JP2606557B2 - DTP system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a DTP system, about the DTP system particularly shorten the printing time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, DTP (Deployment) that collectively performs creation and editing of documents and illustrations and creation of printing compositions has been proposed.
sk Top Publishing) systems have become popular. In the conventional DTP system, as shown in FIG. 3, text input, editing and layout are performed by a computer, a print command is issued when the input work is completed, and the printer receives the font code and develops an outline font into a bitmap. In addition, print data is stored in a page memory together with illustrations and image data, and printing is performed in page units.

However, there is a problem that it takes time to develop an outline font into a bitmap, and thus the printing time increases. For this reason, in a conventional printer, bitmap data developed once by a rasterizer is stored in a cache memory, and when this bitmapped font is included in print data, it is stored without being developed again in a bitmap. A method has been adopted in which the bitmap is reused to reduce the printing time.

For a font cache using this cache memory, for example, outline fonts that are frequently used within a warm-up time when a printer is turned on are developed in bitmap in advance (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-6).
No. 3841, and a printer using a printer in which an outline font whose priority is set high when the printer is idle is developed in a bit map in advance.
No. 15 ".

However, the hit ratio between the font code in the print data and the font code that has been bit-mapped is problematic, and if the font code received from the computer is not included in the bit map font in the cache memory, the printing will fail. There is no time saving effect.

However, in the conventional computer control and printing using word processor software, the character size is limited, and printout is performed without using various character styles. Was developed in a bitmap in a cache memory to obtain a good hit rate, thereby shortening the printing time.

[0007]

However, the recent DTP
The computer control and printout by software use outline fonts, so that character styles such as the character size and typeface can be set finely for a certain character, and the horizontal ratio of the character can be changed. A variety of characters can be expressed, such as distorted along a curve to give a three-dimensional effect.

[0008] When realizing various style settings while the font is in an outline state, for example, a character is defined by a Bezier curve, a spline curve, etc. When bitmap development is performed, a large number of bitmap data can be generated from one character in an outline font. For this reason, the bitmap expansion of the outline font in the cache memory before printing also has the problem that the hit rate is difficult to improve with the setting based on the use frequency and priority because the setting for this character is diverse, and the printing time is not shortened. there were.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to improve the disadvantages of the prior art, and in particular, to improve the hit rate from the cache memory for bitmap expansion of an outline font of a printer, and to reduce the printing time.
Its purpose is to provide a P system.

[0010]

Therefore, in the present invention, an input
DTP to generate font information for input or edited characters
Software and files created by this DTP software
Printer driver that converts files to print data
Print out the specified print image data with the computer
A printer having a printer engine that performs
Font memory that stores outline fonts
Means and print data received from the printer driver.
Bit outline font based on font information
Map image and print image from the print data
An image processing circuit that generates data, and the image processing circuit
Therefore, the font data that has been bitmap expanded is stored.
The image processing circuit includes a cache memory
The font data specified in the
When stored in the cache memory,
Cache data read function
You. Moreover, the computer inputs information to the DTP software.
The font information of the input character is
It has a font code transfer function that sends data to
The image processing circuit sends
Typeface, character code, and character size of specified font information
Bitmap expansion of outline font based on etc.
And store the font data in the cache memory.
The present invention has a configuration such as having a function of storing data , thereby achieving the object described above.

[0011]

When the DTP software 10 running on the computer 2 is started, page settings are made, file editing is started, and a printer to be printed is selected, communication between the computer 2 and the printer 3 starts. Each time a character is input to the DTP software 10 and edited, the input or edited font code is transmitted to the printer 3, and the image processing circuit 12 of the printer 3 converts the received font code into a bit map in the cache memory 14a. I do.

When the editing of the file is completed by the DTP software 10 and a print command is issued, the page printer receives the print data via the interface unit 11, and the image processing circuit unit 12 calls the cache memory from the font code in the print data. If the bitmap data has already been developed, the bitmap data is used (cache use function). If no hit occurs in the cache memory, the bitmap data is developed and drawn on the page memory. The printer engine 15 of the page printer calls the bitmap data from the page memory and prints out the data on a print medium.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of this embodiment. The DTP system according to the present embodiment includes a computer 2 that is driven and controlled by an execution process described in an operating system (OS) 6 and DTP software 10 that is application software, and a printer that prints out print data from the computer 2. And 3.
The computer 10 has input means 4 for inputting information.
And display means 1 for displaying input and stored information. Printer 3 uses outline font 1
3a, a rasterizer 12a in the image processing circuit 12 for developing the outline font 13a into a bitmap, and a memory 14 for storing the developed bitmap data.

The computer 2 inputs a character from the input means 4 or, every time a character already input is edited, outputs font information of the input or edited character to the printer 3.
It has a font code transfer function for transferring to a user. Font code, character code, character size, typeface,
This is a group of codes necessary for bitmap development of an outline font. The code is composed of character horizontal ratios and effect information for characters such as shadowed characters. The printer 3 performs bitmap development of the outline font 13a in the image processing circuit 12 based on the character code, character size, typeface, character style, and the like described in the font code received by the font code transfer function. The data is stored in the cache memory 14a.

This will be described in more detail.
An operating system (OS) 6 and DTP software 10 running on the OS 6
And screen font data 7 are stored. A display driver 5, an input device driver 9, and a printer driver 8 are included as drivers for controlling input / output devices. A keyboard is connected as input means 4 to the computer 2. Note that a mouse or a digitizer may be used together with the input means 4 in addition to the keyboard.
Further, the computer 2 has a CR as a display unit 1.
T is connected.

The printer 3 includes an interface unit 11 for communicating with the computer 2 and a computer 2.
Image processing circuit 1 that processes print data sent from
2 and a printer engine 1 for printing on media such as paper
Five. The image processing circuit 12 includes a rasterizer 12a for developing an outline font into a bitmap, an MPU used for printer control, and the like. In the present embodiment, the printer 3 is a page printer that prints and outputs in page units.

The outline font 13a is stored in the font storage means 13 and connected to the image processing circuit 12. In the present embodiment, the storage unit 13 is a ROM (read-only memory). However, when the type face of the font is various, the storage unit 13 may be a hard disk and an outline font may be stored in the hard disk. Further, here, the memory 14 is a RAM (read / write memory), which is connected to the image processing circuit 12 and the outline font 13
a cache memory 1 for storing the bitmap data of a
4a, a receiving buffer 14b for temporarily storing print data from the computer 2, a frame buffer 14c for storing print image data developed for one page from the print data, and a rasterized work area.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the execution steps of this embodiment. The operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to this flowchart.

In the computer 2, the DTP software 10
Is started, and the DTP software 10 handles the file and gives a name to a file created using the software (S1).

The page settings such as the size of the paper to be printed, vertical / horizontal composition, double-page spread, top / bottom / left / right margins, number of columns and their width, creation of a master page as a basis of layout, resolution and number of lines, etc. Perform (S2). In addition, the size of the characters should be adjusted according to the captions used in the headlines and subheadings in the layout, the captions used to explain the figures, the text, etc.
A DTP software user sets a paragraph format such as a typeface, a horizontal ratio, and a line spacing, a character interval, and the like. For example, if the character used for the heading is 32 points,
The font is set such that the Gothic font horizontal ratio is 90%, the characters are narrower, the line spacing is 40 points, and the character spacing is narrower. These settings are described in the style sheet of the DTP software 10.

A printer for printing is selected (S3). Here, a printer to be used is selected from printers actually connected to the computer 2. In the case of editing such as character input, a file that has been created halfway is continuously created and updated, the process starts with the selection of the actually connected printer.

Check the status with the selected printer (S
4). When the printer used by the DTP software 10 is selected, the DTP software 10 sends the OS 6 printer driver 8
A signal is transmitted to the interface unit 11 of the printer 3 via the PC 2 and communication between the computer 2 and the printer 3 starts.
Here, it is confirmed whether the printer can be used.

If the selected printer 3 is in an unusable state, a signal indicating the state of the printer is sent from the interface unit 11 of the printer 3 to the printer driver 8 of the computer 2, and the monitor is monitored via the OS 6 and the display driver 5. To display the status of the printer (S5).

Here, the user obtains the connection status with the usable printer by reading the status of the printer 3 and selecting another printer. The case where the printer 3 to be used cannot be used because another file is being printed, for example, will be described later. When the connection state with the usable printer is obtained, editing of the file by the DTP software 10 is started. Direct DT
There are a case where a character is input to the P software 10 and a case where a text file created by another word processing software or the like is imported (S6).

A case where characters are directly input to the DTP software 10 will be described as an example. The input device driver 9 of the computer 2 transmits a signal received from the keyboard 4 to the OS 6. The OS 6 delivers a signal translated into a character code to the DTP software 10 by the input device driver. DT
The P software adds information on the character style to the received character code, and returns a signal to the OS 6 as a font code. The OS 6 calls the screen font 7 to display it on the monitor from the received font code, and develops it into a bitmap. A display signal is sent to the monitor via the display driver 5, and is input to the monitor and displayed in the character style set by the DTP software 10 (S8).

The screen font 7 may be an outline font or a bitmap font. Depending on the character style set when characters are input, the screen font 7
S6 is selected and called.

On the other hand, the font code input from the keyboard and given a character style to the DTP software 10 is:
It is sent to the display driver 5 and sent to the printer 3 via the printer driver 8. In the printer 3, the data is temporarily stored in the reception buffer 12b via the interface unit 11, and then sent to the image processing circuit 12 (S9).

The image processing circuit 12 includes a font storage unit 13
Is read out, and the outline font is read out and bitmap-expanded using the image processing circuit 12 (S10).
Cache memory 14a secured in area in AM14
To accumulate. The display on the monitor and the bitmap development on the printer are performed each time a character is input.

A frame line other than a character and a picture are input (S1).
1) The layout is edited (S12). At this time, if the character style is changed, that is, if the font size, font, etc. are changed, the display on the monitor and the page
The cached characters of the bitmap-expanded characters of the printer 3 are again executed (S6 to S13).

When the character input and layout are completed and a print command is issued (S14), the printer 3 receives the print data via the interface unit 11 and sends the print data to the image processing circuit 1.
No. 2 uses font data that has already been bit-mapped and stored in the cache memory 14a.
The print image data is expanded in the page memory 14c having an area secured in M14. The data of the frame and the picture are similarly developed in the page memory area (S15).

When the creation of the print image data is completed,
Printing is performed by the printer engine 15 (S16).

When the printer to be used is printing another file at the time of selecting the printer in S3 to S4, the printer driver 8 waits for the printer to finish printing.
The font code from the DTP software 10 is stored in the buffer memory 8a. This is for maintaining the processing speed of the DTP software 10. In addition, the character input in S6 is performed by reading a file created by another word processing software or the like, or a character style is collectively applied to the characters on the DTP software 10, so that a large amount of bitmaps can be used at one time. Even when a font code to be developed is generated, the font code is transferred without lowering the processing speed by utilizing the buffer memory for transferring the font code.

The printer driver 8 clears the contents of the buffer memory 8 when a print command is received from the DTP software 10 while the font code is stored in the buffer memory 8 for transferring the font code. Execute printing.

According to the above-described embodiment, the bitmap development of the outline font can be stored in the cache memory 14a of the printer 3 when the printer 3 is idle at the time of character input and editing on the computer 2. . Since this bitmap expanded font code is a font related to a file currently created and edited on the computer 2, it is also possible to print a new outline font without bitmap expansion at the time of printing. Also, the hit rate is dramatically improved as compared with the conventional font cache based on usage frequency and priority.

Since the font caching of the printer 3 by transferring the font code is performed using the idle time of the printer, the hardware resources of the printer can be used most effectively.

[0037]

Since the present invention is constructed and functions as described above, according to this, the font code transfer function is DT
Each time information is entered into the P software,
The font information is sent to the printer sequentially, and the image processing circuit
Is the phone transmitted by the font code transfer function.
Based on font type, character code, character size, etc.
To expand the outline font to bitmap,
This bitmap expanded font code is actually
Files related to files created and edited on
New outline when printing.
Printing fonts without bitmap expansion
It is also possible to use
Hit rate is dramatically higher than font cache
To improve. As described above, the hit rate of the cache memory used for bitmap expansion of outline fonts is dramatically increased, and the printing time from when a print command is issued to when a printed material is output is greatly reduced. A DTP system can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a conventional example.

[Brief description of reference numerals]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Display means 2 Computer 3 Printer 4 Input means 5 Display driver 6 Operating system (OS) 7 Screen font 8 Printer driver 9 Input device driver 10 DTP software 11 Interface part 12 Image processing circuit 13 Font storage means 13a Outline font 14 Memory as a memory RAM 14a Cache memory 14b Receive buffer 14c Page buffer 15 Printer engine

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. Font information of a character input or edited
Software that generates the
Printer that converts a file created by a printer into print data
A computer having a driver and a predetermined print image
A printer having a printer engine for printing out data
A printer in which the printer stores an outline font.
Client storage means and a mark received from the printer driver.
The outline font is bitmap-developed based on the font information in the print data, and the print data is
An image processing circuit for generating a print image data from this
Phone developed bitmap by image processing circuit
A cache memory for storing the font data , wherein the image processing circuit has a
Point data is stored in the cache memory.
Sometimes font data in the cache memory is read.
In a DTP system having a cache use function to find out , the computer inputs information to the DTP software.
The font information of the input character with a font code transfer function of sequentially transmitted to the printer for each is, the image processing circuit, the font code font information specification sent by the transfer function font, character code,
A function of developing the outline font into a bitmap based on a character size or the like and storing the font data in a cache memory.
TP system. Wherein said printer driver, the print data
2. The DTP system according to claim 1, further comprising a function of activating the font code transfer function when a printer to be transmitted is selected. 3. The printer driver stores the font
請 to this and features features a buffer memory for temporarily storing the font code output from the code transmission function
The DTP system according to claim 1 .