JPH0439434B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention represents characters, symbols, etc. in a dot pattern by combining a plurality of dots, and when an instruction to print vertically enlarged characters is received, the dot pattern is This invention relates to a dot printer that generates vertically enlarged characters based on the following.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, as a dot printer device that performs printing processing using a dot pattern, for example,
- There is something disclosed in No. 123683. In such a conventional example, when a character to be printed is enlarged vertically, the dot matrix pattern of the character is converted into a vertically enlarged dot matrix pattern using an algorithm, and then printed by a print head. This conventional dot printer has a built-in program memory so that it can enlarge and print each character or symbol. This was addressed by increasing the storage capacity.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In this way, in the conventional example, when printing vertically enlarged characters, the dot matrix pattern conversion of the vertically enlarged characters is performed using an algorithm that requires a large amount of program memory. If the number of character types increases, the memory capacity built into the printer will further increase, resulting in a problem that the dot printer will become more expensive.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive dot printer by realizing the generation of enlarged character patterns using a small-capacity program memory.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention stores a dot pattern that represents each character, symbol, etc. by combining a plurality of dots, and when a printing instruction is received from an external device, the dot pattern corresponds to this print data. In a dot printer that reads out a dot pattern and prints based on the read out dot pattern, first, the storage means has the following information:
A standard pattern data area in which dot patterns of standard sizes are stored, and a vertical column of this standard dot pattern are divided into multiple blocks, and all types of dot patterns that can be formed by the block with the largest number of bits among these multiple blocks are divided one-on-one. An enlarged data area is provided to store an enlarged pattern correspondingly enlarged.

and a first register that sequentially reads and imports the standard pattern from the standard pattern data area and the enlarged pattern from the enlarged data area corresponding to this standard pattern, and saves the read enlarged pattern in this first register. and a second register.

Further, when receiving print data and its enlargement instruction from an external device, after reading the standard size dot pattern of the print data from the standard pattern data area to the first register, the dot pattern corresponding to each block of this standard pattern is read out from the standard pattern data area. The enlarged pattern is read from the enlarged data area into the first register, the enlarged pattern is temporarily saved in the second register, and this is repeated sequentially for a predetermined number of blocks to prepare the enlarged pattern for one column. The main control unit generates a dot pattern of vertically enlarged characters by repeating this for the number of columns for one character.
This is something we have decided to prepare for.

[Effect]

In the above-described configuration, upon receiving print data and an instruction to enlarge the print data from an external device, the main control section reads standard pattern data from a standard data area provided in the storage means into the first register.

Subsequently, the corresponding block of enlarged pattern data corresponding to this standard pattern is read out. This reading is performed sequentially for each predetermined block in the first column, starting from the first column in which the dot pattern for one character is divided into vertical columns. The enlarged pattern data thus read out is saved in the second register, and the enlarged pattern of the next block is read out into the first register, thereby aligning the data for one column. When these enlarged data are combined in a stacked manner, the enlarged dot pattern of the first column is obtained.

If the above process is repeated as many times as the number of columns forming characters, a dot pattern of one enlarged character can be obtained, and the printing means prints based on this enlarged pattern.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6, a and b.
The explanation will be based on.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a dot printer showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a read-only memory (hereinafter referred to as ROM) used in one embodiment of the present invention.
It is a block diagram which shows an example.

In FIG. 1, the circuit of the dot printer is made up of the following components. First, 1 is a microprocessor (hereinafter referred to as CPU) as the main control unit that controls the dot printer, and 2 is a ROM as a storage means.As shown in Figure 2, there is a program area that stores programs. , characters, symbols, etc., and an enlarged data area that stores enlarged pattern data enlarged to a predetermined magnification based on the standard pattern.

Further, 3 is a random access memory (hereinafter referred to as RAM) that temporarily stores print data received from the outside, enlargement instruction data, etc., and 4 is the above-mentioned
An I/O driver driven by a command from the CPU 1, and 5 an interface circuit with an external device (not shown) connected to this I/O driver 4, a print head, a line feed motor, and a print head. An address bus line 5 connects the CPU 1, ROM 2, RAM 3, and I/O driver 4 together with a spacing motor for moving in the direction, and these constitute the circuit of the dot printer.

Further, the CPU 1 is provided with two registers A and B, each of which is adapted to take in a dot pattern from the ROM 2. The A register located in the upper part of the figure is the first register that reads and imports the standard pattern data from the standard pattern area of the ROM 2 as well as the enlarged pattern from the enlarged data area enlarged corresponding to the standard pattern data, Also, the B register at the bottom of the figure is a second register for temporarily saving the enlarged pattern read out to the A register.
It is used as a register.

In the circuit having such a configuration, the CPU 1 receives print data (character code) and control data (control code) from an interface circuit (not shown) based on a program stored in the ROM 2. When the CPU 1 receives the print data, in a normal case, the character dot pattern is read out from the ROM 2 using the data converted based on the print data as an address, and the print head prints.

Figure 3 is a diagram showing the dot matrix of the letter A, which is composed of a 9 (horizontal) x 7 (vertical) matrix, and Figure 4 shows the letter A shown in Figure 3, with 4 dots and 3 dots vertically arranged in each column. Figure 5 is a vertically enlarged dot pattern diagram of the letter A shown in Figures 3 and 4, Figure 6a is a diagram showing all patterns of 4 vertical dots, and Figure 6b is a diagram showing the vertically enlarged dot pattern of the letter A shown in Figures 3 and 4. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an enlarged pattern corresponding to FIG. 6a;

Vertical enlargement will be explained by taking the letter A as an example based on FIGS. 3 to 6 a and b. First, as shown in Figure 1.
CPU1 is an interface circuit (not shown), I/
The character A and its enlargement instruction are read from an external host computer via the O driver 4 and the address bus line 5. As a result, CPU1 becomes ROM
The standard pattern data of standard size characters (see FIG. 3) in the standard pattern data area No. 2 is selected and read into the A register.

The ROM 2 divides the column of dot patterns into a plurality of blocks as shown in FIG.
The enlarged patterns shown in FIG. 6b are stored in the enlarged data area corresponding to the various patterns that can be taken within one block shown in FIG.

Then, the upper four bits (b ₀ to b ₃ ) of column _C1 shown in FIG. 4 are read out to the A register. here,
There are 2 ⁴ = 16 patterns of vertical 4 dots,
In this case, the pattern data is C shown in FIG. 6a. Further, since there is a one-to-one correspondence between the enlarged data and the pattern data, there are 16 types, and in this case, the enlarged data is C' shown in No. 6b. Therefore, the enlarged data of C' shown in FIG. 6b is read from the enlarged data area of the ROM 2 to the A register of the CPU 1 and saved to the B register.

Next, the lower three bits (b ₄ to b ₆ ) of the C ₁ column shown in FIG. 4 are read to the A register of the CPU 1. In this case, if we consider that the 4th bit is missing, it corresponds to any pattern of vertical 4 bits. That is, in this case, it corresponds to 7 shown in FIG. 6a. Therefore, 7' in FIG. 6b corresponds to 7 shown in FIG. 6a.
is read from the expanded data area of ROM2 to the A register.

When both the upper and lower enlarged data constituting column C1 are thus assembled, the enlarged character pattern of column C1 is generated by combining the upper and lower data in a stacked manner. The data of the enlarged character pattern generated in this way is
From print head head address bus line 5 and I/O
It is sent via the driver 4 and vertically enlarged printing is performed.

Then, as mentioned above, when the C _2nd column, C _3rd column, ......C _9th column are processed sequentially,
Printing of the vertically enlarged characters shown in FIG. 5 is completed.

In this embodiment, the upper 4 bits and the lower 3 bits are processed separately, but the same printing result can be obtained even if the upper 3 bits and the lower 4 bits are processed separately. Therefore, if 16 types of enlarged data are included as described above, enlarged data can be created by selecting any one of these enlarged data and combining them.

The above explanation was based on the assumption that a dot pattern of one character is developed in response to the reception of one character.
The effect is the same even if it is expanded after one line of reception is completed. In addition, in this embodiment, a 9 (horizontal) x 7 (vertical) dot matrix was explained to simplify the explanation, but a matrix for obtaining high printing quality, for example, a 24 (horizontal) x 24 (vertical) It can also be applied to cases such as dot matrices. in this case,
It is sufficient to process the image by dividing it vertically into six 4 dots each, and the amount of program memory for the algorithm for vertical enlargement can be significantly reduced compared to the conventional example.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, a standard pattern data area storing a standard size dot pattern and a vertical column of this standard dot pattern are divided into a plurality of blocks, and a block having the largest number of bits is selected from among the plurality of blocks. The storage means is provided with an enlarged data area for storing enlarged patterns in one-to-one correspondence with all possible types of dot patterns, and a standard pattern corresponding to the standard pattern from the standard pattern data area is provided. The main controller includes a first register that sequentially reads and imports enlarged patterns from an enlarged data area, and a second register that saves the enlarged patterns read to the first register. When data and its enlargement instruction are received, the standard size dot pattern of the print data is read out from the standard pattern area to the first register, and then the enlarged pattern corresponding to each block of this standard pattern is read out into the enlarged data area. to the first register, temporarily save this enlarged pattern to the second register,
By repeating this in sequence for a predetermined number of blocks, an enlarged pattern for one column is prepared, and by repeating this for a number of columns for one character, a dot pattern of vertically enlarged characters is generated.

For this reason, the storage means includes each pattern data of standard characters, and enlarged pattern data which is divided into blocks of a predetermined number of bits and enlarged in one-to-one correspondence to all possible patterns within this block. Because it is only necessary to store the dot pattern, it is possible to reduce the memory capacity of the storage means for the dot pattern, and by repeating the simple process of reading out and combining these standard patterns and enlarged patterns, vertically enlarged characters can be created. This also makes it possible to significantly reduce the program memory capacity.

That is, since enlarged characters can be obtained through the simplified processing described above, it is possible to eliminate the need for a large program memory capacity for algorithms, which conventionally required a large amount.

As a result, it is possible to provide an inexpensive printer that has a small memory capacity and is capable of printing enlarged characters through simplified processing operations without requiring complicated logical operations.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a dot printer showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a configuration diagram of an example of ROM, Fig. 3 is a diagram showing a dot matrix of the letter A, and Fig. 4 is shown in Fig. 3. A diagram dividing the letter A,
Figure 5 is a vertically enlarged dot pattern diagram of the letter A shown in Figure 3, Figure 6a is a diagram showing all patterns of vertical 4 dots, and Figure 6b is an enlarged pattern corresponding to Figure 6a. FIG. 1...CPU, 2...ROM, 3...RAM, 4
...I/O driver, 5...Address bus line.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. It has a storage means that stores a dot pattern representing each character, symbol, etc. by collecting and combining a plurality of dots, and when a printing instruction is received from an external device, the dots corresponding to this printing data are stored. In a dot printer that reads a pattern from the storage means and prints with a printing means based on the read dot pattern, a standard pattern data area storing a standard size dot pattern and a plurality of blocks each having a vertical column of this standard dot pattern are provided. an enlarged data area for storing enlarged patterns which are enlarged in one-to-one correspondence with all kinds of dot patterns that can be taken by the block having the largest number of bits among the plurality of blocks; a first register that sequentially reads and imports a standard pattern from a standard pattern data area and an enlarged pattern from an enlarged data area corresponding to the standard pattern; and a second register that saves the enlarged pattern read into the first register. When receiving print data and an instruction to enlarge the print data from an external device, the standard size dot pattern of the print data is read from the standard pattern data area to the first register, and then the standard pattern is read out from the standard pattern data area to the first register. The enlarged pattern corresponding to each block is read from the enlarged data area into the first register, this enlarged pattern is temporarily saved in the second register, and this is repeated sequentially for a predetermined number of blocks to read out the enlarged pattern for one column. A dot printer comprising: a main control unit that generates a dot pattern of vertically enlarged characters by arranging enlarged patterns and repeating this for the number of columns corresponding to one character.