JPH02265769A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To select and output a character set adapted for a character attribute in set resolution by providing a resolution recorder, a character set information unit, and a font pattern unit having character attribute unit corresponding to resolution. CONSTITUTION:A resolution memory 22 stores a plurality of resolutions indicated by an input signal for designating switching of resolution in a recorder having a recording mechanism capable of switching the plurality of resolutions. A character set information unit 23 previously stores attribute information of a selected character set. A font pattern unit 24 previously stores attribute information of a character corresponding to the resolution and a font pattern of a character set corresponding to the resolution. A controller 21 selects a font pattern of a character set adapted for character attribute with set resolution from the unit 24 based on the attribute information of the unit 23 and the resolution set in the memory 22, and outputs it to a recording mechanism.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a recording device such as a laser beam printer, an inkjet printer, or a thermal transfer printer that records information such as characters on a recording medium such as paper.

There was a problem in that the output result was different from the character attributes that had been set.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and provide a recording device that can select and output a character set that matches character attributes at a set resolution.

[Conventional technology]

In this type of recording apparatus, the resolution of the recording mechanism such as the recording head section cannot be changed, and therefore the character attributes of the character set are fixed. On the other hand, there is an increasing demand from consumers to print with different resolutions depending on the output purpose, and attempts are being made to switch the resolutions.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, even if the conventional device is equipped with a resolution switching function in the recording head section, the same pattern of characters will be recorded at different resolutions, which will be explained later in Figure 7 (B).
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for instructing resolution switching in a recording apparatus having a recording mechanism capable of switching between a plurality of resolutions. A resolution storage section that stores the resolution indicated by Jinkai 3, a character set information section that stores attribute information of the selected character set in advance, character attribute information that corresponds to the resolution, and a font of the character set that corresponds to the resolution. Based on the font pattern part that stores the pattern in advance, the attribute information in the character set information part, and the resolution set in the resolution storage part, the font pattern of the character set that matches the character attributes at the set resolution is used as a font. The present invention is characterized by comprising a control section that selects from the pattern section and outputs the selected pattern to the recording mechanism.

(Function) In the present invention, in a recording device having a recording mechanism capable of switching between two or more resolutions, a resolution recording section, a character set information section, and a font pattern section having a character attribute section corresponding to the resolution are provided. Accordingly, a character set that matches the character attributes at the set resolution is selected and output.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the basic configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, A is a resolution storage unit that stores the resolution indicated by an input signal instructing resolution switching in a recording apparatus having a recording mechanism capable of switching between a plurality of resolutions. B is a character set information section in which attribute information of the character set to be selected is stored in advance. C is a font pattern section in which character attribute information corresponding to the resolution and a font pattern of a character set corresponding to the resolution are stored in advance. Based on the attribute information in the character set information section B and the resolution set in the resolution storage section A, D selects a font pattern of a character set that matches the character attributes at the set resolution from the font pattern section C. This is a control unit that outputs to the recording mechanism E.

FIG. 2 shows a specific circuit configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

In this figure, 1 is a host computer as an information generation source that transmits information such as print data. A word processor, a personal computer, etc. can also be used as this information source. Reference numeral 2 denotes a printing device, which is composed of a plurality of constituent parts 21 to 28 described below. First, 21 is a control unit that controls the entire printing apparatus 2, and CPt1 (
central processing unit), 21a and CPυ2 as shown in FIG.
ROM that stores the processing program executed by 1a (
read-on memory) 211) and RAM for work assistance
(Random access memory) 21C. Reference numeral 22 refers to a resolution storage unit that stores the resolution, 23 refers to a character set information unit that stores character attribute information of a character set to be selected, and 24 refers to a font pattern (bit pattern) corresponding to a character code and a plurality of patterns thereof. This is a font pattern section that stores character attribute information corresponding to a character set that is a collection of . 25 is a page buffer;
Input information such as character codes, print position information, character set addresses, etc. manually input from the host computer 1 via the control unit 21 is temporarily stored for each page. 26 is the control unit 2
This is a frame buffer that stores pattern data developed into a pattern by the frame buffer 26, and the pattern data developed in the frame buffer 26 is printed (printed out) on a recording medium (generally paper) by a dot printer engine section 28. As the section 28, various dot recording methods such as a laser beam type, an ink jet type, and a transfer type can be applied.

FIG. 3 shows the detailed configuration of the font pattern section 24 shown in FIG. 2. Here, character attribute information and patterns of 2A, 28 and below are stored for 8 dot (dot) font, 2C, 20 and below are for 10 dot (dot) font, and character attribute information and patterns are stored. To explain further, 2A has a resolution of 240 with an 8 dot font.
The pitch information "3o" at dpi (dots/inch) is the same for 2B (resolution 300di of 8dot font).
Pitch information "37.5" at time p is stored. Further, adrl stores the start address of the pattern part of the 8-dot font character set. Also, 2C has 1
The pitch information "24" at a resolution of 240 dpi for a 0 dot font is stored in 2D, and the pitch information "30" at a resolution of 300 dpi for a 10 dat font is stored in 2D, and adr2 is the start address of the pattern part of the 10 dat font character set. Stored.

FIG. 4 shows the printing device 2 from the host computer in FIG.
10 examples of transmission data sent to
crl, [lfl, and [ffl] are codes indicating carriage return, line feed, and form feed, respectively. Also, [ec1300! ：+00d
This is a resolution switching command to pi. Therefore, in the data example in Figure 4, after printing "88" and starting a new line, the resolution is set to 30.
It instructs to switch to 0 dpi, print "CD", and perform a page break.

In addition, in this example, the character set information is only the pitch,
By default, the character set information section 23 in FIG.
cpj) is set.

Further, in the transmission data example shown in FIG. 4, no character attributes are set, so the control section 21 selects a character set that matches the character set information section 23 of 30 (cpi).

FIG. 5 shows a detailed configuration of the resolution recording section 22 of FIG. 2, and shows [ec] 300! of the transmission data 10 of FIG. shows the value set by . Resolution “3” in the resolution tank 40
00", set in which area of the page buffer 25 in FIG. 2 the resolution will be switched in the switching page field 41, and set the area in the frame buffer 26 in FIG.
The line to be switched is set in the switching line column 42.

FIG. 6 shows a detailed configuration of the page buffer 25 of FIG. 2, and shows values set by the transmission data 10 of FIG. 4. Set the printing code etc. to the code Jff15l. The character set address column 52 is set with the pattern part start address of the selected character set. In the example in Figure 6, the default resolution is 240 clpi.
First, the start address adrl of the pattern part of 8 dot font with pitch information of 30 cpi is set,
After the command to switch the resolution to 300 dpi, the pattern section start address adr2 of 1 Odat font is set.

FIG. 7(^) shows the contents of the frame buffer 26 when the character set is not switched, and FIG. 7(B) shows the printing result in that case. Here, the resolution switching line is the ninth line.

In order to use 8-dot characters even after switching the resolution, the output from "CD" on the second line becomes fine and small, and the character attribute set in the character set information section 23 is 30 cpi.
will give a different result.

FIG. 8(A) shows the frame buffer 26 when the transmission data 10 of FIG. 4 is sent to the printing device 2 in the embodiment of the present invention.
, and FIG. 3B shows the printing result in that case. In this embodiment, after the resolution is changed, 10 dat as shown in FIG. Since characters are used, "CD" on the second line will be a larger character than "AB" on the frame buffer 26, but in the print result, as shown in Figure 8 (B), the character attributes set are 2 output records compatible with 30 cpi
Since the process is performed after the row, "CD" becomes the same size as "AB'."

FIGS. 9(A) and 9(B) show the (:P) of the printing device 2 of this embodiment.
It is a flow chart showing a processing program executed by U21a. The CPU 21a of the control unit 21 is the ROM 21b.
According to the program shown in FIG. 9 stored in the RAM
The processing operation according to the present invention is performed while using 21c.

Hereinafter, the operation of this embodiment will be explained in more detail according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

The flowchart shown in FIG. 9(^) shows the flow of the processing procedure when data is stored from the host computer l to the page buffer 25, and the flowchart shown in FIG. The flow of the processing procedure when a pattern is developed into the frame buffer 26 and the data in the frame buffer 26 is sent to the dot printer engine section 28 for printing is shown. Figure 9 (A)
, (B) are simultaneously executed in parallel by the control unit 21 to improve the efficiency of data reception.

The processing procedure of the flowchart in FIG. 9(^) will be explained.

In step sal, one piece of data (transmission data lO) sent from the host computer lh) is read, and in step sa2, it is determined (checked) whether the read data is a page break code [ffl]. If so, proceed to step sa3, and after setting the address of the area of the page buffer 25 where data is to be stored from a to b, that is, the next page buffer data area, return to step sal, and in step sa6, which will be described later, set the address of the page buffer 25 from a to b. The process of storing data in area b of No. 25 is repeated sequentially.

If it is not a page break code in step sa2, the process advances to step sa4, and this time it is determined whether the above-mentioned read data is a resolution switching command ([eC] number),
If it is not a resolution switching command, the data is stored in, for example, area a of the page buffer 25 in step sa6, and then the process returns to step sal to start reading the next piece of data.

If it is determined in step sa4 that it is a resolution switching command, then in the next step sa5, as shown in FIG. , set the address of the storage area of the page buffer 25 at that time in the switching page field 41, calculate which line of the frame buffer 26 will be used, and set the calculated line number in the switching line field 42. Set 0 Next, in step sa7, the resolution set in the resolution storage section 22 is displayed on the printer display section 27.

Next, the process proceeds to step sa8, and a character set that matches the contents (character attributes) of 30 (cpi) in the character set information section 23 at the newly set resolution of 300 dl)i is added to the pitch information at 300 dpi in the font pattern section 24. 2B,
2D511. (See Figure 3) to make a selection. Next, proceed to step sa9, and step sa
Character set selected in 8 (10 dot font)
The pattern section start address adr2 is stored in page buffer 2.
5 in the character set address column 52 (see FIG. 6), the process returns to step sat, and data reading begins.

Next, the processing of the flowchart shown in FIG. 9(B) will be explained.

First, in step sbl, the data in area a of the page buffer 25 is transferred to the frame buffer 26 as shown in FIG. (
Expand the pattern as shown in ^). Next, in step sb2, data for one horizontal line is read from the frame buffer 26, and in the next step sb3, whether or not the read line of data is a resolution switching point is checked in the switching line column of the resolution storage unit 22. The contents of (
(See Figure 5).

If it is the resolution switching point, the process proceeds to step sb4, where the resolution of the dot printer engine section 28 is switched to the resolution set in the resolution tank of the resolution recording section 22, and the process proceeds to step sb5. If it is not the resolution switching point in step sb3, the process directly advances to step sb5. In step sb5, one line of data read in the previous step sb2 is output to the dot printer engine section 28.

In the next step sb6, it is determined whether or not this output data line is the last line of the page. If it is not the last line, the next line is set in step sb7, and then the process returns to the above-mentioned step sb2 and the next line is set. Start reading data for one line.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step sb6 that it is the last line of the page, the process advances to step sb8, where the dot printer engine unit 28 performs paper ejection processing, and the process proceeds to step sb8.
After specifying the next area of the page buffer 25, that is, the area b in step 9, the process returns to step sbl and the pattern development for the next page is performed.

In this way, according to this embodiment, the host computer 1
You can select the character set that best matches the character attributes at the resolution set in the output record.

(+) In this embodiment described above, only the character pitch is illustrated as a character attribute, but in addition to this, information such as character size is also stored in the font pattern section 24 in correspondence with each resolution. By storing it, it is possible to correspond to resolution switching even if multiple character attributes are specified.

(ii) Furthermore, in the present embodiment described above, character attributes corresponding to resolutions are stored in advance in the font pattern section 24, but this cannot support arbitrary resolutions. Therefore, the character attribute information section of the font pattern section 24 is provided independently on the RAM, and the value of the character attribute corresponding to the default resolution is stored, so that the character attribute information section of the font pattern section 24 corresponds to the resolution set on the host computer 1. By calculating the character attributes to be used and replacing the values of the calculated character attributes, it becomes possible to select a character set that matches the character attributes at any resolution.

(iii) Furthermore, in this embodiment described above, the resolution storage section 22 is made independent, but if this resolution storage section 22 is taken into the area of the page buffer 25, control regarding resolution recognition can be performed with a smaller memory capacity. It becomes possible to do so.

(iv) Furthermore, in the present embodiment described above, resolution switching is executed by a resolution switching command in the data transmitted from the host computer 1, but for example, a changeover switch is provided in the printing device 2, and the control unit 2 It is also possible to output a resolution switching command by connecting the switch to a switch.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to select and output a character set that matches the character attributes at a set resolution, so even if the resolution is changed in the middle of recording one page, the data will still be recorded. The size of characters can always be kept the same size regardless of changes in resolution, and recording quality can be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a specific circuit configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the font pattern section of FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of transmission data sent from the host computer in FIG. 2; FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of the resolution recording section in FIG. 2; FIG. is a configuration diagram showing the configuration of the page buffer in Figure 2, Figure 7 (^) is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of the frame buffer in a method that does not switch character sets, and Figure 7 (B) is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of the frame buffer in a method that does not switch character sets. Figure 8 (^), a plan view showing the recording results, shows the contents of the frame buffer in the embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 8 (B)
9 is a plan view showing the recording result in that case, and FIGS.
) is a flowchart showing the processing procedure for storing data from the host computer to the page buffer, and CB) in the same figure is a flowchart showing the processing procedure from developing the data in the page buffer into a pattern to the frame buffer and recording and outputting it. 23... Character set information section, 24... Font pattern section, 25... Page buffer, 26... Frame buffer, 27... Printer display section, 28... Dot printer engine section. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Host computer, 2... Printing device, 21... Control part, 21a--CPU, 21b... Mouth OM. 21c −=RAM. 22...Resolution storage unit, Fig. 2, Fig. 7, Fig. 5, Fig. 8, Fig. 9

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A recording device having a recording mechanism capable of switching between a plurality of resolutions, comprising: a resolution storage unit that stores a resolution indicated by an input signal instructing resolution switching; and attribute information of a character set to be selected. a font pattern section that stores in advance character attribute information corresponding to the resolution, and a font pattern of the character set corresponding to the resolution; and a font pattern section that stores in advance the attribute information of the character set information section and the resolution. A control unit that selects a font pattern of a character set that matches character attributes at the set resolution from the font pattern unit based on the resolution set in the storage unit and outputs the selected font pattern to the recording mechanism. A recording device characterized by: