JPH03256773A - Printing position control system of printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the efficiency of operating a printer by setting a printing start position for medium data based on information on a printing position for medium data stored in a storage device for printing start position. CONSTITUTION:If a command for indicating information on a printing position relative to a printing start position for medium data is sent from a host computer through an interface, a command interpretation device 1 interprets the command and stores information on a printing position in a storage device for information on a printing position 2. Next, if the medium data is sent from the host computer through the interface, a device for setting a printing start position 3 sets a printing start position for the medium data based on information relative to printing position stored in the device 2. After that, the medium data is, for example, is expanded into dot data in the bit map format, and then the dot data is stored in bit map memory with a printing start positions as a start point.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] Regarding a print position control method for a printer that allows the horizontal printing position to be specified by manual commands from a host system, the printing start position of media data can be specified via the operator. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a printer print position control method that enables highly reliable print position settings, as well as improves the operational efficiency of printer devices by enabling commands from a host computer to be performed manually. In a print position control method for a printer device that controls media data sent from a host device so that it is printed from a designated print position, a print position related to the print start position of the media data sent from a host device a command discriminating means for discriminating a command for instructing information; a print position information storage means for storing print position information of the media date determined by the command discriminating means; and a print start position setting means for setting a print start position of the media data based on the print position information of the media data.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a print position control method for a printer, and more particularly to a print position control method for a printer that allows a horizontal print position to be designated by manual commands from a host system.

In recent years, the functions of workstations, office computers, and personal computers have become more sophisticated and faster year by year. In addition, an increasing number of companies are building office information systems to improve productivity in office operations.
The workstations, office computers, personal computers, etc. mentioned above are connected by a local area network (LAN) with a printer used as a print output device and an external storage device such as a magnetic disk or optical disk used as a file device.

In local area networks such as the office information systems mentioned above, as the performance and speed of each of the above computers increases, printers that print out the document data and graphic data sent from the above computers also become more popular. , faster and more efficient operation is required.

[Conventional technology]

As mentioned above, FIG. 5 shows the conventional operation when a computer such as a workstation, an office computer, or a personal computer is used as a host computer to print out from a printer.

Host Computer
When printing out character data and graphic ink data using the printer 30 connected to the printer 20 via a network or connection cable, the user first selects the horizontal printing position provided on the operation panel section 31 of the printer 30. Operate the designation switch to designate a predetermined horizontal printing position. Horizontal print position data corresponding to this specified horizontal position is stored in a horizontal print position storage area 3 provided in a RAM (random access memory) not particularly shown.
It is stored in 3.

Subsequently, a print position designation command 31a is output from the host computer 20 to the command processing section 33 in the printer 30 via an interface not particularly shown. The command processing unit 33° transfers the print position data specified by the print position designation command 31a to the RA.
It is stored in the print position storage area 34 provided in M.

Furthermore, when the host computer 20 subsequently sends a media data command specifying a character, figure, image data, etc. to be printed via the above-mentioned interface, the command processing unit 33 processes the data specified by the media data command. The processed media data is output to the expansion processing section 35.

The development processing unit 35 develops the media data into dot data in a focus map format, and stores the media data in a predetermined location in a focus map memory (BMM for media data) 36 consisting of a RAM (random access memory) or the like. Store on page.

In this case, the expansion processing unit 35 reads the horizontal print position data stored in the horizontal print position storage area 32 and the print position data stored in the print position storage area 34, and adds the two position data. The media data developed in bitmap format is stored in a predetermined page of the bitmap memory 36 for media data, with the position (added value) obtained as a result of this as the origin.

Furthermore, overlay data commands are sent from the host computer 20 via the interface, including the outer frame, inner frame, and item names fixedly printed in the ledger for outputting the ledger. and command processing section 3
3 outputs the overlay data specified by the overlay data command to the expansion processing section 35. The expansion processing unit 35 expands the input overlay data into dot data in a bitmap format, and stores the overlay data bitmap memory (overlay data BMM) 3 consisting of a RAM (random access memory) or the like.
Output to 7. In this case, the expansion processing unit 35 reads the print position data stored in the print position storage area 34, and converts the bit map image data developed using the print position data as the origin into the overlay data via) map memory. 37 predetermined pages.

The bitmap format media data stored in the media bitmap memory 36 and the bitmap format overlay data stored in the overlay data bitmap memory 37 are output from the printer body (not shown). The information is sent to the printer mechanism through the interface, and is printed out externally by the printer mechanism. In this printout,
When bitmap format media data and bitmap format overlay data are stored in the same page of the media data bit map memory 36 and the overlay data bit map memory 37, the correspondence between the media data and the overlay data The logical operation of OR is performed on the dot data, and the bit image data obtained as a result of the logical operation is printed out by the printer body.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

As described above, conventionally, the horizontal printing position data used to calculate the origin when developing media data into dot data in a focus map format has been specified by an operator's switch operation.

In this way, the above-mentioned horizontal printing position requires an operator's operation, which causes a time loss in operation.Furthermore, since the horizontal printing position is manually operated, the setting may be incorrectly set, which has the drawback of low reliability. had.

The present invention makes it possible to specify the print start position of the media data by inputting a command from a host computer without involving an operator, thereby improving the operational efficiency of the printer device and ensuring highly reliable print position setting. The purpose of this invention is to provide a possible printing position control method for printers.

[Means to solve the problem]

FIG. 1 is a diagram explaining the principle of the present invention.

The present invention deals with characters sent from a host device.

The present invention is applied to a print position control method of a printer device that controls media data such as graphics or image data to be printed out from a designated print position.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a command discriminating means, which selects a command for printing related to the print start position of the media data from among a plurality of commands sent from a host computer or other host device via an interface (not particularly shown). Determine the command that indicates location information.

Further, 2 is a print position information storage means, which stores the print position information of the media data discriminated by the command discriminator 1. The print position information storage means 2 is comprised of, for example, a register or a semiconductor memory such as a RAM (random access memory).

Further, reference numeral 3 denotes a print start position setting means, which sets a print start position of the media data based on the print position information of the media data stored in the print start position storage means 2.

This setting of the print start position is performed, for example, by adding or subtracting the printing reference position specified by a command also sent from the host device and the print position information.

For example, in the case of form printing, the above media data is ORed with overlay data that is determined from form borders, fixed item names, etc., and the resulting print data is used by the printer's printing mechanism. Printed out depending on the copy.

[For production]

In the present invention, when a command instructing print position information related to the print start position of media data is transmitted from a host device via an interface, the command determining means 1 determines the command and prints the print position information. It is stored in the position information storage means 2.

Then, when media data is transmitted from the above-mentioned device via the interface, the print start position setting means 3 determines the position of the above-mentioned media data based on the print position information stored in the print position information storage means 2. Set the print start position.

Then, the media data is expanded into, for example, dot data in a bitmap format, and stored in a bitmap memory starting from the print start position.

In this way, the print start position of media data can be freely set by transmitting a command from a higher-level device such as a host computer without the operator having to operate a switch on the operation panel.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(2) Figure 2 shows the countries in which the system is configured in one embodiment of the present invention.

In this figure, blocks that are the same as those shown in FIG. 4 described above are given the same reference numerals.

In the figure, a host computer 120 is a computer such as a general-purpose computer, a workstation, an office computer, or a personal computer, which is connected to a printer 130 shown in the figure through an interface not particularly shown. 120 and printer 130 are connected, for example, via a network or a dedicated cable.

In the figure, only the circuit configuration of the controller (control unit) of the printer 130 is illustrated, and the configuration of the printer mechanism unit that performs actual print output is not particularly illustrated.

For example, the printer mechanism section uses an electrophotographic printing method to print 1
Prints one page at a time.

Next, in response to a command sent from the host computer 20 via an interface (not particularly shown), the printer control unit 130, which is shown surrounded by a dashed line in the figure, receives media data specified by the command. Alternatively, it is a printer control unit that develops overlay data into dot data in bitmap format, including a command processing unit 133, a development processing unit 35, and a bit map memory for media data (BMM for media data).
36, bitmap memory for overlay data (BMM for overlay data) 37, and horizontal print position storage area 3
2. The RAM (Random Access Memory), which has the print position storage area 34, etc., must be used.

The command processing unit 133 receives commands such as a print position designation command 133a, an overlay data command 133b, a media data command 133c, and a print position designation command 133d sent from the host computer 120 via the above interface. It is a block that performs processing according to the command input manually.

That is, upon receiving the print position designation command 133a, the designated print position data is stored in the print position storage area 34. Also, overlay data command 1
33b, it outputs the specified overlay data to the expansion processing section 35, and further outputs an expansion instruction signal instructing to convert the overlay data into dot data in bitmap format. Furthermore, when a media data command 133C is received, the specified media data and an expansion instruction to convert the media data into bitmap format dot data are provided, as in the case of the overlay data command 13b. Output a signal.

Further, this is a feature of the present invention, when a horizontal print position designation command 133d is received from the host computer 120, the specified horizontal print position data is stored in the horizontal print position storage area 32.

That is, in this way, the horizontal print position designation command 133 is sent from the host computer 120 to the command processing unit 133 in the printer control unit 130 via the interface.
By transmitting d, the host computer can determine the horizontal printing position necessary to set the origin position when storing the media data developed in bitmap format in the media data BMM 36 without operator operation]20 It can be set with .

The expansion processing unit 35 expands the media data and overlay data sent from the command processing unit 133 into bitmap format dot data, and stores the data in a bitmap memory 36 for media data and a bitmap memory 36 for overlay data, respectively. It is stored in the memory 37. Also,
When storing the media data developed in the bitmap format in the media data bit map memory 36, the development processing unit 35 sets the development origin on the media data bit map memory 36 to the horizontal printing position. It is obtained by adding the horizontal print position data stored in the storage area 32 and the print position data stored in the print position storage area 34. In addition, the overlay data developed in the above focus map format can be used as a BMM for overlay data.
37, the development origin is calculated based on the print position data stored in the print position storage area 34.

(motion) Next, the operation of the embodiment having the above configuration will be explained.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the printing method in this embodiment.

In the figure, 200 indicates printing paper, and 201 indicated by a black star (★) is the printing position specified by the print designation command.

This printing position is represented by orthogonal X-Y dot coordinates with the origin (0°0) at the upper left corner of the printing paper. Further, a black circle 202 indicates the origin of overlay data development, and a white triangle mark (△) 203 indicates the origin of media data development.

As shown in the figure, the expansion origin 202 of overlay data
And the media data development origin 203 is the print position 201
is set based on. In the example shown in the figure, the development origin 202 of overlay data has the same Y coordinate as the print position, and its X coordinate has the same X coordinate as the print position 201.
This is the position moved from the coordinates in the negative direction of α dot and X. This α dot is, for example, a predetermined default value or a value set by the operator. Furthermore, the development origin 203 of the media data is the development origin 2 of the printing position.
The value is obtained by adding horizontal printing position data to 03.

Therefore, the development origin of media data varies depending on the designated horizontal printing position.

Next, in response to a command related to print output transmitted from the host computer 120, the printer control unit 1
The print output control process performed by the printer 30 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

When the command processing unit 133 receives a command via an interface (not particularly shown), it first determines whether the command is a media data command 133c or not.
If not, then the expansion processing unit 35 determines whether or not the media data or overlay data is currently being expanded into bitmap format dot data, and determines whether there is undeveloped data. S2), if the expansion is not in progress, then it is determined whether there are any remaining pages to be printed out in the BMM 36 for media data or 8MM 37 for overlay data (whether there are any unprinted pages or not). (S3).

If no data to be printed remains in either BMM 36, 37, it is determined whether the next received command is the print position designation command 133a (S4), and the print position designation command 133a If so, the print position data specified by the command is stored in the print position storage area 34 (S5).

On the other hand, if the print position designation command 133a is not specified in the above process S4, then the horizontal print position command 1
33d is transmitted (36), and if it is the horizontal print position designation command 133d, the horizontal print position data designated by the command is stored in the horizontal print position storage area 34 (S7).

With the above operation, when the media data or overlay data to be printed has not been developed into dot data in bitmap format, and the printout has not been performed, such as when starting up the system, the host computer 120 When a print position designation command 133a or horizontal print position designation command 133d is sent to the printer control unit 130, the print position data or horizontal print position designation command 133d specified by the print designation command 133a is sent.
The horizontal print position data specified by is stored in the print position storage area 32 or the horizontal print position storage area 32, respectively.

On the other hand, in the above process S6, the horizontal print designation command 133d
If it is determined that it is not the overlay data command 133b, then the preset α value is subtracted from the Y coordinate of the print position data stored in the print position storage area 34, and the data is converted into dot data in bitmap format. Calculate the dot coordinates of the expansion origin when storing the expanded dot data in the overlay data BMM 37 (S8), and create (draw) the dot data of the overlay data in the overlay data BMM 37 with the expansion origin as the starting point.
(S9).

As a result of the above operation, when there is no undeveloped data and no unprinted pages, when the host computer 120 sends the overlay data command 133b to the printer control unit 130 via the interface, the overlay data command 133b specifies the The developed overlay data is immediately developed into dot data in a bitmap format by the development processing section 35, and the developed dot data is created (drawn) in the relevant area of the relevant page in the overlay data data 58MM37.

The overlay data created in the overlay data 8MM 37 is generated in response to a print instruction command transmitted from the host computer 120 or a print instruction command instructed by the operator operating a predetermined switch on the operation panel 134. Then, an OR operation is performed with the media data of the corresponding page stored in the media data BMM 36, and the image data obtained by the OR operation is printed out to the outside by the printing mechanism section page by page.

On the other hand, in the above process S1, the media data command 133
If c, then the print position data stored in the print position storage area 34 and the horizontal print position data stored in the horizontal print position storage area 32 are added, and the addition result is added using the above media data command. When the specified media data is expanded and stored in bitmap format dot data in the media data BMM 36, the expansion origin (the storage start position of the above dot data) should be set (310), and the specified media data is converted into each character. Using a font memory, etc. that stores the dot image data of
34 (Sll).

As a result of the above operation, when the host computer 120 transmits the media data command 133c to the printer control unit 130 via the interface, the dot data expanded into a bitmap format of the media data specified by the media data command is transferred to the printer controller 130 in the above process S1.
Starting from the expansion origin set as 0, the data is loaded into the corresponding area of the corresponding page of the media data BMM 36.

On the other hand, in the above process S2, if the expansion processing unit 35 has not expanded all the media data to be printed into bitmap format dot data and stored it in the media data 8MM 36 (No), the expansion processing unit 35 However, currently the media data is expanded to bitmap format dot data,
It is determined whether or not the expansion operation to create (draw) the media data BMM 36 is being performed (512), and if the expansion operation is not being performed, an instruction signal is output to the expansion processing unit 35 to start the expansion operation. The expansion processing unit 35
is activated to perform the above expansion operation (S13), and the process returns to the above process S2 again. On the other hand, if the expansion processing section 35 is in the process of performing the expansion operation in the process 312, the process returns to the process S2.

With the above operation, the command processing unit 133 receives the print position designation command 133a from the host computer 120,
When the horizontal print position designation command 133d1 or the overlay data command 133b is received,
In one or more page buffers in the expansion processing unit 35 (
All the media data stored in the buffer (which stores one page's worth of image data) is developed into bitmap format dot data, and the media data BMM36
is stored (drawn) on a predetermined page.

Then, as described above, when the expansion processing unit 35 expands all the media data stored in the page buffer into bitmap format dot data and stores it in the media data BMM 36, the process S3 is performed. , determine whether the printing mechanism section prints out all the image data developed into bitmap format dot data stored in the media data BMM 36;
If all of the above image data has not been printed out yet, then it is determined whether the printing mechanism section is currently printing out form data etc. obtained by ORing the above image data and the above overlay data. If the print output is not being performed, a signal is output to the printing mechanism unit instructing the print output to be performed (S15).

After giving the above instruction, the process returns to the process S3 again.

On the other hand, if the printing mechanism section is in the process of performing the printout in the process S14, the process immediately returns to the process S3.

By the above operation, the command processing unit 133 outputs the print position designation command 133a, horizontal print position designation command 133d,
, or when the image data command 133C is received, the expansion processing unit 35 expands all the unexpanded media data stored in the page buffer into bitmap format dot data and sends it to the media data BMM 3.
6 is stored (drawn) in BMM for media data.
After all the media data including the media data expanded into dot data stored in 36 is outputted by the printing mechanism section onto a predetermined printing paper, processing corresponding to each of the above commands is performed (S5.37. 38-S9).

This means that when the horizontal print position designation command 133d is received, the print start position of print data (data obtained by ORing media data and overlay data) received after receiving the command is specified as the horizontal print position. This is to change the horizontal printing position according to the newly specified horizontal printing position by the command 133d.

Further, the print position designation command 133a is also a command for changing the printing start position of print data, similar to the horizontal print position designation command 133d described above, and therefore, like the horizontal print designation command 133d described above, all undeveloped print data is , after printing, the print position data newly specified by the command is stored in the print position storage area 34.

Furthermore, since the overlay data command 133b is a command that specifies overlay data that should be avoided based on the frame lines such as the outer frame and inner frame that determine the format of the form, and item names, the overlay data command 133b is The media data is not in the form specified by the newly received overlay data command 133b, but in the form specified by the overlay data command 133b received before the media data command 133a was received. This is for printing out.

In the above embodiment, the origin of the development of media data is specified by horizontal printing position, which is displacement information in units of dots in the χ direction, with respect to the print position data (reference origin) that serves as a reference. Not only in the X direction but also in the Y direction
By specifying directional displacement information, it is also possible to set the development origin of media data.

Further, the development origin of the media data may be set in conjunction with an operator's operation.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, the printing start position of media data can be freely determined by sending a command from a host computer or other host device to a printer device without the operator having to operate a switch on an operation panel as in the past. Since the settings can be made, the operational efficiency of the printer device is improved, human operational errors can be prevented, and the reliability of print position designation is improved.

Figure 2 shows the system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 shows how to set the development origin (print start position) of overlay data and media data; Figure 4 shows printer control. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating processing of expanding media data and overlay data into a bit map memory performed by the printer section. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a print control system of a conventional printer.

Engineering...Command discrimination means, 2...Print position information storage means, 3...Printing start position setting means.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram explaining the principle of the present invention,

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] In a print position control method for a printer device that controls media data sent from a host device so that it is printed out from a designated print position, the media data sent from the host device a command discriminating means (1) for discriminating a command instructing print position information related to a print start position of the media; and a print position information storage means (2) for storing the print position information of the media data discriminated by the command discriminating means. and print start position setting means (3) for setting a print start position of the media data based on the print position information of the media data stored in the print start position storage means.
A printing position control method for a printer device, comprising: