JP2641433B2 - Printing control device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print control device, and more particularly to a print control device that generates dot information based on input information and outputs the dot information to a printing device.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an output device such as a printing device, a memory corresponding to the entire area of an output medium is prepared and output.
For this reason, printers with a high printing density such as an LED printer and a laser beam printer require a large amount of memory capacity, which is disadvantageous in terms of cost. Also, since it is fixedly stored on the storage medium of the output device as a memory for storing the information to be output, it has a large memory capacity for downloading fonts and registering macro commands. There was a large capacity limit.

Furthermore, since the area on the output medium and the area on the storage medium corresponding to each other are associated one-to-one, for example, printing on B4 paper is performed to unify the paper size, but the actual print area is sufficient for A4 size. Even when only a small output area is required on a large output medium, a memory with an unnecessarily large capacity is used, resulting in wasteful use of the memory.

Further, in a printer that operates on a page basis, such as an LED printer and a laser beam printer, an image memory for a plurality of pages is required for smooth continuous printing, and the memory capacity is enormous.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, variably secures a memory for an output area where valid dot information on an output medium exists based on input information, and outputs the information. Provided is a print control device that improves memory efficiency by controlling output timing based on the position of an area.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve this problem, a print control device of the present invention generates dot information based on input information and outputs the dot information to a printing device. Specifying means for specifying a writing position and a size of an output area on an output medium on which an image corresponding to the input information is to be output, based on the input information, and the output area specified by the specifying means Storage area corresponding to the size of
Setting means for setting in the storage means, generating means for generating dot information based on the input information and storing in the storage area set by the setting means, and dot information stored in the storage area; Control means for controlling writing timing of the dot information stored in the storage area to the printing apparatus so that the image to be displayed is printed from the writing position of the output area on the output medium specified by the specifying means; It is characterized by having.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printer control unit 100 of a laser beam printer (hereinafter referred to as LBP) which is an embodiment of the output device of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes control of the entire LBP and analysis of input data.
An input interface circuit 103 receives data transmitted from the host computer 102 and transmits the data to the CPU 101. A program ROM 104 stores a printer control program of the CPU 101 shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 described later. , 105
Is a font memory that stores character patterns corresponding to character codes in data input from the host computer 102, and is configured by a general ROM. Reference numeral 106 denotes a page memory used for temporarily storing data from the host computer and for securing image memory for a plurality of pages. The use state is controlled by a memory management table 108 described later. Reference numeral 107 denotes a page control table for controlling the page buffer on the page memory and the input / output of the image memory. The structure will be described later with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 108 denotes a memory management table for managing the use status of the page memory 106 and securing and releasing the memory, and its structure is shown in FIG. The page memory 106,
Page control table 107, memory management table 10
8 is composed of general RAM. Reference numeral 109 denotes a timer unit that outputs a timer interrupt signal S01 to the CPU 101 at intervals of, for example, 50 ms. The timer interrupt signal S01 starts a timer interrupt processing routine of a printer control program of a multitask processing system incorporated in the CPU 101 to perform task management. Reference numeral 110 denotes a statistic that temporarily stores data for one laser scan on the image memory secured on the page memory 106.
This is a scan buffer composed of RAM. The scan buffer 110 has a double buffer structure, and the CPU 101 stores the image data in the page memory 106 in the scan buffer 110.
While writing to one of the two, the other buffer is read by the image signal generator 111 and converted into an image signal S02,
Output to the output interface circuit 112.

The output interface circuit 112 is a circuit that outputs various control signals and image signals to the LBP printing mechanism unit 113, and the CPU 101
The printer start signal S03 from the LBP printing mechanism 11
3 is started, and a series of printing processes such as paper feeding, image transfer to paper, and fixing are executed.

Next, in FIG. 2, the memory management table 108 of FIG.
A management method of the page memory 106 using the “?” Will be described. The page memory 106 is logically divided into 256-byte memory segments, each of which is associated with one bit of the RAM constituting the memory management table. Memory management table 1
08 is a general RAM that is accessed in byte (8 bit) units, and the 1st byte mbit corresponds to the {8 × (l−1) + m} th memory segment from the top of the page memory 106. The RAM address can be easily calculated. Further, for each bit on the memory management table 108,
If it is '1', it indicates that the corresponding memory segment is in use, and if it is '0', it indicates that it is not used. This allows the CPU 101 to grasp the memory usage status, and especially secure an empty memory segment. It is like that.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the internal structure of the page control table 107. Reference numeral 301 denotes a page buffer control unit, which comprises a page buffer address area 303 for storing the start address of the page buffer 307 secured on the page memory 106 and a data capacity area 302 for storing the data capacity to be stored on the page buffer 307. The page buffer 307 checks a free space in the memory management table 108 to secure a necessary amount, and temporarily holds input data input via the input interface circuit 103 for one page.

The page memory 106 generates an output image for one page in the form of a dot pattern in addition to the page buffer 307.
A plurality of image memories 308 to 310 and the like to be held can be secured. Each time one page of data is input to the page buffer 307, an output image is sequentially generated in the image memory. In order to control the input / output of the image memory for a plurality of pages, page control units 401a to 401e of # 1 to # 5 are stored in the page control table 107.
Has an image page control table 306 composed of

The page control units 401a to 401e on the image page control table 306 correspond to the output page pointer 30.
4. Accessed by the input page pointer 305. The output page pointer 304 is an image memory of the page being printed out,
Alternatively, the input page pointer 304 is a pointer pointing to the page control unit 401a to 401e corresponding to the image memory to be output next. The input page pointer 304 is a page control unit corresponding to the page image memory for writing the image pattern of the input data via the page buffer 307. The pointers 401a to 401e indicate the page control units 401a to 401e to which an image is to be written next.

FIG. 4 shows the above-mentioned page control units 401a to 401a.
7 shows a print area on a sheet corresponding to the internal structure of e.

The page control units 401a to 401e store various types of management information relating to one page of output image.
A status flag 402 indicates the status of the page control units 401a to 401e. Status flag 40
No. 2 holds any status among “empty”, “input”, “waiting for output”, and “output”. The status of "empty" indicates that the page control units 401a to 401e are unused. The status of "input" is the page buffer 307 of the page control units 401a to 401e.
This indicates that the input data via is being written to the corresponding image memory as an image pattern. "Waiting for input"
Indicates the state in which the page control units 401a to 401e are waiting for the start of printing. The status of "outputting" indicates that the printing operation is being executed for the image data corresponding to the page control units 401a to 401e.

Reference numerals 403 and 404 denote areas for storing the coordinates (x _i , y _i ) of the upper left corner of the image area to indicate the actual position on the paper of the output image for one page generated in the image memory. The 405 and 406 is a region to be housed magnitude X _i in the x direction of the corresponding one page of output Kazo, the y-direction size Y _i.
409 shows the position and size of the output image on the paper 408.
The coordinates represent the upper left corner of the sheet as the origin. Also, the coordinates (x _i , y _i ) and size X of the upper left corner of the output image area
_i, Y _i, when fit to Pejibatsufua 307 input data of one page via input in tough Ace circuit 103 is calculated by a checking an effective print area input data uses.

When the input data on Pejibatsufua 307 generates an image pattern on the image memory, the size X _i 405, the size Y
_The required memory capacity is calculated from _i 406, and the required amount of image memory is secured on the page memory 106. An image memory address pointer 407 stores the head address of the secured image memory.

The base buffer 307 and the image memories 308, 309, 3
10 is secured in order from the lowest address by checking the memory management table 108, and is released when output is completed.

The checking of the effective effective area of the print area in the LBP having the above configuration and the mechanism of securing the image memory of multiple pages and the control of the input / output control accompanying it are described below.
This will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 5 and 6 stored in the program ROM 104.

The printer control program employs a multitask system, and is managed by a timer interrupt signal S01 from the timer unit 109. The main tasks include an input task and an output task. Input processing for creating an output image for one page and output processing for printing the created output image are performed in parallel.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of the input task, and the input process will be described in detail.

First, in step S501, various variables are initialized. The main variables used in the input task are as follows. Coordinates (x, y) representing the print position of the input code to be input,
Note that (x, y) is represented by coordinates using the upper left corner of the sheet as the origin (0, 0). Also, as variables to be stored with the minimum and maximum values of x and y in one page, a minimum value x _min of x and a maximum value x of x
_max, the minimum value y _min of y, providing a maximum value y _max of y. Therefore, if the character width of the character pattern stored in the font memory 105 is w and the character height is h, the coordinates (x _min , y _min
-H), (x _min , y _max ), (x _max + w, y _min -h), (x
_The area surrounded by the four points ( _max + w, _ymax ) is the effective print area of the page, that is, the area that requires an image memory.

The print position (x, y) is a position corresponding to the lower left corner of the character pattern frame, and x advances to the left by w for each character.
During a line feed, y advances by h.

When the initialization of the variable is completed in step S501, step S5
In step 02, the memory management table 108 is checked, the page buffer 307 is secured, and the memory management table 108 is updated. Subsequently, in step S503, as the update of the base buffer control unit 301, first, the data capacity area 302 is cleared, and the page buffer address area 303 is
The start address of the page buffer 307 secured in step S501 is set. Next, in step S504, the input data from the host computer 102 is input to the character interface circuit 1.
03 Take out by route and check the input data in step S505. If the input data is a character code,
The character processing of S506 to 514 is performed. First, steps S506-511
Then, the current print position (x, y) and x _min, x _max, y _min, y _max
If (x, y) exceeds the minimum value and the maximum value, (x, y) is set as a new minimum value and a maximum value, and x _min, x _max, y _min, y _max Update the corresponding variable in.

Next, in step S512, the input data (character code) is stored in the page buffer 307, and in step S513, the print position (x, y) is set.
Is updated to the next position. Then, in step S514, the data capacity area 3 on the base buffer control unit 301
02 is incremented by one. When the processing of one character code is completed, the process returns to step S504 and proceeds to the processing of the next input data.

If the input data is a FF (form feed) code indicating the end of one page in the check of the input data in step S505, the end processing of the page is performed in steps S515 to S522.

Here, as an example, assuming that the current input page pointer 305 points to the page control unit 401c of # 3, the page status 402 of the page control unit 401c of # 3 is checked and becomes "empty", that is, usable. Wait for Subsequently, in step S516, the input page status 402 is set to "inputting", indicating that the input task is using the # 3 page control unit 401c. Next, in step S517, x _min, x _max, y _min,
Management information of page control unit 401c by y _max
403 to 406 are updated as follows.

x _i = x _min , y _i = y _min −h, X _i = x _max + w−x _min , Y _i = y _max + (y _min x−h) Then, in step S518, the values are calculated in step S517.
The capacity of the image memory is calculated using X _i and Y _i , and the memory management table 108 is checked to secure the image memory 310 on the page memory 106. Subsequently, in step S519, the character code for one page stored in the page buffer 307 is taken out, the corresponding character pattern is read from the font memory 105, and written in the image memory 310 to generate an output image for one page. When an output image for one page is completed, the memory management table 108 is updated in step S520 to release the area of the page buffer 307. Then, in step S521, "output holding" is set in the page status 402, and the output task is notified to the output task. Next, in step S522, the input page pointer 305 is moved to the next page control unit 401d, and the page end processing ends.

Upon completion of the page end processing, the flow returns to step S501 to enter the next page input processing.

Next, FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of the output task, and the output processing of the completed output image will be described in detail.

First, in step S601, the page status 402 of the # 1 page control unit 401a indicated by the output page pointer 304 is checked and held until "waiting for output", that is, until an output image is prepared. Then, in step S602, a printer activation signal S03 is output to activate the LBP printing mechanism.

Next, in step S603, blank data is sent to the scan buffer 110 to create a blank section on the sheet in the section from the upper end of the sheet to the start of the actual print image, that is, the section in which the y coordinate is 0 to _yi . Note that y _i is the y _i coordinate 404 on the page control unit 401a.

Next, in step S604, the image data prepared on the image memory 308 is transferred to the scan buffer 110. On this occasion,
In order to obtain a blank space in the writing section in the x direction, the writing position to the scan buffer 110 is shifted by x _i and the transfer data amount is changed by X.
_{As i} , data transfer for Y _i scan is performed. Thus, a predetermined image can be printed at a predetermined position on the sheet.
It should be noted that x _i , X _i , and Y _i each have a page control unit 40.
X _i coordinate 403 of 1a, size X _i 405, the size Y _i 406.

When the output of the image data is completed, the process proceeds to step S605 to update the memory management table 108 and release the area of the image memory 308. Then, in step S606, the output page status 402 of the page control unit 401a is set to “empty”, and in step S607, the output page pointer 304 is moved to the next page control unit 401b, and the output process for one page is completed. When the output process for one page is completed, the process returns to step S601 to start the output process for the next page.

Although the present embodiment is an application example of the present invention to a laser beam printer, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to various printing apparatuses such as a thermal transfer printer and an LED printer. Further, the technical concept of the present invention can be applied not only to a printing device but also to other output devices such as a display.

In this embodiment, only character data is used as input data. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be easily applied to graphic data such as vector graphics and image data.

In the present embodiment, the input data is temporarily stored in the page buffer in order to check the area of the input data. However, as another example, it is a rule that data of the same page is connected twice from the host computer and sent twice. First, the actual printing check and image memory may be secured, and the second actual printing may be performed.

Further, in this embodiment, the objects for which the memory is secured in the dynamics are limited to the page buffer and the image memory, but in addition to this, the registration area of the download font temporarily used in a certain page and the filling of the figure are performed. For example, the work stack area required for preserving the boundaries of time, etc.
The memory efficiency is further improved by using the target memory area.

As described above, by checking the print position of the input print information at the time of reception, the position and size of the effective print area on the recording material are known, and thereby, the image memory is dynamically allocated to secure printing. It is possible to significantly increase the memory efficiency of the device.

In particular, if the maximum recording size that can be handled is large, but the size of the recording material that is normally used is less than half of the maximum size, the memory is required for the maximum size, but during normal use, the memory is divided into dynamics. Thus, a plurality of pages can be stored in the image memory, and the throughput can be improved.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, a memory for an output area where valid dot information exists on an output medium is variably secured based on input information, and output timing is controlled based on the position of the output area. Thus, a print control device with improved memory efficiency can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printer control unit of the laser beam printer of this embodiment, FIG. 2 is a table structure diagram of a memory management table on the printer control unit, and FIG. 3 is page control on the printer control unit. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a page control unit on a page control table, FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an input task in a printer control program, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an output task in a printer control program. It is. In the figure, 100: Printer control unit, 101: CPU, 102
... Host computer, 103 ... Input interface circuit, 104 ... Program ROM, 105 ... Font memory, 106 ... Page memory, 107 ... Page control table, 108 ... Memory management table, 109 ... Timer unit , 110 ... Scan buffer, 111 ... Image signal generator, 112 ... Output interface circuit, 113 ... LBP
Print mechanism 301, page buffer control unit, 304 output page pointer, 305 input page pointer, 401a to e ... page control unit.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A print control apparatus for generating dot information based on input information and outputting the information to a printing apparatus, wherein an image corresponding to the input information is output based on the input information. Specifying means for specifying the writing position and size of the output area on the output medium to be output; setting means for setting, in the storage means, a storage area corresponding to the size of the output area specified by the specifying means; Generating means for generating dot information based on the input information and storing it in the storage area set by the setting means; and an image represented by the dot information stored in the storage area,
Control means for controlling the timing of writing the dot information stored in the storage area to the printing device so that printing is performed from the writing position of the output area on the output medium specified by the specifying means. Characteristic print control device. 2. The printing control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said output area is rectangular and is represented by a vertical width and a horizontal width.