JPH01142922A - Adapter for printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize a large throughput by providing a data compressor which compresses print data between an input and an output terminal without changing the code system of the print data and sends the compressed data out to the output terminal. CONSTITUTION:The control part 3 of the adapter for the printer consists of the microcomputer composed of an MPU 4, a ROM 5, a RAM 6, etc., and a compression LSI 8, a display part 9, a switch part 11, and parallel interfaces 12-13 are connected to its internal bus 7. Thus compression LSI 8 is provided so as to reduce the load on the MPU 4 and executes the algorithm of data compression. Further, when the LSI 8 processes the data, the data to be compressed are inputted to a register in order and then compressed and outputted in order to a register. This adapter is provided between a personal computer or word processor and the printer to shorten the printing-out time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of the Invention) The present invention relates to a printer adapter connected to a personal computer or word processor.

(Summary of the invention) This invention compresses data input to a printer.
This allows you to print out in a shorter time.

(Prior art and its problems) Conventionally, printers connected to computers and word processors have
Although it is equipped with a buffer to temporarily store data, it does not have a function to process the data, so it prints out the data as it is.

By the way, the data manually entered into this printer is -fm
This redundancy is particularly noticeable in the case of data displaying graphics, which is often longer than necessary. In this way, if the data is too long compared to the actual printing, the effective capacity of the buffer will decrease, and
The printout time also increased, which was a drawback in terms of usability.

(Object of the Invention) This invention was developed in view of the above points, and its purpose is to increase the amount of printouts by realizing efficient printer operation. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an adapter for a printer with the following features.

(Structure and Effects of the Invention) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an input terminal that can be connected to a standard print data generation source such as a personal computer or a word processor, and an output terminal that can be connected to a standard printer. , a built-in data compressor that is located between the input and output terminals and compresses the print data obtained from the print data generation source without changing its code system and sends the compressed data to the output terminal.

With this configuration, when the printer adapter according to the present invention is installed between a personal computer or word processor and a printer, the printout processing capacity of the printer can be reduced without making any changes to the personal computer, word processor, or printer. This has the effect of increasing the amount of time compared to the conventional method and reducing printout time at the same time.

Furthermore, with regard to the buffer built into the printer, the effect of apparently increasing the number of customers is obtained.

(Description of Embodiments) FIGS. 1 to 5 show embodiments of a printer adapter according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing its electrical configuration.

In the figure, the control unit 3 includes an MPU 4, r? OM5, RA
The microcomputer consists of M6, etc., and its internal bus 7 includes a pressure 11iiILsI8, a display section 9, a switch section 11, a parallel interface 12.
13 are connected.

This compression LSI 8 is provided to reduce the load on the MPU 4, and is dedicated hardware for executing a data compression algorithm. The algorithm of this data FEm depends on the connected printer, so normally only one type of printer can be connected to one compression 1iiLsl, but if two different compression I and 31 are installed, two types of printers can be connected. This allows connection of I+1, and by providing versatility to the compression LSI, two or more types of printers can be connected to one compression LSI.

Furthermore, in order to process data by compression (2) and Si2, the data before compression is sequentially input to the register, and the data after compression is sequentially output to the register.

The display section 9 displays the operating status and printer connection.

The parallel interface 12 is connected to an external computer 1.
and a personal computer 2 are connected as A system input and B system input, respectively. To the parallel interface 13, external printers X, Y, and Z each output one system,
Connected as 2-system connected output and 3-system connected output.

Connections with these parallel interfaces 12 and 13 are made according to the Centronics standard, and usually only one type of personal computer and printer can be connected to each.

The power supply device 14 is connected to an external commercial power outlet 15 and is used to drive the MPU 4 and the like.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the outer shape of the printer adapter of the same embodiment, and the display section 9 shown in FIG. 1 on the panel 16.
The switch section 11 is specifically formed.

On the surface of the panel 16, there are output selection buttons 111a, 112a, and 113a for selecting the output light of the PC which is input as the A system through the connector 17a, and output selection buttons 111a, 112a, and 113a for selecting the output light of the PC 2 that is input as the B system through the connector 17b. Output selection mttIb, , 112b, and 113b for selecting are provided.

Furthermore, indicator lights 91.9 corresponding to these output selection buttons
2,93,94,95,96 are arranged in parallel. Similarly, a power button 114 and an indicator light 97 for turning the power on and off are also provided.

The data from PC 1 and PC 2 whose output light is specified by these 5 output selection ports is compressed by the control unit 3 and then sent to external printers X, Y, via the connector 18.
Sent to Z.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the procedure for using the printer adapter of the embodiment. The usage procedure will be explained based on this flowchart.

First, PC 1, PC 2, printer X,
Connect the connection cables from Y and Z to the connector 17a, respectively.
17b, connect to 18.18.18 (step 301
).

Next, the power supply on the surface of panel 16! Press 0114 to turn on the power (step 302), turn on the power by turning on the indicator light 97.
This can be confirmed by the lighting.

Next, the printers X, Y, which serve as the output light of the computer 11 and the computer 2 connected as the A system input and B system input,
, Z are respectively designated by the output selection buttons 111a, 112a, 113a and the output selection buttons 111b, 112b, 113b (step 303).The output lights designated for each system are displayed by indicator lights 91-96. Here, if two or more output selection buttons for the same system are pressed at the same time, the input is simultaneously output to two or more specified printers.

Note that if another output selection button is pressed even though the output selection button has already been pressed, the designation of the output selection button pressed later becomes valid and the output light is changed.

Here, when a printout command is given to PC 1 and PC 2, data for printing is sent from PC 11 and PC 2 (step 30).
4) Data input to the control unit 3 in the printer adapter is compressed to reduce redundancy before being sent to the printer.

The printers x, y, and z designated for output light execute a printout after the sent data is stored in a buffer.

After the printout is completed, if another data is to be printed out (Yes at step 305), the process returns to step 303 and the output light is specified.

Finally, when all printouts are completed (step 3)
05 (No), the power supply 80114 is pressed to stop the power supply (step 306), and the power interruption is confirmed by turning off the indicator light 97, and the wet cropping is completed.

Note that the output light specified by the output selection button is remembered even when the power is turned off, and if the output light does not change when the power is turned on again, you can start printing without pressing the output selection button. .

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the printer adapter of this embodiment, and the operation will be systematically explained with reference to this flowchart.

When the power button 114 is pressed to turn on the power, the MPU 4 starts the program and performs initial processing (
Step 401), this initial processing is performed by the switch unit 11
The purpose of this is to import specifications from the program, set each output based on them, and initialize other variables.

Now the data is on standby (step 402).
, when data is manually input from the personal computer 1, 2 via the parallel interface 12 (step 402 affirmative),
These data are temporarily stored in the RAM 6, and at the same time, the data stored in the RAM 6 is sent to the compression LSI 8 for compression processing (step 403).

Next, the data that has been compressed and has reduced redundancy is compressed again.
After storing it in RAM6, parallel interface 13
(step 404). When the compressed data is output from the compression LS 18, it is immediately sent to the printers X, Y, and Z from the parallel interface 13. It can also be output to .

Note that the input processing in step 402, the compression processing in step 403, and the output processing in step 404 are performed by the MPU 4.
In order to make effective use of LST8, it is operated by multitasking. As a result, if the compression processing is more than twice as fast as the input/output processing, it appears that the processing is being performed by the top two compression LSIs.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of compression processing of printout data by the compression LSI.

In the figure, a printout command consisting of 21 monics represented by squares indicates one byte per square.

Figure a shows that the command to print out two kanji characters in succession was made up of 8 bytes before processing, but is shortened to 6 bytes after processing. This takes advantage of the fact that the print mode switching command provided in the printer remains constant until the next switching command is input.

In the figure below, when the dot space command that takes up the specified number of dots in the horizontal direction is repeated, this is processed and the printer head is specified. What was there was
After processing, it is shortened to 6 bytes.

FIG. C shows an example of converting a dot print command for repeatedly printing the same pattern into a dot row repeat command, which was 11 bytes before processing but was shortened to 7 bytes after processing.

When printout data from a personal computer is processed in this manner, the data length is compressed by about 20 to 30% in the case of graphic data. As a result, the apparent capacity of the printer buffer is increased by the same amount, and the printout time is also reduced by the same amount.

As a result, the operating rate of the printer can be increased by combining a personal computer and a printer, which were conventionally connected on a one-to-one basis, into a plurality of combinations as in this embodiment.

In addition, after compressing the data output from the computer using this printer adapter, it is also possible to return the data to the computer, and in that case, the storage capacity of printer data in the computer will be increased. It is something that

Note that this printer adapter can be connected not only to a printer used for outputting from a personal computer or a word processor, but also as a fax adapter.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of a printer adapter according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view showing the external shape of the printer adapter, and Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of a printer adapter according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the compression processing process, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of data compression processing. 1.2...PC 3...Control unit 4...MPU 5...ROM 6...RAM 7...Internal bus 8... ...Compression LS1 12.13...Parallel interface +7a
, 17b, 18... Connector X, Y, Z...
・Printer

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Located between an input terminal that can be connected to a standard print data source such as a personal computer or word processor, an output terminal that can be connected to a standard printer, and the input/output terminal, and that can be obtained from the print data source. A printer adapter comprising: a built-in data compressor that compresses print data without changing its code system and sends the compressed data to the output terminal.