JPS60107977A - Printer controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain ease of positioning at the synthesis of form data and print data by inserting a field identifier to the form data to connect the print position of the form data and the print data. CONSTITUTION:A main processor 1 receives print data and form data, and the print data is stored in a page memory 2 and the form data is stored in a form memory 3. The print data (character code) stored in the page memory 2 is read sequentially by a print processor 4 and the print processor 4 generates a video signal 7a by reading a corresponding character pattern from a character pattern memory 11. On the other hand, a form processor 5 decodes the form data and generates a corresponding video signal 7b and also detects a field identifier in the form data to transmit an interruption signal 10 to the print processor 4 thereby attaining field switching, and the alignment between the form data and the print data is attained easily.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a printer control device that prints format data and print data in a superimposed manner, and relates to an improvement in print positioning between format data and print data. .

[Background of the invention]

A format overlay type printer control device stores format data in a memory, combines this with print data, and sends it to a printer to print the format and characters at the same time.

This method involves preparing paper on which a format consisting of ruled lines, characters, etc. is preprinted, and printing variable information on it.The operator then replaces the printing paper with one that matches the printed data. This has made this cumbersome work unnecessary. .

This is discussed in USP 4,125,829.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a form to be printed.

In the figure, the shaded area is the print area where the print data is printed, and the other areas are the formats.Generally, multiple types of formats are stored in memory, and one of them is selected and read out. Combined with print data. In the case of conventional printer control devices that perform such format overlay, there is a problem in that line feed processing, column processing, etc. must be carefully specified in a user program in order to match the print position of print data to the format.

For example, print data that specifies "year" should be printed by taking into account which line from the top of the form it should be printed at and which character position from the left it should be printed in.
It is necessary to similarly specify the print position for the print data specifying the month. There is also the problem that the program must be changed each time the format is changed.

[Purpose of the invention]

It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to facilitate alignment in the composition of format data and print data.

[Summary of the invention]

In the printer control device according to the present invention, a field identifier is inserted into the format data in order to connect the format data and the print position of the print data. This identification is located at the beginning of the field where print data is to be output. When format data is read out for output in sequence, when a field identifier is read out, output of print data is started using this as a trigger. The print data is not provided with positional information indicating where it should be placed on the format, but is divided into fields.

[Embodiments of the invention and their effects]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described using a form as shown in FIG. 1 as an example. 1.Formula data is stored as a collection of thin lines in the horizontal direction of a figure, such as TV scan lines.

From the topmost line, the white area is represented by 50', and the area to be printed in black is represented by 1, and stored in the memory.

A few lines from the top, tracing the line from the left leads to a field indicated by diagonal lines where the name is to be printed. A field identifier is inserted at the beginning of this field, followed by the subsequent formatted data. There is no need to specify the end of the field.

On the other hand, print data is stored separately from format data. In this example, names, names l≦, etc. are stored.

The format data is read out in order, starting with the topmost line, and transferred to an output device such as a laser beam printer. At this time, when the field identifier is read out, it is indicated that it is necessary to combine (overlay) it with the print data, and the separately stored name data is read out, this is combined with the format data, and the output device will be forwarded to.

Therefore, the format data and print data are superimposed with appropriate positional relationship. The print data does not require information indicating the position on the form. However, the delimiter between the name data and the year data printed next is memorized so that it can be determined. In other words, classification is done for each field.

Figure fjIS2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

1 is a main processor which receives print data and format data from a host device (not shown) (HL), print data is stored in page memory 2, and format data is stored in format memory 3. The data will be described later.

Here, the memory configuration of the page memory 2 and format memory 3 is a normal memory configuration, with 1 byte as a unit of address, and the page memory 2 has a capacity to store the printed character code of about 3 pages on the printing paper surface. It's memory. Similarly, the format memory 3 has a normal memory configuration, with one byte as a unit of address, and only needs to have a capacity that can store approximately 8 pages of format data.

The number of print pages accommodated in each memory may be determined to be an optimal value based on the processing capabilities of the printer and host device and the data transfer speed between the host and the device.

4 is a print processor that sequentially reads print data (character codes) from the page memory 2, reads corresponding character patterns from the character pattern memory 11, and prints characters in synchronization with the horizontal synchronization signal sent from the laser beam printer 8. A pattern video signal 7α is generated. 5 is a format processor. This is done by sequentially reading the format data from the format memory 3 and decoding it to generate the corresponding video signal 7h in synchronization with the horizontal synchronizing signal 9. Although the details will be described later, when the format processor 5 detects a field identifier in the format data, it sends the detection signal and field classification number information as an interrupt signal 10 to the print processor 4, and the print processor 4 side When receiving the input signal 10, the field of the print data is switched, and the print data field having the field number matching the field division number is read out from the page memory 2.

Video signals 7α and 7b are logically summed by an OR circuit 6 to form a video signal 7, which is sent to a laser beam printer 8.

Here, a brief explanation of the third drawing of the laser beam printer 8ζ will be given. In the figure, 17 is a photosensitive drum;
2 is a laser oscillator, 13 is a rotating polygon mirror, and 14 is a lens. The laser oscillator 12 emits intermittent laser light in accordance with the video signal 7 from the printer control device. This laser beam is reflected by the rotating polygon mirror 13 and scans the photosensitive drum 17. The printing process using the photosensitive drum 11 is the same as that of a normal copying machine, so a description thereof will be omitted.

Note that a reflecting mirror 15 is disposed near one end of the photosensitive drum 17, and directs laser light to a beam detector 16. This beam detector 16 sends a horizontal synchronization signal 9 to the printer control device by detecting the laser beam.

Next, the timing relationship between the horizontal synchronizing signal 9 and the video signal 7 will be explained using FIG. 4. The printer control device generates a horizontal synchronization signal 9 by each 5can 1. i
The video signal 7 is turned on from the start of scanning n-. When the horizontal synchronizing signal 9 is sent from the beam detector 16 some time after the start of scanning, the printer control device temporarily turns off the video signal 7 until entering the printing period, and when the printing period i is entered, the print data and format are output. A dot pattern corresponding to the data is sent out as a video signal 7. Once the printing period has passed, the printer control device
Turn off the video signal 7 until the end of tin-. In addition,
The above-mentioned on/off control of the video signal 7 and the process of placing a dot pattern on the video signal 7 are performed by the format processor 5 and the print processor 4, but this is the same as in the case of a normal laser scan type display device. Therefore, the details will be omitted.

Next, format data will be explained. The format data is compressed and stored in a format called an instruction. This instruction is 2 bytes long,
The first 4 bits indicate the definition of what the remaining data (called operand) that follows represents. An example of this is shown in Table 1.

Note) OI' indicates a white dot, and '1# indicates a black dot.

Format data for each raster is created by a combination of instructions as shown in Table 1, and the last command in the table is a field classification declaration command used as the field classification identifier. When the format processor 5 recognizes this field classification declaration command, it sends the contents of the operand and the detection signal as an interrupt signal 10 to the print processor 4.

Next, details of the type 1 processor 5 will be explained using FIGS. 5 and 6.

Several types of normal formats are stored in the format memory 3. Then, the address of the format memory in which one of the formats is stored is set in the address register 81 from the main processor 1.

FIG. 6 shows how format data is stored in the format memory 3. Here, the term "page" indicates one type of format. Each format consists of data from the first line to the last line, and each line of data is represented by a combination of instructions representing the compressed data. If a print field starts in the middle of each line, a field classification identifier is stored at that position. If the format of the Nth page is specified here, its start address is set in the address register 81, and since each instruction consists of 2 bytes, it is updated by 2 each time one instruction is read. The first four bits of the read instruction are decoded by a decoder 84 and the results of 0 to 5 are sent to an expansion circuit 86. On the other hand, if the decoding result is not 6, the remaining 12 bits are sent to the decompression circuit 86 through the settator Q5. This is the previous decoding result from 0 to
5. For example, if the decoding result is 0, 50'' is consecutively output as the number indicated by the 12-bit operand as the video signal 7b.Compression and expansion using the run-length method is a widely known technique, so it will not be described here. I won't go into details.

Further, when the decoding result is 6, it means that a field identifier has been detected, so an interrupt signal 10 is sent to the print processor 4. In this embodiment, the field identifier operand contains information (field classification number) indicating the number of the print field in the format.

If the decoding result is 7, the Setgator 85 does not send the operand to the decompression circuit 86, but sends it to the print processor 4 together with the decoding result as part of the interrupt signal.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a certain field of print data stored in the page memory 2. As shown in FIG. The first character of each field is an ESC code indicating a field delimiter, followed by the character code to be actually printed. When the print processor 4 receives the interrupt signal 10 from the format processor 5, it reads out from the page memory 2 the character data having the field number that matches the field classification number included in the same side input signal, and reads the character data corresponding to the character code. The character pattern is sent out as a video signal 7a. therefore,
When the format processor 5 decodes the field identifier and issues an interrupt signal 10, the print processor 4 sequentially sends out the character pattern string [1°, SM/TIIJ, shown in FIG. 7, as a video signal 7α. On the other hand, the format processor 5 sends out a dot pattern according to the format data shown in FIG. 6 as a video signal 7b.

These video signals 7a and 7b are OR-combined and sent to the laser beam printer 8, so that the format specified by the 11-format data and the characters specified by the print data are correctly aligned and printed. Become.

Details of the print processor 4 and the above processing will be explained with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the internal configuration of the print processor, and 111 is a field number register that stores the field classification number notified from the format processor;
A field address memory 112 stores the start address of each field of print data stored in the page memory 2. This address is read into the field address register 115, whereby the page memory 2 is accessed 7' and the address of the character pattern memory 11 is read into the character pattern memory address register 114. Print data is represented by addresses in character pattern memory. According to this address, the character pattern memory is accessed and the character pattern is read out, converted into serial data by the parallel-direct exchange circuit 115, and sent out as a video signal 7α. 115
is a circuit for sending a character pattern to the laser beam printer 8 in bit serial form, and is a normal parallel-to-serial conversion circuit. Prepare two sets of registers that can store the dot numbers for one horizontal line of a character pattern, and while the character pattern for one horizontal line of the previous character is being sent to the laser beam printer, the dot number for one horizontal line of the next character can be stored. Import character patterns. 116
is a circuit that generates timing signals to control various parts within the print processor, and operates starting from the horizontal synchronization signal received from the laser beam printer.

These controls are carried out by a control device 11 which is a program processing device.
7.

Steps 1501 to 1304 of the processing flow in FIG.
1 main processor.

A main processor 1 receives print data from a host device and stores the page data in a page memory 2. At that time, the address on the page memory 2 storing the print data at the beginning of each print field is stored in the field address memory 11.
2# Store in field number order. (15o1-t
xo4) By referring to this field address memory 112, it is possible to know the page memory storage address of the print data for any field number.

Next 1 (-00utt"0LLar) The processing from step 1305 onward is performed under the control of 117.

Field identifier detection interrupt (1
0), and when an interrupt occurs (1305), the format is written to the field number register 111.

Stores the field number sent from processor 3. (
1306) Next, read the field address memory 112 at the address specified by the field number register 111, and store the result in the field address register 113. (1308) The page memory 2 is accessed based on the value of the field address register 113, and the result is stored in the character pattern memory address register 114. (1309) Next, the character pattern memory 111 is accessed to obtain pattern information and sent to the parallel-to-serial conversion circuit 115.

At the same time as this reading of the character pattern memory 11, the contents of the character pattern memory address register 114 are added for one horizontal line of the character pattern, and the added result is stored in the page memory 2. (1610) As a result, when the same character is referenced in the next line of print data in the page memory, it is possible to obtain the character pattern memory address where the pattern in the second line of the corresponding character pattern is stored. can. Page memory 2 Kichi character pattern memory 11
The operation is the same as character pattern generation using the normal rank scan method.

As described above, a scan line pattern containing the first character of the specified field is sent out.

Next, check whether all print data in the specified field has been output, and (1511) if all print data has not been output, fja4$ a
Update the values of dd14, 6ia, byLimul 113 by one character, and step 1!109 for the next character.

Repeat 1310. Whether the output of all print data of the field has been completed is determined by detecting the ESC of the next field in FIG.

When all print data of the field has been output, it is determined whether printing of one page has been completed, and if not, the process returns to step 1305. For example, if one character consists of 10 lines, the same field identifier is detected again at the same position on the next line (for example, on the second line of the name field) and the same processing as described above is performed. When this is repeated until 10 lines are output, printing of the name is completed.

The process ends when the output for one page is completed.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, when creating a print data output program, a line break at a format position,
The troublesome description of column specification is no longer necessary, and the print data output program can be greatly improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a form, FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a laser beam printer used in an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. The figure is a time chart showing the operation of the laser beam printer in Figure 4.
FIG. 5 is a detailed diagram of the format memory and format processor in FIG. 2, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a specific example of format data, FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of print data, and FIG. FIG. 9 is a detailed diagram of the print processor shown in the figure, and FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the processing of the print processor shown in FIG. 11. 11 main processors, 21 page memories, 3 format memories, 41 print processors, 5S format processors. 2nd m th '7 pus 8th country

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first memory that stores print data; a second memory that stores format data that includes control information indicating a position at which the print data is to be superimposed; and a second memory. Read the format data from the first
a first control means that generates a video signal and generates a control signal when the control information is read; and a second control means that reads print data from the first memory and generates a second video signal in response to the control signal. 2 control means; 1. and composing means for composing and outputting the second video control means. 2. The print data is superimposed on a plurality of fields in the format data, the control information includes field designation information that designates one of the fields, and the second control means further receives the field designation information; 2. The printer control device according to claim 1, wherein the printer control device generates a second video signal by selecting print data to be superimposed on the format data in a designated field. 3. The second control means controls a register storing the field designation information and an address in the first memory of each print data to be superimposed on the format data in each field according to the field designation information. Claims characterized by comprising: a third memory storing data to be read out; and third control means for reading print data from the first memory in accordance with the address read from the sixth memory. The printer control device according to item 2.