JPH0116673B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention does not require a dot printer, particularly a character generator, to have a character pattern for vertically reduced characters, but rather edits two types of print patterns for vertically reduced characters than a normal character pattern. By overprinting each character that corresponds to the print pattern, the characters corresponding to the normal character pattern are 1/1
This invention relates to a dot printer capable of printing characters reduced in the vertical direction.

In conventional dot printers capable of printing reduced characters in the vertical direction, character patterns for reduced characters are stored in a character generator, and this character pattern is read out to print the corresponding reduced characters.
In describing the drawbacks of such conventional dot printers, the basic structure of a dot printer will be explained based on FIG. 1.

1 in the figure is the central processing unit (CPU) that performs various calculations and input/output control when the dot printer operates.
It is.

2 is an interface (I/F) that mediates the exchange of signals between the dot printer and the host CPU (not shown).

3 is a random access memory (RAM) that temporarily holds received data and edits print data.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a read-only memory (ROM) that stores programs that cause the CPU 1 to perform operations such as calculations.

5 is a character generator (CG) that stores character patterns.

A sensor 6 detects when the printer runs out of paper, when the cover is opened, and so on.

7 is a print head having pins that impact the printing paper for printing.

8 is a print head drive circuit that drives the pins of the print head 7 under the control of the CPU 1.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a carriage motor for moving a carriage carrying a print head.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a carriage motor drive circuit that drives this carriage motor under the control of the CPU 1.

11 is a line feed motor for feeding the printing paper.

12 connects this line feed motor to the CPU
This is a line feed motor drive circuit that drives according to the control of No. 1.

13 is a display element that displays the printing status.

In a dot printer with the above configuration,
The print head 7 has eight pins for dot printing arranged at equal intervals in a straight line as shown in Figure 2.
When printing a character having P ₇ , P ₆ ...P ₀ and consisting of 8 x 8 dots, the CPU 1 accesses the storage area of the character generator 5, reads the character pattern, and sets the pins of the print head 7. Prints characters corresponding to the character pattern read by driving.

For example, when printing the letter "A", the character pattern stored in the character generator 5 is a matrix-like bit array consisting of 8 rows by 8 columns of binary numbers, as shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, the column of binary numbers in the vertical direction is hereinafter referred to as a bit column. The 8-bit binary number of each bit string is stored in the same location of the character generator.
For example, the bit string 00111110 in the first column from the left is stored at a certain address, and the bit string in the second column is stored at a certain address.
01001000 is stored at another address.

In FIG. 3, the 8-bit binary numbers of each bit string are sequentially referred to as bit 7, bit 6, . . . bit 0 from the top row. Each of these bits
It corresponds to each of P ₇ to P ₀ and instructs pin drive. The pin corresponding to "1" is driven to print a dot, and the pin corresponding to "0" is not driven. Looking at the bit string in the first row from the left of the character pattern in Figure 3, bit 7 is "0", the corresponding pin _P7 is not driven, and bit 6 is "0".
and the corresponding pin P ₆ is not driven and bit 5
is "1" and the corresponding pin _P5 is driven, bit 4 is "1" and the corresponding pin _P4 is driven,..., bit 0 is "0" and the corresponding pin is driven.
P ₀ is not driven. The above operation is for the 1st column and 2nd column.
Column: This is performed sequentially for each bit string in the 8th column.
The letter "A" shown in FIG. 4 is finally printed.
In FIG. 4, a rectangle 14 indicates a character section consisting of 8.times.8 dot sections 15, and O marks indicate impacted dots.

When printing a character that has the same number of dots as the letter "A" shown in Figure 4, but is reduced in size to 1/2 in the vertical direction so that the dots partially overlap as shown in Figure 5. In addition to the normal character pattern shown in FIG. 3, the character generator 5 has two types of printing patterns shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, and can print characters corresponding to each pattern in an overlapping manner. The reduced characters are obtained by . First, after printing the characters shown in FIG. 8 that correspond to the character pattern shown in FIG. After feeding the paper over a distance of 1/2 of the pin spacing l, print the characters in Figure 9 that correspond to the character pattern in Figure 7 overlapping the printed characters in Figure 8, and print the characters in Figure 5. I am getting 1/2 reduced characters printed as shown in the figure.

According to such conventional dot printers, the character generator must have a special character pattern for reduced characters in addition to the normal character pattern, which increases the storage capacity of the character generator and increases the printer's capacity. The disadvantage was that the price was also high.

An object of the present invention is to edit two types of printing patterns for reduced characters from normal character patterns stored in a character generator, and to print reduced characters based on these printing patterns. An object of the present invention is to provide a dot printer that does not require a character generator.

The present invention has a character generator that stores a character pattern represented by a matrix-like bit array of binary numbers, and a plurality of printing pins that read the character pattern from this character generator and are arranged at regular intervals in a straight line. A dot printer comprising: first control means for controlling a print head drive circuit for driving a print head; and second control means for controlling a line feed motor drive circuit for driving a line feed motor for feeding printing paper. , one bit string of a matrix-like bit array of an ordinary character pattern is extracted from the character generator.
A first data holding section is used to sequentially write data column by column, and a plurality of bits constituting the bit string written in the first data holding section are divided into odd bits and even bits, and the bits are divided into odd bit strings and even bit strings. determining means for sequentially determining whether each bit constituting the odd bit string and the even bit string is "1" or "0" for each odd bit string and even bit string; a second data holding section whose contents are set for each judgment based on the judgment and the judgment of the even bit string; and a second data holding section whose contents are set for each of these judgments; a random access memory for storing the results of editing the first and second print patterns for two types of reduced characters, the first control means controlling the print head control circuit to store the results of editing the first and second print patterns for reduced characters; The characters corresponding to the first print pattern edited in are printed on the printing paper, and then the second control means controls the line feed motor drive circuit to print a distance corresponding to 1/2 of the interval between the printing pins. After feeding the printing paper by the amount of time, the first control means controls the print head drive circuit to add a character corresponding to the second print pattern edited in the random access memory to the already printed character. Print over and over again.
The present invention is characterized in that characters that are vertically reduced in size with respect to characters corresponding to the normal character pattern are printed.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on the drawings.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the structure of the dot printer of the present invention. This block diagram shows the CPU
The functions realized by this are represented by blocks as means. In the figure, the same elements as in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same numbers.

In the figure, 5 is a character generator (CG) that stores an ordinary character pattern, 17 is the first register into which the bit string of the ordinary character pattern is sequentially written from this character generator, and 18 is the character generator written to the first register. Determination means divides the bit string into odd-numbered bits and even-numbered bits and determines whether each is "1" or "0"; 19 is a second register for setting the contents based on these determinations; 3 is a second register; 2 for the reduced character from the output of the 2 register.
a first control means 20 for controlling the print head 7 and the print head drive circuit 8 in accordance with the print pattern for normal characters or reduced characters from the character generator 5 or the RAM 3; 21 is line feed
A second control means 22 for controlling the motor 11 and the line feed motor drive circuit 12 is a printing paper.

The operation of this dot printer will be explained based on the case of printing the reduced letter "A" shown in FIG. 8 of each bit string of the ordinary character pattern shown in FIG. 3 stored in the character generator 5.
Write to the 8-bit first register 17 for each bit binary number. First of all, the first bit string 00111110
is written. 8 written to the first register 17
The determination means 18 determines the number of bits 2 and 18, which is an odd bit string consisting of bits 7, 5, 3, and 1. (referred to as bits), that is, an even numbered bit string consisting of bit 6, bit 4, bit 2, and bit 0. The odd bit string is 0111 and the even bit string is
It is 0110.

The determining means 18 further determines whether each bit constituting the odd bit string and even bit string is "1" or "0". This determination is first made for the odd bit strings, and then for the even bit strings. Based on this determination, the contents of the 8-bit second register 19 are set.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the procedure for determining the odd bit string 0111 and setting the second register. In the figure, the first register 17 is shown as register A, and the second register 19 is shown as register B.
Register B can write 8-bit data, that is, a binary number, and the upper digits of the 8-bit binary number are sequentially referred to as bit 7, bit 6, . . . bit 0. At the start of the processing procedure, the bit string 00111110 is written in register A, and the contents of 8-bit register B are set to 00000000, that is, all "0".

Since bit 7 of register A is "0", bit 7 of register B is held as "0", and bit 5 of register A is "1", so bit 6 of register B is set to "1". , since bit 3 of register A is “1”, bit 5 of register B is set to “1”, and bit 1 of register A is “1”.
Therefore, bit 4 of register B is set to "1". The lower four bits of register B, ie, bit 3, bit 2, bit 1, and bit 0, are held as "0". Therefore, the final content of register B becomes 01110000. This corresponds to the first bit string from the left in the print pattern for reduced characters shown in FIG. The contents of register B are RAM
3 and stored.

