JPH01110170A - Original-character printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a character to be changed to an arbitrary printing character by a user according to information to be printed, by providing a character generator read only memory(CGROM), a circuit which can arbitrarily select either a first or second read circuit reading a memory card, and a switch mechanism, and enabling the memory card to be inserted/extracted easily from outside. CONSTITUTION:When a CGROM memory card change-over switch SW assigns the side of a CGROM 2, an MPU address bus ABUS assigns an address, wherein dot data of a specified character is stored, from a CGROM address bus CGA to the CGROM 2 through an address change-over circuit 1. At this time, the data of the CGROM 2 is imparted to a driver circuit 3 as printing dot data. Thereafter, when the change-over switch SW is assigned to the side of a memory card 4, the memory card 4 wherein CG data written by a host machine connectable to the memory card 4 is previously filed is selected to impart the data to the printing dot driver circuit 3 similarly to the CGROM 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to printing by a printer, and in particular to an IC card that allows a user to print characters freely created by using an IC card as a character generator for printed characters.
This invention relates to a dot printer with a C card interface.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Conventionally, when printing with a printer, a character generator read-only memory (hereinafter abbreviated as CG ROM) was installed in advance as the printer's dot data, data was read from this memory, and designated characters were printed. There was also a printer of a type in which print dot data was loaded from the host through the printer's external interface 7 and spacer 1 instead of the OGROM.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, among the above-mentioned printers, the CG ROM type dot printer prints using data stored in advance in the CG ROIJ, so the printed characters are always constant characters. For this reason, printer users could not always print original characters.

Also, printers that load print data from the host must always load the print dot data from the host when printing starts, and a host of the above format is always required, so printers that can operate on any host cannot There wasn't.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional situation,
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a novel printer device that makes it possible to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks inherent in the conventional technology.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the creative character printing printer according to the present invention has a memory card interface unit as well as a conventional CG ROM mounting circuit, and can be switched by inserting a memory card from the outside. The device is equipped with a circuit that reads and prints the dot data on the memory card instead of the dot data on the CG ROM by switching.

Embodiment Next, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be specifically explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an embodiment of switching between a CG ROM and a memory card of a printer device according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG.
The PU address bus ABUS passes through the address switching circuit / and specifies the address where the dot data of the specified character is stored from the CGROM address bus OGA to the QC and ROM-. At this time, the memory read signal order and memory chip select signal MC3 are selected from the CGROM side by the CG control switching circuit tC in the same way as the address, and (J
The data is provided to the driver circuit J as data in the ROM 2 or print dot data. This operation is similar to normal printing.

Next, when the selector switch SW is set to the upper side of the memory card, the memory card holder in which the CG data to be written is stored is selected in advance on the host machine (personal computer) to which the memory card holder can be connected.

It provides data to the print dot driver circuit 3 in the same way as the CG ROM. The memory card address bus interface circuit 6 and the memory card control interface circuit are memory card interface circuits that are interfaced so that the circuits are not affected even if a standard memory card is inserted or removed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, by using the present printer having a standard memory card interface, a user can print characters originally created by the user.

This also makes it possible to print various patterns by replacing standard memory cards.

For example, if the ANK character ``@A'' is specified for normal printing, it will naturally be ``@A'' on the CGROM side.

If you specify this on the memory card side, if you create a modified pattern of A, in, on the host computer and write it to the memory card, this character will be printed. It becomes possible for the user to use a single printer to change the characters into printed characters in any font according to the printed content.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention;
The figure is a schematic partial perspective view of a device in which a memory card is mounted. I... Address switching circuit, Co... (JROM (character generator read only memory), 3... Print dot driver circuit, D... Memory card, 3...
・Memory card DBUS interface circuit, A...
-Memory card address bus interface circuit. 7...Memory card control interface circuit, t...CG control switching circuit, SW...(
fi ROM memory card changeover switch, DB...Print data bus. (XI;A...(3G ROM address bus, M(
, A...Memory card address bus, ABUS...
・MPU address bus, MR...MPU memory read signal, MC8...MPU memory chip select, M
CG...MPLJ cAROM memory card switching signal, MMCD, Memory card patent applicant NEC Corporation Representative Patent attorney Yutabe Kumagai

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a dot printer that prints by reading the dot data of printed characters from a character generator,
A first reading circuit that reads the character generator read-only memory, a second reading circuit that reads the memory card, and a circuit or switch mechanism that can arbitrarily select these first and second reading circuits from the printer controller or externally designated. A creative character printing printer having a mechanism that allows the memory card to be easily inserted and removed from the outside.