JPH02200458A - Enlarging process of printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To achieve miniaturization and making lightweight of a printer by a method wherein one line content character information is read from a character font keeping the character information to a printer buffer, and a mode table gives an enlarging command signal to the printing buffer to perform an enlarging process. CONSTITUTION:One line content character information is read from a character font 11 keeping received character information to a printing buffer 12 with a mode table. A mode table having a preliminarily given enlarging command signal sets character information in the printing buffer to an enlarge mode or a standard mode with the printing buffer with a mode table, and outputs only the character information set to the enlarging mode with an enlarging processing block 13 to a printing head 14 performing enlarging process to execute printing. In order to store temporarily the one line content character information read from the character font in the character buffer and to perform printing output by establishing the enlarging mode or the standard mode of the character information by the enlarging command signal given with the mode table, the printing buffer for storing the character information after enlarging process becomes a vital point.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION The present invention relates to a printing device having an enlargement function.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, with the spread of word processors, printing devices have become more sophisticated, and one of the improvements has been to improve dot density, and the print buffer size has tended to increase.

A conventional printing device will be explained below.

Figure 's3 is a block diagram showing the flow of vertical enlargement processing in a conventional printing device.

In FIG. 3, 31 is a character font that holds the received character information, 32 is a vertical enlargement processing block for vertically enlarging the character information, and 33 is a print buffer for temporarily storing the vertically enlarged character information. 34 is a print head that performs print output based on character information in the print buffer.

In the printing device that performs vertical enlargement processing as described above, character information is first read from the character font 31, and vertical enlargement is performed in the enlargement processing block 32. The vertically enlarged character information is temporarily stored in a print buffer 33 and output to a print head 34 for printing.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the above-mentioned conventional configuration, after vertically enlarging the character information held in the character 7 ont by the enlarging processing block,
Since the enlarged character information must be temporarily stored in the print puff 1, the storage capacity of the print buffer becomes very large, which has the drawback of making it difficult to make the printing device smaller and lighter. .

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and provides a printing device that can print relatively easily without requiring a large-capacity print buffer when enlarging character information held in a character font. The purpose of this invention is to provide an enlargement processing method.

Means for Solving the Problem In order to achieve this object, the printing device enlargement processing method of the present invention reads one line of character information into a print buffer,
In this method, a mode table provided in the print buffer applies an enlargement command signal to the print buffer to perform enlargement processing.

Function: With this method, characters can be enlarged relatively easily with just one line of print buffer and mode table, and if the enlargement ratio and dot density of the head improve, it will be possible to enlarge the printing considerably. This saves buffer memory.

EXAMPLE An example of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the flow of vertical enlargement processing of a printing device in an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes a print buffer with a mode table, which includes a character font for holding received character information, a print buffer for 12,141 lines, and a mode table for providing enlargement command signals. 13 is an enlargement processing block that performs predetermined enlargement processing based on the output of the print buffer with mode table; 14 is a print head that prints out the enlarged character information.

The operation of the printing apparatus having the flow of vertical enlargement processing as described above will be described below.

First, character font 1 that holds the received character information
1, one line of the character information is read out to the print buffer 12 with mode tape marking. In the print buffer with mode table 12, a mode table having an enlargement command signal given in advance sets the character information in the print buffer to enlargement mode or standard mode, and enlargement processing block 13
Only the character information set in the enlargement mode is output to the print head 14 and printed while being enlarged.

Here, the configuration of the print buffer with mode table is shown in Figure 2a.
Shown below. In Fig. 2, 21 is a print buffer for one line of a 24-dot printer capable of printing 60 characters;
Reference numeral 2 denotes a mode table that provides an enlargement command signal corresponding to the print buffer 21, and is composed of 1 bit vertically and 1440 bits horizontally.

With the above configuration, when the character information temporarily stored in the actual print buffer 21 is to be enlarged, an enlargement command signal of 0 or 1 is given to the mode tape reader 22 to enter the enlargement mode, as shown in Figure 2. Only character information is output to the print head while being enlarged.

As described above, according to this embodiment, one line of character information read from a character font is temporarily stored in the print buffer, and the character information expansion mode or standard mode is set according to the expansion command signal given by the mode table. Since the printout is performed by printing, there is no need for a conventional printing bag for storing character information after enlargement processing.

The enlargement processing block in this embodiment may be constructed of either software or hardware.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the enlargement processing method for a printing device of the present invention reads one line of character information from a character font that holds character information into a print buffer, and the mode table gives an enlargement command signal to the print buffer. By performing the enlargement process, 1
Enlargement processing of character information can be achieved with a relatively small-capacity print buffer that only includes a print buffer for a line and a mode table, and is very effective in reducing the size and weight of a printing device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the flow of vertical enlargement processing of a printing device in an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 3b is a block diagram showing the configuration of a print buffer with a mode table in the same embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the flow of vertical enlargement processing in a conventional printing device. 11...Character font, 12...Print buffer with mode table, 13...Enlargement processing block, 4...Print head.

Claims (1)

[Claims] The character information for one line is read into a print buffer from a character font that holds character information, and a mode table provided in the print buffer performs enlargement processing by giving an enlargement command signal to the print buffer. An enlargement processing method for a printing device.