JPS6248170B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a pen initialization method for identifying the position of a recording pen in a multi-pen recording device.

Generally, in a multi-pen recording device that has a pen wheel in which several recording pens are arranged radially, and the recording pens are replaced by sequentially rotating the pen wheel in one direction, the desired recording pen is selected. When the power is turned on or when recording starts, it is necessary to detect at what position the recording pen, that is, the pen wheel, is currently stopped so that the recording pen can be used as a printer. For example, after the power is turned on or the pen wheel is attached, the pen position information stored in the control circuit that controls recording pen selection operations may not match the actual recording pen position. If a recording operation is started in this state, the intended recording color and the actual recording color may not match, and the recording result may become meaningless.

Pen initialization is the process of identifying the position of the recording pen and initializing the pen position information stored in the control circuit etc. so that it matches the actual position of the recording pen. By doing so, it becomes possible to reliably select a recording pen during a recording operation.

Conventionally, as means for identifying the position of the recording pen for such pen initialization, a switch mechanism has been used that switches in conjunction with the rotation of the pen wheel and generates an address signal or the like representing the rotational position. ing. However, in such a device, a switch mechanism for generating an address signal must be built into the pen cartridge together with the pen wheel, and electrical wiring must be provided to the pen cartridge that slides over a wide range. However, the disadvantage is that the paint cartridge becomes large and heavy, and the load on the servo system that drives the paint cartridge increases.

The present invention eliminates the drawbacks of the conventional device as described above, does not add an extra mechanism to the pen cartridge, does not require electrical wiring to the pen cartridge, and identifies the position of the pen wheel with a simple configuration. The purpose of this invention is to provide a method for initializing a pen that can be performed.

In the pen initialization method of the present invention, cams with different radii at specific positions are integrally attached to the pen wheel, and while the pen wheel is rotated to replace the recording pen, the cam is used to adjust the sliding of the pen wheel. A switch placed at one end of the movement range is driven, and the rotational position of the pen wheel is detected by utilizing the fact that the timing at which the switch is driven changes depending on the shape of the cam, and the recording pen is initialized. It is something.

The pen initialization method in the multi-pen recording device of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of a mechanical part used in the pen initialization method of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a pen wheel, 11, 12
. . . is a recording pen arranged radially around the outer periphery of the pen wheel 1, 2 is a pen cartridge that rotates the pen wheel 1 to exchange the recording pens 11, 12, and so on, and slides the pen wheel 1. 3 is a pen cartridge. These sliding shafts constitute a multi-pen recording device that performs recording by sequentially rotating the pen wheel 1 in one direction to select any recording pen 11, 12, . . . . Further, 4 is integrally attached to the pen wheel 1, and a cam portion 41 is placed at a position corresponding to the rotational position of the pen wheel 1.
~44, here the cam portion 44
is formed with a larger radius than the other cam portions 41-43. A switch 5 is disposed at one end of the sliding range of the pen wheel 1 and is driven by the cam 4 in accordance with the sliding movement of the pen wheel 1.

In the multi-pen recording device configured as described above, when the pen wheel 1 is moved in the direction of arrow a in the state shown, the cam portion 41 of the cam 4 hits the switch 5 and drives the switch 5. Further, once the paint cartridge 2 has moved to this point, it is stopped at this position by the action of a stopper (not shown) or the like. At this time, in the servo system that drives the pen wheel 1, a feedback signal is generated as a position signal related to the sliding position of the pen wheel 1, so the value of the feedback signal is Sample and memorize.
That is, this means that the timing at which the cam 4 drives the switch 5 in response to the sliding of the pen wheel 1 is stored using the position information of the pen wheel 1 at that time.

Next, the pen wheel 1 is returned a certain distance in the direction of arrow b, and the pen wheel 1 is rotated in the direction of arrow c to exchange the recording pens 11, 12, and so on. move it in the direction of At this time, if the cam part that drives the switch 5 is 42, the radius of this part is equal to the cam part 41 that drove the switch 5 last time, so
The next value of the feedback signal sampled and stored will be equal to the previous value.

Therefore, it can be seen from these results that the values of the feedback signals stored when the switch 5 is driven by the cam parts 41 to 43 are all equal, and when the switch 5 is driven by the cam part 44, only, the value of the feedback signal will change,
The position of cam portion 44 can be detected. In other words, by comparing and monitoring the values of the feedback signals sampled and stored, the rotational position of the pen wheel 1 when the value of the feedback signal changes is detected,
If this is used as the reference position of the pen wheel 1, the rotational position of the pen wheel 1 can be identified during the reciprocating movement of the pen wheel 1 as described above, and based on this, the recording pen position in the recording device can be determined. A selection operation can be initialized.

As described above, in the pen initialization method of the present invention, only a cam and a switch are added as a mechanism for identifying the rotational position of the pen wheel, and the rest can be processed by an electric circuit, so that the pen cartridge There is no need to provide electrical wiring to the servo system, and the load on the servo system does not increase significantly.

Note that the pen wheel operation as described above is programmed in advance and is executed when the power is turned on or when recording is started. In addition, in multi-pen recording devices, it may be necessary to initialize the coordinates of the servo system at the same time as initializing the recording pen, but if we focus on the fact that the switch is placed at a fixed position, it is possible to perform sampling at the same time as the switch is driven. Using the stored feedback signal value, the coordinates of the servo system can be initialized at the same time.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the cam 4 shown in FIG. 1 described above. The cam 4 shown in the figure has only a specific cam portion 44 protruding.
That is, in the cam 4, only the radius of the cam portion 44 needs to be different from the other cam portions 41 to 43.
It is not necessary to specifically form 3 as a protrusion.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of an electric circuit portion used in the pen initialization method of the present invention. The circuit shown in the figure is an example of an open-loop servo system that uses a pulse motor as a drive source for a pen wheel. In the figure, PM
is the pulse motor, DR is the drive circuit for the pulse motor PM, PG is the pulse oscillator, UD is the up-down counter, and CNT is the control circuit that controls the operation of the servo system. These constitute an open-loop servo system. The control circuit CNT controls the driving direction of the pulse motor PM and the counting direction of the up-down counter UD by the control signal S _C , and the up-down counter UD sends its count output to the feedback signal S _F
It is fed back to the control circuit CNT. Also, ME
is a memory circuit, COM is a comparison circuit, and a memory circuit
ME samples and stores the feedback signal S _F in accordance with the timing signal S _T generated by driving the switch, and the comparator circuit COM compares the values of the feedback signal S _F sequentially stored and controls the comparison results. Transmit to circuit CNT.

In the servo system configured as described above, the operation associated with initialization of the recording pen is as follows. First, the control circuit CNT generates a control signal S _C to move the pen wheel in the direction in which the switch is placed. At this time, the up-down counter
UD counts pulse signals according to the moving direction of the pen wheel, generates a feedback signal S _F corresponding to the sliding position of the pen wheel, and feeds it back to the control circuit CNT.

Now the pen wheel has moved to its end and
When the cam attached to the pen wheel drives the switch, the switch sends a timing signal S _T
is generated and applied to the memory circuit ME. In response, the memory circuit ME samples and stores the value of the feedback signal S _F at the moment when the timing signal S _T is generated. Also, the comparator circuit COM compares the value of the feedback signal S _F stored at this time with the already recorded value, but since there is no previous value here,
The comparison output becomes undefined, and the output at this time is also ignored in the control circuit CNT.

Next, the control circuit CNT reverses the pulse motor PM to move the pen wheel a certain distance in the opposite direction. At this time, the counting direction of the up-down counter UD is reversed. After moving the pen wheel away from the switch, the control circuit CNT rotates the pen wheel to exchange the recording pen, and moves the pen wheel toward the switch again.

Now, when the pen wheel reaches the end again and the cam drives the switch, the value of the feedback signal _SF at that time is stored in the memory circuit ME according to the timing signal _ST .
is sampled and stored in the comparator circuit.
It is compared with the previous stored contents in COM, and the result is transmitted to the control circuit CNT. Here, if the radius of the cam part of the cam that drove the switch is the same as the previous time, the switch will be driven with the pen wheel at the same position as the previous time, so sampling will be stored accordingly. The value of the feedback signal S _F also becomes equal to the previous value. Also, if a specific cam part drives the switch, and the radius of that part is larger than other parts, the switch will be driven with the pen wheel in a position slightly closer to you. Since the time at which the timing signal S _T is generated becomes earlier in accordance with this, the value of the feedback signal S _F that is sampled and stored also becomes different.

The control circuit CNT monitors the output of the comparator circuit COM and repeats the above control operation until the value of the sampled and stored feedback signal S _F changes.
When a change in memory content is detected, the control circuit CNT
stops the drive of the pen wheel, performs a memory pen selection operation based on the rotational position of the pen wheel at that time, and starts a recording operation. In other words, if the correspondence between the cam installation position and the recording pen does not change, no matter what state the pen wheel is in when the power is turned on, the rotational position of the pen wheel will be automatically identified and the recording pen will be activated. The selection operation of can be initialized. In addition, the memory circuit
By using the value of the feedback signal S _F stored in the ME, the coordinates in the servo system can be initialized at the same time.

Although the above explanation does not specifically describe the recording pen exchange mechanism, for example, if a device that can rotate the pen wheel from a part other than the pen cartridge is applied as the recording pen exchange mechanism, it will be possible to change the recording pen to the pen cartridge. electrical wiring can be completely eliminated. A mechanical switch (micro switch) is also used as a switch driven by a cam attached to the pen wheel.
Although this example is not limited to,
A similar operation can be performed using an optical switch using a photo interrupter or the like. In this case the cam acts as a shield. moreover,
The servo system to which the pen initialization method of the present invention is applied is not limited to a digital servo system using a pulse motor, but the present invention is also applicable to an analog servo system using a DC motor.

As explained above, in the pen initialization method for the multi-pen recording device of the present invention, cams with different radii at specific positions are integrally attached to the pen wheel, and the recording pen is replaced by rotating the pen wheel. However, for this reason, this cam drives a switch placed at one end of the pen wheel's sliding range, and the rotational position of the pen wheel is detected by utilizing the fact that the timing at which the switch is driven changes depending on the shape of the cam. Then, the recording pen is initialized, so
To provide a pen initialization method that does not add an extra mechanism to a pen cartridge part, does not require electrical wiring to the pen cartridge part, and can identify the position of a pen wheel with a simple configuration.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 3 are configuration diagrams showing one embodiment of a mechanical part and an electric circuit part used in the pen initialization method of the present invention. 1... Pen wheel, 2... Pen cartridge,
3...Sliding shaft, 4...Cam, 5...Switch,
PM...Pulse motor, DR...Motor drive circuit,
PG...pulse oscillator, UD...up/down counter, CNT...control circuit, ME...memory circuit,
COM……Comparison circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a multi-pen recording device that has a pen wheel in which a plurality of recording pens are arranged radially, and in which the recording pens are replaced by sequentially rotating the pen wheel in one direction, it is possible to create shapes with different radii at specific positions. a cam that is integrally attached to the pen wheel; and a switch that is arranged at one end of the sliding range of the pen wheel and is driven by the cam. The switch is driven by the cam using the sliding motion of the pen wheel, and a position signal of a servo system generated in relation to the sliding position of the pen wheel is sampled and stored in accordance with the timing when the switch is driven. Pen initialization in a multi-pen recording device, in which the rotational position of the pen wheel is detected by comparing the values of these stored position signals to determine the part of the cam that drove the switch. Method.