JP2803560B2 - Printer control device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer controller, and more particularly, to a printer controller having a circuit for converting image data density.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of printer control apparatus, as shown in FIG. 5, a host CPU 21 is connected to an interface unit 23 for a higher-level device in a printer control unit 22 surrounded by a broken line. . The host device interface unit 23 receives print data from the host CPU 21.

[0005] The printer control unit 22 includes a host device interface unit 23 and a microprocessor 24 connected via an internal bus. Microprocessor 2
4 includes a program memory 25 for storing programs necessary for the operation via the internal bus, a main memory 26 for storing print data, a conversion table, a work area for various controls, and the like, and an output to a printer. A character pattern memory 27 for storing a character pattern to be printed, a frame buffer memory 28 for drawing characters, figures, images, and the like output to the printer as dot patterns, and a microprocessor 2 for the frame buffer memory 28.
4, a frame buffer memory controller 29 that controls the drawing, a density conversion circuit 30 that reduces and outputs the contents drawn in the frame buffer memory 28, and an operation unit 31 that sets a print area in the printer. .

[0004] The output of the frame buffer memory 28 is connected to a printer recording unit 32 for printing on paper.

The operation of the conventional apparatus having the above configuration is as follows. In the host CPU 21, the print area of the print data sent from the host CPU 21 and the A
Calculate the ratio of the size to the printing area on 4-size paper,
The result is output to the density conversion circuit 30. The density conversion circuit 30 performs density conversion for reducing the print pattern drawn in the frame buffer memory 28 in accordance with the value of the ratio specified by the host CPU 21 and transfers the reduced print pattern to the frame buffer memory 28 again. draw. Then, the reduced print pattern drawn in the frame buffer memory 28 is output to the printer recording unit 32, and a printing operation on a sheet is performed to perform a desired reduced print (for example, JP-A-63-272562).

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned printer control apparatus, even if the reduced printing is performed, the size of the paper to be actually printed is always required in order to draw the image data in the frame buffer memory before performing the density conversion. In this case, there is a problem that a frame buffer memory having a size larger than A4 size, that is, the size of the image data before reduction must be provided.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printer control apparatus in which the capacity of a frame buffer memory is reduced to the size of A4 size.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a printer control device for performing a printing operation in accordance with a print control code including print data in order to achieve the above object. A host interface for inputting the print data, a reception buffer memory for storing the print control code input to the host interface, a microprocessor for generating image data in accordance with the print control code stored in the reception buffer memory, and a reduction by the operator. An operation unit for setting printing, and a dot to be read in one line of the image data.
Specify the address generator to be specified and this address generator
A plurality of lines that store the stored dots alternately for each line
A density conversion circuit that includes an in-memory and performs density conversion of image data according to the setting of the operation unit; and a frame buffer memory that stores image data that has been subjected to density conversion by the density conversion circuit or image data that has not been subjected to density conversion. When,
A printing mechanism for printing on paper in accordance with the image data stored in the frame buffer memory.

[0009]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printer control device showing one embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the present invention is a printer control device which forms a printer capable of printing on paper up to A4 size and performs a printing operation in accordance with a print control code consisting of a control code and a kanji code. A host interface 2 for inputting a print control code sent from a device (not shown), and a reception buffer memory 3 for storing the print control code input to the host interface 2
A microprocessor 1 for generating image data in accordance with a print control code stored in the reception buffer memory 3, an operation panel 7 for setting reduction printing by an operator, and a setting according to the setting of the operation panel 7. Density conversion circuit 4 for performing density conversion of image data, a frame buffer memory 5 for storing image data subjected to density conversion by the density conversion circuit 4 or image data not subjected to density conversion, and a storage in the frame buffer memory 5 A printing mechanism section 6 for printing on paper in accordance with the obtained image data
It is composed of

As shown in FIG. 2, the density conversion circuit 4 has an address generation unit 8 for designating dots to be read in one line of image data in accordance with an instruction from the microprocessor 1.
And a line memory 9 and a line memory 10 for alternately storing the dots specified by the address generator 8 line by line.

As shown in FIG. 3, the print control code is composed of a control code and a kanji code, and the control code is composed of a page control code and a line-column related control code. The row / column related control code includes a reduced print command code.

The frame buffer memory 5 has a capacity to store image data up to A4 size.

Now, the operation of the present invention in the above configuration will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, an operation when a print control code having an A4 size data amount is transmitted will be described.

A input from the host interface 2
The 4-size print control code is stored in the reception buffer memory 3
After that, the image data is read out by the microprocessor 1 and converted into image data composed of an A4 size dot pattern. The A4 size image data generated by the microprocessor 1 is sent to the density conversion circuit 4. However, since this image data is A4 size image data, it is not necessary to perform density conversion and reduce and print. In this case, the microprocessor 1 outputs an instruction for designating all dots to the address generator 8 of the density conversion circuit 4. As a result, the A4 size image data is alternately stored line by line in the line memories 9 and 10 without being subjected to the density conversion, and is output to the frame buffer memory 5 and stored as it is. Then, the image data in the frame buffer memory 5 is sent to the printing mechanism unit 6 and printed on an A4 size sheet without being reduced.

Next, the operation when a print control code having an A3-size data amount is transmitted will be described.

A input from the host interface 2
The 3-size print control code is stored in the reception buffer memory 3.
After that, the image data is read out by the microprocessor 1 and converted into image data composed of an A3-size dot pattern. The A3 size image data generated by the microprocessor 1 is sent to the density conversion circuit 4, and if reduction printing is set on the operation panel 7,
Density conversion circuit 4 according to an instruction from microprocessor 1
Of the A3 size image data to be read out, and the
Stored alternately in line memories 9 and 10 for each line,
The density of A3 size image data is converted to A4 size image data. The A4 size image data whose density has been converted and stored in the line memories 9 and 10 are alternately output from the line memories 9 and 10 and stored in the frame buffer memory 5. Then, the A4 size image data whose density has been converted in the frame buffer memory 5 is sent to the printing mechanism section 6, and is reduced and printed on A4 size paper.

In this embodiment, whether or not to perform reduced printing is set on the operation panel 7.
As another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, a reduction determining unit 11 for determining whether to perform reduced printing based on a reduced printing instruction code included in the printing control code is provided, and based on the result, the A4 size paper is used. May be determined whether to perform reduced printing.

The operation of the embodiment having the reduction judging unit 11 first outputs the print control code input to the host interface 2 to the reduction judging unit 11. This reduction determination unit 1
1, when the microprocessor 1 determines that the input print control code does not include the reduced print command code, the microprocessor 1 outputs a signal to the density conversion circuit 4 so that the image data is not subjected to the density conversion, and the reduced print instruction code is output. If it is determined that it is included, the microprocessor 1 outputs a signal to the density conversion circuit 4 to perform the density conversion. The image data obtained in accordance with the output result is stored in the frame buffer memory 5 and then sent to the printing mechanism 6, where it is printed on paper.

[0021]

As described above, the printer control device of the present invention comprises a host interface for inputting a print control code sent from a host device, and a reception buffer for storing the print control code input to the host interface. A memory, a microprocessor for generating image data according to a print control code stored in the reception buffer memory, an operation unit for setting reduction printing by an operator, and a density of image data according to the setting of the operation unit. A density conversion circuit for performing conversion, a frame buffer memory for storing image data subjected to density conversion by the density conversion circuit or image data not subjected to density conversion, and printing on paper according to the image data stored in the frame buffer memory And a printing mechanism to perform frame buffering. Since the memory may be able to have the capacity to store up image data of A4-size, as a result, it is possible to reduce the memory capacity.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printer control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a density conversion circuit according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a data configuration diagram of a print control code.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a printer control device showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a conventional printer control device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Microprocessor 2 Host interface 3 Receive buffer memory 4 Density conversion circuit 5 Frame buffer memory 6 Printing mechanism unit 7 Operation panel 11 Reduction judgment unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B41J 2/485 G09G 5/00 550 G09G 5/36 530 H04N 1/387 101

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A printer control device for performing a printing operation in accordance with a print control code including a kanji code, comprising: a host interface for inputting the print control code sent from a host device; and a print control code input to the host interface. A receiving buffer memory for storing, a microprocessor for generating image data in accordance with the print control code stored in the receiving buffer memory, an operation unit for setting reduction printing by an operator, and a read-out operation in one line of the image data Specify the dot to be
Address generator and the address generator
Lines that store alternated dots for each line
A density conversion circuit for performing density conversion of image data according to the setting of the operation unit; and a frame buffer memory for storing image data subjected to density conversion by the density conversion circuit or image data not subjected to density conversion. And a printing mechanism for printing on paper in accordance with the image data stored in the frame buffer memory. 2. A printer control device for performing a printing operation in accordance with a print control code including a kanji code, comprising: a host interface for inputting the print control code sent from a host device; and a print control code input to the host interface. A receiving buffer memory for storing, a microprocessor for generating image data in accordance with the printing control code stored in the receiving buffer memory, and whether to perform density conversion of the image data in accordance with the reduced printing instruction code included in the printing control code Specifying a reduction determination unit for determining whether or not a dot is to be read out in one line of the image data
Address generator and the address generator
Lines that store alternated dots for each line
A memory, and when the reduction determination unit determines to convert the image data into a density, a density conversion circuit that performs density conversion of the image data; and the image data or the density converted by the density conversion circuit. A printer control device comprising: a frame buffer memory for storing image data that does not exist; and a printing mechanism for printing on paper in accordance with the image data stored in the frame buffer memory.