JPH02297215A - Output device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To output a dot pattern of a desired size by using a pattern of a different size to produce the outline data if each memory does not store a pattern equal to that of a desired size and a dot font memory contains the pattern of a different size. CONSTITUTION:The sentence information is stored in a page memory 102 for each page, and a character font memory 104 to which the character information is supplied from the memory 102 contains a font cache 105 and a bit map memory 106. At the same time, a bit map font memory 113 and an outline font memory 114 are added to a character font memory 103. Then plural same patterns of different sizes to the character codes are discriminatably stored in the memory 113 and the cache 105. If both memories 103 and 104 include no pattern of a desired size and the memory 113 contains a pattern of a different size, the pattern of the memory 113 is used for production of the outline data.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an output device that outputs a sentence zero pattern created using a personal computer, word processor, or the like.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, when a printing device does not have a character font that corresponds to the character code of input text information, an error is displayed or the corresponding character part is replaced with a pattern such as a blank space. Alternatively, methods have been taken, such as notifying the host side of a corresponding character font or a counterpart that does not exist. The above method uses a dot font pattern related to unreleased 1J1,
The same can be said of printing apparatuses in which character fonts stored in other formats are also loaded on the MS.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] If there is no corresponding character font for a conventional printing device, even if there is a character coat of the same size or different size among the dot pattern fonts, it is assumed that there is no character font and then This 9.1JII improves the drawback of leaving the processing of the text to the host device or operator, but printing without the character pattern in that part, that is, with no information at all.

[Means and effects for solving the problem] According to the present invention, first, if there is no character font that corresponds to the human character code, it is checked whether there is a dot pattern font that matches the character code, and if there is, Then, by enlarging or reducing the dot pattern font to a desired size, the drawbacks of the printing device are alleviated.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of each printing section showing an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, +21 is sentence O information consisting of character codes, etc. sent from a host computer (not shown);
101 is an input data register, +02 is a page memory that stores input data in page units, 103 is a character font memory consisting of an outline font memory 114 and a bitmap font memory 113, and 104 is a dot memory, inside which is a font cache 105 and a bitmap font memory. It is composed of a memory 106.

Incidentally, the bitmap font memory II:I and font cache +05 store a plurality of patterns for character coats that are either the same pattern or have different sizes in an identifiable manner. That is, for the character code representing the pattern rAJ, 1.24X 24.2. :1
It is possible to identify that a pattern of size 2x 32.164x 64 (dots) is stored. Here, if the resolution of the device is R, then 1 24X24
When using the pattern, the output size (height) is π(
1 nch).

In S3 or S5 of FIG. 9, which will be described later, the character code is changed by comparing the specified output size and the L-written output size.
However, it is possible to determine whether the size is different or not.

Further, fonts are stored in the bitmap font memory 113 and font cache 105 in such a way that it is possible to identify not only the size but also the form (attribute) of the stored font, such as whether it is metallic or not.

The bitmap memory 106 is a memory for storing one page or a portion of dot data to be sent to the printing unit 107.

108 is a scan buffer part, 109 is a parallel-to-serial converter, 110 is a main control section, +11 is a readout control section, 112
is the operation panel section.

Further, FIG. 11 explains the printing section of +07 in more detail. In FIG. 11, 201 is a laser oscillator;
202 is a reflecting mirror, and 203 is a modulator. 205 is a polyhedral rotating mirror, which is rotated at a constant speed by the drive of a motor 206. 207 is an imaging lens.

Further, 208 is a photosensitive drum that forms an electrostatic latent image with a laser spot; hereinafter, 209 is a charging base;
is a cleaner, 212 is a developer, 215 is a transfer device, 216
218 is a recording paper, and 218 is a fixing device.

The operation of one embodiment of the present invention will be described below (see FIGS. 9 and 10).

When the text information 121 sent from a host computer (not shown) is stored in the page memory l port 2 via the input data register 101, the main control unit 110 sequentially reads out the text information from the page memory 102. 9 Figure 81
), based on the character code in the text information and the print size specification for that character, first the font cache 105
, and search for the corresponding character pattern (Figure 9, 32)
The font cache referred to here is a memory that stores fonts converted into dot patterns, which are font data from the outline font storage unit 114, in the order in which they are likely to be used. This is to prevent the print throughput of the printer from decreasing due to the conversion from an outline font to a dot font, which requires a large amount of time.

An example of an outline font is shown in 12UA. An outline font is a font (character) that is stored as (X, Y) coordinates of each point as shown in Figure 2, and when actually used, the (X, Y) coordinates of each point are stored.

Y) A method of creating a character outline based on the information and converting it into dots as shown in Figure 3.

Since only the outline of the character is memorized, the inside of the character can be filled in if necessary.

In the example of FIG. 2, the (X, Y) coordinates are stored in hexadecimal notation. One of the advantages of this method is that the quality of a single character does not deteriorate even when the characters are enlarged.

For example, if the dot font in Figure 3 is enlarged twice, the 4th
As shown in the image, the characters become jagged and of poor quality. On the other hand, in the case of the outline font shown in Figure 2, by doubling the (X, Y) coordinates of each point, you can obtain a double outline character as shown in Figure 5, which can be replaced with a dot. For example, a dot font with excellent character quality as shown in FIG. 6 can be obtained.

Therefore, it can be said that outline fonts are very suitable for printing devices that can obtain high-resolution and high-quality print output, such as laser printers as described in this embodiment.

However, one drawback of outline fonts is that it takes a very long time to convert from an outline font to a dot font. For this reason, the usual method is to convert fonts that are likely to be used in advance into dots and store them in a certain area of memory. This is the font cache. In addition to the font cache, in this embodiment, the dot font memory 1'13 contains standard character patterns that are likely to be used in advance. This dot font memory is composed of an inexpensive ROM or the like. Now, if the corresponding character pattern (same) is not found in the font cache, then the dot font memory 113 is referred to (S3→S4 in FIG. 9).

If the same character pattern does not exist in S5, the process advances to S6. At this time, if the character codes match but the character sizes do not match, a pulse is sent to the signal 130 and the flip-flop 15 is set (S7 in FIG. 9).

If there is no corresponding character pattern in the dot font memory, then the outline font memory +14 is referred to (FIG. M9 S6→FIG. 1O SI).

As mentioned above, a dot font of any size can be created from the outline font memory IN, so check whether the corresponding character code exists (82 in Figure 10). If it exists, send a pulse to the signal 131 and write it to the flip-flop. The program 115 is reset (FIG. 10, 85), and a dot font of a desired size is created from the outline font of the corresponding character code (S4, FIG. 1O). When the outline font memory is referenced (1st O
If the corresponding character pattern does not exist in FIG. SL), the main control unit IIO checks whether the clip-flop 115 is set (FIG. 10, 33). If it is not set, it means that the font of the corresponding character pattern does not exist in the printing device, so the dot pattern in the bitmap memory at position l of that character is made blank (FIG. 10, 86). Also, the corresponding character pattern or the missing bar is displayed through the operation panel 112. If it is set, that is, if the same pattern but different size exists in the dot font memory, refer to the dot font memory 113 again,
Read out the corresponding character code pattern (Figure 1O Figure 3)
7). An example is shown in FIG. The main control unit +10 is the first
In Figure 57', an outline font as shown in Figure 6 is created from the dot pattern in Figure 5.

Outline fonts fit the dot pattern to a certain X, Y coordinate system.

Read the coordinates of the outline and create it. Alternatively, the contour may be extracted first by logical operation. Next, the main control unit +10 enlarges or reduces the read outline font to a desired size (FIG. 10, 37). 7th
The figure shows an example of the enlargement/reduction. In this example, the outline font in Figure 6 is multiplied by 2.5 times. This is the 6th
The X and Y coordinate values of each point in the diagram may be multiplied by 2.5. After that, replace the outline font shown in Figure 7 with a dot font as shown in Figure 8, and use the bitmap memory 10.
6 and reset the flip-flop 115 (
Figure 1O S9).

The movements of the main control J1 section 110 described above are shown in FIGS. 9 to 1θ. The character symbol pattern developed in the bitmap memory 106 is then read out by the readout control section 111 and sent to the scan buffer 109. The scan buffer +09 constitutes a so-called double buffer 41J, and each buffer stores data for several scanning lines. Therefore, one of the data or the print section】07
While being read for transfer of dot data to
On the other hand, data for the next few scanning lines will be loaded from the bitmap memory 106, thereby increasing the printing speed of the printer. When the dot data has been stored in the scan buffer 109, the control unit 1.10 issues a print start command to the print control unit (not shown). Outputs 22. In response to this command, the drum 208 begins to rotate, and the magnet 220 on the disk, which is fixed coaxially with the drum 208, passes through the Hall element 214, thereby sending the vertical synchronization signal 123 to the main control unit 110. It will be done.

This vertical synchronizing signal 123 is transmitted to the printing unit 1 after that signal is received.
When dot data 124 is output for 07, it is output at the timing when printing is performed from the leading edge of paper 216. The T control unit 110 receives the vertical synchronization signal 123 and outputs a scan buffer read command 125 to the read control unit 111.

The readout control unit 111 reads data from the scan buffer port 8 in synchronization with the horizontal synchronization signal 126 sent from the sensor 211 of the print unit, and directly reads data from the print unit 107 via the converter 09. head data 124
Send it out as.

The dot data 124 sent to the printing section +07 is converted into a laser ON-OFF signal by the modulation layer 203, and scanned onto the photosensitive drum 208 by the polygon mirror 206 to generate an electrostatic latent image.

Shizu7ti M9f generated on photosensitive tram zoa-H
t is visualized by a developing device 212 according to a known electrophotographic process, and then transferred to a recording paper 218 by a transfer device 215.
is fixed and output as a hard copy.

[Other Embodiments] In this embodiment, an outline font is first created from a dot pattern font, and this outline font is reduced or enlarged and then converted to a dot pattern font again for use.

In this case, if the expansion is an integer multiple such as 2x or 3x,
Even if you don't change to an outline font once, if the font is doubled, you can read each dot twice.

The flowchart is shown in FIG. Before creating an outline font from a dot font in FIG. Do double. If the magnification is greater than 3 times in Sl of FIG. 12, the process proceeds to step 54 in FIG. 10 to create an outline font from the dot font and change the size.

It goes without saying that the functions of the present invention can also be made selectable by the operator.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the present invention, even a special pattern such as a user-specific dot pattern can be reduced or enlarged and printed in the same way as an outline font.

As described in detail above, it is an object of the present invention to provide an output device that can appropriately obtain a pattern of a desired size to be output from a cache memory, a dot font memory, and an outline font memory. .

As detailed above, the same pattern as the pattern of the desired size to be output by the present invention is not found in the cache memory, dot font memory, or outline font memory, but a pattern of a different size or a pattern of a different size exists in the dot font memory. If so, use that pattern to create outline data, scale it to the desired size, and set it to the desired size.
It has become possible to provide an output device that can easily output a dot pattern of size .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an outline font. Figure 3 is a diagram of the outline font in Figure 2 converted to a dot font, Figure 4 is a simple enlargement of the dot font in Figure 3, Figure 5 is an example of a dot font, Figure 6 is the fifth
An outline font created from the dot font in the diagram. Figure 7 shows the outline font in Figure 6 enlarged 2.5 times, and Figure 8 shows the outline font in Figure 7 converted to a dot font. 9 and 10 are flowcharts showing the operation of the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 11 is a diagram explaining the printing section 107 in more detail, and FIG. 12 is a flowchart for processing dot fonts. It is. 101 is the input data register 102 is the page memory 104 is the dot memory 105 is the font cache 106 is the bitmap memory is the character font memory is the main control section is the reading control section is the printing section

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An output device that prints text information consisting of character codes, etc. in dot patterns, which stores dot pattern fonts as character fonts and a form that represents character shapes using methods other than dot patterns. A storage means for storing a character font, and a character font corresponding to the character code corresponding to the character code is not stored in the character font stored in a form that represents the shape of a character by a method other than the dot pattern, and the character font corresponding to the character code is An output characterized by comprising a determining means for determining whether or not a different form exists in the dot pattern font, and a processing means for processing the dot pattern font into a desired form based on the result of the determining means. Device. 2. The processing means processes the dot pattern font into a shape representing a character shape using a method other than the dot pattern, converts it into a desired form, and then converts it into dots. The output device according to scope 1.