JP2903517B2 - Image generator for printing devices - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a raster scan type image generating apparatus for a printing apparatus, and more specifically, cuts out only an image of a desired portion from an image of one page. The present invention relates to an apparatus for performing partial printing.

2. Description of the Related Art As a printing apparatus for printing input image information by a raster scan method, for example, there is a laser printer having an image image generating apparatus 10 having a configuration as shown in FIG. The illustrated image generating apparatus 10 includes an input data processing unit 11 for converting attributes of a print page and coded input data into information indicating the attributes and the printing apparatus.
A page data memory 12 for storing information converted by the input data processing unit 11;
, The address of the corresponding bit pattern area of the print image is calculated, and the bit information for each scan of the character image (font) or the graphic image is taken out from the loading memory 13 for one page. An image generation control unit 14 arranged on a scan page buffer 15 capable of storing image information, and bit information for each scan of image information for one page formed by the control unit 14 is sent to a printing unit as a video signal. And a video pattern processing unit 16.

The input data is roughly classified into print control information and print data information. As one of the print control information, there is an area definition of a print page. As shown in FIG. The height Py (both in dot number) is stored in the page data memory 12 in a table format as shown in Table 1.

The print data information includes character information and graphic image information. As for the character information, as shown in FIG. 6A, a character code of a character to be printed and a cell width Cw as character cell information are provided. , Cell height Ch, scan line number Cy indicating the print position, and dot number on the scan line
It is composed of Cx, and is stored in the page data memory 12 in the format shown in Table 2 below together with the address of the font used for printing on the loading memory 13.

As for the graphic image information, as shown in FIG. 6B, the cell width Gw and the cell height Gh, which are the image cell information of the graphic image to be printed, the scan line number Gy indicating the print position, and the scan line Dot number in
Gx, and the address of the graphic image file on the loading memory 13 is stored in the page data memory 12 in the format shown in Table 3.

FIG. 6 (a). In (b), the horizontal arrow indicates the scanning direction, and the vertical arrow indicates the paper feeding direction.

The image generation control unit 14 sequentially retrieves each piece of print data information stored in the page data memory, and scans a scan page buffer defined by a print page area definition.
15 and form image information for one page.

When the image information for one page is formed on the scan page buffer 15, the video pattern processing unit 16
Then, the image information on the scan page buffer 15 is read, converted into a video signal, and transmitted to the printing unit. The video pattern processing unit 16 includes a control unit 71 as shown in FIG.
And a video signal conversion unit 72. The scan page buffer 15 is processed by a processing algorithm as shown in FIG.
Is converted into video information.

First, image information on the scan page buffer 15 is read, and control variables used when converting the image information into a video signal are initialized as follows (switch 601).

Current scan line number: a control variable indicating a scan line position to be converted into a video signal, and the initial value is 1.
It is.

Number of conversion bytes: The number of image information bytes on the scan page buffer 15 including image information for one scan, and is calculated by the following calculation algorithm.

Conversion byte number = CEIL (printed page width / 8) CEIL is an arithmetic algorithm that finds a quotient of an expression and rounds up if there is a remainder.

Next, for each scan line to be converted to a video signal,
The start address of the image information byte on the scan page buffer 15 including the image information of the scan line is calculated by the following calculation algorithm (step 602), and the conversion position address = SCN (current scan line number). This is a calculation algorithm that returns the start address of the scan line on the scan page buffer 15 of the expression

Thereafter, steps 603 to 606 convert the image information of one scan line into a video signal.

First, the bit information of the image information byte pointed to by the conversion position address is input (step 603), the input bit information is shifted left by one bit, taken out in bit units, converted into a video signal, and sent to the printing unit ( Step 60
Four). Subsequently, the conversion position address is incremented by 1 (positioning to the next higher byte) (step 605) until the video signal conversion of one scan line is completed (scan 60).
6) The bit information of the image information byte pointed to by the conversion position address is sequentially read and converted into a video signal. Also, 1
When the video signal conversion operation of the scan line is completed, the current scan number is incremented by 1 (step 60).
7) Until the video signal conversion for one page is completed (step 608), the processing of step 602 and thereafter is repeated. In this way, when the printing of the page is completed, the same operation is repeated for the next page.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, of the page image image shown in FIG. 9 (a), only a portion surrounded by a bold line is cut out, and as shown in FIG. 9 (b), only that portion is cut out. You may want to perform partial printing. However, the video pattern processing unit 16 of the conventional image generating apparatus simply converts the image information in the scan page buffer 15 into a video signal and outputs the video signal, so that only a desired image is cut out. In order to perform partial printing, it is necessary to form print data again, and there is a problem that partial printing cannot be performed easily.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an image generating apparatus for a printing apparatus that can easily perform partial printing without forming print data again.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a page data memory for storing input data relating to an image to be printed and input data relating to a printing position in a predetermined format, and one page corresponding to the storage information of the page data memory. An image generation control unit for forming image information of the same; a scan page buffer for storing one page of image information formed by the image generation control unit; and converting the image information stored in the scan page buffer to a video signal. And a video pattern processing unit having a video signal conversion unit for sending the image data to a printing mechanism unit. The image generation apparatus for a raster scan type printing device, comprising: input data relating to the printing position stored in the page data memory; Area information indicating an arbitrary print area in the page The video pattern processing unit includes an image information selection unit that selects an image of a print area indicated by the area information from one page of image information stored in the scan page buffer and outputs the image to the video signal conversion unit. It is characterized by having.

[Action]

Area information indicating an arbitrary print area in a desired page is added to the input data on the print position stored in the page data memory. Then, the image selection means of the video pattern processing unit selects an image of a print area specified by the area information from the image information of one page stored in the scan page buffer and outputs the image to the video signal conversion means. I do.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 shows a video pattern processing unit 16 which is a main part of the present invention.
FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing one embodiment, in which a data selector 1303 is newly provided in addition to a control unit 1301 and a video signal conversion unit 1304 which are the same as those in the conventional configuration.

For the input data processing unit 11, in addition to the area definition of the conventional print page, the vertical position of the print area, the horizontal position of the print area, the print area height, Information on the width of the area is input, and the attribute of the print page is determined based on the information and stored in the page data memory 12.

First, when a partial print of a page image is designated, the input data processing unit 11, as shown in FIG. 9A, prints the print page height Py as the area definition information of the conventional print page. In addition to the page width Px, the vertical position Ay of the print area Ay the horizontal position Ax of the print area Ax The height Ah of the print area Ah The width Aw of the print area is input as the definition information of the print area, and the table format shown in Table 4 is input. Is stored in the page data memory 12.

If partial printing is not specified, the entire print page is set as a print area and stored in the page memory 12 in a format as shown in Table 5.

The print data information is conventionally stored in the page data memory 12 in the table format shown in Table 2 for character information and in the table format shown in Table 3 for graphic image information. You.

The page data memory 12 stores the print control information and the print data information processed by the input data processing unit 11, and the image generation control unit 14 stores each of the print data information stored in the page data memory 12. take out,
Based on the area definition of the print page, one page of image information arranged in the scan page buffer 15 is formed.

When the image information for one page is formed on the scan page buffer 15, the video pattern processing unit 16
Then, the image information in the scan page buffer 15 is read, converted into a video signal based on the definition of the print page area and the definition of the print area, and transmitted to the printing unit.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing algorithm of the video pattern processing unit 16. First, image information in the scan page buffer 15 is read out, and control variables used when converting the image information into a video signal are initialized as follows. (Step 1001).

Current scan line: a control variable indicating a scan line position to be converted into a video signal, and its initial value is 1.

Number of conversion bytes: The number of image information bytes in the scan page buffer 15 including image information for one scan, and is calculated by the following calculation algorithm.

Conversion byte number = CEIL (print page width / 8) Print start scan line number: A control variable indicating the start scan line number of the print area, which is determined by the following equation.

Print start scan line number = vertical position of print area Print end scan line number A control variable indicating the end scan line number of the print area, which is determined by the following equation.

Print start scan line number = (vertical position of print area) + (width of print area)-1 print start position offset ... This is a control variable indicating the byte position including the print area start position on one scan line. It is determined by the formula.

Print start position offset = CEIL (horizontal position of print area / 8) Print start position data select instruction value ... This is the data select instruction value to data selector 1303 at the print start position calculated above, and is determined by the following formula. You.

Print start position data select instruction value = MOD (horizontal position of print area / 8) MOD is an arithmetic algorithm that returns the remainder of the expression.

Print end position offset: a control variable indicating a byte position including a print area end position in one scan line, and is determined by the following equation.

Print end position offset = CEIL ((horizontal position of print area + width of print area) / 8) print end position data select instruction value: data select instruction value to data selector 1303 at the print end position calculated above. Is determined by the following equation.

Print end position data select instruction value = MOD ((horizontal position of print area + width of print area) / 8) -8 However, in the case of -8, it is set to 0.

Next, a conversion position address and a conversion position offset, which are processing information for each scan line to be converted into a video signal, are initialized (step 1002).

Conversion position address: a control variable indicating an image information byte in the scan page buffer 15 to be converted into a video signal, and as an initial value, the head of the image information byte group in the scan page buffer 15 including the image information of the scan line Address is set.

Conversion position address = SCN (current scan line number) Conversion position offset: A control variable indicating the byte position of the image information byte to be converted into a video signal from the head of the image information byte group of the scan line.
0 is set.

Thereafter, in steps 1003 to 1008, the image information of one scan line is converted into a video signal. First,
As shown in Table 6, the data select instruction value to the data selector 1303 is determined based on the current scan line number and the conversion position offset (step 1003). In this process, the data select instruction value = 8 is set for the image information byte outside the printing area, and the image information in the image information byte is invalidated by the data selector 1303.

By invalidating the image information outside the print area by 303, partial printing of the page image image becomes possible.

As shown in FIG. 3 (a), the input / output status of the data selector 1303, the data selector 1303 obtains 8-bit input information, and receives the data select instruction (−7 to 8) to return to FIG. 3 (b). The output 8-bit output information shown in FIG.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, a page data memory that stores input data relating to an image to be printed and input data relating to a printing position in a predetermined format, and one page corresponding to the storage information of the page data memory. An image generation control unit for forming the image information of the above, a scan page buffer for storing the image information of one page formed by the image generation control unit, and converting the image information stored in the scan page buffer into a video signal And a video pattern processing unit having a video signal conversion unit for sending the image data to a printing mechanism unit. Add the area information indicating any print area in the page of The video pattern processing unit includes image information selection means for selecting an image of a print area indicated by the area information from image information for one page stored in the scan page buffer and outputting the image to the video signal conversion means. As a result, the desired portion can be easily printed without changing or re-editing the existing drinking data.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a video pattern processing section which is a main part of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an algorithm of the video pattern processing section, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a conventional image generating apparatus.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an area definition of a print page, FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing contents of input data, FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a conventional operation of a video pattern processing unit, and FIG. FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the configuration, and FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing the definition of the area for partial printing. 10 ... Image image generator, 11 ... Input data processing unit, 12
… Page data memory, 13… Loading memory, 14
... Image generation control unit, 15 ... Scan page buffer,
16 ... video pattern processing unit, 1301 ... control unit, 1302 ... scan page buffer, 1303 ... data selector, 1304 ... video signal conversion unit.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A page data memory for storing input data relating to an image to be printed and input data relating to a printing position in a predetermined format, and forming one page of image information corresponding to information stored in the page data memory. An image generation control unit; a scan page buffer for storing one page of image information formed by the image generation control unit; and a video signal converting the image information stored in the scan page buffer to a printing mechanism unit. And a video pattern processing unit having a video signal converting means for sending out. A raster scan type image generating apparatus for a printing apparatus, comprising: input data relating to the printing position stored in the page data memory; Area information indicating the print area of the video pattern The image information selecting means for selecting an image of a print area indicated by the area information from image information of one page stored in the scan page buffer and outputting the selected image to the video signal converting means. Characteristic image image generating device for printing device.