JP2509602B2 - Print control device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a print control device for printing a character string by shading.

[Prior Art] In recent years, in a document information processing apparatus such as a word processor, multifunctionality and cost reduction have advanced, and it has become possible to create and print sentences for any business or purpose. Above all,
As a printing method on a printing medium (paper), there is a printing method that can use the rotary printing function as shown in FIG. 6B in addition to the normal printing as shown in FIG. 6A. According to this rotary printing function, even if the maximum printing width of the printer is only the vertical width of A4 size, printing corresponding to the horizontal width of A4 size can be performed as shown in FIG. 6 (B). Therefore, it is a very convenient function that can meet various demands of the user, such as being able to create a horizontally long schedule on the screen and printing this on a vertically long sheet.

However, the conventional apparatus of this type can perform normal printing as shown in FIG. 3 (A) but cannot perform rotation printing as shown in FIG. 6 (B). There is a functional function, and it is negative in terms of affinity for users.

For example, a function of emphasizing a predetermined character is called a mesh function, and a continuous mesh pattern including characters is synthesized and output for a character string to be emphasized.

However, conventionally, for example, when a wavy line pattern as shown in FIG. 4 (B) is combined, there is a drawback that the wavy line pattern becomes discontinuous between characters and gears or between gears and characters.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional example, and provides a print control apparatus capable of printing a continuous shaded character string orthogonal to the scanning direction of the print head. The purpose is to

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the print control apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, in a printing device that prints in a predetermined width unit by scanning a print head having a predetermined width, a character string in which a plurality of characters are arranged in a direction orthogonal to the scanning direction of the print head is shaded. A print control device for printing, comprising: a storage unit for storing a character pattern and a mesh pattern; and the mesh pattern for printing the mesh pattern in the next scan continuously from the mesh pattern in the previous scan. Setting means for variably setting the reading start position of the, and the hatched pattern stored in the storage means is read based on the reading start position set by the setting means, combined with the character pattern, and the print head is And a means for printing a character string which is shaded continuously and which is orthogonal to the scanning direction by scanning and printing a plurality of times.

[Operation] In the above-described configuration, the shaded pattern stored in the storage unit is read based on the read start position, is combined with the character pattern, and the print head is made to scan a plurality of times for printing, thereby making it possible to perform continuous printing orthogonal to the scanning direction. It is possible to print a character string that is shaded.

[Description of Embodiments] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a document information processing apparatus (word processor) according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a central processing unit (CPU), which performs main control of the apparatus. A read-only memory (ROM) 2 includes, for example, a control program 21 in FIGS. 2A and 2B, a font pattern 22 for characters, a dictionary for converting kanji characters, and various controls (not shown). It stores the tables, etc.

3 is a keyboard (KB) for creating and editing document information,
Input command information, etc. related to rotation printing. The keyboard 3
Is a character key for inputting characters, a conversion key for instructing Kanji conversion, an edit key for editing a document, a cursor key for moving a cursor, a print key for instructing start, stop and restart of printing. Key (PK) 32, print format for printing or rotary printing, and print format key (PSK) 31 for specifying the start page number to start rotary printing, etc., and printing format such as the number of digits and lines per page. A format setting key (SSK) 33 for designating, and a meshing key (AMK) 34 for designating a meshing mode are included.

4 is a display unit (D) composed of a liquid crystal display (LCD), for example.
It is an ISP) and displays the document information being created or a part of the created document information, and displays messages to the user.

5 is, for example, a thermal transfer printer (PRN),
Characters to be printed are provided by providing thermal element groups arranged in a vertical line, and the thermal element groups generate heat in accordance with a character pattern to apply ink on a thermal transfer tape facing the thermal element groups onto a paper surface to print. Is printed. The printer 5
Is a thermal head 51 having a thermal element group (TH) for 32 dots, a head driver (HD) 52 for driving the thermal head 51, and a carrier motor (CM) for moving the thermal head carrier in the row direction of the paper. 53, a carrier motor driver (CMD) 54 that drives the carrier motor 53, a feed motor (FM) 55 that advances the paper in the column direction, a feed motor driver (FMD) 56 that drives the feed motor 55, and a thermal head. An up-down mechanism that brings the 51 into and out of contact with the paper
57, an up-down driver (UDD) 58 for driving the up-down mechanism 57, a sensor (HP) 59 for detecting the return of the home position of the thermal head carrier, and the like. The sensor (HP) 59 is also used to correct the positional deviation of the thermal head carrier when the positional deviation occurs.

A printer control (PRNC) 6 controls the printer 5 according to an instruction from the CPU 1.

7 is a readable / writable random access memory (RAM)
A code buffer (CDBF) 71 for storing a document code which is being created or has been created (including control codes such as movement phrase information, tab information, and shaded code), and a sequence code from the document code of the code buffer 71. To read the code contents, refer to the compressed font information 22 of the ROM2, convert each column code into a corresponding character pattern, and further rotate this to expand and store a 32x32 dot image font buffer ( FNTBF) 72, and among the above-mentioned column codes, a halftone dot code buffer (AMFNTBF) 7 which converts a halftone dot code into a corresponding halftone dot pattern and further develops and stores a rotated 32 × 32 dot image.
5 and various registers used in the program of Fig. 2,
Working area for storing counters and flags (WK
A) 73 as well as areas such as a user dictionary (UJ) 74 registered and managed by the user. 8 is a common bus of CPU1.

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing the contents of the code buffer 71. In the figure, each character consists of 4 bytes,
It includes character codes and control codes (halftone dot designation, etc.). Here, the number of format digits in one line is 40, and the document information is edited in the line direction.

2 (A) and 2 (B) are flow charts showing a halftone rotary printing control procedure of the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a flow chart for explaining the operation when two consecutive characters "Kyou" are rotationally printed. FIG.

<Explanation of Registers and Counters> In FIGS. 2A and 2B, SK is a register for storing the set value of the number of digits to be rotated and printed (the number of columns in the case of plural lines), and N is to be rotationally printed. A column counter that counts the number of digits (number of columns), FSL is a register that holds the start row of the font (shaded pattern) to be read from AMFNTBF75,
FEL is also a register that holds the end row of fonts. gbp is a register that holds the contents of GBP.
Is a gap value between the characters determined so that the character strings are evenly allocated on the paper in accordance with the set line spacing pitch.

<Initial setting> In FIG. 2A, the column counter N is set in step S1.
Set "1" to, set SSL to "0" in step S2, and set FEL to "31" in step S3. Step
In S4, the shaded pattern as shown in FIG. 4 (B) corresponding to the shaded code is read from ROM2 and is read in FIG. 4 (D).
Rotate as shown in and store in AMFNTBF75. The halftone dot pattern of the embodiment is formed in a cyclic shape. By devising and linking the halftone dot pattern, a periodic halftone dot pattern can be obtained no matter what rotary printing is performed.

<Rotating printing of shaded characters> In step S5, the column counter N points (N is a relative address)
A character pattern corresponding to the character code is read from the ROM 2 (for example, FIG. 4 (A)), rotated as shown in FIG. 4 (C), and stored in the FNTBF72. AMFNTBF for Step S6
Of the contents of 75, the shaded pattern from the line pointed to by SFL (dot line) to the 31st line is read, and this is overlaid from the first line (dot line) of FNTBF72. In this case, overlapping means taking a logical sum. The contents of FSL can be "0" or any numerical value, but since the contents of FSL are "0" at first, only the processing of step S6 is performed as shown in Fig. 4 (C) and (C) as shown in Fig. 4 (E). D) will be piled up. FS for step S7
It is determined whether the content of L is "0". If it is "0", the full pattern of shaded characters has already been formed. Therefore,
Proceed to step S9 to print the contents of FNTBF72. If it is not "0", it means that half-tone dot formation is in progress. Therefore,
In step S8, overlay the shaded pattern from the 0th line of AMFNTBF75 to the line indicated by the contents of FEL on the rest of FNTBF72,
Print the contents of FNTBF72 in step S9. This is the rotation printing of shaded characters, which is indicated by area AP1 in FIG. In step S10, the paper feed of 32 dots (one character) is executed. In step S11, the contents of GBP are registered in the register gbp
And the contents of register gbp are set to "32" in step S12.
It is determined whether or not it is larger.

<Rotation printing of halftone pattern when the gap between letters is larger than 1 character> 1 if the judgment of step S12 satisfies (gbp> 32)
It indicates that there is a gap between letters that is larger than the letters, so that it is possible to simply connect the shaded patterns. That is, this is the stage of forming the area AP2 in FIG. Processing is step S15
Then, the shaded pattern from the line pointed to by FSL to the 31st line of AMFNTBF75 is transferred from the first line of FNTBF72. Here, to transfer is to rewrite the contents of FNTBF72 with a halftone pattern. In step S16, the contents of FSL are "0"
If it is "0", the rewriting has been completed, so the flow advances to step S18 to print the contents of FNTBF72. If it is not "0", the shaded pattern from the 0th line of AMFNTBF75 to the line pointed to by FEL is FNT in step S17.
1 of the shaded pattern that is transferred to BF72 and starts with an arbitrary phase
Complete the cycle and print the contents of FNTBF72 in step S18. This is the rotary printing of the halftone pattern when the inter-character gear gap is larger than one character. In step S19, 32 dots of paper are fed. As shown in Figure 3, area AP
The shaded pattern of 1 and the shaded pattern of area AP2 are continuous. In step S20, −32 is set from the contents of register gbp.
And then return to step S12. In step S12, it is determined again whether the content of register gbp is larger than "32",
If it is larger, the same processing as above is performed.

<Rotation printing of halftone pattern when character gap is smaller than 1 character> When the content of register gbp is not larger than 32 in the determination of step S12, it means that the character gap is smaller than 1 character. This state may occur in the area immediately after the character is printed, or may occur in the area AP3 in FIG. 3 as described in the present embodiment. In the description of the present embodiment, the size of the area AP3 is shown as 1/2 of one character, but the size is not limited to this. The process proceeds to step S13 in FIG. 2 (B) to set FEL to (FSL + g
Store the value of bp-1). At the beginning, FSL = 0, and FEL means the end of area AP3 in FIG. Step S
At 14, it is determined whether the FEL content is larger than 31.
Since it is not large at this point, the process proceeds to step S22. At step S22, the size of the register FEL and the register FSL is determined. At this point, FEL> FSL, so step S25 is A
Of the MFNTBF75, the shaded pattern from the line indicated by the register FSL to the line indicated by the register FEL is transferred from the first line of the FNTBF72. This is the stage of forming the area AP3 in FIG. If FEL> FSL is not true, use S23 for AMFNT.
The shaded pattern from the line pointed to by register FSL to the 31st line of BF75 is transferred from the first line of FNTBF72, and step S24
Then, the shaded pattern from line 0 of AMFNTBF75 to the line indicated by FEL is transferred from the line following FNTBF72. In step S26
Print the contents of FNTBF72, register gbp in step S27.
Paper feed for the contents of the above.

<Rotary printing of the next half-tone dot pattern character following the inter-character gear tap> In step S28, it is determined whether the contents of SK and the contents of the line counter N match, and if they match, printing ends. If they do not match, the contents of FSL are set to (FEL + 1) in step S29. This is because the shaded pattern to be subsequently used starts from the address (FEL + 1). At step S30, the content of the column counter N is incremented by one. Then, returning to step S5, the character pattern of the next character is expanded to FNTBF72, and the shaded pattern is superimposed on it.
In this case, since FSL = 0 is not satisfied, at step S6, the remaining halftone dot pattern at the previous time is superimposed, and at step S8, the first halftone dot pattern is successively overlapped. This is the area AP in Figure 3.
This is the stage of forming 4 and AP5. Similarly, in step S15, the remaining half-tone dot pattern of the previous time is transferred, and in step S17, the first half-tone dot pattern is continuously transferred. This is the stage of forming the areas AP6 and AP7 in FIG. Since FSL = 0 is not established, if (FSL + gbp-1) is set in FEL in step S13, FEL> 31 is satisfied in the determination in step S14. In this case, FE at step S21
Execute L ← (FEL-32) to invert the status.

In the above embodiment, the case where the text line information is rotationally printed in the column direction of the print medium has been described, but conversely, the text column information is rotationally printed in the line direction of the print medium by the same idea. .

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a print control device capable of printing a continuous shaded character string orthogonal to the scanning direction of the print head.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a document information processing apparatus (word processor) according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2A and 2B are flow charts showing a halftone rotary printing control procedure of the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation when two consecutive letters “Kyoto” are rotationally printed, and FIGS. 4A to 4E are diagrams showing storage modes of original fonts and font buffers, and FIG. Is a diagram schematically showing the contents of the code buffer 71, and FIGS. 6 (A) and 6 (B) are diagrams showing one mode of conventional rotary printing. In the figure, 1 ... Central Processing Unit (CP
U), 2 ... Read only memory (ROM), 3 ... Keyboard (KB), 31 ... Print format key (PSK), 32 ... Print key (PK), 33 ... Format setting key (SSK), 34 ……
Shading mode designation key, 4 …… Display (DISP), 5 ……
Printer (PR line counter N), 51 ... Thermal head,
52 …… Head driver (HD), 53 …… Carrier motor (CM), 54 …… Carrier motor driver (CMD), 55…
… Feed motor (FM), 56 …… Feed motor driver (FMD), 57 …… Up-down mechanism, 58 …… Up-down driver (UDD), 59 …… Sensor, 6 …… Printer control (PRMC), 7 …… Random access memory (RAM), 8 ... Common bus.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A printing apparatus for printing in a predetermined width unit by scanning a print head having a predetermined width, and a character string in which a plurality of characters are arranged in a direction orthogonal to the scanning direction of the print head is shaded. A printing control device for performing printing by applying a storage means for storing a character pattern and a halftone dot pattern, and for printing the halftone dot pattern in the next scan continuously with the halftone pattern in the previous scan. Setting means for variably setting the read start position of the shaded pattern, and based on the read start position set by the setting means, the shaded pattern stored in the storage means is read and combined with the character pattern, A unit for printing a continuous shaded character string orthogonal to the scanning direction by scanning the print head a plurality of times for printing. And a print control device.