Method for controlling line printers comprising a revolving type carrier which is moved past a row of print elements arranged in a bank and associated with the print positions of a print line,
- for precalculating the actuation times Tf of the print elements for printing particular characters at particular print positions of a record carrier at said print line,
- using a type carrier with equidistant1y spaced scannable time marks and a reference mark, and
- characterized in
- that the spacing of the characters on the type carrier (400) relative to the reference mark (501) equals a coarse time raster value (.DELTA.T) or an integral multiple thereof,
- that the coarse time raster value is derived from the time mark pitch, with the time marks (402) having specific coarse time raster values,
- that the pitch of the print elements in the bank differ and the spacing of a print position from a reference print posiiton (H1) equals a coarse time raster value (.DELTA.T) or a multiple thereof and an additional fine time raster value (.sup..DELTA. t) or a multiple thereof,
- the coarse and fine time raster values being defined as coarse and fine time raster values relative to the number of revolutions of the type carrier (400),
- that the fine time raster values of the print elements are sorted according to the fine time raster values of their spacing from the reference print position and
- their actutation times (Tf) are calculated in the order of the print elements resulting from that sort step,
- and that the actuation time of a print element at the nth print position Hn (n=1, 2, 3, 4, . . . ) for printing the pth character Cp (p=1, 2, 3, 4, . . . ) on the type carrier with the characters being consecutively numbered relative to othe reference mark (501) and the print positions being consecutively numbered relative to the reference print position (H1)
- is calculated according to the relation
- Tf=TCp-THn
- for a positive difference value TCF-THn
- Tf=TC Band+(TCp-THn)
- for a negative difference value TCp-THn
- which is subtracted from TC Band,
- where TC band is the time required for one revolution of the band and TCp is the time that passes as the pth character moves from its respective momentary position to the reference print position (H1), and
- where THn is the time that passes as the type band moves from the nth print position Hn to the reference print position (H1),
- and where T Home is the time that passes as the reference mark (501) moves from its respective mommetary position to the reference print position (H1),
- and that a first table FTABC (600) and a second table FTABF (700) are generated,
- the first table (600) comprising a field for each possible coarse raster time value in an ascending order,
- and the second table (700) comprising a row field (700 .DELTA.T5) associated with each coarse raster time value of the first table (600) and consisting of several subfields (700 .sup..DELTA. T5-1, 700 .sup..DELTA. T5-2),
- and that after calculation of the actuation time of a print element, an entry for the coarse time raster value of the calculated actuation time is made in the associated field of the table (600) for the print operation to be performed later on,
- and for the fine time raster value of the calculated actuation time an entry on the print position number and the fine time raster value for the print operation to be performed later on is made in the next free subfield of the row field associated with the coarse time raster,
- and that for printing a line, the fields of the first table (600) are addressed in the ascending order of the coarse time raster values,
- and that in the event of a coarse time raster table field entry for a print operation to be performed a branch is taken to the row field of the second table (700) associated with that coarse time value, printing the print positions defined therein in the order of the fine time raster values at a time obtained by adding the coarse time raster value and the respective fine time raster value.