JP5778715B2 - Printing method and dot printer - Google Patents

Description

  Embodiments described herein relate generally to a printing method, and more particularly, to a printing method and a dot printer for printing with a dot matrix.

  In a conventional dot printer, print data is imaged in advance while being thinned out and stored in a print buffer. The control unit reads the print data from the print buffer, supplies the data in accordance with the print direction of the print head, and executes printing with the thinned data regardless of the print direction of the print head. When printing at a higher speed, printing is performed with font data corresponding to double speed or triple speed generated based on photo data obtained by thinning one of adjacent dots.

  However, when printing at 4 times higher speed, there is a problem that it is necessary to prepare new font data corresponding to 4 times speed.

JP-A-5-104781

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a printing method and a dot printer capable of high-speed printing without preparing font data corresponding to the printing speed in advance.

The printing method according to the embodiment is a printing method that performs dot printing based on dot matrix font data. In normal speed printing, the first half image data is converted based on the font data, and N-times printing is performed. Performs a logical OR operation on the first half image data every N dots in the horizontal direction, processes the first half image data to generate 1 / N full image data, and generates the full image data in the horizontal direction. When dots adjacent to each other are continuous in black, N-times speed dot printing is performed based on the second half image data that has been converted so that the black dots do not continue.

The dot printer according to the embodiment includes a memory in which dot matrix font data is stored, a control unit that generates the first half image data from the font data when the font data is expanded into an image buffer, and input data. And a mechanical controller that controls the control unit and drives the print head based on the first half image data, and the control unit in the case of performing printing at N times speed, The first half image data is logically ORed every N dots in the horizontal direction, the first half image data is processed to generate 1 / N full image data, and the full image data are adjacent to each other in the horizontal direction. If the dots are consecutive in black, second half Image black dots are data conversion so as not to continuously Based on the data, performs dot printing of N times speed.

It is a block diagram which shows the notional structure for describing one Embodiment concerning a dot printer. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of the image data of a font. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating 180 dpi full image data expanded into a 360 dpi half image. It is the figure of the half image data which data-converted 90 dpi half image data. 6 is an operation flowchart of a dot printer during quadruple speed printing according to an embodiment. It is an image figure which expands and shows a part of FIG. It is a figure which shows the result of having carried out the logical OR operation of each 4 slice of AF of FIG. It is a figure which shows the half image data of 90 dpi after a half check. It is a figure which expands and shows a part of 180 dpi full image data shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the half image data of FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a conceptual configuration for explaining a dot printer to which an embodiment of a printing method is applied.

  The dot printer 100 is connected to the host 10 via an interface (I / F) 11. The host 10 is, for example, a PC (Personal Computer) or the like, and can send a print command and print data to the dot printer 100. The dot printer 100 includes a control unit 12, a print head 18, and the like.

  The control unit 12 of the dot printer 100 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 13, an image buffer 14, a main firmware 15a and a character generator (CG) 15b, a FROM (Flash Read Only Memory) 15, a mechanical controller 17, and the like. Composed.

  The CPU 13 plays a role of performing various processes in the dot printer 100. The CPU 13 is also responsible for executing firmware stored in the main farm 15a and reading font data stored in the character generator 15b.

  The image buffer 14 is, for example, a RAM (Random Access Memory), and temporarily stores print data and the like.

  The FROM 15 stores various parameters used for printer operation control, contents related to printer registration, and the like. The main farm 15a of the FROM 15 controls the entire dot printer 100 and reads font data from the character generator 15b in which font data and the like are stored.

  The mechanical controller 17 drives the print head 18 based on the print data read from the character generator 15b. The mechanical controller 17 is mounted with a print head 18 and also drives a printer engine including a carriage (not shown) for main scanning and a feed mechanism for conveying a sheet.

  Note that the recording device in which various programs are stored is not necessarily the FROM 15. The other storage device may be an optical such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) or a magnetic such as an HDD. Furthermore, an electrical device such as SD (Solid State Device) is also conceivable.

  FIG. 2 shows “middle” of a Chinese character, which is an example of an image of a dot matrix font stored in the character generator 15b. “Middle” in FIG. 2 indicates, for example, 180 dpi (dots per inch) full image data. For example, the horizontal (width) direction (X) is 24 dots and the vertical direction (Y) is 24 dots. The full image data is developed in the image buffer 14 based on the firmware stored in the main farm 15a.

  Here, the full image data is image data in which [black] dots are placed even when [black] dots are continuous as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 3 shows a half image developed into 360 dpi half image data when 180 dpi full image data is developed in the image buffer 14. The 360 dpi half image as the first half image data has, for example, 24 dots in the vertical direction and 48 dots in the horizontal direction.

  Here, the half image data is converted into image data in which continuous [black] dots are not placed, as shown in FIG. Continuous [black] dots can be converted into half image data by opening a space for each slice. Therefore, the full image data is 180 dpi, while the half image data is 360 dpi. The image buffer 14 is stored in a developed state with 360 dpi half image data shown in FIG.

  The so-called half-image data unique to a dot printer is data conversion so that dots adjacent in the horizontal direction, for example, [black] dots do not come after [black] dots. If there are continuous [black] dots in the half-image data, the print head 18 cannot follow the specifications and cannot print. For this reason, in the case of half image data in the horizontal direction, [black] data is prevented from coming after [black].

  For example, when the horizontal dot is [white (blank)] or [black], “good” is set, and when the dot is [black] or [black] in the horizontal direction, “no” is set. The main farm 15a at the time of editing operates with half image data. The font data of the character generator 15b is stored as full image data. Accordingly, the main farm 15a executes the full image into a half image. The half image data is 360 dpi, which is the normal printer speed.

  The half image data is supplied to the mechanical controller 17. The mechanical controller 17 supplies print data to the next print head 18 and moves a carrier (not shown) on which the print head 18 is mounted to perform printing. The print head 18 uses a 24-pin head. The width that can be printed at once in the vertical direction by the print head 18 of the 24-pin head is 24 dots, and the 24 dots are printed as one line. That is, it has a 24 × 24 CG configuration.

As the firmware of the dot printer 100, printing in the state shown in FIG. 2 is performed using the half image of FIG . That, 360 dpi half image data, the image, the by the firmware processing of the main firmware 15a, is a character printed in full image of 180 dpi.

  The character generator 15b of the FROM 15 has full image data for one character. The full image shown in FIG. 2 is read out to the image buffer 14. Based on the processing of the firmware, the image buffer 14 is expanded with the half image of FIG. That is, the main farm 15a performs a process of generating half image data in the process of reading full image data from the character generator 15b to the image buffer 14. Then, 360 dpi half image data is supplied to the mechanical controller 17. In this case, printing that can be followed by the print head 18 can be executed at a normal speed of 360 dpi.

  As described above, when the font data stored in the FROM 15 is developed into a half image, the result is as shown in FIG. Then, in a state where the dots in the horizontal direction are adjacent to each other, the dot next to “black” becomes “no” after “yes”, so that the printer can perform printing in the following state. This is the normal speed.

  By the way, when the normal speed is set to 360 dpi, if it can be printed at 180 dpi and 90 dpi at double speed, theoretically, quadruple speed printing can be realized. However, when the full image data of 180 dpi where adjacent images are continuous is simply changed to 90 dpi half image data, the adjacent images remain continuous, and the print head 18 follows the speed. Can not do it.

FIG. 4 shows half image data obtained by data conversion so that a [black] dot does not come after a 90 dpi [black] dot. 9 0 dpi half image data of this becomes rough state unlike 360dpi half image shown in FIG. That is, the half image data in FIG. 4 is set to 1/4 resolution with respect to the 360 dpi half image in FIG.

  FIG. 5 shows an operation flowchart of the dot printer in quadruple speed printing according to this embodiment. After receiving the character data, the dot printer executes a printing operation according to this flowchart.

  That is, first, in ACT1, for example, a character code is received from the host 10. The control unit 12 in FIG. 1 reads the code data, and reads font data of 180 dpi full image data shown in FIG. 2 corresponding to the character code from the character generator 15b (ACT2).

  Next, a thinning process is executed to generate 360 dpi half image data shown in FIGS. 3 and 6 (ACT3). In the thinning process in ACT3, first, the horizontal OR of A, B, C, D, E, and F obtained by slicing the 360 dpi half image data shown in FIG. 3 every 4 dots in the horizontal direction shown in FIG. take. Then, 90 dpi half image data shown in FIG. 7 thinned out for one slice is generated.

Next, the half image data shown in FIG. 7 is checked (ACT4). In the half check, it is checked whether “black” dots are “present” or “not present” in succession to the half image data shown in FIG. In the case of “Yes”, a conversion process for inverting the corresponding [black] dot to the [white] dot is performed. In addition to inverting [black] dots to [white], data may be deleted. FIG. 8 shows 90 dpi half image data as second half image data subjected to half check.

  In the 90 dpi half image shown in FIG. 7, the adjacent dots are continuously [black] in a part of slices B, D, and F. In slice B, it is in dots 5 to 8, in slice D it is in dots 5 and 6, and in slice F it is in dots 1 to 4 and dots 7 and 8. In the half check, a portion in which the adjacent dots are continuously [black] is inverted to [white] dots.

Then, the 360 dpi half image data after the half image data check is stored in the image buffer 14 (ACT5). FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of 24 dots in the horizontal direction and 8 dots in the vertical direction of the 360 dpi half image shown in FIG.

  In the next ACT 6, it is determined whether or not a print start command for the print data stored in the image buffer 14 has been issued.

Normally, this type of thinning process is executed while reading out, for example, 8 dots of font data shown in FIG. Therefore, when it is determined that the print start command is not issued in ACT6 (No), the process returns to ACT2 and the processes of ACT2 to ACT5 are performed again.

  If it is determined in ACT6 that a print start command has been issued (Yes), the process proceeds to ACT7, and quadruple speed printing is executed. Here, the print start command is a command accompanied by a mechanical operation such as carriage return or sheet conveyance.

  The thinning image data generation method may be a right direction printing pattern or a left direction printing pattern. Further, the most suitable pattern may be selected and generated in advance according to the content of the font data. The configuration of the control unit 12 may be replaced with various blocks having the same function.

  In this way, adjacent dots of 90 dpi half-image data are prevented from being continuously [black]. As a result, the 360 dpi half image data can realize a printing speed four times that of the normal printing speed.

  In this embodiment, the resolution of the font data is set to 1 / N at the time of development to the image buffer, so that N-times high-speed printing is realized by simple calculation and without preparing special font data. be able to.

  Further, since the print data corresponding to the quadruple speed printing speed is generated based on the font data of 180 dpi full image data, it is not necessary to store the font data corresponding to the high speed in advance. Can be reduced.

  In the above description, the normal and quadruple printing speeds have been described. However, the present invention can also be applied to a dot printer that switches between a double speed or another print speed and a quadruple speed.

9 and 10 are explanatory diagrams for explaining the double-speed printing. FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of 14 dots in the horizontal direction and 12 dots in the vertical direction of the 180 dpi full image shown in FIG. FIG. 10 shows the half image of FIG.

  As described above, in the case of quadruple speed, the logical sum operation is performed once every four slices. At 2 × speed, continuous [black] dots of 180 dpi full image data are inverted to [white] dots and converted to a 180 dpi half image. FIG. 10 shows a 180 dpi half image. By supplying 180 dpi half image data to the print head 18, a double speed printing speed is realized.

  For example, the dot printer 100 is provided with a function for switching to a normal speed, a double speed, or a quadruple speed. By selecting these printing speeds, printing at normal speed, double speed, and quadruple speed can be performed.

  Although several embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, combinations, and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

100 dot printer 11 data input unit 12 control unit 13 CPU
14 Image buffer 15 FROM
15a Main farm 15b Character generator 17 Mechanical controller 18 Print head

Claims (6)

A printing method that performs dot printing based on dot matrix font data,
At the time of normal speed printing, it is converted to the first half image data based on the font data,
During N-times speed printing, the first half image data is logically ORed every N dots in the horizontal direction, the first half image data is processed to generate 1 / N full image data,
A printing method in which, when dots adjacent in the horizontal direction of the full image data are continuous in black, N-times dot printing is performed based on the second half image data that has been converted so that black dots do not continue. The first half image data is 360 dpi half image data generated based on the 180 dpi font data, and the full image data is 90 dpi full generated by 1/4 based on the 360 dpi half image data. The printing method according to claim 1, wherein the printing method is image data. A memory in which dot matrix font data is stored, and a controller that expands the font data and generates the first half image data from the font data at the time of expansion into the image buffer;
A dot printer comprising: a mechanical controller that controls the control unit based on input data and drives a print head based on the first half image data;
When printing at N times speed, the control unit performs a logical OR operation on the first half image data every N dots in the horizontal direction, and processes the first half image data to obtain 1 / N full image data. When the adjacent dots in the horizontal direction of the full image data are continuous in black, N-times speed dot printing is performed based on the second half image data that is converted so that the black dots are not continuous. Dot printer. The first half image data is 360 dpi half image data generated based on the 180 dpi font data, and the full image data is 90 dpi full generated by 1/4 based on the 360 dpi half image data. The dot printer according to claim 3, wherein the dot printer is image data. If the dots adjacent in the horizontal direction of the full image data is continuous in black, when the data conversion as black dots are not contiguous, the inverted either right and left black dots continuous white first The dot printer according to claim 3, wherein two half image data is generated. The dot printer according to claim 5, wherein when the adjacent dots in the horizontal direction of the full image data are continuous in black, whether to invert the left or right is set in advance based on the font data.

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