When the processing procedure for the odd bit string is completed, register B is set to all “0” again,
The processing procedure for the even bit string is started.
FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the procedure for determining the even bit string 0110 and setting register B. This processing procedure is the same as the processing procedure explained in FIG. The final contents of the register will be 01100000. This corresponds to the first bit string from the left in the print pattern for reduced characters shown in FIG. The contents of register B are sent to RAM3 and stored.

The above processing is performed sequentially for each bit string in the 1st column, 2nd column, ... 8th column of the ordinary character pattern in FIG. Two types of first and second printing patterns for reduced characters shown are edited. The first print pattern in Figure 6 is edited from the odd bits of the character pattern in Figure 3, and the second print pattern in Figure 7 is edited from the even bits of the character pattern in Figure 3. It is something.

The first control means 20 controls the print head drive circuit 8 to drive the print head 7 based on the first print pattern from the RAM 3, and prints the characters shown in FIG. 8 corresponding to the first print pattern on the printing paper. Print on 22. When this printing is completed, the second control means 21 controls the line feed motor drive circuit 12 to drive the line feed motor 11 so that the line feed motor 11 is moved at a distance corresponding to 1/2 of the pin spacing l between the printing pins shown in FIG. The printing paper 22 is fed across the paper.

After this paper feeding is completed, the first control means 20
In accordance with the second printing pattern from the RAM 3, the characters shown in FIG. 9 are printed over the already printed characters in FIG. 8 to obtain the reduced characters in FIG.

These reduced characters are printed with dots partially overlapping each other, and are reduced to 1/2 of the normal characters shown in FIG. Furthermore, this reduced character is printed on the upper half of the character section 14. To print on the lower half of the character section, when setting the contents of the second register 19, the upper 4 bits of the second register are all set to "0", and the lower 4 bits are set based on the judgment of the judgment means 18. This is achieved by Furthermore, it goes without saying that it is possible to arbitrarily determine in which vertical position of the character section the reduced characters are printed by setting the second register 19.

As is clear from the above, according to the dot printer of the present invention, the print pattern for reduced characters is formed by editing the normal character pattern stored in the character generator. - It is not necessary to store the dot in the generator in advance, and therefore it is possible to prevent the capacity of the character generator from increasing, and therefore the price of the dot printer itself can be reduced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of a dot printer, Figure 2 is a diagram showing the arrangement of printing pins, Figure 3 is a diagram showing the printing pattern of the letter "A", and Figure 4 is a diagram showing the printed character "A". Figure 5 is a diagram showing the printed reduced character 'A', Figures 6 and 7 are diagrams each showing the printing pattern for the reduced character, and Figures 8 and 9 are diagrams showing the printed reduced character 'A'. 6 and 7, FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of the dot printer of the present invention, and FIGS. 11 and 12 are flowcharts showing the procedure of the determining means. FIG. In the figure, 7 is a print head, 8 is a print head drive circuit, 11 is a line feed motor, 12 is a line feed motor drive circuit, 14 is a character section,
15 is a dot section, 5 is a character generator, 17 is a first register, 18 is a determining means, 19
3 is a second register, 3 is a RAM, 20 is a first control means, 21 is a second control means, and 22 is a printing paper.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A character generator that stores a character pattern represented by a matrix-like bit array of binary numbers, and a plurality of printed characters that read the character pattern from this character generator and are arranged linearly at equal intervals. a first control means for controlling a printhead drive circuit for driving a printhead having a pin; and a second control means for controlling a linefeed motor drive circuit for driving a linefeed motor for feeding the print sheet. In a dot printer equipped with a dot printer, one bit string of a matrix-like bit array of an ordinary character pattern is extracted from the character generator.
A first data holding section is used to sequentially write data column by column, and a plurality of bits constituting the bit string written in the first data holding section are divided into odd bits and even bits, and the bits are divided into odd bit strings and even bit strings. determining means for sequentially determining whether each bit constituting the odd bit string and the even bit string is "1" or "0" for each odd bit string and even bit string; a second data holding section whose contents are set for each judgment based on the judgment and the judgment of the even bit string; and a second data holding section whose contents are set for each of these judgments; a random access memory for storing the results of editing the first and second print patterns for two types of reduced characters, the first control means controlling the print head drive circuit to store the results of editing the first and second print patterns for reduced characters; The characters corresponding to the first print pattern edited in are printed on the printing paper, and then the second control means controls the line feed motor drive circuit to print a distance corresponding to 1/2 of the interval between the printing pins. After feeding the printing paper by the amount of time, the first control means controls the print head drive circuit to add a character corresponding to the second print pattern edited in the random access memory to the already printed character. Print over and over again.
A dot printer characterized in that it prints characters that are vertically reduced in size with respect to characters corresponding to the normal character pattern.