公开(公告)号：DE3584109D1

公开(公告)日：1991-10-24

申请号：DE3584109

申请日：1985-04-02

Applicant: IBM

Inventor： ALDRICH CHARLES STANLEY ,  BOOTH JAMES RONALD ,  SCHULLER WILLIAM MARTIN ,  YOUNG LLOYD PHILLIP

IPC: B41J35/12 ,  B41J35/20 ,  B41J33/14

Abstract: A method of and apparatus for proportional ribbon (23) tracking on a printer including a printwheel (25), ribbon (23) and hammer all mounted on a carrierfortranslation opposite a platen (21). Ribbon lift mechanism (17,47) is provided for effecting elevation of ribbon (23) to multiple predetermined positions or tracks so that characters may be printed on print receiving medium (22). Input means (11) receives a character to be printed. The microprocessor (13), in conjunction with the ROM (15), characterizes the character in accordance with a predetermined plurality of characteristics. In accordance with ribbon lift and fed algorithms, a particular characteristic of the character to be printed is added to a position on the ribbon upon which at least one prior character has been printed. In this manner a new print position is determined. Thereafter, the new track print position is outputted to the ribbon lift and feed means (17,47,18) for effecting elevation of said ribbon (23) to one of a multiple of predetermined positions to thereby approximately maximize the number of predetermined positions of said ribbon with characters thereon which may be printed without character overlap.