JPH01128846A - Reduced-size printing method of printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize reduced-size printing function of a printer at low cost which is convenient for use and high in accuracy and which enables printing in one's desired reduced size both in longitudinal and lateral directions, by printing character code data and image data simultaneously by page at the desired reducing ratio in a dot thinning circuit. CONSTITUTION:Input data are stored in a page buffer 2 and, character code data are sent to a font memory 3 to obtain character patterns. On the other hand, image data in the page buffer 2 are developed by bit patterns and stored in an image data buffer 4. The two, namely, character code data and image data are overlapped and sent to a dot thinning circuit 7a. Supposing that a bit pattern data of one page is comprised of 5 dots in a longitudinal direction and 5 dots in a lateral direction, a longitudinal dot 2a is overlapped with a longitudinal dot 3a, a longitudinal dot 4a with a longitudinal dot 5a, a lateral dot 2b with a lateral dot 3b, a lateral dot 4b with a lateral dot 5b, respectively, thereby to obtain an output of 3 dots in the longitudinal direction X3 dots in the lateral directions. The reduced figure is printed by a print output unit 5 onto a paper 6.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a reduced printing method for a printer device, which performs reduced printing on a page-by-page basis after combining data from character codes and image data.

[Conventional technology]

Fig. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional printer device using a reduced printing method.
Sent from a T (magnetic tape) device, etc. Reference numeral 2 denotes a page buffer that temporarily stores the sent data l, and has a capacity that can store multiple pages of data. The data stored in this page buffer 2 includes character code information and image information (graphs, images, etc.). A font memory 3 stores character patterns of each character code, and is used to obtain individual character patterns from the character codes of the page buffer 2. Reference numeral 4 denotes an image data buffer that stores image data obtained by developing the above-mentioned image information into a bit pattern. Reference numeral 5 designates a character pattern obtained from the font memory 3 and the image data obtained from the image data buffer 4, which are superimposed and then printed out. A printout unit 6 indicates a printout sheet obtained by the printout unit 5. Reference numeral 7 denotes a character pitch/line pitch conversion circuit that converts the character code of the page buffer 2 to a reduced character size when a reduced printing is specified, and also converts the line pitch to a reduced line pitch. Next, the operation will be explained. Input data 1 sent from a host computer etc. is temporarily stored in a page buffer 2, and character code information from the data stored in this page buffer 2 is converted to a character pitch/line pinch conversion circuit 7 if there is no specification for reduced printing. The font passes through the font memory 3 and is sent to the font memory 3 in the same font size to obtain a character pattern. In addition, if a reduced printing is specified, the character pitch/line pinch conversion circuit 7 converts the character size to the reduced character size (for example, 10CP [(Characters Per
Inch) font size to 12 CPI font size). At the same time, the line pitch is also replaced with a reduced line pitch (for example, conversion from 6LPI (Line Per Inch) line pitch to 8LPI line pitch). Such replacement makes it possible to reduce the entire character code portion, thereby realizing reduced printing. On the other hand, the image information in the page buffer 2 has no concept of character bits, lines, or line pitches, and is developed into bit patterns and stored in the image data buffer 4 as image data (bit patterns), and cannot be printed in reduced size. The character pattern from the font memory 3 and the output from the image data buffer 4 are superimposed and printed out by the print output section 5, and the final figure is printed on the print output paper 6.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

Since the conventional printer reduction printing method is configured as described above, it is possible to reduce the printing of character code information, but it is not possible to print the image information, and the reduction printing of the character code information is limited to the specified reduction ratio. , since the conversion is performed to the closest character pitch/line pitch, the reduction ratio may not exactly match the specified value, and the reduction ratio in the vertical direction (line pitch) and horizontal direction (character pitch) may be different, causing the overall distortion. There were some problems, such as: This invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it has a reduced printing function that can reduce the character code information and image information at once, and also allows the reduction ratio to be set to any specified value for both the aspect ratio. The purpose of this paper is to obtain a reduced printing system with a printer device.

[Means to solve the problem]

The reduced printing method of the printer apparatus according to the present invention is provided with a dot thinning circuit that thins out the focus of character code information and image information at the same ratio in the vertical and horizontal directions on a page by page basis.

[For use]

The bit thinning circuit of the present invention thins out dot information vertically and horizontally at a specified ratio, and the thinned-out dot information is controlled to be overwritten on the next dot, and the reduction ratio is arbitrarily set according to the thinning ratio, and the thinned-out dot information is controlled to overwrite the next dot. Set.

【Example】

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, 1 is input data, which is the host computer, M
Sent from a T device, etc. 2 is this host computer or MT
A buffer that temporarily stores data sent from devices, etc., and has a capacity that can store multiple pages of data. The data stored in this page buffer 2 includes character code information and image information (graphs, images, etc.). A font memory 3 stores each character code pattern, and is used to obtain individual character patterns from the character codes from the page buffer 2. 4 is an image data buffer that stores the image data obtained by developing image information (graphs, images, etc.) into bit patterns; 5 is a print output unit that prints out the bit pattern information obtained from the bit spacing circuit 7a; 6; indicates a printout sheet obtained by the printout section 5. The bit thinning circuit 7a is a circuit that superimposes the character pattern obtained from the font memory 3 and the image data obtained from the image data buffer 4, and then thins out the bits at the same reduction rate both vertically and horizontally. Next, the operation will be explained. Input data 1 transferred from a host computer or MT device is stored in a page buffer 2, and character code information from the data stored in this page buffer 2 is sent to a font memory 3, where a character pattern is obtained. On the other hand, image information (graphs, images, etc.) in the page buffer 2 is developed into bit patterns and stored in the image data buffer 4 as image data (bit patterns). These two data are superimposed and the dot thinning circuit 7a
send to The operation of this dot thinning circuit 7a is shown in FIG.
), as shown in Figure 2(b). In order to simplify the explanation, one page of bit pattern data is assumed to be 5 vertical dots (la to 5a) and 5 horizontal dots (lb to 5b) as shown in FIG. 2(a). An example will be explained in which the 5×5 dots are reduced to 3×3 dots (60% reduced printing) as shown in FIG. 2(b). As shown in FIG. 2(a), the dot lines to be thinned out are determined to be two vertical dots (2a and 4a) and two horizontal dots (2b and 4b). In this Figure 2 (a),
The dots shaded upward to the right are vertical thinning dots, and the dots shaded downward to the right are horizontal thinning dots. Note that the dot information is not lost due to thinning, so
Performs processing to overlap the next dot. The vertical dot 2a is connected to the vertical dot 3a, the vertical dot 4a is connected to the vertical dot 5a, and the horizontal dot 2 is connected to the vertical dot 3a.
The horizontal dot 4b is overlapped with the horizontal dot 3b, and the horizontal dot 4b is overlapped with the horizontal dot 5b. This dot thinning circuit 7a produces an output as shown in FIG.
As shown in b), 3 vertical dots (1a, 3a, 5a) x 3 horizontal dots (lb, 3b, 5b) are obtained. In reality, if the dot density is 240 dots/inch and the paper size is 11 inches x 14 inches, it will be 2640 x 336.
0 dot size, 1584X when 60% reduced printing
It will become a 2016 dot. The reduced-print figure obtained in this manner is printed out by the print output unit 5, and printed as a reduced-print figure on the print output paper 6.

【Effect of the invention】

As described above, according to the present invention, character code information and image information are collectively printed using a dot thinning circuit and reduced at a specified reduction ratio for each page. This has the advantage that a device that is easy to use, has a high-precision reduction printing function, and can be obtained at a low cost.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a reduced printing method of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) are explanatory diagrams for explaining the dot thinning method of the same embodiment,
The figure is a block diagram of a conventional printer using a reduced printing method. 2 is a page buffer, 3 is a font memory, 4 is an image data buffer, 5 is a print output unit, and 7a is a dot thinning circuit. In addition, in the figures, the same reference numerals indicate the same or equivalent parts. Figure 1 1: Entering Denu (Q) la 2a 3a 4a 5a (b) 3rd m

Claims (1)

[Claims] A page buffer that stores data including character codes and image information; a font memory that obtains individual character patterns from the character codes stored in this page buffer; and a font memory that develops bit patterns of the image information stored in the page buffer. The character pattern obtained from the font memory and the image bit pattern stored in the image data buffer are superimposed and bits are thinned out at the same reduction rate both vertically and horizontally. 1. A printer apparatus reduction printing system comprising: a bit thinning circuit for performing bit pattern information and outputting bit pattern information; and a print output section for printing out the bit pattern information obtained by the bit thinning circuit.