JP3027774B2 - Printer device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(Table of Contents) Industrial Application Field Conventional Technology (FIG. 5) Problems to be Solved by the Invention Means for Solving the Problems (FIG. 1) Action Embodiment (a) Description of Embodiment 1 (FIG. 2) (B) Description of Example 2 (FIGS. 3 and 4) Effect of the Invention

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer device having an emulation function for another printer device and controlling the resolution of the other printer device in accordance with the resolution of the printer device to be emulated.

[0003] Serial printers such as wire dot printers have been widely used as small printers, but in recent years page printers capable of high quality and high speed printing have become mainstream.

With the spread of such page printers,
The cost of page printers has become lower, and there is a demand for replacing existing serial printers and plotters with page printers.

In order to perform this replacement, it is necessary to obtain the same print result by using print data created for an existing serial printer or plotter as it is. Emulation function is provided. In a printer having this emulation function, a technique for preventing a printing error due to a difference in resolution is required.

[0006]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the prior art. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2A, in order to replace the serial printer 2 connected to the host computer 1 with the page printer 2, the page printer 2 analyzes the print data created for the serial printer and prints the same print data as the serial printer. An emulation function is provided to control the inside so that results can be obtained.

At this time, regardless of the resolution (for example, 180 dpi) of the serial printer 2, printing is performed at the resolution of the page printer 2 (for example, 300 dpi), the character code is converted into a character pattern of 300 dpi, and the resolution of the serial printer is changed. Are converted to the resolution of the page printer 2 (5/3 times the number of dots) and printed. In this manner, the high quality printing of the page printer 2 can be utilized.

[0008]

However, the prior art has the following problems. As shown in FIG. 5B, an error occurs in printed characters depending on the relationship between the resolution of the serial printer and the resolution of the page printer due to the difference between the minimum resolution of the serial printer and the minimum resolution of the page printer. Due to the accumulation of this error, the length of the print result in the vertical and horizontal directions slightly changes, giving a feeling that the layout print position is shifted.

Since external characters and images are converted to the resolution of the page printer, the shape of the external character pattern is lost depending on the relationship with the resolution of the serial printer, making it impossible to print finely.
Seams occur, the image is distorted, and the conversion process becomes complicated.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a printer device capable of emulating a printer while preventing errors and distortions in a printing result due to a difference in resolution.

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention. A first aspect of the present invention is a printer mechanism unit 3 that performs printing at a predetermined resolution, and a printer control unit 4 that receives print data from the host device 1 and controls the printer mechanism unit 3.
Has the door, in a printer apparatus having the emulation function of the other printer, the printer mechanism 3
Has two writing mechanisms 3a and 3b,
Embedding mechanism 3b is variable in resolution for emulation
And the other writing mechanism 3a is configured to have a fixed resolution.
It is characterized by having.

[0012] Claim 2 of the present invention is based on claim 1,
The one writing mechanism 3b includes a light-emitting source 30b, which is driven by the video signal, the light from the emitting source 30b photosensitive
And a scanning unit 31b for scanning on the drum 33, the printing
A drive clock for the video signal according to the resolution instruction
When, characterized in that make changing the scanning speed of the scanning means 31b.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in accordance with the first or second aspect, the printer control unit 4 transmits an E- mail from the host device 1.
The printing solution of another printer device is
The printing resolution of an integral multiple of the image resolution to the one writing mechanism 3
b.

[0014]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the printer mechanism unit 3 comprises:
It has two writing mechanisms 3a and 3b,
Mechanism 3b is variable in resolution for emulation
However, the other writing mechanism 3a is configured to have a fixed resolution.
You. In this way, each emulation of character data etc.
For printing data that is better to have in common between
Writing mechanism 3a and resolution-dependent data (registration pattern
Writing machine for printing images, image data, etc.)
By having the structure 3b, many emulations
It can be realized with the addition of minimum hardware.

According to claim 2 of the present invention,One writing machine
The structure 3b is a video signalLight source driven by30b
And the light source30bLight fromThe photosensitive drumScan on 33
Scanning means31bAnd have, Printing resolutionAccording to the instructions
The driving clock of the video signalAnd scanning means 31bof
Change scanning speedI'm trying to letSo easy control
You can change the resolution with.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the printer control unit 4
Is, in response to an emulation instruction from the host device 1,
Print resolution that is an integral multiple of the print resolution of other printers
An instruction is given to the one writing mechanism 3b. Like this
Prints characters that are relatively unaffected by the resolution at the device-specific resolution, and prints images (including external characters) that are relatively affected by the resolution at an integral multiple of the resolution. The result is obtained, and a character pattern having an integral multiple of the resolution does not have to be prepared for each printer to be emulated, the character pattern can be shared, and the configuration can be simplified.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (a) Description of Embodiment 1 FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG.
The printer mechanism unit 3 includes a laser emitting unit 30 that emits laser light, a polygon mirror 31 that optically scans the laser light,
Spindle motor 32 for rotating polygon mirror 31
And a photosensitive drum 33 on which an optical image is written by optical scanning
And a laser printer mechanism having a rotation motor 34 for rotating the photosensitive drum 33 and a spindle motor control unit 35 for controlling the rotation of the spindle motor 32.

A charger for performing an electrophotographic process,
A developing device, a transfer charger, a cleaner, and the like are provided around the photosensitive drum 33, but are not shown here. The printer mechanism 3 includes a clock generator 36a that generates a 300 dpi clock, a clock generator 36b that generates a 360 dpi clock, a switch 37 that switches the clocks of the clock generators 36a and 36b, a rotary motor 34, and a spindle motor. The mechanical control unit 3 that controls the motor 35 and the switch 37 and outputs raster data (video signal) to the laser control circuit 39
8 and a laser control circuit 39 that drives the laser emitting unit 30 with raster data in accordance with the shift clock from the switch 37.

On the other hand, the printer control unit 4 includes a data receiving circuit 4 for receiving print data from the host computer 1.
0, a 300 dpi character pattern and a 360 dpi character pattern are stored, the print data is analyzed, the drawing data is written to the frame buffer 42, the control command is emitted to the video interface 43, and the drawing data is written. The frame buffer 42 and the mechanical control unit 38
And a video interface 43 for exchanging commands and status with the mechanical control unit 38.

In this example, the emulation of a 180 dpi serial printer is performed at 360 dpi. The host computer 1 transmits the print data including the emulation change command.

The emulation change command includes information for identifying a printer device to be emulated. When receiving the print data from the host computer 1, the data receiving circuit 40 transfers the print data to the interface control unit 41. The interface control unit 41 determines which emulation is the data to be printed by analyzing the emulation change command. , Determine the optimal device resolution.

In this example, the default (standard) resolution of the apparatus is 300 dpi, and the resolution of the printer to be emulated is 180 dpi. When the default is designated, the interface control unit 41 sets the resolution of the device to 300 dpi. When the emulation is designated, the interface control unit 41 sets the resolution of the device to twice the resolution of 180 dpi, that is, 36 dpi.
The resolution is set to 0 dpi, and the determined resolution is notified to the mechanical control unit 38 via the video interface 43.

Thus, the mechanical control unit 38 controls the switch 37 to provide the clock generator 36a corresponding to the resolution.
Or 36b, and the spindle motor control unit 35
Specify the rotation speed according to the resolution.

At the same time, the interface control unit 41
Analyzes print data, decodes a command when emulation is specified, converts the character code into a character pattern of 360 dpi according to the decoded content, and converts image data (including external characters) into vertical, horizontal, The dots are converted into double dots and drawn in the frame buffer 42.

When the default is specified, the character code is converted into a 300 dpi character pattern in accordance with the command, and the image data (including external characters) is drawn in the frame buffer 42 as it is.

When drawing for one page is completed,
The interface control unit 41 transfers the raster data of the frame buffer 42 to the mechanism control unit 38 via the video interface 43.

The mechanical control section 38 outputs the raster data to a laser control circuit 39, and the laser control circuit 39
In accordance with the clock supplied from the switch 37, the laser light emitting unit 30 is driven by the raster data, and the spindle motor control unit 35 rotates the spindle motor 32 at a rotation speed corresponding to the designated resolution.

Therefore, when 360 dpi is designated, the laser light emitting section 30 emits light in accordance with the raster data at intervals of 360 dpi, sets the horizontal direction to 360 dpi, and rotates the polygon mirror 31 by 3 times by the rotation of the spindle motor 32.
Optical scanning is performed at an optical scanning speed of 60 dpi and the vertical direction is 360d.
pi.

Conversely, when 300 dpi is designated, the laser light emitting section 30 emits light at intervals of 300 dpi in accordance with the raster data, sets the horizontal direction to 300 dpi, and rotates the polygon mirror 31 by rotating the spindle motor 32.
Optical scanning is performed at an optical scanning speed of 0 dpi, and the vertical direction is 300 dpi.
i.

In this manner, printing is performed at a resolution that is an integral multiple of the resolution of the printer device to be emulated.
An error due to a difference in the resolution of the printed characters can be prevented, distortion and joints of the image data can be prevented, and the conversion process of the image data can be simply performed by an integral multiple, which facilitates the conversion process.

(B) Description of the embodiment 2 FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the embodiment of the present invention , and FIG.
FIG. 3 is an illustrative view showing an example in which emulation of a plurality of devices is performed. In the figure, the same components as those shown in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same symbols.

In FIG. 3, the printer mechanism 3 includes two writing mechanisms 3 a and 3 for one photosensitive drum 33.
b. The writing mechanism 3a is a standard 300 dp
a laser emitting unit 30a for emitting laser light, and a polygon mirror 3 for optically scanning the laser light
1a, a spindle motor 32a that rotates the polygon mirror 31a at a rotation speed of 300 dpi, and a 300 dpi
A clock generator 36a for generating a clock of
A laser control circuit 39a that drives the laser light emitting unit 30a with raster data in accordance with a 300 dpi shift clock.
And

The writing mechanism section 3b is a writing mechanism for emulation, and includes a laser emitting section 30b for emitting laser light, a polygon mirror 31b for optically scanning the laser light, and a spindle motor 32b for rotating the polygon mirror 31b. And a resolution that is an integral multiple of the resolution of the printer device to be emulated (for example, 360 dpi)
Clock generators 36b-3 for generating clocks
6n, a switch 37 for switching clocks of the clock generators 36b to 36n, and a laser control circuit 39b for driving the laser light emitting unit 30b with raster data according to the shift clock from the switch 37.

On the other hand, the printer control unit 4 includes a data receiving circuit 4 for receiving print data from the host computer 1.
An interface control unit 41 that stores only 0 and a standard 360 dpi character pattern, analyzes print data, writes drawing data into the frame buffers 42a and 42b, and controls the spindle motor control unit 35 and the switch 37; A standard frame buffer 42a in which character data and the like are written, an emulation frame buffer 42b in which image data is written, and a laser controller 3
9a, a video interface 43a for transferring the drawing data of the frame buffer 42a as raster data, and a video interface 43b for transferring the drawing data of the frame buffer 42b as raster data to the laser controller 39b. .

In this embodiment, emulation of each serial printer such as 180 dpi is performed at an integral multiple resolution such as 360 dpi. Data receiving circuit 4
When the print data is received from the host computer 1, the print data is transferred to the interface control unit 41. The interface control unit 41 determines which emulation is the data to be printed by analyzing the emulation change command, Determine the device resolution.

In this example, the default (standard) resolution of the apparatus is 300 dpi, and the resolution of each printer to be emulated is 160 dpi, 180 dpi, and the like. .

The interface control unit 41 sets the resolution of the device to 300 dpi when the default is specified, and sets the resolution of the device to 160 dpi when the emulation is specified.
320 dpi, 360 which is twice the dpi, 180 dpi, etc.
It is determined as dpi.

When the emulation is specified, the interface control unit 41 causes the switch 37 to select the clock generators 36b to 36n corresponding to the determined resolution, and specifies the rotational speed according to the resolution to the spindle motor control unit 35. .

At the same time, the interface control unit 41
Analyzes the print data, decodes the command when emulation is specified, converts the character code to a standard character pattern of 300 dpi according to the decoded content, draws the character code in the frame buffer 42a, and outputs the image data (external characters ) Is converted to double dots vertically, horizontally,
Drawing is performed in the frame buffer 42b.

When drawing for one page is completed,
The interface control unit 41 includes a frame buffer 42
The raster data of a and b are transferred to the video interface 43.
The data is transferred to the laser controllers 39a and 39b via a and b.

The laser control circuit 39a drives the laser light emitting section 30a with raster data in accordance with the 300 dpi clock from the clock generator 36a, and the spindle motor 32 rotates at a rotation speed corresponding to a resolution of 300 dpi, and the polygon mirror 31a To rotate.

On the other hand, the laser control circuit 39b operates according to the clock supplied from the
0b is driven by the raster data, and the spindle motor control unit 35 rotates the spindle motor 32b at a rotation speed corresponding to the designated resolution, and
Drive a.

Therefore, for example, when 360 dpi is designated, the laser light emitting section 30b emits light at 360 dpi intervals in accordance with the raster data, sets the horizontal direction to 360 dpi, and rotates the polygon mirror 31b to the 360 dpi by rotating the spindle motor 32b. Optical scanning is performed at an optical scanning speed, image data is written on the photosensitive drum 33 with the vertical direction set to 360 dpi, and the laser light emitting unit 30a
In accordance with the raster data at intervals of i, light is emitted and the horizontal direction is 3
With the rotation of the spindle motor 32a, the polygon mirror 31a performs optical scanning at an optical scanning speed of 300 dpi, and simultaneously writes character data on the photosensitive drum 33 with the vertical direction at 300 dpi.

Therefore, when the emulation is designated, the character data is printed at a standard 300 dpi by the writing mechanism 3a as shown by the character "H" in FIG. As shown by "R" in (1), printing is performed by the writing mechanism 3b at a resolution that is an integral multiple of the resolution of the original printer.

The reason for this is that if character patterns are prepared corresponding to resolutions for each emulation, if the number of emulations increases, the capacity of the character pattern storage memory increases, and the device scale and price increase. Character data using character codes is relatively insensitive to differences in resolution.
The character code is designed to be printed at a standard resolution.

On the other hand, the image data is printed at a resolution of an integral multiple because the influence of the difference in resolution is relatively large and distortion and joints occur. For this reason, by adding only one writing mechanism, the character pattern is set to one of the standard resolutions, and a large number of emulations can be executed without increasing the device scale and the price so much.

If the default is specified, the character code is converted into a 300 dpi character pattern according to the command, and the image data (including the external characters) is drawn as it is on the frame buffer 42a, and the writing mechanism 3a
Only by this, writing is performed on the photosensitive drum 33 and printing is performed.

As described above, the writing mechanism 3a for printing data which should be held in common among the respective emulations such as character data, and the data (registration pattern, image data, etc.) depending on the resolution are printed. A large number of emulations can be realized with the addition of minimum hardware. In addition to the embodiments described above, the present invention can be modified as follows.

Although the printer device to be emulated has been described as a serial printer, another printer device such as a plotter may be used. Although the emulation change command is used for the emulation instruction, the instruction may be given only when the emulation is performed.

Although the printer mechanism has been described as a laser printer, another type of variable resolution printer mechanism may be used. As described above, the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments. However, various modifications are possible within the scope of the present invention, and these are not excluded from the scope of the present invention.

[0051]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The following effects are obtained. Since printing is performed at an integral multiple of the resolution of the device to be emulated, printing errors due to differences in resolution are reduced,
The printer emulation with little print position error and no distortion or seam is possible. Since the resolution is set to an integral multiple, conversion processing of image data such as registration patterns and images becomes easy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of the present invention .

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention .

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of the present invention .

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Host computer (host device) 2 Printer device 3 Printer mechanism unit 4 Printer control unit 3a, 3b Writing mechanism 30 Laser light emitting unit 31 Polygon mirror (optical scanning unit) 33 Photosensitive drum

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI H04N 1/23 103 B41J 3/00 Y 1/387 101 M (56) References JP-A-3-110970 (JP, A) JP-A-3-171087 (JP, A) JP-A-2-145367 (JP, A) JP-A-54-23328 (JP, A) JP-A-4-77275 (JP, A) JP-A-4-312863 ( JP, A) JP-A-4-371864 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 2/485 B41J 2/00 B41J 2/44 B41J 29/38 G06F 3 / 12 H04N 1/23 103 H04N 1/387 101

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] A printer mechanism for performing printing at a predetermined resolution; receiving print data from a host device;
A printer control section (4) for controlling the printer mechanism section (3), and having a function of emulating another printer apparatus, the printer mechanism section (3) includes two writing mechanisms (3
a, 3b), and one writing mechanism (3b)
The writing mechanism (3a) has a variable resolution for the
And a printer device. " 2. One of the writing mechanisms (3b) includes a video
A light-emitting source (30b) driven by an e-signal and the light-emitting source
The light from the (30b) and a scanning means for scanning on the photosensitive drum (33) (31b), in accordance with an instruction from the printing resolution, the driving clock of the video signal, scanning means (31
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the scanning speed is changed.
Printer device. 3. The printer control unit (4) is a host device.
According to the emulation instruction from (1), other pre-
Printing resolution that is an integral multiple of the printing resolution of the printer
The writing mechanism (3b) of the
The printer device according to claim 1.