JP3098679B2 - PRINTING APPARATUS, PRINTING SYSTEM, AND PRINT CONTROL METHOD - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a printing system for outputting print information from an external device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Image data includes various data such as character data and graphic data. Among them, data in which color information and shading of an image correspond to bits are called image data or simply an image. ing. Also, the unit of pixels forming an image is called a pixel, and an image that expresses one pixel with two or more bits, such as a color or shaded image, is a multi-valued image. An image represented by one bit is called a binary image, and a binary image that does not require any data processing on the printing device side is particularly called a simple bitmap.

In a conventional printing apparatus capable of performing advanced drawing processing such as a multi-valued image and arbitrary deformation, when an image is printed, compression and decompression and color conversion are performed after image data is received until an image is formed. Various processes such as transformation, resolution conversion, etc. were performed.

If the printing device does not have a font for characters displayed on the host computer side, the printing device receives the character drawing command and replaces it with another installed font to print. Alternatively, the characters have been transferred as image data from the beginning on the host computer side.

[0005]

However, in the above conventional example, the above processing is internally required, which complicates the processing, and all image drawing follow the same processing path. The processing speed of simple bitmap drawing was sacrificed.

Further, in the case of a printing apparatus which does not have any of the above processing means and can process only a simple bitmap, it is not possible to perform advanced drawing of a multi-valued image or the like, so that the above processing is performed on the host computer side. Must be done,
The burden on the host computer was heavy.

[0007] Furthermore, since the image drawing has a much larger data amount than other drawing such as characters and figures, the printing process is slow and the data transfer of the image drawing is a bottleneck when printing a document or the like. Had become. Therefore, even when the user wants to know only the layout of the print result, the user has to wait an extra time for the image drawing process.

Further, in the above-described conventional example, even if the printing apparatus later installs fonts, the host computer does not detect the fonts installed in the printing apparatus, so that the installed fonts are not effectively utilized.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional example, and separates the processing of a simple bitmap into a special processing path so that a simple bitmap can be processed without deteriorating advanced image drawing processing functions. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus and a printing system that can increase the printing speed and enable efficient image drawing.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a printing system that converts an image drawing unit into another command such as a rectangular drawing to reduce the amount of data transfer and perform efficient draft printing.

When a font which is not installed in the printing apparatus is designated by the character print command, the status is returned to the host computer through the bidirectional interface, converted into an image drawing command by the host computer, and printed again. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing system that makes effective use of fonts installed in a printing apparatus.

[0012]

To achieve the above object, the present invention has the following arrangement. A print control device that receives print data including a drawing command and causes a printing unit to perform printing based on the print data, wherein the analyzing unit analyzes the received drawing command, and the analysis unit analyzes the received drawing command. A storage unit for storing image data based on the drawing command, a drawing command determining unit for determining whether the received drawing command is related to drawing of an image, and a receiving command related to drawing of an image. When it is determined by the drawing command determining means that there is, the data format determining means for determining the data format of the image data corresponding to the drawing command and the drawing command determining means determine that the image data is related to image drawing. If the image format data corresponding to the rendering command is determined by the data format determining unit to be in the first data format, The instruction is analyzed by the analyzing means, and the image data corresponding to the drawing instruction determined to be related to image drawing by the drawing instruction determining means is determined by the data format determining means to be the second data format. Control means for storing image data based on the drawing command in the storage means.

A print control method for receiving print data including a drawing command and causing a printing unit to perform printing based on the print data, comprising: an analyzing step of analyzing the received drawing command; A storage step of storing image data based on the drawing command analyzed in the step in a storage unit, a drawing command determining step of determining whether the received drawing command is related to drawing of an image, and a receiving drawing command A data format determining step of determining a data format of image data corresponding to the rendering command when the rendering command determining step determines that the command is related to image rendering; and rendering of an image by the rendering command determining step. Image data corresponding to the rendering command determined to be related to the first data format If it is determined by the data format determination step, the rendering command is analyzed by the analysis step, and image data corresponding to the rendering command determined to be related to image rendering by the rendering command determination step is: A control step of storing, in the storage means, image data based on the drawing instruction when the data format determination step determines that the data format is the second data format.

[0014]

[0015]

[0016]

The first printing apparatus according to the present invention determines whether or not received print data is an image drawing command, identifies parameters of the image drawing command, determines the data format of the image data, and converts the image data. Since the image data is directly developed in the page memory, it is possible to draw a simple bitmap at a high speed without impairing a sophisticated processing function for drawing a complicated image.

Further, the second printing apparatus according to the present invention, when developing print data, detects an illegal drawing order and saves and returns to the secondary storage means to control the drawing order. In the case where data is expanded in the page memory without passing through the drawing processing path, or in the case where the data is unavoidably expanded in the page memory during the drawing processing, it is possible to correct an incorrect drawing order.

Further, the printing system according to the present invention, based on print data from an external device connected bidirectionally,
If a printing system that performs printing on a recording medium does not have the font specified by the received print data, it notifies the external device of the status, receives the status from the printing device, and converts the characters to an image. Therefore, characters can be drawn as image data only when the printing apparatus does not have the specified font.

Further, a third printing apparatus according to the present invention is characterized in that:
Since the size of the image to be printed is calculated and the image components are converted into other data, it is possible to print the entire layout without transferring the image data.

[0020]

【Example】

(Embodiment 1) Before describing the configuration of this embodiment, a laser beam printer (hereinafter referred to as “LB”) suitable for applying this embodiment
P ") will be described with reference to FIG. The printer to which this embodiment is applied is not limited to a laser beam printer, and it goes without saying that a printer of another printing method may be used.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. <Structure of LBP> FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the internal structure of a laser beam printer applied to this embodiment.
Can register a character pattern and a fixed format (form data) from a data source (not shown). In the figure,
Reference numeral 1000 denotes an LBP main body, which inputs and stores character information (character code), form information or macro instructions supplied from an externally connected host computer, and corresponding character patterns or A form pattern or the like is created, and an image is formed on recording paper as a recording medium. 1012 is an operation panel on which switches for operation and an LED display are arranged;
A printer control unit 1001 controls the entire LBP 1000 and analyzes character information and the like supplied from the host computer. The control unit 1001 mainly converts character information into a video signal of a corresponding character pattern and outputs the video signal to the laser driver 1002. The laser driver 1002 is a circuit for driving the semiconductor laser 1003, and switches on / off a laser beam 1004 emitted from the semiconductor laser 1003 according to an input video signal. The laser 1004 is swung right and left by a rotary polygon mirror 1005 to scan on an electrostatic drum 1006. As a result, an electrostatic latent image of a character pattern is formed on the electrostatic drum 1006. This latent image is developed by a developing unit 1007 around the electrostatic drum 1006 and then transferred to a recording sheet. This recording paper is cut sheet recording paper is L
The paper is stored in a paper cassette 1008 mounted on the BP1000, and is supplied with a paper feed roller 1009 and transport rollers 1010 and 1010.
11 and the electrostatic drum 100
6. <Control Structure of Printer> FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printing apparatus of this embodiment.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 2000 denotes a printing apparatus 1000.
Is a host computer connected to the printer 1000 and prints print information including print data and control codes.
Is output to

The printing apparatus 1000 is roughly composed of a formatter control section 1100, an interface 1200, an output control section 1300, and a printer engine section 1400.

The formatter control unit 1100 includes a reception buffer 1101, a command discrimination unit 1102, a command analysis unit 1103, a command execution unit 1104, and a page memory 1
105, and a data format determination unit 1106. The reception buffer 1101 is connected to the host computer 20.
This is storage means for temporarily storing print information received from 00. The command determination unit 1102 determines each print control command. If the print control command is not an image drawing command, the print data is directly analyzed by the command analysis unit 1103. If the command determination unit 1102 determines that the print control command is an image drawing command, the format determination unit 1106 identifies the data format of the image. The data format determination unit 1106 determines whether or not the image data is a simple bitmap by identifying the command parameter of the image drawing command. If the data format determination unit 1106 determines that the print data is not a simple bitmap, the print data is directly analyzed by the command analysis unit 1103. The command analyzed by the command analysis unit 1103 is an intermediate result obtained by analyzing the print data, and is converted by the command execution unit 1104 into an intermediate code in a format that can be more easily processed. The command execution unit 1104 executes each command according to the intermediate code, and commands related to drawing and printing are sequentially developed in the page memory 1105. On the other hand, if the data format determination unit 1106 determines that the image data is a simple bitmap, the image data is directly expanded in the page memory 1105. Generally, the formatter control unit 1100
Is configured by a computer system using a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like.

The output control unit 1300 includes the page memory 11
05 is converted into a video signal, and the image is transferred to the printer engine unit 1400. Printer engine 1
Reference numeral 400 denotes a printing mechanism for forming a permanent visible image of the received video signal on recording paper. <Print Control Procedure> Next, the overall print control processing procedure in this embodiment in the printing apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to flowcharts shown in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5. FIG. S301 to S306 in FIG. 3, S401 to S403 in FIG. 4, and S501 to S5 in FIG.
08 indicates each processing step.

FIG. 3 shows the main processing from the start to the end of the operation of the printing apparatus 1000.

First, in step S301, print data sent from the host computer 2000 is received and stocked in the reception buffer 1101.

Next, in step S302, the print data stored in the reception buffer is read out, and in step S303
The command determination unit 1102 determines whether the print control command is an image drawing command. If it is an image drawing command, the flow advances to step S304 to perform image processing, and then performs drawing processing in step S305. If it is a print control command other than the image drawing command in step S303, the process directly proceeds to the drawing process in step S305. After performing the drawing process, it is determined in step S306 whether a print end command has been received or whether print data has ended. If the printing apparatus has ended, the printing operation ends. If the printing is not completed, the processing from step S301 is repeated.

FIG. 4 shows the image processing corresponding to step S304 in FIG. This process switches the drawing process of the image data.

First, in step S401, the parameters of the image drawing command are read, and it is determined from these parameters in step S402 whether or not it is a simple bitmap.
If it is not a simple bitmap, the process ends. On the other hand, if it is a simple bitmap, the image data is directly expanded in the page memory in step S403, and the process in step S304 is terminated. Then, the process returns to step S302 in FIG. 3 to process the next instruction.

FIG. 5 shows the drawing process of step S305 used in FIG. This process is a process for actually performing a printing process.

First, in step S501, the command analysis unit 1103 checks whether the data is a paper ejection command. If the data is a paper ejection command, the flow advances to step S506 to perform processing. If the command is not a paper ejection command in step S501, it is determined whether or not the analyzed command is a command for expanding processing to a page memory such as character printing or graphic drawing (step S502).
Go to 05 to execute the command immediately. Also,
If the command is a command for expanding the page memory, the process advances from step S502 to step S503 to generate an intermediate code in a form that facilitates the command execution process. In response to the intermediate code, the command execution unit 1104 performs a process of expanding the page memory 1105 (step S5).
04), upon completion of the development process, step S305 in FIG.
And returns to step S302 to repeat the data analysis process.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S301 that the command is a paper discharge command, the output control unit 1300 converts the contents of the page memory 1105 into a video signal for the printer engine unit 1400 and transfers and outputs the image (step S506). The printer engine unit 1400 forms a permanent visible image on the recording paper based on the received video signal and performs printing (step S507). When the result printed in step S508 is discharged, the print control process for one page is completed.

The operation of the entire printing apparatus has been described above.
These processes are realized by the computer system of the formatter control unit 1100.

By processing print data in accordance with such a control procedure, when received data is simple bitmap data, only processing for expanding the data in the page memory is required, so that high-speed processing is realized. it can. If the data is not simple bitmap data, an intermediate code corresponding to the received data is generated and expanded to the page memory according to the code to execute more advanced functions supported by the printer. it can. (Embodiment 2) FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of this embodiment of the formatter control section 1100 of FIG. 2 in Embodiment 1.

In FIG. 6, a reception buffer 1101, a command determination unit 1102, a command analysis unit 1103, a command execution unit 1104, a page memory 1105, and a data format determination unit 1106 are the same as the components in the first embodiment. The flow of print data up to the section 1102 and the pages after the page memory 1105 is the same as in the first embodiment. Each print control command read into the reception buffer 1101 is discriminated by the command discriminating unit 1102 as to whether or not it is an image drawing command.
Is analyzed in If the command determination unit 1102 determines that the print control command is an image drawing command, the data format of the image is identified by the data format determination unit 1106. Data format determination unit 1106
If it is determined that is not a simple bitmap in,
The print data is directly analyzed by the command analysis unit 1103. The command analyzed by the command analysis unit 1103 is an intermediate result obtained by analyzing the print data, and is converted by the command execution unit 1104 into an intermediate code in a format that can be more easily processed. Command execution unit 110
In step 4, each command is executed by this intermediate code,
Commands related to drawing and printing are stored in the page memory 1105.
It is developed sequentially. On the other hand, the data format determination unit 110
If it is determined in step 6 that the data is a simple bitmap, the drawing order control unit 1107 further corrects the drawing order. The drawing order control unit 1107 monitors illegal drawing order at the time of simple bitmap drawing while communicating with the command analyzing unit 1103. Upon receiving a response from the command analyzing unit 1103, the drawing order control unit 1107 immediately responds.
If it is determined that the rendering order of the image data with other rendering commands will be out of order when the image data is developed in 05, the image data is temporarily saved in the secondary storage device 1500. afterwards,
When a normal drawing order is received in response to the response from the command analysis unit 1103, the image data is restored from the secondary storage device 1500 and expanded in the page memory. In addition,
The secondary storage device 1500 is a storage medium capable of permanently storing information.

Here, a specific example in the case where the drawing order is out of order will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 15A shows a display screen on the host side, and FIG. 15B shows a print result when the drawing order is out of order. In (a) and (b), 001 is a character string,
002 is a simple bitmap, and it is assumed that an image drawing command is sent first. First, the simple bitmap 002 is developed in the page memory as it is by the image rendering command, and then the character string 001 is developed in the page memory via the command analysis unit 1103 and the command execution unit 1104 by the character printing command. However, since the simple bitmap 002 is first developed in the page memory, if the drawing logic of the character is overwriting, the print result will be as shown in FIG. This is an example where the drawing order is out of order. In the present embodiment, in order to prevent such an example, the drawing order control unit temporarily saves the simple bitmap 002 in the secondary storage device, expands the character string 001 in the page memory, and then stores the simple bitmap 002 in the page memory. Is extracted from the secondary storage device and expanded in the page memory.

Next, a printing control processing procedure in this embodiment in the printing apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.

The main processing from the start to the end of the operation of the printing apparatus in the present embodiment is the same as in FIG. 3, and the drawing processing for actually performing the printing processing is the same as in FIG.

S701 to S708 in FIG. 7 show each processing step. FIG. 7 shows the image processing corresponding to step S304 in FIG. This process switches the process when an image drawing command is received.

First, in step S701, the parameters of the image drawing command are read, and it is determined from these parameters in step S702 whether or not it is a simple bitmap.
If it is not a simple bitmap, the process ends. On the other hand, if it is a simple bitmap, it is determined in step S70 whether or not the drawing order is out of order when it is immediately expanded to the page memory.
If it is determined in step 3 that the drawing order is not out of order, the process proceeds to step S708, where the image data is expanded in the page memory. If it is determined in step S703 that the drawing order is out of order, the process advances to step S704 to save the image data in the secondary storage device. After processing the next command in step S705, the process proceeds to step S706. In step S706, it is determined whether or not it is time to develop the image data saved in step S704 in the page memory. If it is not the timing to develop the image data yet, that is, if the rendering order is out of order in the page memory, the process proceeds to step S706. Returning to S705, the process is repeated. If it is determined in step S706 that it is time to develop the data in the page memory, the process advances to step S707. In step S707, the image data saved in the secondary storage device in step S704 is read, and thereafter, the process proceeds to step S708, where the image data is developed in the page memory. The image processing ends when the image data is expanded to the page memory.

By performing the image expansion processing as described above,
In addition to being able to quickly execute processing of simple bitmap data, it is possible to print out an image of received print data as it is, by keeping the order of synthesis with other data that fits on the same page as it was originally. (Embodiment 3) FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a print control system according to a third embodiment of the present invention. Here, the laser beam printer shown in FIG. 1 will be described as an example. Note that, as long as the functions of the present invention are executed, the present invention is applicable to a single device, a system including a plurality of devices, and a system in which processing is performed via a network such as a LAN. It goes without saying that the invention can be applied.

In FIG. 8, reference numeral 3000 denotes a host computer which performs document processing in which graphics, images, characters, tables (including spreadsheets, etc.) are mixed based on a document processing program or the like stored in the program ROM of the ROM 3. The system includes a CPU 1 to be executed, and the CPU 1 comprehensively controls each device connected to the system device 4. Also,
The program ROM of the ROM 3 stores font data and the like used in the above document processing, and the data ROM of the ROM 3 stores various data used in the above document processing and the like. Reference numeral 2 denotes a RAM, which functions as a main memory, a work area, and the like of the CPU 1. A keyboard controller (KBC) 5 controls a key input from a keyboard 9 or a pointing device (not shown). 6
Is a CRT controller (CRTC) that controls the display on a CRT display (CRT) 10. A memory controller (MC) 7 controls access to an external memory 11 such as a hard disk (HD) or a floppy disk (FD) for storing a boot program, various applications, font data, user files, edited files, and the like. 8 is a printer controller (PRTC)
Then, it is connected to the printer 1000 via a predetermined bidirectional interface (interface) 21 and executes communication control processing with the printer 1000.

The CPU 1 executes, for example, a process of developing (rasterizing) the outline font in the display information RAM set on the RAM 2, and executes the process on the CRT 10.
YSIWYG is possible. Further, the CPU 1
Various registered windows are opened based on a command designated by a master cursor or the like (not shown) on the RT 10,
Perform various data processing.

On the other hand, in the printer 1000, reference numeral 12 denotes a printer CPU, which is connected to a system bus 15 based on a control program or the like stored in a program ROM of a ROM 13 or a control program or the like stored in an external memory 14. It comprehensively controls access to the device and outputs an image signal as output information to a printing unit (printer engine) 17 connected via a printing unit interface 16. The program R in the ROM 13
The OM may store a control program of the CPU 12 as shown in the flowchart of the first or second embodiment. The font ROM of the ROM 13 stores font data and the like to be used when generating the output information. The data ROM of the ROM 13 stores the data on the host computer when the printer does not have the external memory 14 such as a hard disk. It stores information to be used.
The CPU 12 can communicate with the host computer via the input unit 18 and can notify the host computer 3000 of information in the printer and the like. Reference numeral 19 denotes a RAM that functions as a main memory, a work area, and the like of the CPU 12, and is configured so that the memory capacity can be expanded by an optional RAM connected to an additional port (not shown). The RAM 19 is used for an output information development area, an environment data storage area, an NVRAM, and the like. The external memory 14 such as a hard disk (HD) or an IC card described above is provided with a memory controller (M
C) Access is controlled by 20. External memory 14
Is connected as an option and stores font data, emulation programs, form data, and the like. In addition, the input unit 18 is provided with a switch for operation on the operation panel described above, an LED display, and the like. The number of the external memories is not limited to one, and at least one external memory is provided. In addition to the built-in fonts, an optional font card and a plurality of external memories storing programs for interpreting printer control languages having different language systems can be connected. It may be configured. Furthermore, NV (not shown)
A RAM may be provided to store the printer mode setting information from the operation panel 1012.

Next, the overall printing control processing procedure in this embodiment in the printing apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. S901 to S908 in FIG. 9 and S1001 to S1008 in FIG. 10 indicate respective processing steps.

FIG. 9 shows the main processing of the printing apparatus 1000 from the start to the end of printing.

First, in step S901, print data sent from the host computer 3000 is received and stored in the reception buffer. Next, step S9
In step S903, it is determined whether the print control command is a character print command in step S903. If it is not a character print command, the flow advances to step S907 to perform drawing processing. In addition,
Here, the drawing process in step S907 is the same as the flowchart in FIG. 5 described in the first embodiment. However, the return code A in FIG. 5 is the same as that in step S90 in FIG.
Behind one.

On the other hand, if the print control command is a character print command in step S903, the font specified by the character print command and the font installed in the printing device are compared in order, and the font specified in step S905 is compared. It is determined whether or not it is mounted. If it is installed, the process advances to step S907 to perform drawing processing. If the printing apparatus does not have the font specified in step S905, the process advances to step S906. Step S90
In step 6, the designated font, that is, the font that cannot be processed because it is not installed in the printing apparatus, is notified as a status to the host computer 3000 through the bidirectional interface 21. Next, step S90
The process proceeds to step S8, where it is determined whether a print end command has been received or the print data has been completed. If the print data has been completed, the process ends. If print data still remains, the process from step S901 is repeated.

On the other hand, when the process proceeds to the drawing process in step S907, it is also determined in step S908 whether printing has been completed, and the same process is performed thereafter.

FIG. 10 shows the main processing of the host computer 3000 from the start to the end of printing.

First, drawing data is received from the application in step S1001, and the drawing data is converted into a print command in step S1002. Next, the converted printer commands are sequentially transferred to the printing apparatus 1000, and the process proceeds to step S1004. In step S1004, it is determined whether a status from the printing apparatus 1000 has been received. If the status has been received, the process advances to step S1005 to detect a font that the printing apparatus could not process from the received status. Next, in step S1006, the character data of the corresponding font is converted into image data, and in step S1007, the character print command is replaced with an image drawing command. After that, the process advances to step S1008 to determine whether or not the drawing data from the application has been completed. If the drawing data has been completed, the process ends. If the drawing data has not been completed, the process returns to step S1001 to perform the process. repeat. On the other hand, if the status has not been received from the printing apparatus in step S1004, the process directly proceeds to step S1008, and the same processing is performed thereafter.

By performing the above processing, even if character data using a font not provided in the printing apparatus is sent, the status from the printing apparatus is read and the character data is expanded into image data using the font of the host computer. By re-sending the image drawing command to the printing apparatus, even when a pudding and a command using a font not provided in the printing apparatus are sent, the image can be printed out in an originally desired output format. (Embodiment 4) FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a control program in the present embodiment stored in the program ROM 3 of the host computer in FIG. S1101 to S1107 in FIG. 11 indicate each processing step.

First, drawing data is received from the application in step S1101, and it is determined in step S1102 whether the received drawing data is image data. If it is not image data, it is converted into a print command and transferred to the printing device. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S1002 that the data is image data, the process advances to step S1103 to calculate the size of the image to be drawn, that is, the width and height. Next, in step S1104, the image drawing command is converted into the calculated width and height rectangle drawing command and transferred to the printing apparatus. Then, it is determined in step S1107 whether or not the drawing data from the application has been completed. If the drawing data still remains, the processing from step S1101 is repeated. If the drawing data has ended in step S1107, the process ends.

By performing the processing described above, since the image data itself is not transferred, the data can be transferred to the printer quickly, and the printing process can be speeded up. This is very effective when you simply want to see the layout of the page.

Next, an example of a print result in this embodiment will be described with reference to specific examples shown in FIGS.

In FIGS. 12 to 14, FIG.
(A), FIG. 13 (a), and FIG. 14 (a) show an image I00.
1, screen display of document data by application including I002, FIGS. 12 (b), 13 (b), 14
(B) is a printing result of the printing device. FIG.
(A) is document data including images I001 and I002, and the images I001 and I002 are drawn in a rectangular shape and printed as rectangles B001 and B002 in FIG. 12B, respectively. FIG. 13 shows the result of converting the image drawing into a rectangular drawing command in step S1104 and transferring the image title as a character printing command. In FIG. 13, the image I00 of FIG.
1 and I002 are rectangles B00 in FIG.
1, B002, and the title T00
1, T002 is printed, and it becomes clear which image corresponds to which rectangular portion. FIG.
In step 1104, instead of converting the image drawing into a rectangular drawing command, the image data is uniformly thinned out and transferred. In FIG. 14, the images I001 and I002 of FIG.
4 (b) are printed as images I003 and I004. In this example, regarding the reduction of the transfer data amount, FIG.
Is not as effective as in the case of converting to a rectangular drawing command, but a print result visually similar to a screen display can be obtained.

The following variations are conceivable for each of the above embodiments.

In the first embodiment, when a simple bitmap is determined, the image data is developed in the page memory without performing any intermediate processing.
Only simple processing such as reduction may be interposed as intermediate processing.

In the first embodiment, whether or not a simple bitmap is determined in the printer is determined. However, the determination may be performed by the host.

The second embodiment aims at correcting the drawing order when the simple bitmap is developed in the page memory without performing the data processing. But can be used. For example, in the case of processing a large number of drawing commands or in the case of image drawing processing in which a large amount of data needs to be processed at one time, the work memory becomes insufficient during the processing of drawing one page. The drawing data at that time is temporarily expanded in the page memory, the work memory is released, and the processing is continued. In such a case, the drawing order is determined to be invalid before being expanded in the page memory. By saving the data, illegal drawing order can be prevented.

In the second embodiment, the image data is saved in the secondary storage device capable of permanent storage. However, in the case of a printing apparatus without the secondary storage device, a temporary storage means such as a RAM is used. May be used. In this case, the memory size can be prevented by calculating the size of the image and using a determination unit for determining whether or not the image can be saved in the RAM.

In the third embodiment, only the specified font, that is, the font that cannot be processed by the printing apparatus, is returned as the status from the printing apparatus. May be returned as the status.

In this case, the host computer can detect the received font list and determine whether to convert the font list into image data or another font.

In the fourth embodiment, the transfer data amount is reduced by converting the image data into a rectangle or the like. However, even the rectangle may be omitted to further reduce the transfer data amount. In this case, whether or not to omit the rectangular drawing can be made selectable by the user.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of one device. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to a case where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

As described above, according to the present invention,
By separating the processing of simple bitmaps into the page memory directly from the processing path of other data, the printing speed of simple bitmaps is increased without deteriorating advanced image drawing processing functions. Efficient image drawing becomes possible.

Further, by converting the image drawing unit into another command such as a rectangular drawing, the amount of data transfer can be reduced, and high-speed draft printing can be performed.

When a font which is not installed in the printing apparatus is designated by the character print command, the status is returned to the host computer through the double-phrase interface, converted into an image drawing command by the host computer, and printed again. By doing so, it is possible to effectively use the fonts installed in the printing device.

[0070]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a structure of a laser beam printer according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a basic configuration of a printing apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a print control procedure according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure of the image processing shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a drawing process illustrated in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating formatter control of a printing apparatus according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of image processing according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer control system according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a printing control procedure on the printing apparatus side according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a print control procedure on the host computer side according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a print control procedure on the host computer side according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of image data conversion according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of image data conversion according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of image data conversion according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a diagram of one specific example when the drawing order is out of order in the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 CPU 2 RAM 3 ROM 4 System bus 5 KBC 6 CRTC 7 MC (memory controller) 8 PRTC 9 KB 10 CRT 11 External memory 12 CPU 13 ROM 14 External memory 15 System bus 16 Printing section interface 17 Printing section 18 Input section 19 RAM 20 MC

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-3-16468 (JP, A) JP-A-4-319460 (JP, A) JP-A-3-114856 (JP, A) JP-A-3-316 114857 (JP, A) JP-A-5-313651 (JP, A) JP-A-7-156469 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 21/00 B41J 5 / 30 B41J 5/44 G09G 5/24 670 H04N 1/40

Claims (16)

(57) [Claims] 1. A print control device that receives print data including a drawing command and causes a printing unit to perform printing based on the printing data, wherein the analyzing unit analyzes the received drawing command. Storage means for storing image data based on the drawing command analyzed by the means; drawing command discriminating means for discriminating whether or not the received drawing command is related to drawing of an image; When it is determined by the drawing command determining means that the image data is related to the drawing , data format determining means for determining the data format of the image data corresponding to the drawing command,
Image data corresponding to the drawing command is determined to be the will, if it is determined by the data type determination means that the first data format, to analyze the drawing command to said analyzing means, by the drawing command determination means Also about drawing images
Control means for storing, in the storage means, image data based on the drawing command, when the image data corresponding to the drawing command determined to be the second data format is determined by the data format determining means; A print control device comprising: 2. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image data in the first data format includes multi-valued image data. 3. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image data in the second data format includes simple bitmap data. 4. The printing control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drawing command includes a command related to drawing a character or a command related to drawing a graphic. 5. When the drawing command determining unit determines that the received drawing command is related to drawing of a character or drawing of a graphic, the control unit:
5. The print control device according to claim 1, wherein the rendering command is analyzed by the analysis unit. 6. The print control according to claim 1, further comprising an output unit that outputs an image signal to the printing unit based on the image data stored in the storage unit. apparatus. 7. The data format determining unit according to claim 1, wherein a parameter of the rendering command is identified, and a data format of image data corresponding to the rendering command is determined. Print control device. 8. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to output image data based on the drawing command analyzed by the analyzing unit, and image data based on the drawing command determined that the data format of the corresponding image data is the second data format. 8. The order in which are stored in the storage means is controlled.
The print control device according to any one of the above. 9. A print control method for receiving print data including a drawing command and causing a printing unit to perform printing based on the printing data, wherein the analyzing step includes analyzing the received drawing command. A storage step of storing image data based on the drawing command analyzed by the step in a storage unit; a drawing command determining step of determining whether the received drawing command is related to drawing of an image; When the command is determined by the drawing command determination step to be related to image drawing,
A data format determining step of determining a data format of the image data corresponding to the drawing command;
If the image format corresponding to the rendering command determined to be the first data format is determined by the data format determination step, the rendering command is analyzed by the analysis step, and the rendering command determination is performed. Steps related to image drawing
When the image data corresponding to the rendering command determined to be the data format is determined to be in the second data format by the data format determining step, the image data based on the rendering command is stored in the storage unit. And a print control method. 10. The print control method according to claim 9, wherein the first data format image data includes multi-valued image data. 11. The print control method according to claim 9, wherein the image data in the second data format includes simple bitmap data. 12. The print control method according to claim 9, wherein the drawing command includes one related to drawing a character or drawing a graphic. 13. When the drawing command determining step determines that the received drawing command relates to drawing of a character or drawing of a graphic, the control step analyzes the drawing command to the analyzing step. 13. The print control method according to claim 9, wherein the print control is performed. 14. The print control according to claim 9, further comprising an output step of outputting an image signal to the printing unit based on the image data stored in the storage unit. Method. 15. The data format determining step according to claim 9, wherein a parameter of the rendering command is identified, and a data format of image data corresponding to the rendering command is determined. Print control method. 16. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control step includes: outputting image data based on the rendering command analyzed in the analyzing step; and outputting image data based on the rendering command determined that the data format of the corresponding image data is the second data format. The print control method according to any one of claims 9 to 15, wherein an order of storing the print data in the storage unit is controlled.