JPH02269072A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To contrive a higher printing speed by dividing data on a graphic image into pieces of data on trapezoid parts, storing the data on split graphic images and data on characters, and generating bit map digital data according to the data stored in a storage part. CONSTITUTION:A trapezoid dividing means 1 identifies whether data are graphic images on characters. Data identified as character data is stored into a data storage part 2, whereas data identified as graphic image data is divided into pieces of data on trapezoid parts, before being stored into the data storage part 2. When the data on graphic images and characters for one page is stored in the data storage part 2, bit data is generated by a bit data generating part 3 according to the data stored in the data storage part 2. The bit data on the trapezoid parts and the bit data on the characters, generated by the bit data generating part 3, are transferred to a device 4 for transfer onto a paper. By this, printing time is shortened.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a printing device.

[Prior Art J] Taking an example of a conventional page printer, a memory area (hereinafter referred to as
A page memory (called a page memory) was reserved for one sheet of paper, and once the paper with all the contents of the page memory was sent out, the primary bitmap data was created.

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention 1] However, in such conventional methods, the next bitmap data cannot be created until the printed paper is output, and as a result, the printing speed is extremely reduced. .

Also, in the method of creating bitmap data, it is necessary to create bitmap data to be stored directly in the page memory from the data input to the page printer. Programs were highly hardware-dependent, and if the product's hardware was changed, the entire program had to be rewritten.

The present invention has been made in view of these problems, and its purpose is to improve printing speed while suppressing cost increases by keeping memory usage as low as possible. Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a printing device that allows a program for creating bitmap data to be designed without depending on hardware.

[Means for Solving the Problems 1] The printing device of the present invention treats figures and characters as bitmap digital data and outputs them to paper or a display.

In the printing device, a trapezoid dividing means divides data of one figure into one trapezoid, a data storage unit stores data of the figure divided into trapezoids and character data by the trapezoid divider, and the data storage unit The present invention is characterized by having a bit data creation section that creates bitmap digital data according to the stored data.

[For production]

The operation of the printing apparatus of the present invention will be explained.

As shown in the functional block diagram of FIG. 1, the trapezoid dividing means 1 determines whether the data is a figure or a character. If it is a 0 character, it is stored in the data storage unit 2, and if it is a figure, it is divided into trapezoids. Then, the data of one trapezoid is stored in the second data storage section.

When the graphics and character data for one page has been stored in the data storage section 2, the bit data creation section 3
Bit data is created according to the data stored in the data storage section 2.

The trapezoid bit data and character bit data created by the bit data creation section 3 are passed to the paper transfer device 4.

[Example] Details of a printing apparatus of the present invention will be described below based on an illustrated example.

FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

Reference numeral 11 in the figure indicates 12 microprocessors (hereinafter referred to as
cpu), 13 read-only memories (hereinafter referred to as r
om), 14 random access memories (hereinafter referred to as
It is a microcomputer consisting of a microcomputer (referred to as a buffer) and 15 Ilo's (hereinafter referred to as Ilo), and is connected to 16 paper transfer devices.

The 11th microcomputer has a data input/output function with the 16th paper transfer device, and has a trapezoidal division function.

It has a data storage function and a bit data creation function, and these functions are realized by operating 12 CPUs and manipulating 15 ILOs and 14 buffers according to the programs contained in 13 ROMs. .

Next, the operation of the apparatus configured as described above will be explained based on the flowchart shown in FIG.

Note that the bitmap digital data for characters is 13
It is stored in the ROM, and here.

ROM in which the characters are stored as character data
It handles the address and the coordinates indicating the printing position.

When this printing apparatus starts operating, it waits for input from the 16 paper transfer devices according to the program stored in the ROM 13 of the 11 microcombiners. (Step 1) When an execution request and character or graphic data are input from the paper transfer device 16 to Ilo 15, it is determined whether it is a character or a graphic (step 1) If it is character data, one character is stored. Go to operation (step 3), and if it is graphic data, go to one trapezoid storage operation (step 21).

In the character storage operation (step 3), it is determined whether the buffer is full. If it is not full, the process goes to step 5; otherwise, the process goes to step 7.

In step 5, character data input from the 16 paper transfer devices, that is, character addresses and printing positions, are stored in a buffer.

(Step 5) Then, it is determined whether all input data has been stored. (Step 6) If it is determined in step 6 that everything has been stored, go to step 7; otherwise, go back to step 2 and repeat the character storage operation or the trapezoid storage operation.

In the trapezoid storage operation (step 21), the figure data input from the 16 paper transfer devices is first transferred to, for example, a PIX
Divide into trapezoids as shown in EL (No. 18) pages 129-133. (Step 22) And,
Determine if the buffer is full. (Step 23) If the buffer is full, go to step 7; otherwise, go to step 24.

In step 24, one trapezoid's data is stored in the buffer. Then, it is determined whether all input data has been stored. (Step 25) Based on the judgment in step 25,
If it is determined that everything has been stored, go to step 7; otherwise, go back to step 2, and repeat the character storage operation or one trapezoid storage operation.

In step 7, the paper transfer device waits for the transfer to be completed.

Note that the operations up to this point after inputting data of one figure or character from the 16 paper transfer devices can be performed completely independently of the paper transfer devices.

When the paper transfer device completes transfer, it performs bit data creation processing (step 31), first determining whether the buffer is empty. (Step 32) If the buffer is empty, go to step 37; otherwise go to step 33.

In step 33, data is extracted from the buffer.
Then, it is determined whether the data is a character or a figure, and if it is a character, the bit data of the character is extracted from ROM 13,
The paper is sent to No. 16 paper transfer device. (Step 36) If it is a figure, 5 trapezoidal bit data is created from the trapezoidal data and sent to the 16 paper transfer devices. (Step 35) After this, the process returns to step 32, and steps 33, 34, and 35° or 36 are repeated until the buffer becomes empty.

Once the buffer is empty (step 32).

Determine whether all data input from the 16 paper transfer devices has been processed (step 37). If all data has been processed, return to step l and wait for input from the 16 paper transfer devices; otherwise, proceed to step 37. 2, the data input from the remaining 16 paper transfer devices is processed.

Here, the capacity of the buffer will be explained.

First, since each vertex of one trapezoid is represented by an xy coordinate system, the number of data items per trapezoid is six in total, including two types of X coordinates and two types of X coordinates. If all of this is expressed as a 16-bit number, it would be 96 bits, or 12 bytes.

For characters, since the data in the ROM is used, the address of the ROM where the character is stored and 1
You need a position to print the characters. The position where this one character is printed is also expressed in xyx coordinates, and is 16 bits each for x and y. Furthermore, if a ROM address is expressed in 32 bits, a total of 4 bytes are required for each character.

Next, if we consider a document with 2100 characters (70 lines) per sheet and underline all the lines, the buffer capacity will be approximately 17 kilobytes per page. In addition to this, considering that some figures are also printed, 30 kilobytes per page is considered to be sufficient.

On the other hand, if all the content to be printed is stored as bitmap digital data, and the paper size is A4 and the resolution is 300 dots/inch, the capacity required to store one page is 1 megabyte.

Therefore, the buffer according to the present invention can achieve the same function with approximately 1/33rd the capacity of a case where all the contents to be printed are stored as bitmap digital data.

Further, since the operation of storing graphic and character data in the buffer can be performed completely independently of the paper transfer device, the overall printing time can be significantly shortened.

Additionally, the buffer contains one trapezoid's coordinates or.

In order to store the address and coordinates of the character bit update data, it does not depend on the resolution of the paper transfer device, so the portability of the program is significantly improved and the efficiency of program development is greatly increased.

In this embodiment, the method of dividing one figure into trapezoids is as follows:
Although the method shown in PIXEL (No. 18) pages 129 to 133 was used, the method of dividing a figure into trapezoids is not particularly limited.

In this embodiment, the position where the characters are printed is also determined.

x,ylIF! However, this does not limit the expression of the position where one character is printed.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, character bit data is
However, the storage method is not limited.

[Effects of the Invention J As explained above, according to the present invention, characters and figures for one sheet of paper can be expressed as addresses and print position coordinates of character bit data in the former case, and as coordinates of the four points of a trapezoid in the latter case. Since the coordinates are stored in the buffer, the paper transfer device
The next page can be created even while the image is being transferred to the paper, and by increasing the memory capacity by about 3%, the overall printing time can be significantly shortened.

Further, since the contents stored in the buffer are not affected by the resolution of the paper transfer device, highly portable programs can be created, and program development efficiency is greatly improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of a printing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the printing apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the printing apparatus of the present invention. l... Trapezoid dividing means 2... Data storage unit 3... Bit data creation unit 4... Paper transfer device l l, l2, 13, l4, l5, 16... Microcomputer 'cpu'・ rom ・ Buffer ・ Ilo ・ Paper transfer device Applicant Seiko Epson Co., Ltd. Agent Patent attorney Kizobe Suzuki (and 1 other person) Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] a) A printing device that handles figures and characters as bitmap digital data and outputs them to paper or a display, b) trapezoid dividing means for dividing figure data into trapezoids, and c) the above-mentioned. a data storage section that stores graphic data and character data divided into trapezoids by the trapezoid dividing means; and d) a bit data creation section that creates bitmap digital data according to the data stored in the data storage section. A printing device characterized by having: