JP2872144B2 - Printing equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a raster scanning type printing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a printing apparatus of this type, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-137854, character data input from a host is classified into print blocks of paper, In some cases, print output data is created by converting character-by-character data into bit image data in the order in which the classified data is input.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the conventional printing apparatus. In FIG. 3, a central control unit (hereinafter, CPU)
2) performs various controls of the entire printing apparatus according to a program stored in a program memory 4 connected to the bus 3. The bus 3 has a font memory 5 storing a large number of font data, a page memory 11 storing coded one-page character data transferred from an external computer (not shown), and a page memory 11. A bitmap memory 12 and a bitmap memory 1 for storing data divided and stored for each of a plurality of blocks set on a printing paper as a bitmap image
2 for outputting the data stored in the printer 2 to the print output unit as a video signal (hereinafter referred to as video I /
F) 8, a Centronics interface (hereinafter, Centro I / F) for receiving character data from the host
) 9 and an RS232C interface for communication (hereinafter referred to as RS232CI / F) 10 are connected to each other.

Next, the operation will be described. First, FIG. 5 shows character data when a print image as shown in FIG. 4 is output. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 622 denotes character data.
The character data 622 includes a font address 631 indicating the head address of the character data in the font memory 5, and bitmap block horizontal position data indicating the horizontal position of the font when the bitmap image of the character is developed in the bitmap memory 12. 632, bitmap block vertical position data 63 also indicating the vertical position of the font
3, and vertical length data 63 indicating the vertical length
4. As shown in Figure 6, the font
The font address and the length in the vertical direction are stored in the font memory 5 as data, and are sequentially read in accordance with the input data.

The CPU 2 classifies the character data input from the Centro I / F 9 into a plurality of blocks set in advance on the printing paper based on the character information 622, and creates data 62 for each block. . At this time, character number data 621 in the block data 62 is added. If the block has been completed, 621 is an end code. When one page of character data is input, one page data 61 is created in the page memory 11. When one page data is created, the CPU 2 reads data from the character information # 1 of the block # 1 and develops a bitmap image from the font memory 5 into the bitmap memory 12. Then, the block # of the bitmap memory 12
When the bitmap image data is completed at 1, the video data is sent to the printing device via the video I / F 8.

If the character data spans a plurality of blocks as in the case of the character "B" in FIG. 4, the upper half of the character "B" is 1 as the character information 622 of the block # 1.
It is regarded as a character and stored as character data of block # 1. At this time, the contents of the character information 622 include the font address 631B and the bitmap block horizontal position 63.
The vertical length is changed to 634B1 while the 2B and bitmap block vertical position 633B remain unchanged. The lower half of the character "B" is stored as the data of block # 2. At this time, the contents of the character information 622 remain the bitmap block horizontal position 632B, the font address is 631B2, and the bitmap block vertical position is 63.
3B2, the vertical length is changed to 634B2. Therefore, the character data that extends over a plurality of blocks increases in data by the number of blocks that extend.

FIG. 7 shows the detailed operation timing of the conventional device. Note that the bitmap memory 12 has a memory capacity for one page, and the description is made on the assumption that the block division is two. As an example, a case where a print image as shown in FIG. 8 is output will be described. Here, assuming that the input order of characters from the upper level is “Aioe Oku Kikuko” and “Sashisse Sosatsu Tatsuto”, the order of data stored in the page memory 11 is “Aieo” in block # 1 of the first page. In block # 2, "Kakikukeko" is stored in the order of "Kakikukeko", in block # 1 of the second page, "Sashisuse Soso", and in block # 2, "Tatsutsuto". Since the bitmap image is developed in the bitmap memory 12 in the order in which it is stored in the page memory 11, the bitmap image is developed in the order of "aiueo" as shown in FIG. The same applies to other blocks.

On the other hand, when the data of the bitmap memory 12 is output, since the bitmap data of two blocks is developed in the bitmap memory 12 and output, the data of one page is output as shown in FIG. The video data is output from the video I / F 8 at the time of the development. When the data of the block # 1 of the first page is completely output from the bitmap memory 12, the development of the bitmap image of the block # 1 of the second page in the bitmap memory 12 is started as shown in FIG. In this case, the block # 2 of the second page is developed with the bitmap image after the output of the block # 2 of the bitmap memory 12 of the first page is completed. After the bitmap image of the second page is completed in the bitmap memory 12, the output of the block # 1 of the second page is started. Therefore, 1
The page waiting time required from the completion of the output of the page to the start of the printing of the second page is a processing time for developing the five characters "Tatsutsuto" as a bit image as shown in FIG.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In a conventional printing apparatus,
Since the development and output of the bitmap image are performed in units of divided blocks, unless one block of the bitmap memory is completely output, a character to which bitmap development has been assigned to the same block cannot be processed. Therefore, in such a case, the completion of the development of the bitmap image on the next printing paper using the same block is delayed, so that the waiting time of the next page becomes longer as described with reference to FIG.
When a plurality of pages are continuously printed, there is a problem that a data output speed is reduced.

When a character spans a plurality of blocks, it is necessary to process character information in order to divide the input character data as data of each block. There must be. For this reason, there is a problem that the processing speed is reduced according to the number of straddling characters. Further, when characters are spread over a plurality of blocks as described above, data increases according to the number of characters spread over the blocks, and there is a problem that the capacity of a memory for storing character data increases.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus capable of performing high-speed print output in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems.

[0012]

According to the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus for converting character data into a bitmap image and printing the character data.
Sorting means for rearranging the order of data
Character data sorted by the sorting means
A sort data memory for storing and the sort data memo
Bitmap of character data stored in memory
Means for developing into an image, wherein the sorting means comprises:
The order of character data in the sent character data string is
Position information indicating the vertical position of the characters contained in the data
Information and the length information indicating the vertical length of the character
The far end of the character is closer to the leading output end of the paper.
It is characterized in that it is rearranged first .

[0013]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the same parts as those of the conventional apparatus of FIG. 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals.
In FIG. 1, a CPU 2 is a processor circuit for controlling the entire printing apparatus according to a program stored in a program memory 4 connected to a bus 3.

In this embodiment, the CPU 2 performs a process of rearranging the character data transmitted from the host computer (not shown) through the centro I / F 9 in the order of print output. The sort data memory 6 is a memory for storing character data rearranged in the order of print output earlier. The bitmap memory 7 is used as a memory for developing a bitmap image for output, and the bitmap memory 7 is not divided into blocks. In addition, other font memory 5,
The video I / F 8 and the RS232 CI / F 10 are the same components as those of the conventional device of FIG.

Next, the sort order of character data by the CPU 2 will be described. The character information of one character is indicated by 62 in FIG.
2, and so on. First, when a bitmap image is sequentially output from the upper end of the sheet, the output of the bitmap memory 7 is completed earlier as the lower end of the character (the position furthest from the leading output end of the sheet) is closer to the upper end of the sheet. Therefore, in FIG. 5, when the bitmap block horizontal position 632 and the bitmap block vertical position 633 indicating the position where the character of the character information is developed indicate the upper left (origin) of the character, the bitmap block vertical position 6 of the character information 622 is determined.
It can be considered that the closer the value obtained by adding 33 to the vertical length 634 (corresponding to the lower end of the character) to the upper end of the paper, the faster the print output.

The CPU 2 converts the character data input according to this condition into a bitmap block vertical position 633+
Sorted in order of vertical length 634 near the top of the paper,
The data is stored in the sort data memory 6. Conversely, if bitmap images are output sequentially from the bottom edge of the paper,
Since the upper end of the character is farthest from the leading output edge of the paper, CP
U2 sorts the bitmap block in the vertical position 633 in the order closer to the leading output end (in this case, the lower end) of the sheet.

Next, a specific operation of the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 shows the operation timing of the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 shows an operation when a print image as shown in FIG. 8 is continuously output. First, as shown in FIG. 8, when the data of the print image of the first page is transmitted from the upper host computer through the centro I / F 9 in the order of "Aioka Okikukeko", C
The PU 2 sorts the character data in the order of earlier print output and stores the sorted character data in the sort data memory 6 as described above. When one page of data is stored in the sort data memory 6,
The CPU 2 reads character data from the head of the sort data memory 6, reads a bitmap image from the font memory 5 according to the character data, and develops the bitmap image in the bitmap memory 7.

When the development of the print data in the bitmap memory 7 is completed, the CPU 2 reads the bit image from the bitmap memory 7 and outputs the video data to an external printing unit through the video I / F 8. Here, CPU2
When sorting the character data, assuming that the output of the paper is from the upper end, the data is sorted in the order of the print output in the order of “early” or “kikukakeko”, and the sort data memory 6
Are stored in this order. That is, since the lower end of the character "" on the first page of FIG. 8 is closer to the upper end of the sheet than the lower end of the character "", the order is "". Also, for the same reason, the order is "Kikukakeko".

Next, since the order in which the bit images are developed in the bitmap memory 7 is the order in which they are stored in the sort data memory 6, as shown in FIG. Is done. Thus, the bit image data of the first page is completed, and the output to the video I / F 9 is started. Next, when the character data of the second page is transmitted following the data of the first page, the CPU 2 like "Sushi Sesso" and "Chitetsu Tate" in the order of print output as in the first page. And stored in the sorted data memory 6 in this order.

The development of the character data in the sort data memory 6 into a bitmap image is performed according to the output status of the video data in the bitmap memory 7 for the first page. That is, the output of the video data of the first page is the line a in FIG.
When the process is completed up to (the lower end of the character “say”), the character “sushi” can be developed into a bitmap image as shown in FIG. The expansion of this character is based on the output completion line and the “bitmap block vertical position 633+
It starts when the value of "vertical length 634" becomes the same. Therefore, when the output is completed up to the line a, the character “Sushi” is started, and when the output is completed up to the line b (the lower end of the character “Aeo”), the bitmap image of the character “Sesoso” starts to be developed. be able to.

Similarly, development into a bitmap image is performed in the order of the characters “chitatsuto”. If the line d is the last edge of the sheet, the bitmap image is output from the completion of the output of the first page to the start of the output of the second page. The characters to be developed into the image are three characters of "late", and a page-to-page waiting time is generated by these three characters as shown in FIG. When the development of the bitmap image on the second page is completed, as shown in FIG.
Output of the video data of the page starts.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the character data is rearranged in the order of print output and developed into a bitmap image. Therefore, the development speed is limited as in the conventional block-by-block processing. Thus, the next bitmap image can be developed for each line, and the bitmap image can be developed in real time. Therefore, in continuous printing, the time from the end of one page to the completion of the development of the bitmap image of the next page can be reduced, and the waiting time between pages can be reduced, so that the processing speed in continuous printing can be increased. Can be.
Further, conventionally, when a character spans a plurality of blocks, the data amount increases and the processing speed decreases.However, in the present embodiment, since only the character data is sorted and the block division is not performed, the data The amount does not increase, the processing speed does not decrease, and the memory capacity does not increase.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, bitmap images can be developed in real time by rearranging character data in the order of print output processing, and the processing speed during continuous printing can be reduced. Speed can be increased. In addition, since the character data is not divided, the print processing can be performed efficiently without reducing the processing speed due to the increase in the data amount and without increasing the memory capacity.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing operation timings of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a conventional printing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a print image.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing character data in detail.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a font memory in detail.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing operation timings of the conventional device of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print image of a plurality of pages.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 CPU 3 Bus 4 Program memory 5 Font memory 6 Sort data memory 7 Bitmap memory 8 Video I / F 9 Centro I / F 10 RS232CI / F

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B41J 5/30 B41J 21/00 B41J 2/485 G06F 3/12

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A printing apparatus which performs printing by converting text data into bitmap images, text sent
Sort the character data in the data string in the order of print order
Sorting means, and sorted by the sorting means.
A sort data memory for sequentially storing character data,
Character data stored in the sort data memory
Means for sequentially developing bitmap images in order.
The sorting means performs the character data of the sent character data string.
The order of the characters in the character data
Position information indicating the position and length indicating the vertical length of the character
Character farther from the leading output edge of the paper based on the
2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rearrangement is performed such that the end of the printer is closer to the end .