Electricity: motive power systems – Positional servo systems
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-21
2004-06-08
Duda, Rina (Department: 2837)
Electricity: motive power systems
Positional servo systems
C318S568100, C318S603000, C347S016000, C271S226000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06747429
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates to a print control system, a print control method, and a recording medium in which a print control program has been recorded. The invention is particularly used for the control of a paper feed operation.
2. Related Background Art
Referring to
FIGS. 1 through 7
, a conventional print control system will be described below. This print control system is used for an ink jet printer. The schematic construction of this ink jet printer is shown in FIG.
1
.
This ink jet printer comprises: a paper feed motor (which will be also hereinafter referred to as a PF motor)
1
for feeding a paper; a paper feed motor driver
2
for driving the paper feed motor
1
; a carriage
3
; a carriage motor (which will be also hereinafter referred to as a CR motor)
4
for driving the carriage
3
; a CR motor driver
5
for driving the carrier motor
4
; a DC unit
6
; a pump motor
7
for controlling the suction of ink for preventing clogging; a pump motor driver
8
for driving the pump motor
7
; a head
9
which is fixed to the carriage
3
for discharging ink to a printing paper
50
; a head driver
10
for driving and controlling the head
9
; a linear type encoder
11
which is fixed to the carriage
3
; a code plate
12
which has slits at regular intervals; a rotary type encoder
13
for the PF motor
1
; a paper detecting sensor
15
for detecting the position of the rear edge of a paper which is being printed; a CPU
16
for controlling the whole printer; a timer IC
17
for periodically generating an interruption signal to output the signal to the CPU
16
; an interface part (which will be also hereinafter referred to as an IF)
19
for sending and receiving data to and from a host computer
18
; an ASIC
20
for controlling printing resolution, the driving waveform of the head
9
and so forth, on the basis of printing information which is fed from the host computer
18
via the IF
19
; a PROM
21
, a RAM
22
and an EEPROM
23
which are used as work and program storage areas for the ASIC
20
and the CPU
16
; a platen
25
for supporting thereon a paper
50
during printing; a carrier roller
27
which is driven by the PF motor
1
for carrying the printing paper
50
; a pulley
30
which is mounted on the rotating shaft of the CR motor
4
; and a timing belt
31
which is driven by the pulley
30
.
Furthermore, the DC unit
6
is designed to drive and control the paper feed motor driver
2
and the CR motor driver
5
on the basis of a control command, which is fed from the CPU
16
, and the outputs of the encoder
11
and
13
. In addition, each of the paper feed motor
1
and the CR motor
4
comprises a DC motor.
The peripheral construction of the carriage
3
of this ink jet printer is shown in FIG.
2
.
The carriage
3
is connected to the carriage motor
4
via the pulley
30
by means of the timing belt
31
. The carriage
3
is driven to be guided by a guide member
22
so as to move in parallel to the platen
25
. The surface of the carriage
3
facing the printing paper is provided with the recording head
9
which comprises a nozzle row for discharging a black ink and a nozzle row for discharging color inks. Each of the nozzle rows is supplied with ink from an ink cartridge
34
, and discharges ink droplets to the printing paper to print characters and/or images thereon.
In the non-print region of the carriage
3
, there are provided a capping unit
35
for sealing a nozzle opening of the recording head
9
during non-printing, and a pump unit
36
having the pump motor
7
shown in FIG.
1
. When the carriage
3
moves from a print region to the non-print region, the carriage
3
contacts a lever (not shown) to move the capping unit
35
upwards to seal the head
9
.
When the nozzle opening row of the head
9
is clogged up or when the cartridge
34
is exchanged or the like to force the head
9
to discharge inks, the pump unit
36
is operated while the head
9
is sealed, so that inks are sucked out of the nozzle opening row by a negative pressure from the pump unit
36
. Thus, dust and paper powder adhering to a portion near the nozzle opening row are cleaned. Moreover, bubbles in the recording head
9
, together with inks, are discharged to a cap
37
.
Then, the construction of the linear type encoder
11
mounted on the carriage
3
is shown in FIG.
3
. This encoder
11
comprises a light emitting diode
11
a
, a collimator lens
11
b
, and a detection processing part
11
c
. The detection processing part
11
c
has a plurality of (four) photodiodes
11
d
, a signal processing circuit
11
e
, and two comparators
11
f
A
and
11
f
B
.
If a voltage Vcc is applied between both ends of the light emitting diode
11
a
via a resistor, light rays are emitted from the light emitting diode
11
a
. The light rays are collimated by the collimator lens
11
b
to pass through the code plate
12
. The code plate
12
is provided with slits at regular intervals (e.g., every 1/180 inches (=1/180×2.54 cm)).
The parallel rays passing through the code plate
12
are incident on each of the photodiodes lid via a fixed slit (not shown), and converted into electric signals. The electric signals outputted from the four photodiodes lid are processed by the signal processing circuit
11
e
. The signals outputted from the signal processing circuit
11
e
are compared by the comparators
11
f
A
and
11
f
B
, and the compared results are outputted as pulses. The pulses ENC-A and ENC-B outputted from the comparators
11
f
A
and
11
f
B
are outputs of the encoder
11
.
The phase of the pulse ENC-A is different from the phase of the pulse ENC-B by 90 degrees. The encoder
4
is designed so that the phase of the pulse ENC-A is advanced from the pulse ENC-B by 90 degrees as shown in
FIG. 4A
when the CR motor
4
is normally rotating, i.e., when the carriage
3
is moving a main scanning direction, and so that the phase of the pulse ENC-A lags behind the pulse ENC-B by 90 degrees as shown in
FIG. 4B
when the CR motor
4
is reversely rotating. One period T of the pulses corresponds to the distance between adjacent slits of the code plate
12
(e.g., 1/180 inches (=1/180×2.54 cm)). This is equal to a period of time, in which the carriage
3
moves between the adjacent slits.
On the other hand, the rotary type encoder
13
for the PF motor
1
has the same construction as that of the linear type encoder
11
, except that the code plate is a rotating disk which rotates in accordance with the rotation of the PF motor
1
. The rotary type encoder
13
is designed to output the two output pulses ENC-A and ENC-B. Furthermore, in the ink jet printer, the distance between adjacent slits of the plurality of slits provided in the code plate of the encoder
13
for the PF motor is 1/180 inches (=1/180×2.54 cm). When the PF motor
1
rotates by the distance between adjacent slits, the paper is fed by 1/1440 inches (=1/1440×2.54 cm).
Referring to
FIG. 5
, the position of the paper detecting sensor
15
shown in
FIG. 1
will be described below.
In
FIG. 5
, the paper
50
inserted into a paper feeding port
61
of a printer
60
is fed into the printer
60
by means of a paper feeding roller
64
which is driven by a paper feeding motor
63
. The front edge of the paper
50
, which has been fed into the printer
60
, is detected by, e.g., an optical paper detecting sensor
15
. The paper
50
, the front edge of which has been detected by the paper detecting sensor
15
, is fed by means of a paper feed roller
65
and a driven roller
66
which are driven by the PF motor
1
.
Subsequently, ink drops from the recording head (not shown), which is fixed to the carriage
3
moving along the carriage guide member
32
, to carry out a print. Then, when the paper is fed to a predetermined position, the rear edge of the paper
50
, which is currently being printed, is detected by the paper detecting sensor
15
. Then, a gear
67
c
is driven, via a gear
67
b
, by means of a ge
Duda Rina
Martin Edgardo San
Seiko Epson Corporation
Sughrue & Mion, PLLC
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