US3626459A - Graphic arts printer - Google Patents
Graphic arts printer Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- US3626459A US3626459A US127300*A US3626459DA US3626459A US 3626459 A US3626459 A US 3626459A US 3626459D A US3626459D A US 3626459DA US 3626459 A US3626459 A US 3626459A
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- US
- United States
- Prior art keywords
- character
- characters
- drum
- line
- row
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired - Lifetime
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- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06K—GRAPHICAL DATA READING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
- G06K15/00—Arrangements for producing a permanent visual presentation of the output data, e.g. computer output printers
- G06K15/02—Arrangements for producing a permanent visual presentation of the output data, e.g. computer output printers using printers
- G06K15/12—Arrangements for producing a permanent visual presentation of the output data, e.g. computer output printers using printers by photographic printing, e.g. by laser printers
Definitions
- ABSTRACT A printer in which a continuously rotating drum carries an energy sensitive recording medium on which characters are formed by a modulated energy source such as light. Characters are formed by a plurality of line segments generated during successive revolutions of the drum. Electronic circuitry including a character generator, controls the modulation of the energy source.
- This invention relates to computer output graphic arts'printers, and, more specifically, to a novel method and to improved apparatus for forming printed information at relatively high speed when compared'with conventional methods currently in use.
- Some form of electronic or electromechanical character generation is used in all high speed printers currently in use.
- a single character is formed on a cathode ray tube face plate by electronic means.
- This character is optically imaged on a photosensitive media.
- This method has been successful in giving good quality since the entire tube face is used to form a single character.
- Other methods which use more than one character on a tube face suffer in quality since the CRT is limited in the number of resolvable picture elements per tube face diameter.
- Still another method uses photographic images of characters on a disc or drum which is rotated at a constant speed. Such systems give good qualityan'd are limited in speed by the number of characters on the disc or drum. The larger the number of characters in a font the slower the printing speed since on the average the printing speed corresponds to the disc r.p.m.
- the invention contemplates the provision of improved apparatus for generating characters and for printing these characters as part of a computer output.
- the invention further contemplates the provision of an improved character generator which forms characters having high quality.
- the invention also contemplates the provision of a high speed character generator which is adaptable to be used as a display device or as the output of a computer.
- FIG. I is an illustration of the light source, power and timing components for fonning and printing characters on a rotating drum according to the principles of the invention
- FIG. 2 is an end view of the drum and printing medium of FIG. 1 and illustrates a manner of attaching the light sensitive paper to the rotating drum;
- FIG. 3 comprising FIGS. 30 and 3b, shows an individual character and the equivalent information stored in the memory for forming that character
- FIG. 4 illustrates portions of characters as they are being formed
- FIG. 5 illustrates schematically the electronic circuitry for controlling the operation of the printer.
- Drum 10 mounted on shaft 12, is rotatably driven by motor 14 in a counterclockwise direction as seen from the right end in FIG. I.
- Optical system I6 is mounted on shaft 18 which is rotated by motor 20 in synchronism with the rotation of the drum.
- the optical system 16 includes a point light source 22 and a lens 24;
- the shaft 18 has threads thereon and rotation of the shaft causes the optical system to scan a helical path across the surface of the drum.
- the lens focuses the light at a point 25 on the surface of the rotation drum.
- a first timing track 32 has a single timing mark which is sensed by transducer 34.
- the transducer generates a pulse for each complete revolution of the drum.
- the second timing track 36 has a series of marks which are sensed by the transducer 38.
- Transducer 38 generates a pulse for each mark sensedon timing track 36.
- the marks on the timing tracks could be made of magnetic material and the transducer could respond to a change in reluctance as each mark passesthe transducer.
- the marks could be dark lines on a light background and a photoelectric transducer could respond to the changes in reflected light. The operation of these timing tracks and the associated electronic circuitry will be more fully described hereinafter.
- FIG. 2 shows a portion of the drum 10 with a light sensitive recording media 26, such as paper, or film, attached thereto by a fastener 28 and a screw 30.
- the screw may be removed to replace the recording media.
- Other energy sensitive recording media and an appropriate energy source could be used instead of the light source and light sensitive media.
- FIG. 3 illustrates the principles of character generation according to the present invention.
- the letter R is taken as being illustrative although any character, number or symbol can be generated. Hence the term character should be interpreted as referring to any graphical symbol.
- An individual character occupies a character block which is the frame of reference for the generation of the individual characters and, as shown in FIG. 3a, may be considered as having I00 vertical columns and I00 horizontal rows thereby forming a matrix.
- character R in FIG. 3a does not need any of the columns prior to column 20 nor does it use any of the columns after column 80.
- Narrower characters, such as the letter I would use less space and, of course, wider letters such as the M or the W would use more space.
- the first few columns and last few columns of each character block will always be blank to provide spacing between the characters. It will be appreciated that the number of columns and number of rows in a character block can be modified to increase or decrease the desired resolution of the printed character.
- FIG. 3b illustrates that portion of the character generator or memory matrix which stores information for the formation of the character R.
- the information in the character generator determines when the light source is turned on an when the light source is turned off for each character. For example, in the illustrated character R, at the first row the light will be turned on at column 20 remain on until column 50, and then be turned off. Similarly, in the 20th row the light source will be turned on at column 20, remain on until column 30, be turned off, and then turned on again from column 62 to column 78. For row of the light source is turned on from column 20 to 30, turned off and then on again from column 50 to 62. Finally in the last row, row I00, the light source is turned on at column 20 and off at column 30, and then turned on from column 64 to column 79.
- FIG. 4 a portion of a line of print on the rotating drum I0 is illustrated.
- the characters R and S are shown as part of the same line of print.
- the shaded portion 40 of each character indicates that portion which has already been printed while the outlined portion 42 of each character represents that part still to be printed.
- the Characters are made up as indicated previously by a series of vertically disposed horizontal line segments. As seen in FIGS. I and 3 a row isprinted completely around the drum before the next row is started. It will be appreciated that the instant graphic arts printer prints the first row of each character and then the second row of each character, etc., and on the final sweep of the light prints the last row of each character for a particular line of print.
- the pitch of the helical screw 18 may be adjusted depending upon the particular resolution desired.
- the series of marks on timing track 36 correspond to the columns for each character. If 75 characters are printed on one line and each character has I columns, then track 36 has 7500 timing marks.
- Transducer 38 which senses the marks on track 36, generates a pulse for each of the various columns of each character.
- the output of the transducer or read-head 38 is a series of clock pulses which provide the start and stop timing pulses required by the memory illustrated in FIG. 3b.
- the drum I0 rotates at a speed of 500 revolutions per second. One row, or one revolution would take 0.002 seconds, and, since each character block is I00 rows (I00 revolutions), a complete row of characters would be printed in 0.2 seconds. On the assumption of 75 characters per line, the printing speed is 375 characters per second. Different operating speeds can be obtained by modifying any of the four basic parameters; drum speed, number of characters per line, number of columns per character, and number of rows per character.
- FIG. illustrates the preferred embodiment of the control means for coordinating the rotation of drum 10, the transverse scanning motion of the optical system 16 and the modulation of the light source 22.
- the computer 44 sends a signal which starts the motor 14 and supplies information for a single line of print via lead 46 to line buffer 48.
- Line buffer 48 controls the motor which regulates the transverse scanning of the optical system.
- Line buffer 48 also controls the modulation of the light source as will be more completely described hereinafter.
- a character generator or memory matrix 50 has the various characters or symbols stored therein, in a manner similar to that shown in FIG. 3b for each symbol.
- Character generator 50 receives a signal from line buffer 48 via line 52 to indicate which character is to be printed.
- Row counter 54 is a conventional counter which, in the preferred embodiment, counts from 1 to I00. This corresponds to the number of rows for each line of print. The counter is incremented or advanced each time the drum rotation mark 32 is sensed by the transducer or read-head 34. Row counter 54 sends a count signal via line 56 to the character generator 50 indicative of the particular segment to be printed.
- the specific logic circuitry for accomplishing this is well known in the art. Since the information regarding the start and stop positions is stored in memory 50 in matrix form, similar to that seen in FIG.
- character matrix 50 sends a reset signal via line 58 to the row counter 54 setting the counter back to zero and similarly sends a signal to the computer 44 via lead 60 to indicate that a new line of print should be introduced to the line buffer 48.
- Position counter 62 receives signals from the timing track 36, via read-head 38, to indicate the position along the periphery of the drum and the corresponding position on the recording medium. It will be noted that there are I00 positions corresponding to the columns for each character in a particular line of print. The position counter is reset by a signal generated by the timing track 32. That is, each revolution of the drum resets the position counter to 0 corresponding to the first column of the first character for that line of print. This the same signal which increments the row counter up to I00. Synchronization between the various line segments of each character and the various columns of each character is afforded by the two timing tracks on the drum and each line segment of each character will be printed at the appropriate location on the light sensitive recording media.
- the position counter 62 is set at 0 by the reset pulse from timing track 32 (sensed by transducer 34) and the row counter 54 is set at 0 by the reset pulse from the character generator "50.
- Computer 44 send the line of characters to be printed to the line of characters buffer 48.
- the start and stop signals from the character matrix 50 are sent along lines 64 and 66, respectively, to the line-of-characters buffer.
- the line-ofcharacters buffer then controls the rotation of the motor 20 which controls the transverse scanning motion of the optical system and also the modulation of the light source.
- the position counter 62 in response to the pulses generated by timing track 36, sends the necessary position information (column count) to the line buffer 48, via lead 68, to control the printing.
- the position (column) counter when the position (column) counter reaches position 20, the light source will be turned on and remain on until position 50 is reached. This corresponds to the top line of the character R as seen in FIGS. 3a and 3b.
- the light source will turned on and when position 52 is reached the light source will be turned off. This corresponds to the top of the character S as seen in FIGS. 3b and 4.
- position counter 62 could be internally wired to reset itself to zero each time it reaches I00 (corresponding to the I00 columns per character). Character selection may be accomplished in a conventional manner, such as by stepping shift register or including a character position counter in the system.
- timing track 32 At the completion of the first revolution of the drum, timing track 32 generates a signal which is picked up by read-head 34. This signal resets position counter 62, increments row counter 54 from I to 2, and the process is then ready to be repeated.
- Row counter 54 now indicates to the character generator that information for the second row of characters in the line is required.
- Character generator 50 sends the information for the second line of the queried characters via lines 64 and 66 to the character bufier 48 and the modulation of the light is performed according to the information in storage. This forms the second row of segments for the characters on this particular line of print.
- each of the 100 rows for each of the characters on one line of print will be printed on the recording media.
- a signal is generated via lead 70 causing motor 20 to speed up. Therefore, the optical system will be moved more quickly along the shaft 18.
- This signal via lead 70 may be generated by the computer 44 or by the line of characters buffer 48.
- said drum including first and second timing tracks, said first v timing track generating signals to increment said column counter and said second timing track generating signals to increment said row counters and to reset said column counter.
- controlling means causes the (N-l )-th row to be printed for each character on one line of characters on the drum before the N-th row of any characters on said line of characters.
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- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Optics & Photonics (AREA)
- General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
- Printers Or Recording Devices Using Electromagnetic And Radiation Means (AREA)
Abstract
Description
Claims (3)
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US12730070A | 1970-02-19 | 1970-02-19 |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
US3626459A true US3626459A (en) | 1971-12-07 |
Family
ID=22429377
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US127300*A Expired - Lifetime US3626459A (en) | 1970-02-19 | 1970-02-19 | Graphic arts printer |
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US (1) | US3626459A (en) |
Cited By (7)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US3886526A (en) * | 1973-11-14 | 1975-05-27 | Mobil Oil Corp | Seismic trace annotation generator |
FR2290309A1 (en) * | 1974-11-11 | 1976-06-04 | Ibm | DEVICE ALLOWING TO PRINT LINES OF VARIABLE HEIGHT AND LEAVE WHITE LINES IN A TEXT AND PRINTER EQUIPPED WITH SUCH A DEVICE |
US3987492A (en) * | 1973-10-01 | 1976-10-19 | Siemens Aktiengesellschaft | Liquid jet recorder |
US3988743A (en) * | 1975-05-14 | 1976-10-26 | Igor Viktorovich Mitin | Device for recording information in the form of signs on a light-sensitive material by means of a light beam and a light-beam oscillograph built around said device |
US4746942A (en) * | 1985-11-23 | 1988-05-24 | Michel Moulin | Photocomposing machine and method |
US4819018A (en) * | 1985-02-22 | 1989-04-04 | Moyroud Louis M | High-speed broad-brush laser photocomposition |
US4992890A (en) * | 1989-03-17 | 1991-02-12 | Intergraph Corporation | System for plotting and scanning graphic images |
Citations (6)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US2450649A (en) * | 1944-02-16 | 1948-10-05 | William G H Finch | Facsimile synchronizing system |
FR1160487A (en) * | 1956-11-07 | 1958-07-16 | Method and device for reproducing typographical, mathematical or other characters or signs | |
US3037074A (en) * | 1959-09-16 | 1962-05-29 | Muirhead & Co Ltd | Facsimile telegraphy |
US3347981A (en) * | 1964-03-18 | 1967-10-17 | Polaroid Corp | Method for transmitting digital data in connection with document reproduction system |
US3448458A (en) * | 1967-06-16 | 1969-06-03 | Ncr Co | Laser recorder with scanning and display systems |
US3517592A (en) * | 1967-11-14 | 1970-06-30 | Ibm | Reciprocating lens photocomposer |
-
1970
- 1970-02-19 US US127300*A patent/US3626459A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
Patent Citations (6)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US2450649A (en) * | 1944-02-16 | 1948-10-05 | William G H Finch | Facsimile synchronizing system |
FR1160487A (en) * | 1956-11-07 | 1958-07-16 | Method and device for reproducing typographical, mathematical or other characters or signs | |
US3037074A (en) * | 1959-09-16 | 1962-05-29 | Muirhead & Co Ltd | Facsimile telegraphy |
US3347981A (en) * | 1964-03-18 | 1967-10-17 | Polaroid Corp | Method for transmitting digital data in connection with document reproduction system |
US3448458A (en) * | 1967-06-16 | 1969-06-03 | Ncr Co | Laser recorder with scanning and display systems |
US3517592A (en) * | 1967-11-14 | 1970-06-30 | Ibm | Reciprocating lens photocomposer |
Non-Patent Citations (1)
Title |
---|
IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 5, No. 5, October 1952. * |
Cited By (7)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US3987492A (en) * | 1973-10-01 | 1976-10-19 | Siemens Aktiengesellschaft | Liquid jet recorder |
US3886526A (en) * | 1973-11-14 | 1975-05-27 | Mobil Oil Corp | Seismic trace annotation generator |
FR2290309A1 (en) * | 1974-11-11 | 1976-06-04 | Ibm | DEVICE ALLOWING TO PRINT LINES OF VARIABLE HEIGHT AND LEAVE WHITE LINES IN A TEXT AND PRINTER EQUIPPED WITH SUCH A DEVICE |
US3988743A (en) * | 1975-05-14 | 1976-10-26 | Igor Viktorovich Mitin | Device for recording information in the form of signs on a light-sensitive material by means of a light beam and a light-beam oscillograph built around said device |
US4819018A (en) * | 1985-02-22 | 1989-04-04 | Moyroud Louis M | High-speed broad-brush laser photocomposition |
US4746942A (en) * | 1985-11-23 | 1988-05-24 | Michel Moulin | Photocomposing machine and method |
US4992890A (en) * | 1989-03-17 | 1991-02-12 | Intergraph Corporation | System for plotting and scanning graphic images |
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Legal Events
Date | Code | Title | Description |
---|---|---|---|
AS | Assignment |
Owner name: CITIBANK, V.A. Free format text: SECURITY INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:ANACOMP, INC., A IN CORP.;REEL/FRAME:004761/0669 Effective date: 19870320 |
|
AS | Assignment |
Owner name: ANACOMP, INC., 11550 NORTH MERIDAN STREET, CARMEL, Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST.;ASSIGNOR:DATAGRAPHIX, INC.;REEL/FRAME:004811/0769 Effective date: 19870930 |
|
AS | Assignment |
Owner name: CITIBANK, N.A.,, NEW YORK Free format text: SECURITY INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:ANACOMP, INC.;REEL/FRAME:005274/0054 Effective date: 19880826 |
|
AS | Assignment |
Owner name: ANACOMP, INC., A CORP. OF INDIANA Free format text: RELEASED BY SECURED PARTY;ASSIGNOR:CITIBANK, N.A.;REEL/FRAME:005635/0013 Effective date: 19901029 |