JP2715475B2 - Graphic output device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a graphic output device that outputs graphic data to a page printer.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in this type of graphic output device, a storage area corresponding to a dot of one page of a printer is secured in a bit map buffer memory, desired graphic data is expanded in the storage area, and a bit including the expanded data is stored. All data for one page of the map buffer memory has been sequentially sent to the printer.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in the graphic output device as described above, the entire data of the bitmap buffer memory is always sent to the printer regardless of which part of the storage area of the bitmap buffer memory the graphic data is drawn.
For example, even when a graphic is drawn only in a part of the memory, the data in the part where the graphic is not drawn must be sent to the printer. There was a problem that stagnation.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a graphic output device capable of reducing the amount of data to be sent to a printer and shortening data processing time.

[Means for solving the problem]

According to the present invention, a predetermined amount (one page) of graphic data is developed in graphic storage means such as a bitmap buffer memory, and the developed data is output as raster data to a printing means such as a page printer to be printed. In the output device, figure processing means for calculating a drawing area of the figure data, storage means such as a drawing area storage unit for storing the calculated drawing area, and when printing the developed data, Print processing means for reading out the data corresponding to the drawing area stored in the drawing area storage unit from the bitmap buffer memory and performing processing.

[Action]

The bitmap buffer memory is scanned in accordance with the drawing area of the graphic data calculated by the graphic processing means and stored in the drawing area storage unit, and only the data of the drawing area is sent to the printer.

Therefore, the amount of data sent to the printer can be reduced, and the data processing time can be reduced.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings of FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the present invention.

In the figure, a graphic data storage unit 11 stores graphic data input from a server or the like.

A bitmap buffer memory (hereinafter, referred to as “buffer memory”) 12 develops the graphic data in a storage area corresponding to one page of dots of a page printer under the control of a CPU 10 described later. For example, 240 DPI [dots / i
nch] page printer when A4 paper is set, 210 [mm] x 297 [mm] / 1984 [dots] x 2806
A [dots] bitmap buffer is required.

The drawing area storage unit 13 stores a drawing area of graphic data developed in the buffer memory 12 calculated by the graphic processing of the CPU 10.

The page printer 14 receives the data transmitted by the printing process of the CPU 10 and prints a graphic.

The CPU 10 controls the operation of each unit, which will be described later, and performs graphic processing for calculating a graphic drawing area from input graphic data and print processing for calculating an address of the buffer memory 12 corresponding to the graphic area.

Next, the processing operations of the graphic processing and the printing processing will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In the figure, when print data represented by a command sequence for printing is read from the graphic data storage unit 11 (step 101), the CPU 10 first determines whether the data is a page end signal (step 102). Here, if the data is a command indicating print data instead of a page end signal, a figure is developed based on the figure data in a storage area of the buffer memory 12 corresponding to one page of dots of the page printer as a figure processing. Then, the developed figure is drawn (step 103), and the buffer memory 12
Of the storage areas, the area occupied by the drawn figure is calculated (step 104), and the area occupied by the figure is stored in the drawing area storage unit 13 (step 107). For example, if the above command is (DRAWCIRCLE 800,1300,500) …… (DRAWSQUARE 500,500,1500,1500) ……, the radius 50 around the coordinates (800,1300)
In the sense of drawing a circle of 0, the coordinates (500,500)
(1500, 1500) means that a rectangle having a diagonal of (1500, 1500) is drawn (see FIG. 3). Therefore, as shown in FIG. While drawing, the area occupied by the circle is stored in the drawing area storage unit 13. In this case, the area occupied by the circle is
(300,800,1000,1000). Note that each element in the list is an X coordinate of a lower left point of the area in order,
Y coordinate, width and height of the area. When the first command is read, the drawing area storage unit 13 is cleared, so that the drawing area storage unit
Reading the area stored in the
The step of calculating a new area is to skip and store the area (300, 800, 1000, 1000) occupied by the circle in the drawing area storage unit 13 (step 107).

Next, the CPU 10 determines whether there is print data to be read (step 108), and if so, returns to step 101 and reads the command. Then, the process proceeds to step 103 via step 102, and as shown in FIG. 4, a rectangle corresponding to the command is drawn in the buffer memory 12, and the value stored in the drawing area storage unit 13 is replaced with a square area. Update to include value. in this case,
Since the area occupied by the rectangle is (500,500,1000,1000), the value of the updated result is (300,500,1200,130
0). This updated value is newly stored in the drawing area storage unit 13 (step 107). Then, the existence of the next data is confirmed at step 108, the data is read at step 101, and it is determined at step 102 whether or not it is a page end signal.

Here, if the data is a page end symbol, the processing operation shifts to printing processing, and it is determined whether or not there is a value of the area stored in the drawing area storage unit 13 (step 10).
9). If there is no stored area value, the process proceeds to step 108, where the same operation as described above is performed, and the area value stored in the drawing area storage unit 13 (300, 500, 1200, 130
If there is (0), the address of the buffer memory 12 corresponding to the drawing area of the figure (circle and rectangle) is calculated based on the values (300, 500, 1200, 1300) (step 110). Then, according to the address as the calculation result, the buffer memory 12
Is scanned to read image data from the area indicated by the address, and the read image data is sent to the page printer 14 (step 111). When the data transmission is completed, the CPU 10 clears the buffer memory 12 and the drawing area storage unit 13 (steps 112 and 113), and
Proceeding to 108, if there is the next data, the processing operation shifts to the graphic processing. If there is no next data, the processing operation of the graphic processing and print processing ends.

As a result, the page printer 14 can print a figure for each page as shown in FIG. 3 according to the image data sent from the buffer memory 12 under the control of the CPU 10.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to send data of a portion where no figure is drawn to the printer, and the amount of data sent to the printer can be reduced.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, since only the data in the area where the graphic is drawn is sent to the printer, the amount of data to be sent can be reduced, and the data processing time can be shortened. The overall processing capacity can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a graphic output apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining processing operations of graphic processing and printing processing in the graphic output apparatus of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIGS. 4 and 5 are diagrams showing graphics printed by a printer, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are diagrams each showing graphics data developed in a bitmap buffer memory. 10 CPU CPU 11 Graphic data storage unit 12 Bitmap buffer memory (buffer memory) 13 Drawing area storage unit 14 Page printer

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A graphic output device for expanding graphic data for each predetermined amount of graphic data in graphic storage means, and outputting the developed data to a printing means for printing. Calculating means for calculating a rectangular area including: a drawing area storing means for storing rectangular area information indicating the calculated rectangular area; and a rectangular area indicated by the rectangular area information when printing the developed data. Print processing means for scanning a development data area corresponding to the rectangular area, reading the development data corresponding to the rectangular area from the graphic storage means by this scanning, and transferring the data to the printing means. .