JP2738174B2 - Format control method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a format control system,
In particular, it relates to a format control method in a printing system having a form overlay function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a format control method in a conventional printing system, format data is defined as a unit of a data portion and an attribute information portion such as a printing position and a size.
It was managed and controlled. Therefore, when the formats are different, new format data in which the data section and the attribute information section are integrated must be transferred to the format data storage memory.

[0003]

In this conventional format control system, since the data part of the format data and the attribute information part are managed integrally, even if the data part is the same, only the printing position is different, and the other part is different. Was defined as a form. As a result, large format data storage memory capacity is required,
In addition, the memory utilization efficiency was poor. Further, there is a problem that the throughput is reduced due to an increase in the amount of transferred format data for registering a format from the host computer to the printing apparatus.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide a format control method which has a high use efficiency of a format data storage memory and a high print processing capability.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a format control method for a printing system having a form overlay function, wherein a storage device storing a host computer, format data including attribute information and data, and print data. A control unit for transmitting and receiving data, a format attribute storage unit for storing attribute information of format data sent from the storage device, and a format storage unit for storing data of format data sent from the storage device. A page buffer for storing print data sent from a storage device, a character pattern memory for storing a character pattern, and a page buffer for storing a format attribute.
Attribute information and data and pages stored in the format storage unit
And linking the print data stored in the buffer includes a rendering processing unit which dots expand with reference to the character pattern, a drawing memory for storing the output from the drawing processor, and a device for printing the contents of drawing memory , Format data data
Are the same and only the attribute information is different,
It is characterized by trust .

[0006]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. The present embodiment includes a host computer 1, a storage device 2 storing format data and print data, and a printer 3.

The host computer 1 sends and receives data to and from the control unit 3.1. When receiving the attribute information of the format data, such as print position information and print range information, the control unit 3.1 stores it in the format attribute storage unit 3.3, and when the format data is received, stores it in the format. Stored in sections 3 and 4. When print information is received, the page buffer 3
・ Store in 2.

When the print information is received, the drawing processing units 3.5
The print data is referred to the character patterns 3 and 6 by dot-expanding the print data into a printable format.
・ Store in 7. This is printed by the device 3.8.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

FIG. 2 is a sample of two consecutive printing results. (A) shows that the print position in the paper is (p1, q1),
(B) is (p2, q2), and the printing range (m,
n) are the same. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of data in the memory. (A) shows the format storage units 3.4, (b) shows the format attribute storage unit 3.3, (c) shows the data in the page buffer 3.2, and each data is independently ID (id)
(entification). FIG. 4 is a flowchart for executing this printing.

To perform printing, first, data having an ID and an in-paper printing range (m, n) is received and stored in the format storage units 3.4. Next, the first format attribute data is received. The format attribute data includes an ID and a print position (p1, q1) in the paper. Next, upon receiving the print data of the first sheet, the drawing processing units 3 and 5 link the print range data in paper, the print position in paper, and the print data with the same ID,
The first data is developed in the bit map memory and printed.

Next, the second format attribute data is received. The format attribute data includes the ID and the print position in paper (p
2, q2). Here, the print data of the second sheet is received, and similarly to the first sheet, the print range data in paper, the print position in paper, and the print data of the same ID are linked, developed into a bitmap image, and printed.

As described above, in this embodiment, after receiving the format data, the printing position in the paper can be freely changed by receiving the format attribute data.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, by providing means for separately managing attribute information and data in format data, attribute information can be freely changed without retransmitting format data. In addition, the effect of shortening the data transfer time and improving the printing performance and the effect that the same format data with different attribute information can be printed by storing only the same format data in the memory can be used effectively. Have.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing samples of two consecutive printing results.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a format storage unit (a), a format attribute storage unit (b), and data (c) in a page buffer.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for realizing the two print results shown in FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Host computer 2 Storage device 3 Printer 3.1 Control unit 3.2 Page buffer 3.3 Format attribute storage unit 3.4 Format storage unit 3.5 Drawing processing unit 3.6 Character pattern 3.7 Drawing memory 3.8 device

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A format control method for a printing system having a form overlay function, comprising: a host computer; a storage device storing format data including attribute information and data; and a storage device storing print data. Unit, a format attribute storage unit that stores attribute information of format data sent from the storage device, a format storage unit that stores data of format data sent from the storage device, and a format attribute unit that is sent from the storage device A page buffer for storing print data, a character pattern memory for storing a character pattern, and attribute information and a format storage unit stored in a format attribute storage unit.
Stored data and print data stored in the page buffer.
A drawing processing unit that links the data with the data and develops dots by referring to the character pattern; a drawing memory that stores the output from the drawing processing unit; and a device that prints the contents of the drawing memory. When they are the same and only the attribute information is different
A format control method characterized by receiving only attribute information .