JPH02233269A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a printer which can effectively utilize a cache by deleting a font based on information of a deletion preferential order. CONSTITUTION:In case of printing of a vector font, whether the number of fonts registered with a font table exceeds a limit or not is checked. In case of the excess, a pointer 22e is moved to the head of the table, the content of a deletion preferential flag 22b is removed from the table of a font information storage unit 22, set to alpha (constant), the content of a deletion preferential flag 22d of the font designated by the pointer 22e is set to beta (constant), and the alpha is compared with the beta. If the alpha is larger than the beta, the font designated by the pointer 22e is deleted from a cache 26. If the beta is the alpha or more, the content of the pointer 22e is advanced to next, and the cache control is repeated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a printing device, and more particularly to a printing device capable of storing data developed based on a vector font in a character cache and printing the data.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in a printing device capable of printing vector fonts, vector fonts are developed into dot patterns and stored in a character cache. At that time, if the memory of the character cache exceeds the allowable capacity for font registration, the font is deleted and then a new font is registered.

The fonts were deleted in order of oldest registration or order of largest data.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] However, in the above conventional example, when deleting a font, it is not considered which font should be deleted, so There was a drawback that the character cache could not be used effectively because fonts were deleted or low-quality fonts were not deleted and remained indefinitely.

The present invention was made to solve the above problems, and
An object of the present invention is to provide a printing device that can effectively utilize a cache by deleting fonts based on deletion priority information.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the printing apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, the printing device is capable of storing and printing data developed based on a vector font in a character cache, and stores deletion priority information used as a criterion when deleting data from the character cache. The apparatus includes a storage means, a setting means for setting deletion priority information to be stored in the storage means, and a deletion means for deleting data in the character cache according to the deletion priority information set by the setting means.

[Operation] In the above configuration, data expanded based on the vector font is stored in the character cache, deletion priority information used as a criterion for deletion is set, and the character cache is stored according to the set deletion priority information. operates to delete data.

[Embodiment] Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printing apparatus in this embodiment.

In the figure, 1 is a host computer that outputs print data and print commands from the outside, and 2 is the printing apparatus main body of this embodiment. The main body 2 is composed of a microprocessor including RAM and ROM, and has an interface section 21 that sends and receives data to and from the host computer 1.
, a vector font information storage section 22 that stores information related to vector font information, a dot development section 23 that develops the print font into dots, a data bus 24, a control section 25 that controls printing of the device, and data developed into dots. It consists of a character cache 26 for temporarily storing data, and an output section 27 for forming a permanent visible image on paper from the data developed into dots.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the table structure in the vector font information storage section 22. As shown in FIG. This table stores each piece of information 22a regarding each font. It is shown that when the character cache 26 is full, a deletion priority flag 22b is given to each font as information that serves as a reference for determining whether or not to delete the font. Note that rnJ of font n indicates that information regarding n fonts is stored in the table.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of a font table that manages registered fonts when registering fonts in the character cache 26, and is included in the character cache 26.

This font table has an address 22c that stores the address of the registered font when the font is registered in the character cache 26, and deletion priority information as reference information for determining which font to delete when the table is full. It is composed of two areas: a flag 22d for setting a flag. Note that rmJ of font m indicates that m fonts can be registered in the table, and when m fonts are exceeded, a process of determining whether to delete the font from the character cache 26 is executed. shall be taken as a thing. Also, at the end of the table is a null code (NULL).
) is included.

Explanation of the processing procedure (Figures 4 and 5) Next, the processing procedure of developing the font into dots and printing in this embodiment will be explained below according to the flowcharts shown in Figures 4 and 5. do.

Note that the processing procedures in the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 are programs stored in advance in a ROM included in the control unit, and are executed by the microprocessor.

First, in step S1 of FIG. 4, it is checked whether the data input by the interface unit 21 is vector font printing. The process here is to check whether the input font is stored in the table of the font information storage unit 22 shown in FIG. 2 mentioned above. As a result, if the vector font is not being printed, the process advances to step S11 to execute the printing process. When the printing process by the output section 27 is completed, the next step is step S.
In step 12, it is checked whether there are any fonts left to be printed. If no fonts remain, the process ends, but if they do, the process returns to step S1.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S1 that vector fonts are to be printed, the process proceeds to step S2, and the number of fonts registered in the font table shown in FIG. 3 is limited (
Check whether the number exceeds a predetermined number. In this embodiment, a state in which rmJ fonts are registered in the font table is defined as a limit (full state). the result,
If the number exceeds the number, the process proceeds to step S3, where cache control processing (processing for deleting a font with a high deletion priority from the font table) shown in FIG. 5, which will be described later, is performed, and the process proceeds to the subsequent step Sll. However, if the limit is not exceeded in the judgment process of step S2,
The process advances to step S4, and the dot development section 23 develops the vector font into dots based on each piece of information from the vector font information storage section 22. When this expansion into dots is completed, the process advances to step S5, and the font address 22c of the font table and the deletion priority flag 22d are
The pointer 22e is set to a new position. Next, in step S6, a font address is set at the position indicated by the above-mentioned pointer 22e.

Then, in step S7, it is checked whether the font to be stored in the character cache 26 (the font to be printed) has been designated as deletion priority by the postcomputer 1. As a result, if deletion priority has been designated, the process advances to step S9, and information on deletion priority designation from the host computer 1 is set in the deletion priority flag 22d of the font table shown in FIG. However, if deletion priority has not been designated, the process advances to step S8, and the deletion priority flag 22d of the font table is set to information on the deletion priority designation of the table in the font information storage section. The process then proceeds to step S10, the font is cached, and the process proceeds to step Sll.

Next, in step Sll, the output unit 27 performs the font printing process, and when it is finished, the next step S1'
Check whether there are any fonts left to print in step 2.

If there are any remaining pieces, the process returns to step S1 and is repeated, but if there are no pieces left, the process ends.

Next, the process in step S3 mentioned above will be explained below according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in step S31, the pointer 22e is moved to the beginning of the font table shown in FIG. In the next step S32, the font information storage section 22 shown in FIG.
The contents of the deletion priority flag 22b are taken out from the table, set to α (constant), and the process proceeds to step S33.

In this step 333, the content of the deletion priority flag 22d of the font pointed to by the pointer 22e is set to β (constant), and the process proceeds to step S34, where the values of α and β are compared. In this embodiment, a value is given to the deletion flag, and the priority of deletion is determined based on the magnitude of the value. Specifically, an integer of ゛゜1'゜ or more is given as a value, and the one with the smaller value is given priority for deletion.

As a result of the comparison in step S34, if α is larger than β, that is, the pointer 22 of the font table shown in FIG.
If the font pointed to by e has a higher deletion priority,
The process advances to step S37, and the font pointed to by the pointer 22e is deleted from the cache 26. The process then advances to step S38, and the font to be printed is stored in the cache 26.

On the other hand, if the result in step S34 is that β is greater than or equal to α, the process proceeds to step S35, the contents of the pointer 22e are advanced to the next step, and it is checked in step S36 whether the value pointed to by the pointer 22e is null (NULL). . If the result is NULL, the process proceeds to step S39, and the process ends without caching the font to be printed. However, if it is not null (NULL), the process returns to step S33 and the cache control process is repeated.

As a result of the above processing, in this embodiment, each font to be used has deletion priority information in advance, which serves as a criterion for deletion when the allowable amount of fonts registered in the cache exceeds the allowable amount. By being able to give deletion priority from the host computer
Cache can be used effectively.

According to this embodiment, by having deletion priority information about the fonts to be used in advance, it is possible to efficiently utilize the character cache.

Furthermore, by being able to set deletion priority information for the fonts used, it is possible to efficiently utilize the character cache.

In this embodiment, an example of control for deleting fonts from the character cache has been described. By using a similar method, character reference numbers also have deletion priority information, and based on that information, fonts are deleted from the character cache. It is also possible to delete characters that correspond to character reference numbers.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, by deleting fonts based on deletion priority information, the cache can be effectively utilized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printing device in this embodiment; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the table configuration of the font information storage unit; FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of the font table used for caching; FIGS. 4 and 5 are flowcharts showing the processing procedure in this embodiment. In the figure, 1... host computer, 2... printer main body, 21... interface section, 22... font information storage section, 23... dot development section, 24... data lotus, 25. . . . control section; 27 . . . output section. 6...Character cache,

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A printing device capable of storing and printing data developed based on a vector font in a character cache, wherein deletion priority is used as a judgment criterion when deleting data from the character cache. A storage means for storing information, a setting means for setting deletion priority information to be stored in the storage means, and a deletion means for deleting data in the character cache according to deletion priority information set by the setting means. A printing device characterized by: