so that the carriage drive motor can be driven. Since the head gap is adjusted and the printing operation is continued, even if there is an extreme change in the printing paper thickness, the head gap can be adjusted without stopping the printing operation as much as possible, improving the printing efficiency. It can be expected to be effective.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an example of a control procedure according to a printer control method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a main part configuration of a printer to which the invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is an operation state diagram for explaining a control method of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration layout diagram showing an example of a head gap automatic adjustment mechanism in a conventionally known printer.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a main part of the same head gap automatic adjustment mechanism as above.

FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory diagram of the same head gap automatic adjustment mechanism as shown in a state during printing.

FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory diagram of the head gap automatic adjusting mechanism, which is the same as the head gap adjusting state shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a single cam in the same head gap automatic adjustment mechanism.

FIG. 9 is a front view of the same cam.

FIG. 10 is a side view of the same cam.

FIG. 11 is a bottom view of the same cam.

FIG. 12 is a partially enlarged perspective view of the same cam.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a conventional printer control method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Case 2 Carriage drive motor 30 Print head 38 Line feed motor 43 Print paper

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Takao Uchida 1-7-12 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A printer provided with a head gap automatic adjustment mechanism using a carriage drive motor as a drive source, when the carriage drive motor cannot be driven, the drive of the carriage drive motor is tried n times, and the drive is still not possible. In this case, the printing paper is retracted by a reverse line feed and the carriage drive motor is retried, and after the head gap is automatically adjusted, the line feed is continued by the line feed amount corresponding to the previous reverse line feed and the printing operation is continued. A method for controlling a printer, characterized in that