JPH024915B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a character output device that can output characters in an upright state and in an overturned state.

In a dot matrix type printer, a character pattern is read out from a character generator, and the read out character pattern is sent to a printing mechanism section for printing. The memory of a traditional character generator includes
Character pattern information in a format similar to the character pattern on paper is stored. In dot matrix printers, characters are generally printed in an upright position, but recently characters have also been printed horizontally. Note that characters in an upright state will be referred to as vertical characters, and characters in a horizontal position will be referred to as horizontal characters. A dot matrix format printer that can print vertical and horizontal characters includes (a) a character generator for vertical characters;
In the case of horizontal character printing, the character pattern read from the above character generator is rearranged for horizontal character, and the rearranged character pattern is temporarily stored in a buffer and then sent to the printing mechanism section. There are known devices that have both a character generator for characters and a character generator for horizontal characters. The above type (a) not only requires a high-speed memory for the character generator, but also requires a recombination buffer, which has the disadvantage of increasing costs. The type (b) above also requires two types of character generators, which has the disadvantage of increasing cost.

The present invention is based on the above considerations, and includes:
It is an object of the present invention to provide a character output device capable of outputting both vertical and horizontal characters, in which the structure of a character generator for outputting character patterns can be simplified and manufactured at low cost. Therefore, the character output device of the present invention has a plurality of character pattern storage areas storing character patterns, and also divides characters expressed by an m×n dot matrix into equal parts vertically (or horizontally). Then, one word of data consisting of dot information of a plurality of consecutive rows (or columns) in the equally divided divided area is transferred to the plurality of rows in the character pattern storage area corresponding to the character. A character generator 8 configured by writing to an address determined by the position of (or column), a character address register 7 that specifies a character pattern storage area, a vertical scanning address generator 3, and a horizontal scanning address generator 4, selection means 5 for selecting either the output of the vertical scanning address generator 3 or the output of the horizontal scanning address generator 4, and a scanning address to which the address selected by the selection means 5 is set.・Register 6, character address register 7 and scan address ・
The pattern data register 9 is set with the pattern data read from the address of the character generator 8 determined by the register 6, and the pattern data of the pattern data register 9 is selected by an external instruction signal. The present invention is characterized by comprising a pattern selection circuit 10 that selects data at a designated bit position. below,
The present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 A and B are diagrams showing vertical character printing and horizontal character printing in a laser printer, Figure 2
Figures A and B show the storage states of character patterns on the memory in the prior art, and Figures A and B show the storage states of the character patterns on the memory in the present invention.
Figure 3 is a diagram showing the vertical character printing of the character "SHA", Figure 4 is a diagram showing the horizontal character printing of the character "SHA", and Figure 5 is a diagram showing the vertical character printing of the character "SHA". Figure 6 A and B are diagrams showing the processing flow when printing horizontal characters. Figure 7 is a diagram showing the second embodiment of the present invention. Figure 8 is the diagram showing the flow of processing when printing horizontal characters. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a character output device using the character generator of FIG.

In some laser printers having a cassette feeding mechanism, the feeding direction of paper P is limited to the longitudinal direction of the cassette. Figure 1 A and B show vertical character printing and horizontal character printing in such a laser printer, and in such a laser printer, the paper feeding direction and the laser scan direction are perpendicular to each other. . When performing vertical character printing and horizontal character printing using such a laser printer, it is necessary to change the dot signal given to the laser scanner even if the characters are the same. Figure 2 A is the “sha” in the conventional technology.
2 shows the character pattern on the memory of the character "sha" in the prior art, and FIG. As shown in FIG. 2A, in the prior art, the character pattern on the memory and the character pattern on the printing paper are similar. The characters in Figure 2 A are 16×16
It is represented by a dot. Now, in Figure 2 A, divide each row into two, and write 1, 2,
3...If the number 32 is attached, the second
As shown in Figure B, dot information is stored in each row of the memory. That is, for example, dot information for partial rows 1 and 2 is stored at address 0, and dot information for partial rows 3 and 4 is stored at address 1. If you want to print the character "sha" vertically using a character generator as shown in Figure 2 A and B, first read the 2-byte line dot information at address 0, and then write each bit sequentially. When printing the next line, the dot information at the first address is read out, and in the same way, each bit is sequentially applied to the laser scanner, and the same operation is repeated thereafter. If a memory with a cycle time of 1 μs is used, the speed per bit will be 1/16 μ (62.5 ns). Assuming that the time required to move from one dot to the next in a laser printer is 500 ns, there will be no problem in vertical character printing even with the conventional method. However, when printing horizontal characters using a character generator such as those shown in Figure 2 A and B, first read out the line dot information at address 0 and send the 15th bit to the laser scanner. Next, it is necessary to read the row dot information of the first address, send the dot information of the 15th bit to the laser scanner, and repeat the same operation. In this case, the amount of data that can be sent to the laser scanner is 1 bit per 1 μs, and the horizontal length of the printed character is twice that of a normal character. To eliminate these drawbacks, high-speed memories such as bipolar memories could be used, but such solutions increase manufacturing costs.

FIG. 3A shows the character pattern of the character "SHA" on the memory according to the present invention, and FIG. 3B shows the addresses where the dot information of partial lines 1, 2, . As can be seen from Figure 3B, each of the addresses 0 to 7 has an odd number.
Dot information for adjacent partial rows is written, and dot information for two adjacent partial rows having even numbers is written in each of the 8th to 15th addresses.

FIG. 5 shows the flow of processing when vertical character printing as shown in FIG. 3 is performed. actual 1
The number of characters printed per line is, for example, 80 characters, but here, to simplify the explanation, the number of characters printed per line is assumed to be 1 character. When performing vertical character printing of the character "SHA", read the address where partial lines 1 and 3 of the character "SHA" are located, send the dot information of partial line 1 to the laser scanner, and then Read the address where rows 2 and 4 are stored, send the dot information of partial row 2 to the laser scanner, and then read the dot information of partial rows 1 and 3 again.
Reads the address where is stored, sends the dot information of partial row 3 to the laser scanner, then reads the address where partial rows 2 and 4 are stored again, and sends the dot information of partial row 4 to the laser scanner. send. If we name this procedure A, we can apply procedure A to the set of partial rows 5, 6, 7, and 8, the set of partial rows 9, 10, 11, and 12, and the set of partial rows 13, 14, 15, and 16. I will do it.

FIGS. 6A and 6B show the processing when horizontal character printing as shown in FIG. 4 is performed. When performing horizontal character printing of the character "SHA", the address where partial lines 2 and 4 of the character "SHA" are stored is read out, and the lower 1st bit of partial line 2 and the lower 1st bit of partial line 4 are read out. is sent to the laser scanner, then the addresses where sub-rows 6 and 8 are stored are read out, and the lower 1st bit of sub-row 6 and the lower 1st bit of sub-row 8 are sent to the laser scanner. Below, partial lines 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28,
The lower 1st bit of 30 and 32 is sent to the laser scanner. After the selection of the lower 1st bit of partial rows 2, 4, ...32 is performed, the selection of the lower 2nd bit, the selection of the lower 3rd bit, the selection of the lower 4th bit of partial rows 2, 4, ...32 is performed. , selection of the lower 5th bit, selection of the lower 6th bit, selection of the lower 7th bit, and selection of the lower 8th bit are performed. After the selection of the lower 8th bit for partial rows 2, 4, ...32, partial rows 1, 3, ...
...31 lower 1st bit selection, lower 2nd bit selection, lower 3rd bit selection, lower 4th bit selection,
Select the bottom 5th bit, select the bottom 6th bit, select the bottom 7th bit
The selection of the 8th bit and the lower 8th bit are performed.

Figures 7A and 7B show other examples of the character generator of the present invention. FIG. 7A shows a partial line of characters on the actual printing paper, and FIG. 7B shows the storage position of the partial line in the memory. Assuming that a character is represented by 16 x 16 dots, in this example, the character represented by a 16 x 16 dot matrix is vertically divided into four equal parts, and consecutive partial lines in the equally divided area are divided into four equal parts. dot information is written to one address.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an example of a character output device using the character generator of the present invention. It should be noted that the following explanation is based on the premise that a character generator as described in FIGS. 3A and 3B is used. In FIG. 8, 1 is a print data buffer, 2 is a microprocessor, 3 is a vertical scanning address generator, 4 is a horizontal scanning address generator, 5 is a switch, 6 is a scanning address register, and 7 is a character address register. register,
8 is a character generator for storing a group of character patterns, 9 is a pattern data register, 10 is a pattern selection circuit, and 11 is an output device. Print data buffer 1 stores vertical/horizontal designation information, kanji data, etc. For example, the number of prints per line is
There are 80 characters, and when the laser scanner in the output device 11 scans the first digit, the first digit kanji data is read from print data buffer 1, and when the second digit is scanned, the second digit kanji data is read. is read from print data buffer 1. Print data/
Kanji data read from buffer 1 is set in character address register 7. The microprocessor 2 generates vertical scanning addresses, horizontal scanning addresses, switches the switch 5, controls the pattern selection circuit 10, and so on. The vertical scanning address generator 3 is used for vertical character printing. For example, when the laser scans the first row, the vertical scan address generator is "0" when scanning the length of the first 8 dots.
, and when scanning the next 8 dots, generates "8". The horizontal scanning address generator 4 is used for horizontal character printing. For example, when the laser scans the first to eighth rows, each time the laser scans a length of two dots, the lateral address generator 4 will read "8", "9", "10", etc. 15" and when the laser scans the 9th to 16th rows,
Each time the laser scans a length of two dots,
The horizontal scanning address generator 4 outputs "0", "1", "2",
...Generates "7". The switch 5 is tilted upward in the case of vertical character printing, and tilted downward in the case of horizontal character printing. Scan address register 6 and character address register 7 are connected to character generator 8
This specifies the read address. pattern·
The pattern data read from the character generator 8 is set in the data register 9, and the pattern data in the pattern data register 9 is sent to the pattern selection circuit 10. In the case of vertical character printing, the pattern selection circuit 10 selects the upper 8 bits of the pattern data when the laser scan is on an odd numbered line, and selects the lower 8 bits when the laser scan is on an even numbered line. In the case of horizontal character printing, the pattern generation circuit 10 generates bits 7 and 15, bits 6 and 14, each time the line scanned by the laser changes.
Select 5 and 13, 4 and 12, 3 and 11, 2 and 10, 1 and 9, and 0 and 8 in order. The bit data selected by pattern selection circuit 10 is sent to output device 11.

In the case of vertical character printing, the apparatus of FIG. 8 operates as follows. In the case of vertical character printing, the switch 5 is tilted upward. When printing starts, the first
The kanji data of the digit is set in the character address register 7, and the laser scans the paper.
When the laser starts scanning the first row, the vertical scan address generator generates a "0", and this value "0" is set in the scan address register 6.
Character pattern data is read from address 0 of the character pattern area designated by character address register 7, and the read pattern data is sent to pattern selection circuit 10 via register 9. The pattern selection circuit 10 selects the upper 8 bits of the sent pattern data and sends it to the output device 11. When the laser scans the length of 8 dots on the paper surface, the vertical scanning address generator 3 generates "8", and the character pattern data starts from the 8th address of the character pattern area specified by the character address register 7. is read out, and the upper eight bits of this character pattern data are selected and sent to the output device 11. When the laser scans the length of 16 bytes (one character), the next kanji data is set in the character address register 7, the vertical scanning address generator 3 outputs "0", and the same process is repeated. It will be done. When the laser travels the length of 8 dots on the paper, the paper scanning address generator 3 outputs "8",
Similar processing is repeated. Also when the laser scans the second row, the vertical scanning address generator 3
generates "0" and "8" alternately every time the laser travels a length of 8 dots on the paper surface. but,
In this case, pattern selection circuit 10 selects the lower bit. When the laser scans the third row, the vertical scanning address generator 3 alternately generates "1" and "9", and the pattern selection circuit 10 selects the upper eight bits. Even when the laser scans the fourth row, the vertical address generator 3 alternately generates "1" and "9", but at this time the pattern selection circuit 10 selects the lower 8 bits.

When implementing the horizontal character embodiment, the apparatus of FIG. 8 operates as follows. In case of horizontal character printing,
Switch 5 is pushed down. When printing starts, the first digit of Kanji data is set in the character address register 7, and the laser scans the paper. When the laser scans the first row, the horizontal scanning address generator 3 first generates "8", and thereafter each time the laser scans the length of two dots, it generates "9", "10", etc. …generates “15” and also
Pattern selection circuit 10 selects bits 7 and 15 of the pattern data. The laser is on the 2nd line, the 3rd line,
. . . When scanning the 8th row, the horizontal scanning address generator 4 sequentially generates “8”, “9”, . . . “15”. However, the pattern selection circuit 10 selects bits 6 and 14 when the laser scans the second row.
When scanning the third line, bit 5 and bit
13. Similarly, when scanning the 8th row, select bits 0 and 7. When the laser scans the 9th row, the horizontal scanning address generator 4 first generates "0", and from then on each time the laser scans the length of 2 bits, it generates "1", "2", etc. …“7”
The pattern selection circuit 10 also selects bits 7 and 15. When the laser scans the 10th to 16th rows, the horizontal scanning address generator 4 also generates "1", "2", . . . "7". However, pattern selection circuit 10 selects bits 5 and 13 when the laser scans the 10th row, and similarly selects bits 0 and 7 when the laser scans the 16th row. Note that the present invention can also be applied to character displays.

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, dot information is supplied to the output device at a speed commensurate with the scanning speed of the laser or light spot, regardless of whether horizontal character printing or vertical character printing is performed. Moreover, it becomes possible to use a low-speed and inexpensive memory as a memory for storing character patterns.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 A and B are diagrams showing vertical character printing and horizontal character printing in a laser printer, Figure 2
Figures A and B show the storage states of character patterns on the memory in the prior art, and Figures A and B show the storage states of the character patterns on the memory in the present invention.
Figure 3 is a diagram showing the vertical character printing of the character "SHA", Figure 4 is a diagram showing the horizontal character printing of the character "SHA", and Figure 5 is a diagram showing the vertical character printing of the character "SHA". Figures 6A and 6B are diagrams showing the flow of processing when printing horizontal characters, Figure 7 is a diagram showing another example of the character generator of the present invention, and Figure 8 is a diagram showing the flow of processing when printing horizontal characters. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a character output device using the character generator of the present invention. 1...Print data buffer, 2...Microprocessor, 3...Vertical scanning address generator, 4...
...Horizontal scanning address generator, 5...Switch, 6...
...Scanning address register, 7...Character address register, 8...Character generator for storing a group of character patterns, 9...Pattern data register, 10...Pattern selection circuit, 11...Output device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. It has a plurality of character pattern storage areas storing character patterns, and has an m×n dot area.
Characters expressed in a matrix are divided into equal parts vertically (or horizontally), and one word of data consists of multiple consecutive rows (or columns) of dot information in the equally divided areas. a character generator 8 configured by writing the character into an address determined by the positions of the plurality of rows (or columns) in the character pattern storage area corresponding to the character; and a character address specifying the character pattern storage area. a register 7; a vertical scanning address generator 3; a horizontal scanning address generator 4; and a selection means 5 for selecting either the output of the vertical scanning address generator 3 or the output of the horizontal scanning address generator 4. , a scanning address register 6 into which the address selected by the selection means 5 is set, a character address register 7 and a scanning address register 7.
The pattern data register 9 is set with the pattern data read from the address of the character generator 8 determined by the register 6, and the pattern data of the pattern data register 9 is selected by an external instruction signal. 1. A character output device comprising a pattern selection circuit 10 for selecting data at a designated bit position.