Printer control system

Abstract

The intermittent movement of the printer's carriage and "daisy"-type print wheel is controlled by a relatively simple, reliable digital control system. The difference between the desired velocity and the actual velocity of each member is measured digitally. This difference constitutes an error signal which is used to retrieve stored values of acceleration or deceleration corresponding to various values of the error signal. These values are used to develop a corresponding electrical signal which is used to accelerate or decelerate the member to reach the desired velocity. A relatively simple circuit is provided for reliably returning the carriage or print wheel to a desired position after overshooting the position, despite a relatively large amount of overshoot. Simple, low-power-consumption holding or drive circuits utilizing pulsed voltages are provided for the stepping motors used for ribbon feed and line feed, and for the solenoids used for ribbon shift, print wheel shift and print hammer energization. Digital control of the print hammer intensity is provided by controlling the duty cycle of the hammer energization signals in accordance with intensity values stored in memory.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.