JP3167775B2 - Image forming method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming method and apparatus for developing input data into a bit pattern.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a printing apparatus such as a laser beam printer, data for printing input from a host computer is developed into a bit pattern for one page, and then printing is performed using the bit pattern. For an overview of the general printing procedure of this type of printing device,
This will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step S101, print data is received and stored in a reception buffer. In step S102, a command is analyzed for the data in the reception buffer, and a page buffer for one page is created.
Next, in step S103, a development process is executed to generate bit pattern data for one page and store it in the frame memory. Then, in step S104, output processing is executed, and printing on a recording medium such as recording paper is executed in accordance with the developed bitmap data. Step S1
At 05, it is determined whether or not the output processing has been completed for all of the input image information, and if completed, this processing ends. If not completed, the process returns to step S101 to repeat the above-described processes.

[0004] The input data is developed into a bit pattern and printed according to the procedure described above.

[0005] Some printing apparatuses of this type have an overlay function of superimposing a pre-registered cooperative form or the like on print data input from a host computer and printing out the print data. When this overlay function is performed, in the above-described expansion processing (step S103), FIG.
Running the process shown in the flow chart. FIG.
4 will be described.

In step S111, it is determined whether or not the print data is designated to use overlay printing. If overlay printing is to be used, the flow advances to step S112 to change the form registered in the form of a page buffer into a bit pattern. And store it in the frame buffer. If overlay printing is not used, step S112 is skipped and the process proceeds to step S113. In step S113, the print data is developed on the same frame buffer. After finishing the above processing, step S1
At 04, output processing is performed.

The above flow will be described below by taking an example.

In FIG. 15, reference numeral 1501 denotes a state in which a registered form is developed into a bit pattern, and reference numeral 1503 denotes a state in which print data is developed into a bit pattern. Reference numeral 1502 denotes a state where the bit pattern 1501 of the form and the bit pattern 1503 of the print data are combined on the frame buffer. Reference numeral 1504 denotes a pattern development processing unit that performs bit pattern development from information in the page buffer. As apparent from FIG. 15, when overlaying a form over a plurality of pages, a bit pattern is developed for the form for each page.

In this type of printing apparatus, the development processing (step S103) sequentially executes development from a page buffer to a bit pattern for each page. In the following, the procedure of this expansion processing will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In step S121, it is determined whether or not the font in the information of the page buffer exists in the font cache area.
Proceed to 2. In step S122, the font is developed into a bit pattern, and in step S123,
This bit pattern is stored in the font cache area. Then, in step S124, expansion processing is performed on print data other than fonts in the page buffer. Output is performed using the bit pattern data obtained in this manner (step S104).

FIG. 17 is a diagram for explaining the above-described print data expanding process. Reference numeral 1703 denotes print data currently being developed, and reference numeral 1704 denotes a state in which the character pattern has been developed. Reference numeral 1702 denotes print data that has been analyzed and is waiting for expansion processing, and reference numeral 1701 denotes print data that is currently being analyzed.
Reference numeral 1705 denotes a character pattern stored in the font cache area. The print data 1703 is currently being developed, and at the same time, the registration of the character pattern in the font cache area is being executed. The print patterns 501 and 502 are
Since the character pattern stored in the font cache is not used, the print pattern 170
It is necessary to execute the same character pattern development processing as in step 3. However, until the expansion processing of the print data 1703 ends, the expansion processing of the print data 1701 and 1702 is not executed, and the end of the expansion processing is waited.

Further, some printing apparatuses of this type have a function of allocating a plurality of pages of input data as one-page output data and printing out. This means that, for example, B5 size input data is output in B4 size every two pages. The expansion processing (step S103) in this case will be described below with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

In step S131, it is determined whether or not print data is designated for layout printing. If so, the flow advances to step S132. Step S13
In 2, the allocation pattern is uniquely selected and determined according to the size of the input page of the first page. In step S133, the size of the first and subsequent input pages to be expanded is checked. If the size is the same as the size of the first page, the process proceeds to step S134,
An allocation expansion process is executed according to the allocation pattern determined in step S132.

If it is determined in step S131 that layout printing is not specified, and if in step S133 the input data of the first and subsequent pages to be expanded is different from the input size of the first page, step S13 is performed.
Then, the program proceeds to step 5 to execute a normal development process.

The above-described allocation and expansion processing will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.

In the figure, reference numerals 1901 to 1904 denote input data sizes of the first to fourth pages, respectively.
Reference numeral 1905 denotes B4 size output paper;
Reference numeral 07 denotes an A4 size recording sheet. Input 1st page (B
5 size) “B5 × 2 → B4” depending on the size of 1901
Is selected and 2 pages of B5 size are copied to 1 of B4 size.
The layout pattern is determined so as to output to the page. Accordingly, the input data (1901, 1902) of the first page and the second page is output paper 1905 of B4 size.
Is output to Since the size of the input data 1903 on the third page is different from the size of the input data 1901 on the first page, the input data 1903 does not match the layout pattern and normal development processing is executed. 1906).

[0017]

In the overlay function of the above-mentioned conventional example, when overlay printing of a registered form, the form is developed from a page buffer to a bit pattern for each page. Therefore, if the registration form is complex, also in the case of overlay printing several pages a form, by the bit pattern development process of the foam, there is problem that many of the total processing time of the printing apparatus becomes spent.

In addition, in the above-described development processing procedure, the font existing in the print data is registered in the font cache area when the bit pattern is developed from the page buffer to the frame buffer. Therefore, when processing print data of a plurality of pages, it is necessary to store the print data of the subsequent page in the form of a page buffer after the analysis is completed, and wait until the processing of expanding the print data of the previous page is completed. Therefore, there is a problem that the waiting time is wasted, and the transition from the analysis processing to the expansion processing is not efficient.

Further, the input of a plurality of pages in the above-mentioned conventional example is set to 1
In the function of allocating to the output of a page, the allocation pattern is uniquely determined by the size of the first page of the input print data. For this reason, when inputting pages of different sizes, the user must sort the pages of the same size and execute printing for each classification, and the operation becomes cumbersome. .

The present invention is one of the above-mentioned problems.
This was done in view of the problem with the burley function.
Ri, stores to expand the pre-bit pattern form or the like is registered, by the time of the overlay process is to use it to reduce the foam expansion time during overlay processing, reducing the processing time It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming method and an image forming apparatus.

[0021]

[0022]

[0023]

An image forming apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object has, for example, the following arrangement. That is, an image forming apparatus that generates a bit pattern based on input print data, and when there is no external print data to be processed, the registered form information for overlay in a code format. Is expanded into a bit pattern before the start of the printing process, and the form information specified by the input print data is expanded into a bit pattern by the form expanding means for controlling to be held in the overlay form holding means. If, the form for the overlay held in the overlay form holding means is taken out, if the form information specified in the print data is held in code form information,
A form reading means for developing the form information into a bit pattern before developing the print data by the form developing means; and a bit pattern of an overlay form prepared by the form reading means. And a synthesizing unit for synthesizing the bit pattern of the print data obtained by the data expanding unit and the bit pattern of the overlay form obtained by the form reading unit.

The image forming method according to the present invention for achieving the above object includes, for example, the following steps. That is, in an image forming method for generating a bit pattern based on input print data, when there is no external print data to be processed, the registered form information for overlay in a code format is used. Is developed into a bit pattern before the start of the printing process, and a form developing step of controlling to hold the overlay form holding means, and the form information specified by the input print data is developed into a bit pattern by the form developing step. If so, take out the overlay form held by the overlay form holding means,
In the case where the form information specified in the print data is held in code form form information, a form reading step of expanding the form information into a bit pattern before expanding the print data by the form expanding step, After a bit pattern of a form for overlay is prepared by the form reading step, a data expanding step of expanding the print data into a bit pattern; a bit pattern of the print data obtained by the data expanding step; And synthesizing the bit pattern of the overlay form obtained by the process.

[0025]

[0026]

[0027]

[0028]

[0029]

According to the above arrangement, the image forming apparatus is connected to an external device.
The input print data to be processed does not exist
When, that is, when the image forming apparatus is in an idle state,
Since the form information is expanded into a bit pattern,
Before starting the printing process, the bit pattern of the form for overlay
A turn will be prepared. For this reason,
The time required can be reduced, and the load on other processes can be reduced.
Can be reduced.

[0030]

[0031]

[0032]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<Embodiment 1> In this embodiment, a laser beam printer will be described as an example of a printing apparatus.

Before describing the configuration of this embodiment, the configuration of a laser beam printer to which this embodiment is applied will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the internal structure of a laser beam printer (hereinafter abbreviated as LBP) of the embodiment.
P can register a character pattern or a fixed format from a data source (not shown).

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 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 according to the information. A corresponding character pattern, form pattern, or the like is created, and an image is formed on a recording sheet that is a storage medium. 3
Reference numeral 00 denotes an operation panel on which switches for operations, an LDE display, and the like are arranged. Reference numeral 101 denotes a control unit that controls the entire LBP 100 and analyzes character information and the like supplied from the host computer. The printer control unit 101 mainly converts character information into a video signal having a corresponding character pattern and outputs the video signal to the laser driver 102.

The laser driver 102 is a semiconductor laser 10
3 for driving the laser light 1 emitted from the semiconductor laser 103 in accordance with the input video signal.
04 is turned on and off. The laser light 104 scans on the electrostatic drum 106 while being swung in the left-right direction at the multifaceted boundary 105. Thus, an electrostatic latent image of a character pattern is formed on the electrostatic drum 106. After this latent image is developed by the developing unit 107 around the electrostatic drum 106,
Transferred to recording paper. A cut sheet is used as the recording paper, and the cut sheet recording paper is stored in a paper cassette 108 mounted on the LBP 100 and taken into the apparatus by a paper feed roller 109 and transport rollers 110 and 111.
It is supplied to the electrostatic drum 106.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a control system of the LBP 100 according to the first embodiment.

The control system of the LBP 100 inputs a character code sent from the host computer 201 which is a source of image information and information 211 including external character fonts or form information or macro registration information and the like. Control to print document information and the like.

Reference numeral 202 denotes an input interface unit for inputting various information from the host computer 201. Reference numeral 203 denotes a reception buffer which temporarily stores information input via the input unit 202. Reference numeral 210 denotes a character pattern generator, which includes a ROM storing pattern information corresponding to a character code, a reading control circuit thereof, and the like, and when a character code is input, calculates a character pattern address corresponding to the code. It also has a code conversion function.

Reference numeral 204 denotes a CPU for controlling the entire control system of the LBP.
Controls the entire apparatus.

An analysis unit 212 analyzes received data in accordance with a control program in the ROM 206. 2
An expansion unit 13 expands information analyzed by the analysis unit 212 into a bit pattern. A page buffer 205 stores information analyzed by the analysis unit. Reference numeral 207 denotes a frame buffer which stores at least one page of pattern information developed into a character pattern corresponding to a print image. Reference numeral 214 denotes a form pattern storage unit, which expands a registered form into a bit pattern, compresses and stores it. 208
An output interface unit generates a video signal corresponding to the pattern information from the frame buffer 207, and executes interface control with the printing mechanism unit 209. A printing mechanism 209 receives a video signal from the output interface unit 208 and prints image information based on the video signal.

The procedure of the printing operation by the LBP 100 according to the first embodiment will be described below with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. The idle state used in the following description indicates a state in which each processing unit of the printing apparatus is not operating. That is, there is no data other than the registered data to be processed, and the power is on. The LBP 100 performs the following operation under the control of the ROM 206.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a form pattern developing process when the LBP 100 is in an idle state.

In step S 11, it is checked whether or not the expansion processing has been completed for all the registered forms, and whether the forms have been registered in the form pattern storage unit 214.
If there is a form that has not been expanded, step S12
Then, expand the bit pattern of the form. In step S13, after compressing the pattern expanded in step S12, the form pattern storage unit 2
14 is stored. Then, the process returns to step S11 to repeat the above-described processing. If it is determined in step S11 that the expansion processing has been completed, the processing ends. Also,
In idle processing, when another processing unit starts up, it pauses,
Reboot after waiting for other processing to end.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the printing operation.

In step S21, a reception process for storing the input print data in the reception buffer 203 is executed. Next, in step S22, an analysis process of the print data stored in the reception buffer is performed.

In step S23, it is determined whether or not the print data uses a registration form. If so, the process proceeds to step S24. In step S24, it is searched whether the required form is already stored in the form pattern storage unit 214 in a compressed form. If the required form has already been compressed, the process proceeds to step S26 to decompress the form. If there is no required form in the form pattern storage unit 214 in step S24, step S2
The process proceeds to step 5, where the bit pattern of the form is expanded from the page buffer of the form specified in the page buffer of the print data, the expanded pattern is compressed, and then added to the compressed form storage unit. Then, in step S26, the compressed form is expanded.

After the overlay form is developed into the bit pattern as described above, the process proceeds to step S27.
The process proceeds to the step of expanding the print data. Then, after combining the print data and the form pattern, step S
Proceed to 28 to perform output processing. And step S
In 29, it is determined whether or not the processing has been completed for all the input information.
The process returns to and repeats the above processing. If the processing has been completed, the printing operation ends.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the overlay printing process by the LBP 100 according to the first embodiment. The form pattern storage unit 214 stores a form for overlay in a compressed form after pattern expansion. The form specified by the print data is read from the form pattern storage unit, and is expanded into a bit pattern by the compression pattern expansion processing 501. On the other hand, the input print data is developed like a bit pattern 504 by a pattern development process 505. Then, the form bit pattern 502 and the print data bit pattern 50
4 are combined to complete the bit pattern 503 for one page.

As described above, according to the printing apparatus of the first embodiment, overlay printing is performed using the registered form. (1) When the registered form is used,
When the bit pattern of the print data is developed, the processing from the page buffer of the form has already been completed, so the time from reception to printing can be shortened. (2) When using the registered form over multiple pages It is not necessary to develop a form for each page, and the printing time can be shortened.

In the first embodiment, all the forms registered as page buffers are expanded in bit patterns and stored in a compressed form in the form pattern storage unit 214. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, in accordance with the capacity of the memory of the printing apparatus, expansion and compression processing are performed only on a form in which data that requires time to expand such as a figure and an outline font is used, and stored in the form pattern storage unit 214. You may do so.

Further, in addition to the above-described first embodiment, among the registered forms, those having a low use frequency are released from the compressed bit pattern and returned to the state of the page buffer, thereby improving the memory use efficiency. May be.

<Embodiment 2> In Embodiment 2, a laser beam printer will be described as an example of a printing apparatus. Since the configuration of the laser beam printer (LBP) is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description is omitted here.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a control system of the LBP 100 according to the second embodiment. In the figure, components having the same functions as those of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted here.

Reference numeral 215 denotes an interrupt control unit which determines the priority of an input interface that has caused an interrupt when an interrupt occurs, and controls switching of a reception buffer.
A font cache area 601 registers a bit-expanded character pattern and the like.

The printing operation of the LBP 100 according to the second embodiment will be described below with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a printing operation by the LBP 100 according to the second embodiment.

At step S 41, the host computer 20 received via the input interface 202
1 is stored in the reception buffer 203.
Then, in step S42, an analysis process is performed on the print data in the reception buffer 203, and the result is stored in the page buffer 205. Then, step S4
In step 3, the data in the page buffer is expanded into a bit pattern, and the result is stored in the frame buffer 207. In step S44, the data stored in the frame buffer 207 is printed out. Then, in step S45, it is determined whether or not the processing has been completed for all the input information. If the processing has not been completed, the process returns to step S41 to repeat the above processing. If the processing for all the input information has been completed, this processing is completed.

FIG. 8 shows the analysis processing (step S
It is a flowchart showing the detail of 42).

In step S50, the reception buffer 2
It is determined whether or not each font used in the print data 03 is stored in the font cache area 601. If the respective bit patterns for all the fonts have already been stored, the process proceeds to step S53, where normal analysis processing is executed. Font cache area 601
If there is a font that is not stored in the
The process proceeds to 51, where the fonts are developed into bit patterns. Then, in step S52, the bit pattern developed in step S51 is stored in the font cache area 601. And step S53
To execute the normal analysis processing.

The above printing operation procedure will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a data processing procedure at the time of printing by the printing apparatus according to the second embodiment. Here, as an example, it is assumed that there are two pages waiting for the expansion process, and different fonts are used for each page.

Reference numeral 803 denotes data currently being developed.
4 stores the character pattern 807 in the font cache area 60;
It represents a state where it is taken out from 1 and expanded. Reference numeral 802 denotes print data that has completed the analysis processing and is waiting for the development processing. Further, reference numeral 801 denotes print data currently being analyzed.

In the analysis unit 212, the print data 801
Fonts that are not in the font cache area 601 (character pattern “T” 80
For 5), development into a bit pattern is executed, and this is stored in the font cache area 601. The print data 802 has been analyzed, and the font used on the page is stored in the font cache area 601 as a character pattern (character pattern “E” 806). Therefore, the expansion unit 212 does not need to execute the font pattern expansion, and expands the data on the frame buffer 207 simply by extracting the character pattern data from the font cache memory 601.

As described above, according to the printing apparatus of the second embodiment, (1) when processing a plurality of print data, it is possible to efficiently use the waiting time in the analysis unit. In the section 213, since there is no font pattern development processing, the time required for development is reduced, and as a result, the time from reception of print data to output thereof is reduced.

In the second embodiment, a method is employed in which all fonts are developed into bit patterns during the analysis process, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, during analysis, only the list of fonts to be used is listed, and while waiting for expansion processing in the page buffer 205, priority is given to the one that takes time to develop into a bit pattern from the above list of fonts. The data may be expanded and stored in the font cache area 214.

In the second embodiment, a method is employed in which all fonts are developed into bit patterns during the analysis process, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a font to be stored in the font cache area 214 may be determined in advance, and only when the font is found during the analysis processing, the pattern is developed into a bit pattern and stored in the font cache area 214. .

Third Embodiment In a third embodiment, a printing apparatus that outputs a plurality of pages of print data to one page will be described.

In the third embodiment, a laser beam printer will be described as an example of the printing apparatus. Since the configuration of the laser beam printer (LBP) is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description is omitted here. The schematic configuration of the control system is the same as that of FIG. 6 of the second embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

The printing operation of the LBP 100 according to the third embodiment will be described below with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a printing operation by the LBP 100 according to the third embodiment. still,
In this embodiment, it is assumed that the input of two pages is allocated to the output of one page and printed.

In step S61, the host computer 20 received via the input interface 202
1 is stored in the reception buffer 203.
Then, in step S62, an analysis process is performed on the print data in the reception buffer 203, and the result is stored in the page buffer 205. Then, step S6
In step 3, the data in the page buffer is expanded into a bit pattern, and the result is stored in the frame buffer 207. In step S64, the data stored in the frame buffer 207 is printed out. Then, in step S65, it is determined whether or not the processing has been completed for all the input information. If the processing has not been completed, the process returns to step S41 to repeat the above processing. If the processing for all the input information has been completed, this processing is completed.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing details of the expansion processing (step S63) of the third embodiment. In step S71, it is determined whether or not the print data specifies the layout printing. If the print data is specified, the process proceeds to step S72, and if not, the process proceeds to step S77.

In step S72, it is checked whether or not the input sizes of the nth page and the (n + 1) th page are the same, and if they are the same, the flow advances to step S73 to select an allocation pattern suitable for the input size.

On the other hand, in step S72, the n-th page and the n-th page
If the input size of the +1 page is not the same, step S
The process proceeds to 75, and it is determined whether or not to perform forcible allocation. The execution determination of the forced assignment is, for example, externally designated by the operator. If it is determined in step S75 that compulsory allocation is to be performed, the process proceeds to step S76. In step S76, an allocation pattern is selected according to either the nth or the (n + 1) th page input size. At this time, the data of either page is enlarged or reduced and allocated.

Then, in step S74, the layout development processing is executed in accordance with the layout pattern selected in step S73 or step S76.

If it is determined in step S75 that compulsory allocation is not to be performed, the flow advances to step S77 to execute normal expansion processing.

Next, the above-described printing operation will be described more specifically with reference to FIG.

Reference numerals 1101 to 1108 denote input data of the first to eighth pages and their sizes, respectively. The input data 1101 of the first page is input data having a B5 size, and the input data 1102 of the subsequent second page is also B data.
5 sizes, so "B
“5 × 2 → B4” is selected, and printing is executed with the output size B4. The input data 1103 of the third page and the input data 1104 of the fourth page are A4 size,
Although the size is different from that of the input data on the second page, an allocation pattern suitable for the size is automatically selected. In this case, the layout pattern of “A4 × 2 → A3” is selected, and printing is performed with the output size A3.

Since the sizes of the print data of the seventh page and the eighth page are "A5" and "A4", respectively, the allocation is executed according to the designation of the forced allocation by the operator. In this case, compulsory allocation is performed at the output size A4, and the data of the eighth page is reduced from the A4 size to the A5 size.

As described above, according to the printing apparatus of the third embodiment, the operator does not need to be aware of the size of the input page during the layout printing. Further, it is possible to obtain a print output according to the image of the operator by means for designating execution of forced allocation and the like.

In the third embodiment, when the layout printing is designated, the layout printing is performed on all the pages. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it is also possible for the operator to specify in advance a page on which layout printing is to be performed. In this case, the determination as to whether or not layout printing has been specified in step S71 of the flowchart in FIG. 11 may be performed for each page.

In the third embodiment, the layout print pattern is determined based on the size of the input page. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the layout printing may be executed by combining enlargement / reduction so that the font size after layout is the same on all pages. Or, the output of the specified size
Even if you assign multiple input pages to the input page
Good. In this case, how many input pages are on one output page
Specify the output size of the output page
To detect the size of the input page for each page,
The size of each detected page and the specified output size
Performs scaling if necessary based on the
Input page specified as the output page of the specified size.
And assign it to the bit pattern and develop it into a bit pattern.
You can do it.

Further, in the third embodiment, the input data of two pages is allocated to the output of one page, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the assignment may be performed as A5 × 4 → A3. Alternatively, one output page
To specify how many input pages to assign to the page
It is also possible to configure. In this case, one output page
Specify the number of input pages to be assigned to the page, and
Page size is detected for each page and specified allocation
Based on the number of copies and the size of the input page detected.
Output size for each output page
Assign specified number of input pages to output pages
In this case, the data may be expanded into a bit pattern. Rice cake
Input pages of different sizes are divided into one output page.
If attached, it is necessary to perform scaling processing as necessary.
And

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.

[0087]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The time required to expand the form during overlay processing is reduced,
Printing processing time is reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the internal structure of a laser beam printer according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a control system of the LBP 100 according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a form pattern expansion process in an idle state of the LBP according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a printing operation according to the first exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an overlay printing process performed by the LBP 100 according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a control system of an LBP 100 according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a printing operation performed by the LBP according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating details of an analysis process according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a data processing procedure during printing of the printing apparatus according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a printing operation performed by an LBP according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating details of a development process according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a layout printing operation according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a data processing procedure during a printing operation of a conventional printing apparatus.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a developing process for performing an overlay process in a conventional printing apparatus.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an operation during overlay printing in a conventional printing apparatus.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a rasterization process using a font cache area in a conventional printing apparatus.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a method of using a font cache area in a conventional printing apparatus.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating a rasterization process when performing a layout printing by a conventional printing apparatus.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating a state of layout printing when layout printing is performed by a conventional printing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 201 host computer 202 input interface 203 reception buffer 204 CPU 205 page buffer 206 ROM 207 frame buffer 208 output interface 209 printing mechanism section 210 character pattern generator 212 analysis section 213 expansion section 214 form pattern storage section 601 font cache area

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-58-19976 (JP, A) JP-A-63-49824 (JP, A) JP-A-64-25235 (JP, A) JP-A-2- 63870 (JP, A) JP-A-2-209279 (JP, A) JP-A-2-277677 (JP, A) JP-A-3-38718 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 21/00 G06F 3/12 H04N 1/387

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus for generating a bit pattern based on input print data, wherein when an external print data to be processed does not exist, an overlay for a registered code format is used. The form information is expanded into a bit pattern before the start of the printing process, and the overlay information is controlled by the form expanding means. The form information specified by the input print data is converted into a bit pattern by the form expanding means. If the form is expanded to the form, the overlay form held in the overlay form holding means is taken out, and if the form information specified by the print data is held in code form information, the form Before expanding the print data by the expanding means. Form reading means for developing into a print pattern, a data developing means for developing the print data into a bit pattern after a bit pattern of an overlay form is prepared by the form reading means, and the printing obtained by the data developing means. An image forming apparatus comprising: synthesizing means for synthesizing a data bit pattern and an overlay form bit pattern obtained by the form reading means. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said form expanding means compresses bit pattern data obtained by expanding a registered overlay form and stores the compressed bit pattern data in said overlay form holding means. The image forming apparatus as described in the above. 3. A method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining a form which takes a long time to develop into a bit pattern from the registered overlay forms. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a time-consuming form is preferentially developed into a bit pattern, and the bit pattern is held in the overlay form holding unit. 4. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: detecting means for detecting a use frequency of the overlay form held by said overlay form holding means; and deleting means for deleting an overlay form having a low use frequency detected by said detecting means. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 5. An image forming method for generating a bit pattern based on input print data, the method comprising: when a print data to be processed from outside does not exist, an overlay for a registered code format. The form information is expanded into a bit pattern before the start of the printing process, and a form expansion step of controlling the overlay information to be held in the overlay form holding step. When the form is expanded to the form, the overlay form held in the overlay form holding step is taken out, and if the form information specified by the print data is held in code form information, the form By expanding the form information before expanding the print data, A form reading step for developing into a print pattern, a data developing step for developing the print data into a bit pattern after the bit pattern of the overlay form is prepared by the form reading step, and the printing obtained by the data developing step. An image forming method comprising: a combining step of combining a bit pattern of data and a bit pattern of an overlay form obtained in the form reading step. 6. The form expanding step according to claim 5, wherein the bit pattern data obtained by expanding the registered overlay form is compressed and held in the overlay form holding step. The image forming method as described in the above. 7. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of discriminating, from the registered overlay forms, a form which takes a long time to be developed into a bit pattern. 7. The image forming method according to claim 5, wherein a time-consuming form is preferentially developed into a bit pattern, and this is held in the overlay form holding step. 8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: a detecting step of detecting a frequency of use of the overlay form held in the overlay form holding step; and a deleting step of deleting the infrequently used overlay form detected in the detecting step. The image forming method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein: