JP3313781B2 - Printing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a mark-shaped apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, predetermined command data (for example, line feed data,
Page break data) or a predetermined number of unit data (for example,
(100 units of data in transmission / reception units)
Received multiple unit data as one line of print data
A printing device that stores data in a buffer memory and prints one line at a time.
Is known (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-45977).
Gazette). However, in such a printing device, not one line
Is printed, so printing multiple lines at the same time
could not. There is also known a printing apparatus that receives bit image data output from a host computer or an image reading device and prints the bit image data.

By the way, this bit image data is
The image is subdivided into dots, and each dot is expressed by associating the presence or absence of color development with the on / off state of a bit. Therefore, if the image is subdivided into finer dots, the resolution increases and a finer image can be expressed. However, on the other hand, since the data amount increases, high processing performance is required for the apparatus, and the price increases. For this reason, devices for transmitting and receiving bit image data have various resolutions depending on the purpose of use, and devices having different resolutions are sometimes used by being connected to each other.

For this reason, a printing apparatus having a certain resolution has
When bit image data with different resolutions was transmitted, the printing device generated data so that the printing result intended by the transmitting side was output, and performed printing in accordance with the pseudo-transmitted resolution. .

[0005] For example, a horizontal direction 120 shown in FIG.
Bit image data having a resolution of dpi (dpi indicates the number of dots per inch) is written in a horizontal direction of 180 dpi.
In the case of printing by the printing device i, the number of dots in the horizontal direction is increased by a factor of 1.5, so that the image is printed in the size intended by the transmission side as shown in FIG. be able to. In this example, odd-numbered dots a, c, e,
, K, and the next even-numbered dots b, d, f,.
dots ab, cd, ef,..., kl that are logical product with l
Has been added. As a result, the dot pattern can be printed almost as intended by the transmission side.

In this example, the arrangement of the dots in the bit image data ends at the odd-numbered dot m, but no dot is added after the dot m.
For this reason, the printing result is slightly shortened, but this length is only one dot in the whole, which is a negligible difference.

[0007] By the way, one image is converted to a bit image
When sending images as data,
And bit image data for the number of blocks
May be sent.

At this time, for example, the bit image data shown in FIG.
(A, b, c), B2 (d, e, f), ..., B5 (m:
When the print data is transmitted after being divided into fractions, the printing by the above-described printing apparatus is performed as shown in FIG.
It is much shorter than (A). Since this is a rule that a dot is added before the even-numbered dot, the third dot c, f, i, l of each block and the first dot d, g, j, m of the next block are added. There is no addition between
This is because the dot pattern is shorter for each block than when m is transmitted as a unit.

For example, if a bit image of 120 dpi in the horizontal direction shown in FIG. 12A is transmitted in units of 4 dots in lines 1 to 8 and in units of 3 dots in lines 9 to 12,
In the printing device of 180 dpi in the horizontal direction described above, FIG.
A distorted image is printed as shown in FIG.

Therefore, the present invention firstly sets the number of lines to be printed
Printing that can be set and printed in multiple line units
Secondly, in a printing device for changing and printing the dot pattern of bit image data,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus in which even if one image is divided into a plurality of bit image data and transmitted, printing deviation does not occur.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention employs the following structure as means for solving the problems. That is, according to the present invention,
Receiving means for receiving incoming data;
Print data created based on the data received by the
And a printing means for printing on a printing medium.
The number of lines to be printed on the printing medium.
Setting means, and the print data is set by the line number setting means.
When the set number of lines is reached, the printing means is controlled.
Printing control means for executing printing on the printing medium by
It is characterized by having. Printing composed in this way
In the apparatus, the printing medium is formed in a tape shape.
A printing tape, wherein the line number setting means includes:
Means for setting the number of lines in the width direction of the
Based on the number of lines determined by the width of the writing tape
Whether the number of lines set by the line number setting means is valid
It is preferable to have a judgment means for judging the condition. In addition,
If the receiving unit receives the bit image data which is a set of dot pattern, the dots in the bit image data, and dot adjusting unit for adding or deleting in accordance with a predetermined rule in a predetermined direction, before Symbol receiving means A plurality of bit image data received, comprising a determination unit that determines that the data is continuous data in the predetermined direction,
The dot increasing / decreasing unit adds or deletes dots continuously according to the predetermined rule as a unit of the bit image data determined to be continuous by the determining unit, and the printing unit adjusts the dot increase / decrease. hand
The bit image data processed by the step is
It may be configured to print on a character medium. this
In the case, the determination unit receives the line feed data after receiving the bit image data to be received first among the plurality of bit image data and before receiving the bit image data to be received next. It may be determined whether or not the plurality of bit image data are continuous data in the predetermined direction when the line feed data is not received.

According to the printing apparatus of the present invention having the above-mentioned configuration, the number-of-lines setting means for setting the number of lines to be printed on the printing medium.
And the number of lines is set by this line number setting means.
Then, the print control means sends the print data to the line number setting means.
Control the printing means when the number of lines
To print on the printing medium. Therefore, printing
Unlike printing devices that cannot change the number of lines when printing,
By setting the number of lines, printing can be performed in units of multiple lines.
Consumes multiple lines of printing media in one printing operation
Even with such a configuration, printing on multiple lines
Characters can be applied, and the printing medium can be used effectively.
In addition, in the case of having the configuration described in claim 2, the mark
When printing while feeding the character tape in the length direction
In, subjected to printing multiple lines of the width direction of the print tape
Can use the area in the width direction of the printing tape.
Can be used for In addition, the judgment means sets the number of lines.
Determines whether the number of rows set by the setting means is valid
The number of lines so large that printing is impossible
Therefore, it is not set. Claim 3
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, even when one image is divided into a plurality of bit image data and transmitted, the determination unit determines that the data is continuous in a predetermined direction. judge. And the dot increasing / decreasing means:
Based on the arrangement of the dots added / deleted from the previously received data, the dots of the data determined to be continuous are added / deleted.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. This embodiment uses a printing tape (printing medium) 5 to print a large number of characters such as alphabetic characters and symbols.
This is a case in which the present invention is applied to an English-only tape printing device 1 that can print on a tape.

As shown in FIG. 1, a keyboard 3 is provided at a front portion of a main body frame 2 of the tape printer 1, and a printing mechanism PM is provided in the main body frame 2 behind the keyboard 3; A liquid crystal display (LCD) 22 capable of displaying characters and symbols is provided behind the display 3. On the right side of the main frame 2, a terminal 4 of an interface (RS232C) for receiving bit image data or character data transmitted from an external device such as a host computer or an image reading device is provided.

The keyboard 3 has character input keys for inputting alphabets, numbers, symbols, etc., a cursor movement key 50, and a return key 5 for line feed or determination.
1. Interface key 5 for setting communication function
2 or format key 53 and power ON / OF
There is provided a power key and the like for performing F.

Next, the printing mechanism PM will be briefly described with reference to FIG. 2. A rectangular tape storage cassette CS is detachably mounted on the printing mechanism PM. Tape spool 6 around which a printing tape 5 of about 24 mm made of film is wound.
And a ribbon supply spool 8 around which the ink ribbon 7 is wound.
A winding spool 9 for winding the ink ribbon 7;
A supply spool 11 in which a double-sided tape 10 having the same width as the printing tape 5 is wound with the release paper outside, and a joining roller 12 for joining the printing tape 5 and the double-sided tape 10 are rotatably provided. Have been.

At a position where the printing tape 5 and the ink ribbon 7 overlap each other, a thermal head 13 is provided upright.
And a feed roller 15 for pressing the printing tape 5 and the double-sided tape 10 against the joining roller 12 are rotatably supported by a support 16. The thermal head 13 is provided with a heating element group consisting of 128 heating elements arranged in the vertical direction corresponding to the width of the printing tape 5 of about 24 mm.

Accordingly, by driving the tape feed motor 24 (see FIG. 3) in a predetermined rotation direction, the joining roller 12 and the take-up spool 9 are driven synchronously in the predetermined rotation direction to form 128 heat generating element groups. When the power is turned on, characters are printed on the printing tape 5 by a plurality of dot rows almost completely to the tape width, and the printing tape 5 is fed in the tape feeding direction A with the double-sided tape 10 joined. Is done. For details of the printing mechanism PM, see JP-A-2-106555.

A cassette discriminating member 17 for setting the type of the tape accommodating cassette CS, that is, the tape width of the stored printing tape 5, is attached to the bottom wall of the tape accommodating cassette CS. A cassette discriminating sensor 18 (see FIG. 3) composed of a photo interrupter for detecting the provided projecting piece (not shown) is attached to the main body frame 2. Therefore, the tape width can be detected based on the discrimination signal from the cassette discrimination sensor 18. Also, set the tape width to "6m
Various tape storage cassettes CS on which printing tapes 5 of "m", "9 mm", "12 mm", and "18 mm" are wound are separately prepared.

The tape storage cassette CS storing the printing tape 5 having a width other than the 24 mm width is mounted on the tape printing apparatus 1 in the same manner as the tape storage cassette CS storing the printing tape 5 having a width of 24 mm. . By deciding which heating element of the above-mentioned heating element group generates heat in accordance with the width of each printing tape 5, printing is carried out on the attached printing tape 5 almost completely to the width of the tape. Is performed.

Next, the control system of the tape printer 1 is shown in FIG.
Is configured as shown in the block diagram of FIG. A display R for outputting display data to the keyboard 3, the cassette discrimination sensor 18, and the liquid crystal display (LCD) 22.
Display controller (LCDC) 2 with AM
3, a communication interface 19 for receiving data transmitted from an external device, a drive circuit 25 for driving the thermal head 13, and a tape feed motor 24.
Is connected to an input / output interface 27 of the control device C. The control device C includes a CPU 29, an input / output interface 27 connected to the CPU 29 via a bus 28 such as a data bus, a CGROM 30, ROMs 31 and 32, and a RAM.
40.

CGROM (Pattern Data Memory) 30
Stores dot pattern data for display in association with code data for each of a large number of characters. ROM (outline data memory) 31
For each of a large number of characters in order to print a character, outline data (outline data) defining the outline of the character is written in a typeface (Gothic typeface,
(Mincho typefaces, etc.) and stored in correspondence with the code data. It should be noted that each of these multiple outline data stores a vertical dimension and a horizontal dimension of the print image.

A program for operating the tape printer 1 is stored in the ROM 32. RAM40
In the text memory area 41, code data of characters and symbols input from the keyboard 3 is stored. The received bit image data storage area 43 stores bit image data received from an external device. The print buffer area 47 stores the data of the print dot pattern developed as an image. Also, the RAM 40 has a CP
A work area for temporarily storing the operation result calculated in U29, and an area for a buffer, a counter, a pointer, and the like are provided.

Incidentally, the tape printer 1 of the present embodiment
Can print bit image data at 180 dpi in the horizontal direction. However, for example, RS232C
Bit image data transmitted from an external personal computer or the like via a 60 dpi, 120 dpi, 18
It is transmitted as any one of 0 dpi bit image data.

In order to print bit image data transmitted at various resolutions at a print density of 180 dpi, in the case of 60 dpi, as shown in FIG. By transferring one dot as three dots in the horizontal direction of the print buffer area 47, the data is expanded to 180 dpi data. Also, 1
In the case of 20 dpi, as shown in FIG. 4B, odd-numbered (data No. 1) data is transferred to the print buffer area 47, and then odd-numbered (data No. 1) and even-numbered (data No. 1) data are transferred. The data that is the logical product of the data of 2) is transferred, and then the even-numbered (data No. 2) data is transferred, whereby the data is expanded to 180 dpi data.
Further, in the case of 180 dpi, as shown in FIG.
Transfer as it is.

Each bit image data is constituted by data having 24 dots in the vertical direction as one line. Therefore, according to the data expansion method described above with reference to FIG. 4, as shown in FIG.
Expand to i data.

Next, the printing operation of the tape printer 1 will be described with reference to a flowchart. FIG. 6 is a flowchart when the interface mode for printing data transmitted from the external device is selected. First, when the interface mode is selected, the RAM 4
Initial processing such as initialization of 0 is performed (S100). Next, if the data has been transmitted (S110: YES),
The online processing described below is performed (S120). If the data has not been transmitted (S110: NO), the presence or absence of a key input is checked (S130).
Return to to see if data is being sent repeatedly. If there is a key input, the process returns to S110 unless the key is a row number setting key (S140: NO). If the key is a line number setting key (S140: YES), a line number setting screen is displayed, and a mode for setting the number of lines in the width direction of the printing tape 5 is set (S150). Next, it waits for a key input (S160), and checks whether the input value is valid (S170). Whether the input value is valid or not is detected based on a discrimination signal from the cassette discrimination sensor 18 such that, for example, in the case of the printing tape 5 having a width of 24 mm, the maximum number of lines is 7 in a standard character size. It depends on the tape width and the size of the characters to be printed. And
If the input value is not valid (S170: NO), the process returns to S
Return to 160 and wait for the correct number of rows to be entered. If the input value is valid (S170: YES), the number of lines is set (S180), and the process returns to S110. Note that the above S15
Means for executing the processing of steps S0 and S180 are referred to in the present invention.
It corresponds to a line number setting means. In addition, the process of S170
The executing means corresponds to the determining means in the present invention.

Next, the online processing in S120 will be described in detail. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, in the online processing, first, the type of transmitted data is interpreted (S200). If it is character data (S210: YES), based on the data in the ROM 31,
The dot pattern of the character to be printed in the print buffer area 47 is developed (S220). If it is not character data (S210: NO), it is checked whether it is line feed data (S210).
230). If it is line feed data (S230: YES),
Line feed processing is performed (S240). In the line feed processing, the position at which the data transmitted next is expanded is set in the print buffer area 4.
This is a process for setting the head of the next line in 7.

Next, a process of setting a flag BFLG indicating the development state of the bit image data to 1 is performed (S25).
0). This flag BFLG is a key part of the present invention.
This is a flag necessary for expanding the 0 dpi bit image data into the 180 dpi bit image data. Since a line feed is performed here, the next transmitted bit image data is treated as data that is not continuous with the received bit image data. Set for This flag BFLG is used in a later process.

Next, when the number of lines set in S180 has been reached by this line feed (S260: YES),
Printing is performed based on the data developed in the print buffer area 47 (S270). If it is less than the set number of rows (S2
60: NO), the flow returns to S110 described above without printing. Note that the processes in S260 to S270 are executed.
The means corresponds to the print control means in the present invention.

If it is determined in S230 that the data is not line feed data (S230: NO), it is checked whether the data is bit image data (S28).
0). If it is bit image data (S28
0: YES), the bit image data is temporarily stored in the reception bit image data storage area 43, and bit image data expansion processing described later is performed (S29).
0). If it is not bit image data (S28
0: NO), other processing such as control of the printing apparatus is performed (S300).

Next, the expansion processing of the bit image data in S290 will be described in detail. As shown in FIG.
First, data D for one column (24 dots in the vertical direction) is obtained from the reception bit image data storage area 43 (S40).
0). Then, the resolution of the bit image data is determined from the data representing the resolution transmitted together with the bit image data, and if the data D is 60 dpi (S410: YES), the data D is transferred to the print buffer area 4.
7 is transferred to the predetermined position three times (S420 to S422).
This triples the number of dots in the horizontal direction. If the data D is not 60 dpi (S410: NO), 1
It is checked whether it is 20 dpi (S430). If the data D is 120 dpi (S430: YES),
A process of expanding the data of 120 dpi into the data of 180 dpi is performed (S440). This processing is a main part of the present invention, and will be described later in detail. Data D is 120 dpi
If not (S430: NO), it is determined that the data is 180 dpi, and the data is directly transferred to the print buffer area 47 (S450).

Next, the process of S440 will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 10, first, the flag BFLG is set to 1
It is checked whether it is (S441). This flag BFLG
Is the data D to be transferred to the print buffer area 47.
Is 1 in the odd-numbered column, and the flow branches to S442. When the data D is an even-numbered column, the value is 2, and the flow branches to S445.

The data D received for the first time after a line feed is 1
Since this is the second column, in S250 described above,
The initial value 1 is set in the flag BFLG, and S4
41 is YES, and the data D is stored in the print buffer area 47.
Is transferred (S442). The data D is stored in the work area (S443), and the flag BFL is used to indicate that the data D to be transferred next is an even-numbered column.
G is set to 2 (S444).

If data continues, the flag BF
Since 2 is set in LG, S441 is NO, and the logical product of the received data D and the data W stored in the work area in S443 is obtained, and it is stored again in the work area (S445). Then, the data W in the work area is transferred to the print buffer area 47 (S446). Further, the data D is stored in the print buffer area 47.
(S447), and 1 is set to the flag BFLG to indicate that the next data D to be received is an odd-numbered column (S448).

If data continues, the flag BF
Since 1 has been set in LG, S441 becomes YES, and the processing after S442 is performed again as the odd-numbered column. Thereafter, the expansion of the odd-numbered column and the even-numbered column is alternately performed until the end of the data. Done.

As described above, the initialization of the flag BFLG is performed only at the line feed. At other times, it is determined whether the next column to be transferred to the print buffer area 47 is an odd number or an even number. I remember. When the odd-numbered data is transferred, the bit pattern of the column transmitted to the work area is also held. Therefore, even when the bit image data for one row is divided into a plurality of blocks and transmitted, appropriate dots can be continuously added in accordance with the last transmitted data column.
The control device C that executes the process of S230 is a unit that determines that the plurality of divided bit image data is continuous data in a predetermined direction by not receiving the line feed data. This corresponds to the determination means in the present invention. Then, as a result of the determination by this determination means, if it is determined that the continuity is determined, the BFL
Since the initialization of G (the processing of S250) is not performed, in the subsequent processing of S441 to S448, the continuous bit image data are treated as a group, and the appropriate dot is continuously added. Is performed.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various embodiments can be adopted without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, in the embodiment, the example in which the resolution in the horizontal direction is changed has been described. However, the same method can be adopted when the resolution in the vertical direction is changed.

Further, 60 dpi, 120 dpi shown in the embodiment is used.
It goes without saying that the resolutions of dpi and 180 dpi are not limited to these. Further, in the embodiment, an example in which the number of dots is added to convert the print data into high-resolution print data has been described. However, dots are deleted according to a predetermined rule, and for example, 180 dpi bit image data is converted to 1 print data.
To convert to 20 dpi bit image data,
Even in the case of conversion to low-resolution data, printing deviation can be prevented by continuously deleting dots from the bit image data transmitted in a divided manner.

In addition, the present invention may be applied to the case where the size of a printed image is enlarged / reduced by adding / deleting dots.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention, the line to be printed is
You can set the number and print in multiple line units.
You. In addition, when the configuration according to claim 2 is provided,
Can use the printing tape effectively and can not print.
No large number of rows will be set. further,
In the case where the configuration according to claim 3 or 4 is provided.
Even if one image is divided into a plurality of bit image data and transmitted, if the data is continuous in a predetermined direction, the addition / deletion of dots is continuously performed according to a predetermined rule as a unit. Do. For this reason, the dot addition / deletion pattern is not disturbed by the transmission unit, and no printing deviation occurs.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a tape printing apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printing mechanism.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control system of the tape printer.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a resolution conversion method.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing conversion of resolution for one row of bit image data.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating main processing of the tape printer.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating online processing of the tape printer.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating online processing of the tape printer.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating bit image data expansion processing.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing processing for expanding 120 dpi to 180 dpi.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing conventional resolution conversion of bit image data.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing a printing shift caused by conversion of conventional bit image data.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Tape printing device, 2 ... Body frame, 3 ...
..Keyboard, 4 ... Terminal, 5 ... Printing tape, 6 ... Tape spool, 7 ... Ink ribbon,
8 ... ribbon supply spool, 9 ... take-up spool, 10 ... double-sided tape, 11 ... supply spool,
12: joining roller, 13: thermal head, 1
4 ... Platen roller, 15 ... Feed roller, 16
... Support, 17 ... Cassette discriminating member, 18 ...
・ Cassette discrimination sensor, 19 ・ ・ ・ Communication interface, 22 ・ ・ ・ Liquid crystal display, 23 ・ ・ ・ Display controller, 24 ・ ・ ・ Tape feed motor, 2
5, 26 drive circuit, 27 input / output interface, 28 bus, 29 CPU, 30.
・ CGROM, 31, 32 ... ROM, 40 ... R
AM, 41: Text memory area, 43: Received bit image data storage area, 47: Print buffer area, 50: Cursor movement key, 51: Return key, 52: Interface key , C ...
Control device, CS: Tape storage cassette, PM:
Printing mechanism.

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-58-45977 (JP, A) JP-A-63-200673 (JP, A) JP-A-5-305750 (JP, A) JP-A-4-267470 (JP) , A) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 1/38-1/393 B41J 5/00-5/52 B41J 21/00-21/18

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A receiving means for receiving data transmitted from an external device, and a mark created based on the data received by the receiving means.
A printing device for printing printing data on a printing medium, a line number setting means for setting the number of lines to be printed on the printing medium.
The print data is set by the line number setting means.
When the number of lines has been reached, the printing means is controlled to
Print control means for executing printing on the storage medium.
And a printing device. 2. The printing medium is formed in a tape shape.
A printing tape, wherein the number-of-lines setting means includes a number of lines in a width direction of the printing tape.
Means for setting , based on the number of lines determined according to the width of the printing tape
The number of lines set by the line number setting means is valid.
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a determination unit configured to determine whether or not the printing is performed. 3. The receiving means is a set of dot patterns.
Received bit image data, the bit
The dots in the image data are
Dot increase / decrease means to add or delete according to the law, A plurality of bit image data received by the receiving means;
Is determined to be continuous data in the predetermined direction
Determining means for performing The dot increasing / decreasing unit determines that the dot is continuous by the determining unit.
The set bit image data are
Dots in succession according to the aforementioned predetermined rule.
Add or remove The printing means is processed by the dot increasing / decreasing means.
Bit image day Data on the printing medium.
The printing according to claim 1 or 2, wherein
apparatus. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the judging means includes a plurality of bit images.
Bit image data to be received first in the
After receiving the data, the next bit image
Whether line feed data was received before page data was received
And if the line feed data has not been received,
The plurality of bit image data are linked in the predetermined direction.
The data is determined to be continuous data.
4. The printing device according to 3.