JPH04185367A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To expand the leeway of freely printed character strings by providing a user-defined character printing device capable of reading character codes which are written in a user-defined character storage area and causing a printer to print characters corresponding to the character codes. CONSTITUTION:If data in non-volatile memory 4 is to be rewritten, a specific control sequence is sent from a host computer through an interface control part 5. This sequence normally consists of data to be written into non-volatile memory 4 and an address for non-volatile memory 4 in which data is written. When a user wants to have a certain character string printed, first the control sequence is used to store a group of character codes corresponding to a character string in a user-defined character storage area starting with its head address. Next, when printing used-defined characters, a specific single bit in non-volative memory 4 is allowed to have a function whether the user-defined character should be printed and then the function to determine 'the user-defined character to be used is selected. If this procedure is already taken, CPU 1 reads protocol from dedicated read-only memory 2 to print user-defined characters based on the protocol.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to printers.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in this type of printer, non-volatile memory has been used instead of the expensive IP-8W, so its usage is similar to that of the DIP-8W. In other words, a function is provided for selecting whether to enable or disable a certain function for any one bit of the nonvolatile memory.

In conventional printers, if a character string is to be printed by the printer alone, the character string must be stored in a read-only memory in advance. If you want to select and print only a certain string from among multiple strings,
All of a plurality of character strings are stored in advance in a read-only memory, and then the character string to be selected is determined based on a combination of bit values of characteristics of the nonvolatile memory.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the conventional printer mentioned above, the contents of the read-only memory are written before shipping, and the user cannot rewrite the contents. Therefore, the entire character string that is to be printed is predicted in advance and then read out. The disadvantage is that it must be written to dedicated memory.

Another drawback is that even if the user wants to print a character string other than what is written in the read-only memory, it is impossible.

This drawback poses the following problem in a printer that prints a product name in a certain mode, for example.

In other words, if the product name differs depending on the region where the product is sold, all product names can be written in read-only memory in advance, and the contents of the non-volatile memory can be rewritten before the product is sold. However, if the product is to be supplied by an OEM, the name of the OEM product cannot be known in advance, so it cannot be written in a read-only memory. Therefore, in this case, the OEM product name will be printed incorrectly.

[Means to solve the problem]

The printer of the present invention has a user-defined character storage area in which a user can write multiple character codes in an area of non-volatile memory, and a user-defined character storage area in which a user can read character codes written in the user-defined character storage area. and a user-defined character printing means that allows the printer to print characters corresponding to the character code.

〔Example〕

Next, the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an address area 6 allocated to the non-volatile memory 4, a part of which is specifically allocated to the user-defined character storage area 6.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a procedure for realizing printing of user-defined characters.

In order to rewrite the contents of the nonvolatile memory 4, a specific control sequence is transmitted from the host device via the interface control unit 5. This sequence usually consists of data to be written to the nonvolatile memory 4 and an address of the nonvolatile memory 4 to write the data.

When the user wants to print a certain character string, first, using this control sequence, a collection of character codes corresponding to the character string is stored in order from the first address in the user-defined character storage area.

Next, when printing user-defined characters, a specific bit in the non-volatile memory 4 is provided with a function to determine whether or not to print the user-defined characters, and the "Print" function is selected. Just leave it there. Then, the central processing unit 1 reads the procedure shown in FIG. 3 from the read-only memory 2, and prints the user-defined characters in accordance with the procedure shown in FIG.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention provides a user-defined character storage area in which a user can write a plurality of character codes in an area of a non-volatile memory, and a character code written in the user-defined character storage area. By equipping the printer with a user-defined character printing means that can read out the character code and have the printer print the character corresponding to the character code,
Since there is no need to write many character strings in read-only memory in advance, and the user can freely define the character strings that they want to print, there is greater flexibility in the character strings printed by Brita itself. It has the effect of expanding the degree.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing address areas allocated to the non-volatile memory 4, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the procedure for printing user-defined characters. It is a diagram. 1...Central processing unit, 2...Read-only area, 3
... Read/write only memory, 4... Non-volatile memory, 5
. . . Interface control unit, 6. Address area allocated to nonvolatile memory, 7. User-defined character storage area.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a printer that has a built-in volatile memory that can be electrically erased and has a means that allows the contents of the memory to be rewritten from a host device, the user writes multiple character codes in an area of the nonvolatile memory. and a user-defined character printing means that can read a character code written in the user-defined character storage area and cause a printer to print a character corresponding to the character code. A printer characterized by: