JP7006068B2 - Printing device, printing method, program, bitmap data generation device, and bitmap data generation method - Google Patents

Description

The disclosure of the present specification relates to a printing apparatus, a printing method , a program , a bitmap data generating apparatus, and a bitmap data generating method .

Bitmap fonts are generally advantageous in that they have a smaller data capacity than scalable fonts such as outline fonts, and are still used in printing devices. A printing apparatus using a bitmap font is described in, for example, Patent Document 1.

In addition, the printing device is provided with a proportional printing function for adjusting the spacing between characters to perform printing with good appearance. Proportional printing is frequently used when using European fonts with different widths for each character.

When performing proportional printing using a bitmap font, first, the bitmap data of the character to be printed (for example, alphabet I) is read from the bitmap font data set (that is, a set of bitmap data). After that, the data in the left and right margins is trimmed by several dots from the read bitmap data and output to the print buffer. As a result, as shown in FIG. 1A, the width of the margin generated between the printed characters is adjusted, and it becomes possible to obtain a good-looking print result P10.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2016-07833

However, if the style of the bitmap font used is italic, it may not be possible to sufficiently adjust the character spacing. This is because italicized characters have narrower left and right margins than non-italicized characters, and as a result, the width of data that can be removed from the bitmap data of each character is also shorter.

Therefore, even though proportional printing is performed, a situation may occur in which the character spacing is not sufficiently narrowed and good-looking printing cannot be performed, as shown in the print result P20 shown in FIG. 1 (b).

In the above, the case of printing italic characters has been described as an example, but the same applies not only to the case of printing characters but also to the case of printing italic pictograms, symbols, figures and the like using bitmap data. Hereinafter, characters (including pictograms), symbols, figures, etc. are collectively referred to as characters.

Based on the above circumstances, an object of one aspect of the present invention is to provide a technique for printing italic characters with good appearance using bitmap data.

The printing apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention includes a printing unit that prints on a printing medium, a control unit that controls the printing unit, a print buffer that stores print data, and an oblique bitmap that represents an oblique style character. It is the formatted bitmap data generated by removing the data of the margin part from the converted bitmap data converted so that the tilt of the character becomes smaller based on the data and the tilt information, and is the formatted bitmap data. The control unit includes a data set including a plurality of shaped bitmap data capable of restoring the oblique bitmap data based on the tilt information and a storage unit for storing the tilt information. With reference to the data set stored in the storage unit, the print data is expanded into the print buffer, and the print data expanded in the print buffer is read from the storage unit. It is read diagonally according to the above and output to the printing unit.

The printing method according to one aspect of the present invention is a printing method executed by a control unit of the printing device, and the storage unit of the printing device is based on the slanted bitmap data representing the slanted style character and the tilt information. It is a well-formed bitmap data generated by removing the data of the margin portion from the converted bitmap data converted so that the inclination of the character becomes small, and is based on the well-formed bitmap data and the inclination information. The data set containing a plurality of the well-formed bitmap data and the inclination information, which can restore the oblique bitmap data , are stored, and the data set stored in the storage unit is referred to. The print data is expanded into the print buffer, the print data expanded in the print buffer is obliquely read according to the tilt information read from the storage unit, and output to the printing unit that prints on the print medium. do.

The program according to one aspect of the present invention is a program that causes a computer of a printing device to execute a predetermined process, and the storage unit of the printing device includes oblique bitmap data representing oblique style characters and tilt information. It is the shaped bitmap data generated by removing the data of the margin part from the converted bitmap data converted so that the tilt of the character becomes smaller based on the above, and the shaped bitmap data and the tilt information A data set including a plurality of shaped bitmap data and the inclination information, which can restore the oblique bitmap data based on the above, is stored, and the predetermined processing is stored in the storage unit. With reference to the data set, the print data is expanded into the print buffer, and the print data expanded in the print buffer is obliquely read according to the inclination information read from the storage unit and transferred to the print medium. Includes executing the process of outputting to the printing unit that prints.

According to the above aspect, italicized characters can be printed with good appearance using bitmap data.

It is a figure which exemplifies the printing result of the conventional proportional printing. It is a perspective view of the printing apparatus 1. It is a perspective view of the tape cassette 30 housed in a printing apparatus 1. It is a perspective view of the cassette storage part 19 of a printing apparatus 1. It is sectional drawing of the printing apparatus 1. It is a block diagram which showed the hardware composition of a printing apparatus 1. FIG. It is a figure exemplifying the data stored in ROM 6. It is a figure for demonstrating the method of generating the bitmap data stored in ROM 6. It is a figure which illustrated the flowchart of the print control process. It is a figure which illustrated the flowchart of the print data expansion process. It is a figure exemplifying the flowchart of print data output processing. It is a figure exemplifying the print data B1 stored in the print buffer. It is a figure which illustrated the print result P1. It is a figure which illustrated the flowchart of the read-out output process.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the printing apparatus 1 according to the embodiment. The printing device 1 is a printing device having a storage unit that stores character information as bitmap data, and when a character to be printed is instructed, it is instructed using the bitmap data stored in the storage unit. The character is printed on the print medium.

Hereinafter, a thermal transfer type thermal printer using an ink ribbon will be described as an example of the printing device 1, but the printing method is not particularly limited. The printing device 1 may be a heat-sensitive thermal printer using thermal paper, or may be an inkjet printer, a laser printer, or the like. In the following, the printing device 1 that prints by the single-pass (one-pass) method will be illustrated, but the printing device 1 may print by the multi-pass (scan) method. Further, in the following, an example of using a long printed medium M stored in a roll-shaped state inside the tape cassette will be shown, but the printed medium is not particularly limited. For example, cut paper pre-cut to a predetermined size such as A3 or A4 may be used.

As shown in FIG. 2, the printing apparatus 1 includes an apparatus housing 2, an input unit 3, a display unit 4, an opening / closing lid 18, and a cassette storage unit 19. An input unit 3, a display unit 4, and an opening / closing lid 18 are arranged on the upper surface of the device housing 2. Further, although not shown, the device housing 2 is provided with a power cord connection terminal, an external device connection terminal, a storage medium insertion port, and the like.

The input unit 3 includes various keys such as an input key, a cross key, a conversion key, and a decision key. The display unit 4 is, for example, a liquid crystal display panel, and displays characters corresponding to input from the input unit 3, selection menus for various settings, messages related to various processes, and the like. Further, during printing, the printed contents may be displayed and the progress of the printing process may be displayed. The display unit 4 may be provided with a touch panel unit, and in that case, the display unit 4 may be regarded as a part of the input unit 3.

The opening / closing lid 18 is arranged so as to be openable / closable on the upper part of the cassette storage portion 19. The opening / closing lid 18 is opened by pressing the button 18a. A window 18b is formed on the opening / closing lid 18 so that it can be visually confirmed whether or not the tape cassette 30 (see FIG. 3) is stored in the cassette storage portion 19 even when the opening / closing lid 18 is closed. ing. Further, a discharge port 2a is formed on the side surface of the device housing 2. The printed medium M printed in the printing apparatus 1 is discharged to the outside of the apparatus through the ejection port 2a.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the tape cassette 30 housed in the printing apparatus 1. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the cassette storage unit 19 of the printing apparatus 1. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the printing apparatus 1. The tape cassette 30 shown in FIG. 3 is detachably stored in the cassette storage unit 19 shown in FIG. FIG. 5 shows a state in which the tape cassette 30 is stored in the cassette storage unit 19.

As shown in FIG. 3, the tape cassette 30 has a cassette case 31 in which a printed medium M and an ink ribbon R are formed, in which a thermal head insertion portion 36 and an engaging portion 37 are formed. The cassette case 31 is provided with a tape core 32, an ink ribbon supply core 34, and an ink ribbon winding core 35.

The print medium M is wound in a roll around the tape core 32 inside the cassette case 31. The print medium M is, for example, a tape member having a base material having an adhesive layer and a release paper removably attached to the base material so as to cover the adhesive layer. However, the printed medium M may be a tape member without a release paper. The ink ribbon R for thermal transfer is wound around the ink ribbon supply core 34 inside the cassette case 31 in a roll shape with its tip wound around the ink ribbon winding core 35.

As shown in FIG. 4, the cassette accommodating portion 19 of the apparatus housing 2 is provided with a plurality of cassette receiving portions 20 for supporting the tape cassette 30 at a predetermined position. Further, the cassette receiving unit 20 is provided with a tape width detection switch 24 for detecting the width of the tape (printed medium M) accommodated in the tape cassette 30. The tape width detection switch 24 is a width detection unit that detects the width of the printed medium M based on the shape of the cassette.

The cassette storage unit 19 further has a thermal head 10 having a plurality of heat generating elements and printing on the print medium M, a platen roller 21 which is a transport unit for transporting the print medium M, and a tape core engaging shaft. 22 and an ink ribbon winding drive shaft 23 are provided. Further, a thermistor 13 is embedded in the thermal head 10. The thermistor 13 is a head temperature measuring unit that measures the temperature of the thermal head 10.

In a state where the tape cassette 30 is stored in the cassette storage portion 19, as shown in FIG. 5, the engaging portion 37 provided in the cassette case 31 is supported by the cassette receiving portion 20 provided in the cassette storage portion 19. , The thermal head 10 is inserted into the thermal head insertion portion 36 formed in the cassette case 31. Further, the tape core 32 of the tape cassette 30 is engaged with the tape core engaging shaft 22, and the ink ribbon winding core 35 is engaged with the ink ribbon winding drive shaft 23.

When a printing instruction is input to the printing apparatus 1, the printing medium M is unwound from the tape core 32 by the rotation of the platen roller 21. At this time, the ink ribbon winding drive shaft 23 rotates in synchronization with the platen roller 21, so that the ink ribbon R is fed out from the ink ribbon supply core 34 together with the printing medium M. As a result, the print medium M and the ink ribbon R are conveyed in an overlapping state. Then, when the ink ribbon R is heated by the thermal head 10 as it passes between the thermal head 10 and the platen roller 21, the ink is transferred to the printing medium M and printing is performed.

The used ink ribbon R that has passed between the thermal head 10 and the platen roller 21 is wound around the ink ribbon winding core 35. On the other hand, the printed medium M to be printed that has passed between the thermal head 10 and the platen roller 21 is cut by the half-cut mechanism 16 and the full-cut mechanism 17 and discharged from the discharge port 2a.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the printing apparatus 1. In addition to the above-mentioned input unit 3, display unit 4, thermal head 10, thermista 13, half-cut mechanism 16, full-cut mechanism 17, platen roller 21, and tape width detection switch 24, the printing device 1 includes a control circuit 5 and a ROM. (Read Only Memory) 6, RAM (Random Access Memory) 7, display unit drive circuit 8, head drive circuit 9, transfer motor drive circuit 11, stepping motor 12, cutter motor drive circuit 14, cutter motor 15, and power supply. The circuit 40 is provided. At least the control circuit 5, ROM 6, and RAM 7 constitute the computer of the printing device 1.

The control circuit 5 includes a processor 5a such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit). The control circuit 5 controls the operation of each part of the printing apparatus 1 by expanding the program stored in the ROM 6 into the RAM 7 and executing the program.

The control circuit 5 supplies, for example, control signals (strobe signal, latch signal, clock signal) and print data to the head drive circuit 9, and controls the thermal head 10 via the head drive circuit 9. That is, the head drive circuit 9 and the thermal head 10 are printing units that print on the printing medium M, and the control circuit 5 is a control unit that controls the printing unit. Further, the control circuit 5 controls the motor (stepping motor 12, cutter motor 15) via the motor drive circuit (transport motor drive circuit 11, cutter motor drive circuit 14).

The ROM 6 is a storage unit that stores a print program that prints on the print medium M and various data necessary for executing the print program. The data stored in the ROM 6 will be described later. The RAM 7 includes a print buffer for storing print data. Further, the RAM 7 includes a display buffer for storing display data.

The display unit drive circuit 8 controls the display unit 4 based on the display data stored in the RAM 7. The display unit 4 may display the print content under the control of the display unit drive circuit 8, for example, in a manner in which the progress of the print process can be recognized.

The head drive circuit 9 is a head drive unit that drives the thermal head 10 based on the control signal and print data supplied from the control circuit 5, and print data for one line received from the control circuit (hereinafter, print line data). ) Is provided with a latch circuit 9a. More specifically, the head drive circuit 9 energizes or de-energizes a plurality of heat generating elements 10a based on the print line data output from the latch circuit 9a during the energization period in which the strobe signal is ON. Control.

The thermal head 10 is a print head having a plurality of heat generating elements 10a arranged in the main scanning direction. The head drive circuit 9 selectively sends a current to the heat generating element 10a according to the print line data output from the latch circuit 9a during the energization period specified by the strobe signal supplied from the control circuit 5. The heat generating element 10a generates heat to heat the ink ribbon R. As a result, printing is performed line by line on the printing medium M by thermal transfer.

The transport motor drive circuit 11 drives the stepping motor 12. The stepping motor 12 rotates the platen roller 21. The platen roller 21 is a transport unit that is rotated by the power of the stepping motor 12 and conveys the print medium M in the longitudinal direction (sub-scanning direction) of the print medium M.

The cutter motor drive circuit 14 drives the cutter motor 15. The half-cut mechanism 16 and the full-cut mechanism 17 are operated by the power of the cutter motor 15 to half-cut or full-cut the printed medium M. The full cut is an operation of cutting the base material of the printing medium M together with the release paper along the width direction, and the half cut is an operation of cutting only the base material along the width direction.

The power supply circuit 40 is a power supply unit that generates an output voltage from a DC voltage (for example, 24V) from the AC adapter 50 and supplies electric power to each unit of the printing apparatus 1.

The printing apparatus 1 configured as described above can print italic characters with good appearance by using the data stored in the ROM 6. Hereinafter, a method for printing italic characters with good appearance will be specifically described.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the data stored in the ROM 6. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a method of creating bitmap data stored in ROM 6. With reference to FIGS. 7 and 8, the data used by the printing apparatus 1 to print italic characters with good appearance will be described.

As shown in FIG. 7, the ROM 6 storage unit stores a plurality of data sets (data set DS1, data set DS2) and tilt information Inc. The ROM 6 may store at least one set of data sets and tilt information.

Here, the data set stored in the ROM 6 is a data set including a plurality of bitmap data, each representing a different character. A specific example of a dataset is a bitmap font dataset. Bitmap font datasets are pre-generated for each combination of typeface (eg Mincho, Gothic, etc.), font size (eg 32pt, 64pt, 128pt, etc.) and style (standard, italic, bold, etc.). , Stored in ROM 6.

The data set DS1 is, for example, a data set of a bitmap font having a typeface A, an italic style, and a font size B. Further, the data set DS2 is, for example, a data set of bitmap fonts generated from the data set DS1. More specifically, it is a data set generated by converting the data set DS1 so that the inclination of the character becomes smaller by using the inclination information Inc.

Further, the tilt information stored in the ROM 6 is information for tilting the character corresponding to the bitmap data. More specifically, it is information for restoring the character corresponding to the bitmap data to a tilted state. That is, the dataset (eg, Dataset DS2) generated by transforming the oblique style dataset (eg, Dataset DS1) so that the tilt of the character is small, is replaced by the original oblique style dataset (eg, Dataset DS2). , Information for restoring to the data set DS1). In other words, it is information for restoring the character converted so that the slope is small to the original italic style bitmap font.

The converted bitmap data, such as the bitmap data included in the data set DS2, is created by the following procedure and stored in the ROM 6.

First, the bitmap data D1 before conversion shown in FIG. 8A is converted so that the inclination of the character becomes small, and the bitmap data D2 shown in FIG. 8B is generated.

Specifically, the bitmap data D1 is divided into an attention region R1 including a dot (black circle portion) to be printed and a margin region R2 other than that, and the inclination of the attention region R1 is specified. In the example of FIG. 8A, the region of interest R1 is tilted so as to shift by one dot in the tilting direction of the character for every four dots arranged in the vertical direction.

After that, the bitmap data D1 is shifted so as to cancel the specified inclination, so that the bitmap data D1 is converted into the bitmap data D2. That is, the bitmap data D1 is shifted by one dot in the direction opposite to the tilting direction of the character for every four dots arranged in the vertical direction. As a result, the bitmap data D1 is converted into the bitmap data D2 having the attention area R3 and the margin area R4.

Next, the generated bitmap data D2 is shaped to generate the converted bitmap data. The bitmap data D1 is N-dot × N-dot bitmap data, but the shifted bitmap data D2 is data having a contour that is not a rectangle due to the shift process. When such non-rectangular data is stored in the ROM 6, there are disadvantages that the efficient use of the storage area of the ROM 6 is hindered and it becomes difficult to specify the area at the time of reading. Therefore, the bitmap data D2 is shaped so that the outline of the bitmap data becomes a rectangle.

Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG. 8C, the bitmap data D2 may be shaped so that the contour becomes a square. The bitmap data D3 shown in FIG. 8C is the converted bitmap data generated by providing the margin areas R5 so that the contours are square on the left and right sides of the area of interest R3. Further, as shown in FIG. 8D, the bitmap data D2 may be shaped by removing the margin region R4 from the bitmap data D2. The bitmap data D4 shown in FIG. 8D is the converted bitmap data composed of only the region of interest R3, which is generated by removing the margin region R4 from the bitmap data D2.

The above processing is repeated for all the bitmap data contained in the data set before conversion. This will generate a converted dataset containing the formatted bitmap data.

Finally, the converted data set is stored in the ROM 6 in association with the tilt information. The inclination information is information on shift processing performed when converting bitmap data D1 to bitmap data D2. In this example, information that data is shifted by 1 dot for every 4 dots in the vertical direction. Is.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a flowchart of the print control process. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a flowchart of the print data expansion process. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a flowchart of print data output processing. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating the print data B1 stored in the print buffer. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating the print result P1. A printing method in which the printing device 1 prints an italic character with good appearance using the information stored in the ROM 6 will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 to 13.

When the print instruction is input, the print apparatus 1 starts the print control process shown in FIG. When the print control process shown in FIG. 9 is started, the control circuit 5 first acquires a print instruction (step S100). Here, the control circuit 5 acquires a print instruction specifying the print content from the input unit 3. The print content includes one or more characters to be printed (hereinafter referred to as a character string), a typeface, a font size, a style, whether to perform proportional printing, and the like. In the following, the example is that the character string is "Italic font", the typeface is typeface A, the font size is font size B, the style is italic, and whether or not proportional printing is performed is YES. explain.

Upon acquiring the print instruction, the control circuit 5 performs the print data expansion process shown in FIG. 10 (step S200). Here, first, the control circuit 5 specifies a data set corresponding to the print instruction (step S201). Specifically, the data set to be referred to is specified based on the information of the typeface, font size, style, and proportional printing specified in step S100. Here, for example, the data set DS2, which is the converted data set, is specified.

When the data set is specified, the control circuit 5 reads out the bitmap data contained in the specified data set (step S202). Specifically, the control circuit 5 refers to the data set DS2 stored in the ROM 6 and reads out the bitmap data corresponding to each character included in the character string “Italic font” from the ROM 6.

After that, the control circuit 5 expands the print data into the print buffer (step S203). Specifically, when the bit map data read from the ROM 6 includes a margin area R5 on the left and right of the attention area R3 as in the bit map data D3 shown in FIG. 8 (c), the margin area R5 (margin). The data that has been deleted (partial data) is expanded to the print buffer as print data. On the other hand, when the bit map data read from the ROM 6 does not include a margin area as in the bit map data D4 shown in FIG. 8 (d), the read bit map data itself is used as print data in the print buffer. expand. FIG. 12 is an example of print data expanded in the print buffer.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 12, the character spacing can be adjusted to be narrower than when the print data is developed using the italic style bitmap data. As can be seen by comparing the bitmap data D1 shown in FIG. 8A and the bitmap data D3 shown in FIG. 8C, the size of the left and right margin areas that can be cut is the size of the bitmap data D3. This is because it is larger than the bitmap data D1.

When the print data expansion process shown in FIG. 10 is completed, the control circuit 5 performs the print data output process shown in FIG. 11 (step S300). Here, first, the control circuit 5 reads out the tilt information Inc corresponding to the data set DS2 specified in step S201 from the ROM 6 (step S301). Specifically, the tilt information Inc is information that shifts data by one dot for every four dots in the vertical direction, for example.

After that, the control circuit 5 diagonally reads data for one line from the print buffer (step S302). Specifically, the control circuit 5 reads the print data B1 expanded in the print buffer diagonally as shown by the arrow in FIG. 12 according to the inclination information read in step S301. That is, in this example, the print data (print line data) for one line is read while shifting in the horizontal direction by one dot for every four dots in the vertical direction. At this time, the lateral direction to shift is the direction opposite to the tilting direction of the italic character.

Finally, the control circuit 5 outputs the read print line data to the print unit (step S303). Specifically, the control circuit 5 outputs the print line data to the head drive circuit 9. As a result, the head drive circuit 9 controls the thermal head 10 to print one line according to the print line data.

When the control circuit 5 repeats steps S302 and S303, the character string instructed in step S100 is instructed in the instructed typeface, the instructed style (italic), as shown in the print result P1 shown in FIG. It is printed on the printed medium M with the same font size. This is because the information obliquely read in step S302 is aligned in the vertical direction (that is, the main scanning direction) on the print medium M, so that the style of each character is restored to the original italic style. be.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a flowchart of the read output process. An example of a more detailed algorithm for the processing of steps S302 and S303 of FIG. 11 will be described with reference to FIG. In the following, the process of step S302 and the process of step S303 are collectively referred to as read output process.

When the read output process is started, the control circuit 5 first initializes the read positions X and Y (step S311). The read positions X and Y are variables indicating the coordinates in the print buffer, respectively, and correspond to the positions in the main scanning direction and the positions in the sub scanning direction in the printed medium M.

Next, the control circuit 5 sets the line to be read (step S312). Here, the read position Y is set as the line Y0 to be read.

After that, the control circuit 5 sets the tilt control variable n based on the tilt information read in step S301 (step S313). Here, assuming that the tilt information is information that shifts data by one dot for each n0 dot in the vertical direction, n0 is set in the tilt control variable n. In this example, n0 = 4.

Subsequently, the control circuit 5 reads the data in the print buffer and sets it as line data (step S314). Here, the data Buffer (X, Y) at the read position (X, Y) is set to the line data Line [X].

When the line data is set, the control circuit 5 shifts the read position in the main scanning direction (step S315). Specifically, the read position X is incremented.

Further, the control circuit 5 decrements the inclination control variable n (step S316), and determines whether or not the inclination control variable n after decrementing is larger than 0 (step S317).

When the inclination control variable n is larger than 0, the control circuit 5 repeats the processes of steps S314 to S317 until the inclination control variable n becomes 0. Then, when the tilt control variable n becomes 0, the control circuit 5 shifts the read position in the sub-scanning direction (step S318). Specifically, the read position Y is decremented in order to shift in the direction opposite to the tilt direction of the italic.

After that, the control circuit 5 determines whether or not the read position X is smaller than the number of bits-1 in the main scanning direction of the print data stored in the print buffer (step S319). In the example shown in FIG. 12, since the number of bits in the main scanning direction is 128, it is determined whether or not the number of bits is smaller than 127.

When the read position X is smaller than the number of bits-1 in the main scanning direction, the control circuit 5 repeats the processes of steps S313 to S319 until the read position X becomes equal to the number of bits-1 in the main scanning direction. .. Then, when the read position X becomes equal to the number of bits-1 in the main scanning direction, the control circuit 5 outputs the line data Line to the printing unit (step S320). As a result, the printing unit prints one line on the printed medium M.

The control circuit 5 sets the next line at the read position Y (step S321). That is, a value obtained by adding 1 to Y0 set in step S312 is set for the read position Y.

Further, the control circuit 5 determines whether or not the read position Y is smaller than the number of bits-1 in the sub-scanning direction + the number of shifts S (step S322). The number of shifts S is the number of times the read position Y is shifted in the sub-scanning direction until the read position X is shifted in the main scan direction by the number of bits-1 in the main scan direction. In other words, it is the number of shifts in the sub-scanning direction performed while reading the print data for one line. In this example, since the number of bits in the main scanning direction is 512 and the number of shifts is 128/4 = 32, it is determined whether or not it is smaller than 543 (= 512-1 + 32).

When the read position Y is smaller than the number of bits in the sub-scanning direction -1 + the number of shifts S, the control circuit 5 steps from step S312 until the read position Y becomes equal to the number of bits in the sub-scan direction + the number of shifts S. The process up to S322 is repeated. When the read position Y becomes equal to the number of bits in the sub-scanning direction + the number of shifts S, all the print data stored in the print buffer has been read, so that the control circuit 5 ends the read output process. do.

In the printing device 1 configured as described above, the converted data set including a plurality of italic-style bitmap data is converted into a storage unit so that the inclination of the character is small. The dataset is stored. Since the bitmap data contained in the converted data set can have a larger margin than the bitmap data contained in the unconverted data set, the print data in which the character spacing is sufficiently narrowed can be stored in the print buffer. Can be deployed.

Further, in the printing apparatus 1, the storage unit stores the data set after conversion and the inclination information for restoring the data set after conversion to the data set before conversion. By reading the print data stored in the print buffer diagonally using the tilt information, the typeface and style (that is, italics) corresponding to the data set before conversion are reproduced.

Therefore, according to the printing apparatus 1, it is possible to print an arbitrary italic character string while sufficiently narrowing the character spacing. Therefore, italicized characters can be printed with good appearance using the bitmap data. Further, the printing device 1 stores the converted data set including the bit map data in the state where the data in the margin portion is removed in the ROM 6, so that the capacity of the storage area for storing the data set is suppressed to be smaller than in the conventional case. be able to.

The above-described embodiments show specific examples for facilitating the understanding of the invention, and the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. The printing apparatus, printing method, and program can be variously modified and modified without departing from the description of the claims.

In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the data set and the tilt information are stored in the ROM 6 of the printing device is shown, but the data set and the tilt information may be acquired from an external device connected via a network. In this case, since the data set and the tilt information acquired from the external device are stored in the RAM 7, the RAM 7 functions as a storage unit for storing the data set and the tilt information instead of the ROM 6.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example of reproducing an italic character string on the print medium M by reading the print data stored in the print buffer at an angle is shown, but the display stored in the display buffer is shown. By reading the data diagonally, the italicized character string may be reproduced on the display.

Hereinafter, the inventions described in the scope of claims at the time of filing the application of the present application will be added.
[Appendix 1]
A printing unit that prints on the printed medium,
A control unit that controls the printing unit and
A print buffer that stores print data and
A data set including a plurality of bitmap data each representing a different character, and a storage unit corresponding to each of the plurality of bitmap data and storing tilt information for tilting the character are provided.
The control unit
With reference to the data set stored in the storage unit, the print data is expanded into the print buffer.
A printing apparatus characterized in that the print data expanded in the print buffer is obliquely read out according to the tilt information read from the storage unit and output to the printing unit.

[Appendix 2]
In the printing apparatus described in Appendix 1,
The data set is a data set including bitmap data obtained by converting a data set of an italic style bitmap font so that the inclination of the character becomes small.
The printing device is characterized in that the tilt information is information for restoring a character converted so that the tilt is small to the original italic style bitmap font.

[Appendix 3]
In the printing apparatus according to Appendix 1 or 2.
The control unit is a printing apparatus characterized in that data obtained by removing data in a margin portion from bitmap data read from the storage unit is expanded as print data in the print buffer.

[Appendix 4]
In the printing apparatus described in Appendix 2,
The storage unit restores the data obtained by removing the margin data from the bitmap data converted so that the inclination of the character in the data set of the oblique style bitmap font becomes small, and the character in an inclined state. A printing device characterized by storing tilt information.

[Appendix 5]
In the printing apparatus according to any one of Supplementary Note 1 to Supplementary Note 3.
The control unit is a printing apparatus characterized in that the bitmap data read from the storage unit is expanded into the print buffer as the print data.

[Appendix 6]
In the printing apparatus according to any one of Supplementary note 1 to Supplementary note 5, further
The storage unit is a printing device that stores the data set and the tilt information acquired from an external device.

[Appendix 7]
A printing apparatus including a storage unit that stores a data set including a plurality of bitmap data, each representing a different character, and tilt information corresponding to each of the plurality of bitmap data for tilting the character. It ’s a printing method to do.
The control unit of the printing device is
With reference to the data set stored in the storage unit, the print data is expanded into the print buffer, and the print data is expanded.
A printing method characterized in that the print data expanded in the print buffer is diagonally read out according to the tilt information read from the storage unit and output to a printing unit that prints on a print medium.

[Appendix 8]
A printing device including a storage unit that stores a data set including a plurality of bitmap data, each representing a different character, and tilt information corresponding to each of the plurality of bitmap data for tilting the character. ,
With reference to the data set stored in the storage unit, the print data is expanded into the print buffer, and the print data is expanded.
It is characterized in that the print data expanded in the print buffer is diagonally read out according to the tilt information read from the storage unit and output to a printing unit that prints on a print medium. Program to print.

1 ... Printing device, 2 ... Device housing, 2a ... Discharge port, 3 ... Input section, 4 ... Display section, 5 ... Control circuit, 5a ... Processor, 6 ... ROM, 7 ... RAM, 8 ... Display drive circuit, 9 ... Head drive circuit, 9a ... Latch circuit, 10 ... Thermal head, 10a ... Heat generation element, 11 ... Transfer motor drive circuit, 12 ... Stepping motor, 13 ... Thermista, 14 ... Cutter motor drive circuit, 15 ... Cutter motor, 16 ... Half cut mechanism, 17 ... Full cut mechanism, 18 ... open / close lid, 18a ... button, 18b ... window, 19 ... cassette storage, 20 ... cassette receiving part, 21 ... platen roller, 22 ... Tape core engagement shaft, 23 ... Ink ribbon winding drive shaft, 24 ... Tape width detection switch, 30 ... Tape cassette, 31 ... Cassette case, 32 ... Tape core, 34 ... Ink Ribbon supply core, 35 ... Ink ribbon winding core, 36 ... Thermal head insertion part, 37 ... Engagement part, 40 ... Power supply circuit, 50 ... AC adapter, B1 ... Print data, D1, D2, D3, D4 ... Bitmap data, DS1, DS2 ... Data set, Inc ... Tilt information, M ... Printed medium, P1, P10, P20 ... Printing As a result, R ... ink ribbon, R1, R3 ... attention area, R2, R4, R5 ... margin area

Claims (6)

A printing unit that prints on the printed medium,
A control unit that controls the printing unit and
A print buffer that stores print data and
It is a shaped bitmap data generated by removing the data of the margin part from the converted bitmap data converted so that the inclination of the character becomes smaller based on the oblique bitmap data representing the oblique style character and the inclination information . A storage unit that stores a data set including a plurality of the shaped bitmap data and the tilt information, which can restore the oblique bitmap data based on the shaped bitmap data and the tilt information. And with
The control unit
With reference to the data set stored in the storage unit, the print data is expanded into the print buffer.
A printing apparatus characterized in that the print data expanded in the print buffer is obliquely read out according to the tilt information read from the storage unit and output to the printing unit. In the printing apparatus according to claim 1 , further
The storage unit is a printing device that stores the data set and the tilt information acquired from an external device. A printing method performed by the control unit of a printing device.
The storage unit of the printing device is generated by cutting the margin data from the converted bitmap data converted so that the inclination of the character becomes smaller based on the oblique bitmap data representing the oblique style character and the inclination information . A data set containing a plurality of the well-formed bitmap data, which is the well-formed bitmap data and can restore the oblique bitmap data based on the well-formed bitmap data and the inclination information, and the inclination. Memorize information and
With reference to the data set stored in the storage unit, the print data is expanded into the print buffer, and the print data is expanded.
A printing method characterized in that the print data expanded in the print buffer is diagonally read out according to the tilt information read from the storage unit and output to a printing unit that prints on a print medium. A program that causes a computer in a printing device to execute a predetermined process.
The storage unit of the printing device is generated by cutting the margin data from the converted bitmap data converted so that the inclination of the character becomes smaller based on the oblique bitmap data representing the oblique style character and the inclination information. A data set containing a plurality of the well-formed bitmap data, which is the well-formed bitmap data and can restore the oblique bitmap data based on the well-formed bitmap data and the inclination information, and the inclination. Memorize information and
The predetermined process is
With reference to the data set stored in the storage unit, the print data is expanded into the print buffer, and the print data is expanded.
The print data expanded in the print buffer is obliquely read out according to the tilt information read from the storage unit, and the process of outputting the print data to the printing unit for printing on the print medium is executed . A program that features that. Based on the italic bitmap data representing the italic style character and the italic information, conversion is performed so that the inclination of the character becomes smaller to generate converted bitmap data.
Formatted bitmap data is generated by removing the margin data from the generated converted bitmap data.
The well-formed bit map data together with the well-formed bit map data so that another device that has acquired the well-formed bit map data and the tilt information can restore the slanted bit map data based on the acquired well-formed bit map data and the tilt information. A bitmap data generator characterized by transmitting tilt information and having a control unit. A method performed by a bitmap data generator,
Based on the italic bitmap data representing the italic style character and the italic information, conversion is performed so that the inclination of the character becomes smaller to generate converted bitmap data.
Formatted bitmap data is generated by removing the margin data from the generated converted bitmap data.
The well-formed bit map data together with the well-formed bit map data so that another device that has acquired the well-formed bit map data and the tilt information can restore the oblique bit map data based on the acquired well-formed bit map data and the tilt information. Send tilt information
Bitmap data generation method characterized by that.

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