JP2551553B2 - Print control device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention uses a non-volatile external storage device that is removable from an apparatus to generate a character pattern based on a character code input from a host computer, and a printing unit. The present invention relates to a print control device that prints with.

[Prior Art] Recently, various types of information output devices have been proposed in accordance with the development of information processing technology, and among them, a printing device for recording the information has undergone many improvements and improvements. When recording information with a printing device, generally the character code corresponding to the output character is transmitted to the printing device in order to improve information transfer efficiency, and the character code is converted into the corresponding character image by the character generator in the printing device. The method of converting and outputting characters is adopted. However, if the characters to be output include Chinese characters, the storage capacity of the character generator will be enormous. A method is used in which a nelator is prepared, and a character pattern that is used infrequently is registered in RAM as needed and a specific character code is added to it.
A character that is registered and used whenever necessary is called an external character.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Although there are many printing devices capable of printing external characters, those devices store the created external character pattern in the RAM in the printer body.
Since it is stored in, the external character pattern had to be registered again from the host computer once the power was turned off.

Further, when there are a plurality of similar printing apparatuses, there is a problem that it is necessary to register the external character pattern for each one.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a print control apparatus that does not require re-registration of the character pattern information even after the power of the apparatus is turned off once the character pattern information based on the character code from the host computer is registered. The purpose is to provide.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a print control apparatus in which the character pattern information based on the character code from the host computer is registered once, and the character pattern information can be commonly used in a plurality of similar devices.

[Means for Solving Problems] The print control apparatus according to the present invention has the following configuration in order to achieve the above-described object. That is, the non-volatile external storage means is a print control device that generates a character pattern based on a character code input from a host computer by using a non-volatile external storage means detachable from the device, Determining means for determining whether or not the instruction information for instructing to store the character pattern information is input from the host computer; and when the determining means determines that the instruction information is input, Storage control means for storing the character pattern information input together with the instruction information in a non-volatile external storage means attachable to and detachable from the device; and the character pattern information stored in the non-volatile external storage means by the storage control means. A character pattern based on a character code input from the host computer is generated and is printed by the printing unit. And a print control unit.

For example, the non-volatile external storage means comprises a volatile memory and a battery.

For example, the non-volatile external storage means is composed of an EEPROM.

For example, the character pattern information is external character pattern information.

[Operation] In the above configuration, when it is determined that the instruction information for instructing to store the character pattern information in the non-volatile external storage means is input from the host computer, the character pattern input together with the instruction information Information can be stored in the non-volatile external storage means, and a character pattern can be generated using the character pattern information stored in the non-volatile external storage means and printed by the printing unit.

[Embodiment] An embodiment according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a host computer for sending print data consisting of external character patterns and general codes to the apparatus of this embodiment, and 2 is the body of the apparatus of this embodiment. The main body 2 is a control unit 21 that controls the main control relating to printing, and a pattern conversion unit that converts the code data of the print data input from the host computer 1 into the corresponding pattern data using the font cartridge 3 22, a dot printer section 23 for forming a permanent visible image on a sheet by the pattern data and the like, and a print buffer 24 for storing print pattern data. Further, the control unit 21 can be configured by a microprocessor including ROM and RAM.

Further, 3 is a font cartridge which can be detached from the outside, and the font cartridge 3 stores a font pattern. ROM3 and EEPROM3 for storing external character patterns
It consists of two.

The control operation of this embodiment having the above configuration will be described below.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the control of one embodiment executed by the control unit 21. The process shown in the figure is for host computer 1.
It starts from the time when print data or external character registration data is received from. When the control unit 21 receives the data from the host computer 1, it determines whether or not the data input in step S1 is an external character registration command. If the data is an external character registration command, the process proceeds to step S2 and the following several bytes The external character pattern of several kilobytes is read and sequentially stored in the EEPROM 32 in the font cartridge 3.

If the command is not the external character registration command at step S1, the character code is the one to be printed, so the process proceeds to step S3, and the pattern conversion unit 22 reads the character dot pattern corresponding to that character code from the ROM 31 or EEPROM 32 and expands it in the print buffer 24. Then, the dot printer unit 23 performs preprocessing for obtaining a permanent visible image. Then, the print data in the print buffer 24 is printed out from the dot printer unit 23.

Although the EEPROM 32 is used as the non-volatile element for storing the registered external character pattern data in the above-mentioned embodiment, even if the magnetic bubble memory is used, the low power consumption RAM is also used.
The same effect can be obtained by a method in which a battery is provided in the front cartridge using the above, and the battery is backed up.

Further, the example in which the print data expanded in the print buffer 24 is permanently visible displayed by the dot printer unit 23 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and even if it is output to a display device such as a CRT display device, it is exactly the same. The effect is obtained.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, character pattern information based on a character code downloaded from a host computer is semi-permanently registered in a non-volatile external storage unit mounted in the apparatus, thereby making the apparatus This has an excellent effect that it is not necessary to re-register the character pattern information even after the power is turned off.

Therefore, once the character pattern is registered in the non-volatile external storage means from the host computer, the character pattern based on the character code input from the host computer is stored in the non-volatile external storage means even after the power of the apparatus is turned on again. It can be generated and printed from the registered character pattern information.

Furthermore, since the non-volatile external storage means is removable,
The character pattern information registered based on the character code from the host computer has an excellent effect that it can be used in other similar printing apparatuses.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the construction of a printing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the processing control of this embodiment. In the figure, 1 ... Host computer, 3 ... Font cartridge, 21 ... Control unit, 22 ... Pattern conversion unit, 23 ...
… Dot printer part, 24 …… Print buffer, 32 ……
EEPROM.

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A print control apparatus for generating a character pattern based on a character code input from a host computer and causing a printing unit to print the same by using a non-volatile external storage device that is detachable from the apparatus. Determination means for determining whether or not the instruction information for instructing to store the character pattern information in the external storage means is input from the host computer; and the determination means determines that the instruction information is input. In this case, storage control means for storing the character pattern information input together with the instruction information in a non-volatile external storage means attachable to and detachable from the device, and the character stored in the non-volatile external storage means by the storage control means. Using the pattern information, a character pattern based on the character code input from the host computer is generated and printed by the printing unit. Print control apparatus characterized by comprising a print control means for. 2. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the non-volatile external storage means comprises a volatile memory and a battery. 3. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the non-volatile external storage means is composed of an EEPROM. 4. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the character pattern information is external character pattern information.