JP2737883B2 - Output control device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides an output control device capable of developing a pattern whose resolution is switched.

[Related Art] In a conventional printing apparatus of this type, once a resolution is designated, the resolution cannot be changed until the designation is changed. Therefore, when a low resolution is designated for an engine unit whose resolution can be switched, a scalable font is developed in a pattern of a certain size (point number) in a print character, so that the character may be crushed. Also, similar image collapse occurs in the development of image patterns.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The present invention provides an output control device which eliminates the above-mentioned conventional disadvantages and prevents the collapse of a developed and output pattern.

[Means for Solving the Problem] In order to solve this problem, an output control device of the present invention includes:
Developing means for developing the pattern at the set resolution; determining means for determining whether or not the pattern developed by the developing means is crushed, according to the state of the developed pattern; and If it is determined that the developed pattern is collapsed, change the resolution to a higher resolution than the set resolution, develop the pattern at the changed high resolution, and output the developed high-resolution pattern for output. Means for writing to a memory, and, when the discrimination means determines that the developed pattern is not collapsed, writing the developed pattern to an output memory at the set resolution. .

Here, there is provided printing means for printing the pattern developed in the output memory. The determining means determines that the pattern has been broken when the number of change points of the pattern of the predetermined line is smaller than the allowable number. Further, the developing means develops a character pattern based on an outline font.

[Operation] In this configuration, when the output pattern is likely to be destroyed, the resolution is switched to prevent the pattern from being destroyed.

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printing apparatus of the present embodiment. In the figure, 1 is a host computer for transmitting print data and the like, and 2 is a printing apparatus of the present embodiment.

The printing device 2 has the following components. A control unit 21 controls the entire printing apparatus, and stores a CPU 21a, a processing program, font outline data, and the like.
A ROM 21b and an auxiliary RAM 21c are provided. 22 is a resolution storage unit that stores the set resolution, 23 is a page buffer that stores internal data in page units, and 24 is a turn expansion unit that performs pattern expansion according to the character code or image drawing instruction in the page buffer 23. is there. 25 is the control unit
The data of the page buffer 23 is converted to the pattern
Is a frame buffer in which a pattern for one page is developed while using the same. The developed pattern is printed out by the printer engine unit 26.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are examples of font pattern output when the resolution is switched when the recording pattern is a character pattern. 3.84 point font size (3.84 / 72 inch)
FIG. 2 (a) shows a font pattern corresponding to the character code 2422 "A" when the pattern is developed in the font developing unit 24 at a resolution of 300 dpi. FIG. 2 (b) shows a pattern developed at a resolution of 150 dpi. ). The outline data corresponding to the character code of the page buffer 23 is read by the ROM 21b, and is also subjected to pattern development in the pattern development unit 24 in accordance with the resolution of the resolution storage unit 22. Has collapsed.

In this embodiment, the number of ON / OFF switching of dots in a certain line is detected to detect the character collapse. In the inspection line of 300 dpi in FIG.
OFF → ON → OFF → ON → OFF → ON → OFF, the number of switching is “6”, but in the 150 dpi inspection line in FIG. 2 (b), it changes from ON → OFF → ON → OFF, and the number of switching Becomes “3”. For this reason, a permissible range of the number of ON / OFF switching of a specific line is set for each character, and character collapse is checked based on the number of switching of the specific line. Similarly, when the recording pattern is an image,
As shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b), image collapse is checked based on the number of ON / OFF switching of a specific line.

By the way, in order to check the ON / OFF switching frequency of the specific line, the line information and the allowable switching range must be set. Next, an example of the setting will be described.

FIG. 4 shows an example in which font information to which the above information is added is stored in the ROM 21b. Note that, in the case of an image, an image stored in a font format such as a mark or a symbol is handled similarly. In accordance with the pattern code 41, the pattern number 41 includes an inspection line number 42 for checking the number of times of switching, an allowable number of times of switching 43, and pattern data 44. The inspection line number 42 for examining the number of times of switching is preferably, for example, the number of the line with the largest number of times of switching, or the number of a line that expresses the characteristics of the figure or character.

On the other hand, when the recording pattern is sent from the host computer 1, the pattern data 53 to be transmitted as shown in FIG.
May be added to the inspection line number 51 and the allowable number of reversals 52. Also, by scanning the transmitted pattern data, the line with the largest number of switching times is set as the inspection line, and the inspection line and the allowable number of switching times are automatically determined by a method such as determining the allowable number of times from the number of switching times. Is also good.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are flowcharts showing the flow of the processing program of the printing apparatus of the present embodiment. Control unit 21
The CPU 21a performs processing according to the program stored in the ROM 21b while using the RAM 21c. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail according to a flowchart. The flow chart shown in FIG. 6A shows the flow of storing data from the host computer 1 to the page buffer 23. The sixth
FIG. 2B shows a flow of pattern development of the data of the page buffer 23 into the frame buffer 25. The control unit 21 simultaneously executes these two processes and the process of printing out the bit map of the frame buffer 25 to the dot printer engine unit 26 in parallel, thereby improving the efficiency of data reception.

First, the flow chart of FIG. 6A will be described.
At step S61, one piece of data transmitted from the host computer 1 is read, and at step S62, it is checked whether or not the data is a resolution switching command. If the command is a resolution switching command, the process proceeds to step S63, where the set resolution is stored in the resolution storage unit 22, and then returns to step S61 to start reading the next one data. If the instruction is not a resolution switching command in step S62, the data is stored in the page buffer 23 in step S64, and the process returns to step S61 to read the next data.

The flowchart shown in FIG. 6 (b) will be described. First, in step S71, one data is read from the page buffer 23, and in step S72, the current resolution is read from the resolution storage unit 22, and according to the value, the size (point number) of the currently designated character is formed in step S73. A font pattern or an image pattern of the currently specified number of dots is developed, and whether or not the developed recording pattern is crushed is determined by ON / OFF of a specific line according to the information shown in FIGS. Check by the number of switching. As a result of the examination, when the number of switching is less than the allowable number, it is determined that the recording pattern is collapsed, the process proceeds to step S75, the resolution is changed to a value larger than the set value of the resolution storage unit 22, and the resolution is changed to high. Step S72
And repeat the pattern expansion.

If the pattern is not collapsed in step S74, the process proceeds to step S76, where the recording pattern developed in the pattern developing section 24 is written in the frame buffer 25, and then returns to step S71 to read the next data.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the collapse of a character or an image can be prevented by detecting the collapse of a character or an image and switching to a higher resolution.

In the above-described embodiment, the number of times of ON / OFF switching in the dot line is used to detect the collapse of the character or the image. However, the ON (black) dot for all the dots forming the character or the image is also used. There is also a method of setting a permissible range of the ratio and detecting a collapse of a character or an image based on the range.

In this embodiment, the resolution storage unit is independent,
If this is taken into the page buffer 23, the resolution can be switched in page units even in the internal processing of multitasking.

Further, in this embodiment, the resolution switching is executed by a command in the transmission data from the host computer 1,
A switching switch or the like may be provided in the printing apparatus and connected to the control unit 21 to output a resolution switching command by operating the switch.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, an output control device capable of detecting collapse of a character / image and switching to high-resolution expansion processing to prevent collapse of an output pattern. Can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the printing apparatus of this embodiment, FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b) are examples of font pattern output when the resolution is switched when the embodiment is a character, FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b) FIG. 4B is an example of a font pattern output at the time of switching the resolution when the embodiment is an image. FIGS. 4 and 5 are explanatory diagrams showing the structure of image information. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing program of the printing apparatus of this embodiment. FIG. 6A shows a flow of storing data from the host computer to the page buffer, and FIG. 6B shows a flow of storing the data of the page buffer in a frame. The flow of pattern development to a buffer is shown. In the figure, 1 ... host computer, 2 ... printing device, 21
…… Control unit, 21a …… CPU, 21b …… ROM, 21c …… RAM, 22
... A resolution storage unit, 23 a page buffer, 24 a pattern development unit, 25 a frame buffer, 26 a dot printer engine unit.

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] A developing means for developing a pattern at a set resolution; a determining means for determining whether or not a pattern developed by the developing means is crushed in accordance with a state of the developed pattern; When it is determined by the determination unit that the developed pattern is collapsed, the resolution is changed to a higher resolution than the set resolution, and the pattern is developed at the changed high resolution. Writing the pattern developed in the output memory to the output memory, and, when the determination unit determines that the developed pattern is not collapsed, writing the developed pattern in the set resolution to the output memory. An output control device characterized by the above-mentioned. 2. The output control device according to claim 1, further comprising a printing unit that prints the pattern developed on the output memory. 3. The output control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said determination means determines that the pattern has been crushed when the number of change points of the pattern of the predetermined line is smaller than an allowable number. 4. The output control device according to claim 1, wherein said developing means develops a character pattern based on an outline font.