Printer with positional tabbing

摘要

A printing system incorporates a character generator having circuitry for the generation of proportional width printing. Further circuitry is utilized in conjunction with the foregoing circuitry to operate the system in a tabular mode for the columnar presentation of printed material. Two memories are employed. One memory stores data as to the components of characters which are to be printed, the data being stored in predesignated sets of addresses. Each of these components may be addressed by an address counter preset for counting through the set of addresses of a selected character. A tabbing or print signal is stored in the second memory to serve as position data in the tabbing mode. The second memory is addressed concurrently with a scanning of a print line whereby the stored data corresponds to a position on the print line. A comparator signifies the concurrence of a tab signal and the address counter of the first memory with the addressing of the print signal in the second memory, a compare designating the instant for initiating the printing of a further character. Thereby, most of the circuitry of the character generator can be utilized in both modes of the printing for reduced complexity and increased reliability.