JPH01133745A - Data rewriting apparatus of video printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To add a function for inserting a character in a printed image on a digital base, by reading the drive signal of a thermal head by one of the change-over switches provided to the thermal head on the input side thereof and reading the switch signal written in a line memory by the other change-over switch to control the switches. CONSTITUTION:An input video signal (static image) is converted to R-, G- and B-signals by a decoder and converted to ink colors Cy, Mg, I/e by a complementary color converting circuit 3. The data sampled by an A/D converter 5 through a switch 4 is written in a line memory 6. For example, when a 2KX8 bit SRAM is used in the line memory and gradation data is set to 6-bit 64-gradation, since memory cells are left by 2 bits, one bit among them is utilized to write '1' in the address in a Y-direction desiring the rewriting of data, and '1' is read to change over a switch 22. The switch 22 is changed over so that the data from a gradation control circuit 7 is sent to a thermal head 8 at the time of '0' and the data from a switch 21 is sent thereto at the time of '1'. Data becomes a black or broken character based on whether the switch 21 is continued to Vcc or earth.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] It relates to a video hard copy device that uses a video signal as an input source, and is particularly concerned with its signal processing, specifically, to superimpose external character input other than video into a print. Concerning circuits to be imposed and printed.

[Conventional technology]

Text signals (prompts) were superimposed and printed at the analog signal level. However, with this method, the outlines of the characters may become blurred.

Therefore, we devised a method for inputting characters at a digital pace when printing. Note that related devices of this type include, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 18286/1986.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

The above-mentioned conventional technology does not take into consideration the function of inserting characters at a digital pace.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to add a function for inserting characters and the like into a printed image at a digital pace.

[Means for solving problems]

The above purpose is to provide a switch on the input side of the thermal head to change the data sent to the thermal head, and one side of the switch has a
This is achieved by controlling the switch by reading out the drive signal for the thermal head and, on the other hand, the switch signal stored in the line memory.

[Effect]

In parallel to the address of the data that drives the head written in the line memory, a signal is written at the address to be rewritten to switch the switch that changes the data of the head provided in the front stage of the thermal head, and the line memory is read. The data for driving the head and the switch switching signal are read out in parallel, and the head data is switched to external input at the address where the switching signal is written. This made it possible to insert characters into a printout using an external input device, etc., at a digital pace.

〔Example〕

The basic configuration of the video printer of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG.

1 is a video signal input terminal, 2 converts the input video signal into a color difference signal, and further includes a matrix circuit, R, G,
A decoder 3 converts the RGB signal converted by the decoder 2 into Cy for the printer.

Complementary color conversion circuit that performs color conversion on My and I/e, 4 is a switch that changes the print color, 5 is a decoder, 3
-4 converter converts the signal sent from -2 into binary data, 6 is a line memory that stores and reproduces data in the vertical direction of the TV screen, 7 is a thermal head 8 that converts the data from the line memory 6, 12 is a sync separation circuit that separates a sync signal from an input video signal; 13 is an r fsc (r=L2+...) (f
14 is a horizontal counter that counts up in synchronization with the frames of the video signal and determines the line X to be printed; A vertical counter that counts up at the period of the horizontal frequency of the signal and addresses the vertical data of the print image to the line memory 6; 16 is a data transfer counter that reads out data stored in the line memory 6; 17 is memory storage. A WE generation circuit that generates a signal; 18 is a gradation control circuit 7;
and a print system controller that controls the servo circuit 19 that drives the drum 10; 20 is an input terminal that sends a command to start the print system controller; 21 is a switch that determines head replacement data of 4, -0, 1; 22; 23 is a switch for switching between the switching data sent from the switch 21 and the data from the gradation control circuit 7, and 23 is a temporary address for storing in the line memory 6 the data of 0 or 1 sent from the personal computer 27 for switching the switch 22. The address latch 24 is a hump shake circuit that controls the timing of data exchange between the computer and the printer, and controls the timing of writing data sent from the computer 28 to the line memory 6 to switch the switch 22.
Look at the signal of the WE generation circuit 17, find the timing when writing to the line memo I) 6, send a write enable signal to the WE generation circuit 25, and the WE generation circuit 25 write data to switch the switch 22 to the line memory 6. .

26 is a line memo of the data for switching switch 22!
This is a switch that switches between the address line and the WE line when writing to 16.

Next, the operation will be explained using FIGS. 1, 2, and 3. The video signal input from video signal input terminal 1 (
The still image) is converted into RGB signals by the decoder 2, and the complementary color conversion circuit 3 converts the ink colors CM, My,
Converted to I/e. When a print start command is input from the input terminal 20, the print system controller turns the switch 4 on. The sampling pulse sent from the horizontal counter 14 is equal to the horizontal frequency of the video signal, and the A/D converter 5 samples k data in the vertical direction (X direction) as shown in FIG.

The horizontal counter is a counter that determines the horizontal direction (X direction), that is, the line to be printed, and counts up at the frequency of one frame of the video signal. A/D
The data sampled by the converter 5 is written into the line memory 6, and the vertical counter 15 determines the address of this memory cell. This counter counts up in synchronization with the sampling of the A/D converter. The data written in the line memory 6 is sent to the gradation control circuit 7 by activating the data transfer counter 16. The gradation control circuit 7 has a matching circuit 71 and a gradation counter (2' counter), and compares the data sent from the one-line memory 6 with the data of the gradation counter to determine the presence or absence of data, that is, 0. 1 to the thermal head 8. When the thermal head 8 has all the data y1 to yr as shown in FIG. 2 (C1), the gradation control circuit 7
An energizing pulse is sent from where the data is, that is, data 1
However, it generates heat and prints the 0th gradation. At the first gradation, the gradation counter of the gradation control circuit 7 counts up by one, and the first gradation data of the data in the line memory 6 is selected by the matching circuit 72 and sent to the thermal head 8, where it is sent to the thermal head 8. The head 8 receives an energization pulse from the gradation control circuit 7 and generates heat. One line of printing is completed by repeating the heating operation twice. At this time, the print system controller 18 controls each section to print the next one line. Further, the servo circuit 19 rotates the drum 10 in the direction of the arrow in synchronization with the frequency of one frame of the video signal to transport the ink paper 9 and the photographic paper 11, thereby completing the I/e printing. . Next, the system controller 18 prints the second color by turning the switch 4 to M, making the signal conductive, and printing M, 7 on top of each other, and when the printing of Mg is completed, Cy is further printed on top of it. By doing this, printing ends.

Here, the timing of writing and reading from the line memory 6 will be described. A 601-bit line memory cell is divided into two and used as shown in FIG. This can be separated by the unused upper pits of the memory address.

Temporarily cell line memo! Assuming that I6 is divided into A and B, the timing of writing and reading data in cells A and B is synchronized with the frequency of one frame of the video signal, as shown in Figure 5, 2.3. At this time, cell B is in a read state, and when cell A is in a read state, cell B is in a write state.

Now, as for the rewriting method, the hatched area in Figure 2(b) is inserted into the screen in Figure 2(cL) as shown in Figure 2(C), and the shaded area is either white or black. is printed. In the present invention, the line memory 6 includes 2KX
Using 8-bit SRAM, gradation data is 6-bit
Since it has 64 gradations, the memory cell has 2 bits.
8 - Waited. Therefore, 1 bit of these 2 bits
1 to the address in the X direction where you want to rewrite the data using
By writing and reading this, the switch 22 is switched. When the switch 22 is set to 0, the data sent from the gradation control circuit 7 is sent to the thermal head 8, and when it is 1, the data sent via the switch 21 is sent to the thermal head 8. Here, switch 21 is connected to Vcc
The part that can be rewritten is black when it is connected to ground, and it is white when it is connected to ground.

The rewriting timing is as shown in Figure 6 2.3.
, B when each cell enters the read mode, writing is performed before reading or printing begins.

The timing will be explained in more detail using FIGS. 4 and 5. An address in the X direction is input to the personal computer 27 in FIG. PC transfer command pulse (Fig. 5 7)
), the personal computer 27 sends the Y address (FIG. 5, 4) to the address launch circuit 23, and at the same time sends a data transfer end pulse (FIG. 5, 3) to the handshake circuit 24. The address latch circuit 23 is connected to the switch 22
The address for switching is sent to the switch 26. Further, the handshake circuit 24, after the data transfer end pulse,
In order to avoid collision with the WE signal of the WE generation circuit 17,
A pulse (FIG. 5) is sent to the generating circuit 25 and the switch 26. In response to this pulse, the WE generation circuit 25 sends a signal (FIG. 5, 6) for writing data for switching the switch 22 to the switch 26. At this time, switch 26
Then, the signals from the address latch 26 and the WE generation circuit 25 are accessed to the line memory 6, and 1 is written as shown in FIG. Here, the signal from the WE generation circuit 17 is input to the pin K for writing switching data. In this way, referring to the timing in Figure 3, when the timing in Figure 2 (α) is written, the WE double signal is present, and the input data always becomes 0 because the WE double signal is present, erasing the previous data. (It turns out.)

In this way, by providing a switch to change the data of the head and writing the switching data of this switch to the remaining part of the line memory and reading it out, the data sent to the head is controlled and the print image is interrupted. Hiding can now be done with small-scale circuits.

Next, a second embodiment will be explained using FIGS. 6 and 7. The configuration is shown in FIG. 1 with a color switching signal line 28,
Add PC color signal line 29 and switch 21
is deleted and a color signal 60 is added to replace it. Also, one vacant bit in the line memory 6 is used.

Now, regarding the operation, by sending information about the color being printed to the personal computer 27 via the color switching signal line 28, the personal computer 27 determines the color being printed and sends the color data to the personal computer color signal line 29. Output. As shown in Figure 7, if you want to insert red color into the print image, when printing outside, set 1,
Data can be written into empty bits of the line memory 6, such as 1 when printing M7 and 0 when printing Cy. The printing operation is the same as in 1.11 Embodiment 1. The above is as shown in FIG. 7(C).

You can insert red color into the printed image.

As mentioned above, by sending the color data being printed and having the computer discriminate the color, and by providing a pit to write the color information from the computer to the line memory, R+G, B can be added to the characters inserted into the print image. , Cy, M#
There are eight colors to choose from: , island, black, and white.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, by adding a small-scale circuit to the printout and connecting it to a personal computer, it is now possible to insert text, outlines, etc. in any position on the printed image.

3 is a time chart showing the operation of the line memory, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the embodiment,
FIG. 5 is a time chart showing the operation of FIG. 4.

6...Line memory, 21...Switch, 22...
・Sui・ 12. Hitoshi, 23...Address latch, 24...Handshake circuit, 25...WE generation circuit, 26...Switch.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Separation means that uses a video signal as an input source to separate a synchronization signal and a color information signal included in the video signal, and extracts Cy, which is a print color, from the color information signal separated by the separation means.
(cyan), Mg (magenta), and I/e (yellow); a switching means that switches the signal of the conversion means for each color to be printed; and a color sent via the switching means. A/D converting means for A/D converting data at a predetermined timing, memory means for storing digital data converted by the A/D converting means, and a synchronization signal separated by the separating means to generate a reference clock. a reference clock generation means for generating a reference clock; a memory write control means for controlling write timing of the memory means using the synchronization signal and the reference clock; and a gradation control means for converting reproduced data from the memory means into data optimal for printing. and a printing means for receiving data from the gradation control means and executing printing, wherein a data switching means is provided between the gradation control means and the printing means, and one side is provided with data switching means for performing printing in response to data from the gradation control means. The key control means is connected to the other end of the switching means for selecting data 1 or 0, and a signal for controlling the data switching means is arbitrarily written into one vacant bit of the memory means, and this is reproduced. A data rewriting device for a video printer, characterized in that it is possible to interrupt data sent to printing means by doing so.