JPH03127095A - Character generating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize immediate character generating operation when the operation instruction is given by performing the process of converting outline font into bit map font in response to the power source of the character generating device being turned on. CONSTITUTION:Normally, the character generating device is under the waiting condition immediately after the power switch of the character generating device is turned on and the power supply is started. The outline font stored in a storing means 5 is previously converted into the bit map font by using such waiting period and the converted bit map font is stored in other storing means 7. The outline font to be converted into the bit map font in the waiting period can be the whole or the part of the outline font stored in the storing means and the converting quantity depends on the capacity of the storing means which can store the converted bit map font. Thus, the printing operation is immediately carried out when the character generating instruction is given from a host device.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a character generation device, and particularly to a device that generates characters based on instructions from a host device such as a computer printer or a word processor printer. It is.

<Prior Art> There are printers that are connected to a host device such as a computer or word processor and generate characters in response to a character generation command from the host device.

This type of printer usually has to generate characters in various sizes depending on the instructions.

It is equipped with a storage device that stores a plurality of fonts. Furthermore, in conventional printers, the fonts stored in the storage device were often bitmap type (full dot type) so that high quality characters could be generated.

However, bitmap fonts have the drawback of requiring a large amount of data and a large capacity storage device.

Therefore, outline fonts have been attracting attention recently. An outline font is a font in which the outline (outer shape) of a character is given as coordinate point data, and the shape of the character is expressed in an outline format. Since the amount of data for outline fonts is much smaller than that for bitmap fonts, there are advantages such as miniaturization of the storage device and the ability to store many types of fonts in the storage device.

On the other hand, if the font stored in the storage device is an outline font, it is necessary to convert the stored outline font to a bitmap font when a character is generated. This conversion is performed using an interpolation method that interpolates between coordinate points using a function of quadratic or higher order, such as a beige curve or a spline curve, based on the coordinate point data. By converting an outline font using an interpolation method, a bitmap font of arbitrary size and orientation can be obtained.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, the interpolation method requires a lot of calculations for curved portions based on functions of quadratic or higher order, and therefore takes time. Therefore, there is a drawback that it takes time to convert an outline font to a bitmap font.

In other words, conventional printers cannot immediately perform a print operation even if a print command is given from a host device such as a computer or word processor; they first convert an outline font to a bitmap font and then perform a print operation. There was a drawback that the waiting time until printing started was long.

In order to shorten this conversion time and reduce waiting time, it is possible to install dedicated hardware (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-191192).
This increases the cost of the device.

Therefore, the present invention was made to eliminate such drawbacks, and the outline font stored in the character generation storage device is converted into a bitmap font in advance before a character generation command is given from the host device. It is an object of the present invention to provide a character generation device, such as a character generator, which is capable of performing a printing operation immediately upon receiving a character generation command from a host device.

<Means for Solving the Problems> The present invention provides an outline font storage means that stores an outline font in which the outline of a character is given by coordinate point data and the shape of the character is expressed in an outline format, a power switch, and a power switch. converting means for reading the outline font stored in the outline font storage means and converting it into a bitmap font expressing character shapes in full dot format in response to turning on the power supply and starting power supply; The character generating device is characterized in that it includes bitmap font storage means for storing the bitmap font converted by the conversion means.

Further, in the character generating device of the present invention, the outline font means stores a plurality of types of outline fonts, and the conversion means reads out an arbitrary outline font among the plurality of types of outline fonts and converts it into a bitmap. It is characterized by converting it into a font.

Furthermore, the present invention provides, in the character generating device,
The conversion means is characterized in that it reads out at least a part of the outline font stored in the outline font storage means and converts it into a bitmap font.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the character generating device includes a printer that performs a character generating operation based on a command from a host device.

Function> Normally, immediately after the power switch of the character generator is turned on and power supply is started, the character generator is in a standby state.

In this invention, while the character generator is in such a standby state, the outline font stored in the storage means is converted into a bitmap font in advance, and the converted bitmap font is stored in another storage means. I tried to store it in memory.

The outline fonts to be converted to bitmap fonts during the standby state may be all the outline fonts stored in the storage means, or only a part of them, and the amount of conversion depends on the bitmap fonts after conversion. It depends on the capacity of the storage means that can store the font.

<Embodiment> Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a control circuit of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The printer control circuit uses the CPU as the center of control processing.
A reception buffer 3 is provided to the CPU 1 via a bus 2.
, a program memory 4 consisting of a ROM and storing an operating program for the CPU 1, an outline font memory 5 consisting of a ROM and storing a plurality of outline fonts, and a RAM storing received data for one page. A page buffer 6 that can store output image data for one page that has been processed and is composed of a page buffer 6, a bitmap memory 7 that is composed of a RAM and that can store output image data for one page that has been processed, and a bitmap memory 7 that is composed of a RAM and in which data is written as necessary during data processing. A non-volatile memory that stores data that should be retained even when the device power is turned off, such as the type of font used, character pitch, number of lines on one page, and other print formats. 9. RAM for storing the converted bitmap font when the outline font stored in the outline font memory 5 is converted to a bitmap font;
A font cache memory 10, an electronic 11i consisting of
Various operation switches such as X switch and paper feed switch 1
1. A display device 12 constituted by, for example, an LCD, an output buffer 13, etc. are connected to display predetermined contents to be notified to the operator.

Further, data is provided to the reception buffer 3 via the host interface 15 from a host device such as a word processor or a workstation. Further, the output image data stored in the bitmap memory 7 is provided to an output circuit 14 via an output buffer 13, so that a printer engine (not shown) is driven.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the control circuit shown in FIG. Next, the operation of the control circuit shown in FIG. 2 will be explained along the flow shown in FIG.

In response to turning on the power switch in the operation switch 11 and starting power supply to the printer control circuit,
The CPU has page buffer memory 6, bitmap memory 7, work memory 8, and font cache memory 11.
The memory area constituted by the RAM is cleared and initialized (step S1), and printing parameters such as paper size are initialized (step S2).

Next, an outline font to be converted is determined from among the plurality of outline fonts stored in the outline font memory 5 (step S3).

As mentioned above, the outline font memory 5 contains
A plurality of types of outline fonts with different typefaces are stored. For example, Fourier (
Courler), Ellete, Time Roman, Herpetei Power (l(
If four types of outline fonts (elvet1ca) are stored in memory, you can select which of them the outline font is, what size (points), what thickness (stroke weight), and what type of outline font. Decide whether to convert to a bitmap font based on the slope (style). For example, you can use Fourier's outline font in 12 points, normal weight, and upright (Upr
light) to convert it to a bitmap font.

When deciding which outline font to convert,
Any one of the plurality of types of outline fonts stored in the outline font memory 5 may be selected, or all fonts may be determined to be converted. Alternatively, it may be decided to convert only a portion of any outline font. The method for determining the outline font to be converted is arbitrary.

Next, the outline font that has been decided to be converted is converted into a bitmap font (step S4).

This conversion is performed by the CPU 1 based on the program stored in the program memory 4, and the CPUI functions as a conversion means.

The converted bitmap font is stored in the font cache memory 10 (step 55).

As described above, a specific outline font is converted into a bitmap font in advance based on the fact that the power of the printer is turned on. This is a feature of this embodiment.

In this case, it takes some time to convert the outline font to a bitmap font, but in reality, the printer rarely starts printing immediately after the printer is turned on, so converting the outline font to a bitmap font. Even if it takes some time to convert to , there is almost no problem with printing operations.

After completing the conversion of the outline font to the bitmap font, the CPU determines whether or not received data has been sent from the host device (step S6). If the received data has been sent, the process of the received data is performed in step S6). This is performed page by page (steps S7 and S8).

Processing of the received data (step S7) means to transfer one page of data from the received data received from the host device stored in the reception buffer 3 to the page buffer 6,
The data for one page stored in page buffer 6 is
Generate print characters by processing based on the bitmap font stored in the font cache memory 10,
This is a series of processing for storing in the bitmap memory 7.

In this data processing (step S7), since the converted bitmap font is stored in the font cache memory 10 in advance, data processing can be performed immediately in response to data reception, and the outline font is converted to a bitmap font. No waiting time required.

Then, the processing data stored in the bitmap memory 7 is provided to the output circuit 14 via the output buffer 13, and the printer engine is driven to perform printing (step S9).
).

If the received data spans a plurality of pages, the operations in steps 86 to S9 described above are performed page by page, and the print operation is performed page by page.

<Effects of the Invention> As described above, the present invention performs the process of converting an outline font to a bitmap font in response to the power being turned on to the character generator, and as a practical matter, the character generator operates. Since this is done by using the time in the standby state when the text is not in use, the time required to convert an outline font to a bitmap font can be saved during the character generation operation. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a character generating device that can perform a character generating operation immediately upon receiving an operation command.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the operation of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control circuit of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1...CPU, 4...Program memory, 5...Outline font memory, 10...
Font cache memory, 11... operation switch,
shows.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Outline font storage means storing an outline font in which the outline of a character is given as coordinate point data and the shape of the character is expressed in an outline format; a power switch; A conversion means for reading out the outline font stored in the outline font storage means and converting it into a bitmap font expressing character shapes in full dot format in response to the start of the supply; and converting by the conversion means. a bitmap font storage means for storing a generated bitmap font; 2. In the character generating device according to claim 1, the outline font means stores a plurality of types of outline fonts, and the conversion means reads out any one of the plurality of types of outline fonts. It is characterized by converting it to a bitmap font. 3. The character generating device according to claim 1, wherein the converting means reads out at least a part of the outline font stored in the outline font storage means and converts it into a bitmap font. 4. The character generating device according to claim 1, 2, or 3 is characterized in that it includes a printer that performs a character generating operation based on a command from a host device.