Patent US6366380B1 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
Patent EP0562477A2 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
EP0562477A2
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EP
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Printing head and its drive timing control circuit for impact printer
Assignee: Seiko Epson Corp
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Filing: 1993-03-19
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2013-03-19
Abstract
Abstract In a serial impact printer, a printing head having an impact wire pin array of two arrangement lines is mounted on a carriage in such a way that the pin arrangement lines are inclined by an angle ϑ with respect to the virtual vertical direction. The respective wire pins in the array are driven at timings different delay time by delay time according to the inclination angle ϑ. The control circuit for determining the drive timings comprises a circuit for turning on the respective wire pins at the delay time intervals and a circuit for turning off the respective wire pins in sequence at the delay time intervals after a predetermined time has elapsed. It is desirable that the inclination angle ϑ satisfies the following formula: tan ϑ ≦ a / (2 · b) where 2a denotes the pitch between two adjacent wire pins arranged along a single arrangement line of the array, and b denotes a distance between the two arrangement lines of the array.
Inventors
- 👤 Hiroshi Shirotori
- 👤 Katsuhiko Nishizawa
- 👤 Shigeki Mizuno
- 👤 Teturo Takahashi
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-05 20:49
CPC Classifications
B; B41; B41J; B41J2/00; B41J2/485; B41J2/505; B41J2/5056
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 6
Claim 1
Independent Claim
150 words
A circuit of an impact printer provided with a printing head including an array composed of impact elements arranged being inclined with respect to a virtual vertical direction, for controlling timing of driving each of the impact elements so that the impact elements of the array are driven on a line along the virtual vertical direction, comprising: delay rate register means for storing a predetermined delay time according to an inclination angle of the impact elements; turn-on time generating means for generating a turn-on time signal having a predetermined time width; start timing control means responsive to a start of the turn-on time signal, for starting driving the impact elements of the array in sequence at the delay time intervals; and stop timing control means responsive to an end of the turn-on time signal, for stopping driving the impact elements of the array in sequence at the delay time intervals.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
84 words
The circuit of claim 1, wherein said delay rate register means comprises: basic delay rate register means for storing a predetermined basic delay time corresponding to a preset value of the inclination angle of the impact element array; correction rate register means for storing a predetermined correction time corresponding to an error value of the inclination angle of the impact element array; and addition register means for storing an added value of the basic delay time and the correction time as the delay time.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
145 words
A serial impact printer provided with a printing head having an impact element array arranged in such a way that two arrangement lines (L, R) each composed of a plurality of impact elements arranged at positional intervals of 2a are positioned in parallel to each other a distance b apart from each other and further centers of the respective impact elements of a first arrangement line (R) are located on lines passing through respective middle points between the two adjacent impact elements of the second arrangement line (L) and perpendicular to a direction along which the second arrangement line (L) is set, wherein the printing head is mounted on a carriage under condition that two arrangement lines (L, R) are inclined with respect to a virtual vertical direction by an angle ϑ which satisfies the following formula: tan ϑ ≦ a / (2 · b)
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
178 words
The serial impact printer of claim 3, which comprises: printing data latch means for latching printing data; printing data outputting means connected to said latch means, for turning on and off each bit of the printing data corresponding to the respective impact elements; printing start timer means for generating a pulse with a constant period td defined by td = 2 · a · sin ϑ / Vcr where Vcr denotes a carriage speed; printing start control means for controlling said printing data outputting means to turn on in sequence each bit of the printing data corresponding to the respective impact elements whenever said printing start timer means generates the pulse; printing stop timer means for generating a pulse with the constant period td; and printing stop control means for controlling said printing data outputting means to turn off in sequence each bit of the printing data corresponding to the respective impact elements whenever said printing stop timer means generates the pulse, two set of all the above-mentioned means being provided for the two arrangement lines (L, R).
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
161 words
A serial impact printer provided with a printing head having an impact element array arranged in such a way that two arrangement lines (L, R) each composed of a plurality of impact elements arranged at positional intervals of 2a are positioned in parallel to each other a distance b apart from each other and further centers of the respective impact elements of a first arrangement line (R) are located on lines passing through respective middle points between the two adjacent impact elements of the second arrangement line (L) and perpendicular to a direction along which the second arrangement line (L) is set, wherein the printing head is mounted on a carriage under the condition that two arrangement lines (L, R) are inclined with respect to a virtual vertical direction by an angle - which satisfies the following formula: b (1 - cos ϑ) / e × 100 ≦ 4 where e denotes a pitch between printing dots of the impact elements.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
178 words
The serial impact printer of claim 5, which comprises: printing data latch means for latching printing data; printing data outputting means connected to said latch means, for turning on and off each bit of the printing data corresponding to the respective impact elements; printing start timer means for generating a pulse with a constant period td/2 defined by td = 2 · a · sin ϑ / Vcr where Vcr denotes a carriage speed; printing start control means for controlling said printing data outputting means to turn on in sequence each bit of the printing data corresponding to the respective impact elements whenever said printing start timer means generates the pulse; printing stop timer means for generating a pulse with the constant period td/2; and printing stop control means for controlling said printing data outputting means to turn off in sequence each bit of the printing data corresponding to the respective impact elements whenever said printing stop timer means generates the pulse, a set of all the above-mentioned means being provided for the two arrangement lines (L, R).
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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