JPH049152B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a printer control device used in a serial printer that prints out character font information including enlarged or transformed Chinese characters in a dot matrix structure mixed with full-width characters. Regarding.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

In serial printers, when printing a mixture of full-width characters and enlarged characters, there has conventionally been some restriction on the line feed pitch. For example, height
For printers with a 24-dot print head,
When trying to print 48-dot enlarged characters, it is always necessary to feed the paper in the middle. That is, once the 24 dots in the upper half of the enlarged character have been printed, the paper is fed by 24 dots, and then the 24 dots in the lower half of the enlarged character are printed, and the printing of the enlarged character is completed.

In other words, such conventional print control means automatically performs paper feeding processing when executing enlarged characters.

Therefore, in the past, it was possible to top-align and bottom-align a mixture of full-width characters and enlarged characters by changing the way the data was sent, but it was impossible to print with center alignment. Ta. At this time, by equipping the printer with a reverse feed function, it is possible to print center-aligned characters when printing a mixture of full-width characters and enlarged characters, but in this case, it is difficult to ensure paper feed accuracy, and However, the device configuration becomes extremely complicated and the cost increases significantly, making it impractical.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been developed in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and has a relatively simple configuration that enables more freedom in line feed pitch heights, including center-aligned printing, in controlling mixed printing of full-width characters and enlarged or modified characters. The object of the present invention is to provide a printer control device that enables high-quality dot printing.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention provides a pattern processing means for enlarging or transforming a character pattern having a predetermined dot matrix structure, and a pattern processing means for processing a character pattern in which the number of vertical dots of a pattern obtained by the pattern processing means is larger than the vertical width of an image line buffer. In particular, in a printer control device having means for developing an image divided into zones of a predetermined dot width,
Each character code to be printed is provided with a storage means for storing the zone number to be developed next, the relative distance between the development start position and the print head position, and character attribute information. Means for selecting the minimum value relative distance among the relative distances stored for each character unit and developing an image from the corresponding character unit information, and for the character unit information subjected to the image development process. , providing means for subtracting the paper feed amount from the relative distance each time a paper feed operation is performed, and based on these means,
It is configured to sequentially perform pattern development and printing processing, and allows characters enlarged or transformed by the pattern processing means and standard characters to be mixedly printed with any line pitch. With a simple configuration, it is possible to print dots at a more flexible line feed pitch, including center-aligned printing.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

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

In the figure, 10 is a CPU that controls the entire system.
11 is a main memory (MM), and 12 is a CPU bus. 13 is an image line buffer (hereinafter simply referred to as line buffer), and 14 is a serial dot printer.

21 is a register representing a size (Vsize) corresponding to the width in the scanning direction (main scanning interval x number of times) after conversion during pattern conversion, and 22 is a register representing a size (Hsize) corresponding to the width in the same scanning direction. It is a register. Reference numeral 23 denotes an underline/sideline control section which generates an underline/sideline dot pattern having a length according to the contents of the register 21 and writes it into the line buffer 13. Reference numeral 24 denotes a trigonometric function table that stores angle information (trigonometric information data) corresponding to specified angles for slanting, rotating, etc. characters. 25 is a zone designation register for dividing the character pattern into zones based on the standard character height when the character pattern after pattern conversion exceeds the vertical width of the line buffer 13, that is, the standard character height. . 26 and 27 are registers that store dot increments dx and dy according to the character enlargement/reduction magnification; 28
29 is an offset register 28 for selectively giving an offset in the range of 0 to 7 dots to a pattern-converted character.
This is an offset data generation section that generates offset data ("0" indicating non-display) with the number of dots according to the offset value of.

31 to 49 each constitute a component for generating a dot interpolation address, and 31 is x
A register that stores the dot step width DX1 in the sub-scanning direction including the x component, 32 a register that stores the dot step width DX2 in the main scan direction including the x component, and 33 a register that stores the dot step width DX2 in the main scanning direction including the x component.
A register that stores the initial value (initial address; A register 36 stores the width DY2, and a register 36 stores an initial value (initial address; Y1init) in the sub-scanning direction including the y component. The dot interpolation addresses stored in the registers 31 to 36 each consist of integer part data and decimal part data.

37 is an adder circuit ADD-A that adds the contents of the register 31 and the register 42 indicating the dot position in the sub-scanning direction including the x component; 38 is an adder circuit ADD-A that adds the contents of the register 32 and the dot position in the main scanning direction including the x component An adder circuit ADD-B, 39, adds the contents of the register 44 indicating the dot position.
and the contents of the register 46 indicating the dot position in the sub-scanning direction including the y component.
ADD-C, 40 is the content of register 35 above and y
This is an adder circuit ADD-D that adds the contents of the register 48 indicating the dot position in the main scanning direction including the component.

41 is a data selector that selects the contents of the register 33 at the start of dot interpolation processing for one character, and thereafter selects the output of the adder circuit 37 every time one main scan is performed; 42 is a data selector 41; A register 43 stores a new dot address at the time of dot interpolation, which is represented by an integer part and a decimal part including the selected x component, and selects the contents of the register 42 at the start of main scanning, and thereafter performs interpolation for one dot. A data selector 44 selects the output of the adder circuit 38 for each process, and is a register that stores a new dot address during dot interpolation that includes the x component selected by the data selector 43. A data selector 45 selects the contents of the register 36 at the start of the dot interpolation process for one character, and thereafter selects the addition circuit 39 and the output each time one main scan is performed.
6 is a register that stores a new dot address during dot interpolation, which is expressed by an integer part and a decimal part, including the y component selected by the data selector 45; 47 is a register that selects the contents of the register 46 at the start of main scanning, and then stores it. , addition circuit 4 for each interpolation process for one dot
A data selector 48 which selects an output of 0 is a register that stores a new dot address during dot interpolation that includes the y component selected by the data selector 47. 49 is each data selector 41, 4 mentioned above.
This is a selection control circuit SC that controls 3, 45, and 47.

Reference numeral 50 denotes a register that stores a comparison value for comparison with an interpolated value to be described later, that is, a threshold value th.

Reference numeral 51 denotes a kanji pattern memory KPM in which character pattern data in a predetermined dot matrix unit (for example, 24×24 dots) including kanji characters is stored. 5
Reference numeral 2 denotes a one-character buffer composed of high-speed RAM that stores the dot pattern for one character read from the kanji pattern memory 51;
A dot pattern for a character is stored with its surroundings filled with off-dot ("0") bit patterns. 53 is a grid 4 surrounding a new dot according to the values of each integer part of registers 44 and 48 among the character pattern data stored in the character buffer 52.
This is a bit selection circuit that selectively outputs dot information of points. A register 54 stores 4-bit information output from the bit selection circuit 53.

55 to 57 are components of a dot pattern recognition unit DSP that recognizes the pattern of dot information output from the bit selection circuit 53 and selectively switches and controls the interpolated value of a new dot surrounded by four dots. 55 recognizes the dot pattern state of the four points from the bit contents of the register 54, and when the dot pattern state is in a specific dot pattern state (to be described later), it further selects the bit information in order to sequentially select the dot information of two specific grids around the dot pattern state. A discrimination control circuit that controls the selection circuit 53; 56 is a register that stores 4-bit information read out under the control of the discrimination control circuit 55; and 57 is a register that stores dot information for two grids read out under the control of the discrimination control circuit 55. This is a dot discrimination circuit that outputs a 1-bit interpolation value switching selection signal according to the dot pattern state with the dot information in the register 54.

58 is a 1-bit interpolation output from the decimal part value stored in the register 44 (the main scanning direction offset value including the 5-bit x component), the 4-point bit information stored in the register 54, and the dot discrimination circuit 57. 4 above, using the value switching selection signal as input information.
Interpolation table that outputs the interpolated value Q _xy of a new dot within the area surrounded by the dot information of the point
This ROM uses a 256K bit (32K x 8 bits) mask ROM and outputs an 8 bit (level 0 to 255) interpolated value in accordance with the 15 bit read address described above. 59 is an interpolation table
Interpolated value output from ROM58 and register 50
This is a comparator that compares the interpolated value with a threshold value stored in , and outputs a "1" level signal indicating an on-dot (bright spot) when the interpolated value exceeds the comparison value, that is, the threshold value. Reference numeral 60 denotes a shift register that sequentially stores the dot information output from the comparator 59 and outputs it onto the CPU bus 12 in units of memory write dots (in this case, units of 8 bits) in which a character pattern is developed.

70 is a character information storage buffer for storing character codes to be printed and character attribute information;
It has an information block 701 for characters. Information block 70 in this character information storage buffer 70
1... will be described in detail later based on FIG. 11. 90 is a printing direction control flag DIRF for specifying the printing direction (bidirectional/unidirectional);
The SET (DIRF
= “1”). 91 and 92 are designed to prevent the inconvenience that the enlargement magnification exceeds a preset standard enlargement magnification, the number of printed dots increases extremely, and the power consumption during the printing process exceeds the specified value. A pair of registers stores dot step widths dx _L and dy _L corresponding to adjustment magnifications in the X and Y directions for adjusting the print duty.

Figures 2 to 10 are for explaining the dot interpolation processing operation for obtaining enlarged or modified characters that are printed out mixed with full-width characters (standard characters), which are the object of the present invention. This is a diagram.

Figures 2a to 2f show dot information (dot patterns) of four points in one grid surrounding new dots generated by interpolation processing and interpolation table ROM5.
8 is a diagram showing the relationship between level divisions of interpolated values set to 8 and table types, and here, interpolated values are expressed in brightness levels (brightness levels) of 0 to 255,
Some of the divided areas are shown with contour lines.

FIG. 3 is for explaining an example of table type selection switching when only one dot among the four dot patterns in one grid is on (“1”) or off (“0”). Dot pattern recognition section
For example, the DSP uses four surrounding dots D ₀ , D ₁ , D ₂ ,
When only one point among D ₃ is off, that is, “0” (D ₀ shown in white in the figure), the on/off state of specific dots Da and Db in the surrounding grid is recognized, and Da , Db="1", select a corner type table T1 as shown in FIG. 2d,
If at least one of Da and Db is "0", a diagonal type table _T0 as shown in FIG. 2f is selected. In this way, the interpolated value of a new dot located within the four-point dot area is further determined by the state of the surrounding dots when the four dots form a specific pattern as described above.

Figures 4 a to d show various pattern conversion examples. In the figures, Sm indicates the main scanning direction, Ss indicates the sub-scanning direction, and figure a is the normal body (or long body, flat body), figure b Figure c shows a bottom-aligned italic type, and Figure d shows a rotating body.

FIGS. 5a and 5b are diagrams for explaining the relationship between the output target of the dot interpolation process, that is, the image output target, and the main scanning direction Sm and the sub-scanning direction Ss during the dot interpolation. , Figure a shows the main scanning and sub-scanning directions during dot interpolation during CRT display, and Figure b shows the main scanning and sub-scanning directions during dot interpolation during printout. In this way, the dot interpolation processing during CRT display output and the dot interpolation processing during printout result in a state in which the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction are interchanged with each other.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the correspondence of various setting data.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the relationship between a character pattern-converted by dot interpolation processing and a rectangle (including a square) circumscribing the character.

Figure 8 shows character pitch CP for various modified characters.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of setting the line pitch and line pitch LP.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing examples of development of underlines for various modified characters.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the zone designation operation.

FIG. 11 shows details of the information blocks 701 in the character information storage buffer 70 shown in FIG.
80 is a character code section that stores the print code CODE, and 82 is the value of the next zone to be developed.
Zone designation section that stores ZONE, 83 is the relative distance between the top of the print head and the bottom of the printed character dot.
84 is a pointer section indicating the write start address dP of the line buffer 13; 85 and 86 are step width storage sections that store dot step widths dx and dy according to the character enlargement/reduction magnification; 87
For example, rotation angle information when obtaining rotated characters, etc.
This is an attribute information storage unit that stores attribute information ATR of character transformations.

12 and 13 are for explaining the mixed printing operation of full-width characters and enlarged or modified characters obtained by the above-mentioned dot interpolation processing in one embodiment, respectively. This is a diagram for explaining the relative distance dH between the print head in the serial printer 14 and the bottom edge of a developed character dot, where lh is the width of the print head and le is the paper feed amount. Here, the relative distance dH shown in the figure is
This is the state immediately after printing the first zone of enlarged characters,
dH=lH. Also, the relative distance dH shown in
After the above, the paper is fed by a certain paper feed amount le, and dH=lH−le (however, le≦lH
).

FIG. 13 shows an example of mixed printing of full-width characters and enlarged or modified characters. Here, full-width characters 100...
A printing example is shown in which enlarged characters 200, etc., which are doubled in width, doubled in width, and so on are mixed and printed in a center-aligned state.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing the LF (paper feed execution) process in the above embodiment, and FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the CR (print start) process.

Figure 16 is a detailed flowchart of the process of developing characters into images, and the steps in Figure 14 above*
1, and corresponds to the processing part *2 in Fig. 15.

Here, the operation of one embodiment will be explained.

First, when explaining the printing control operation for mixed characters in one embodiment, referring to FIGS. Explain the operation.

By inputting the character code string to be printed from the outside together with the attribute information attached to each code, each of these pieces of information is processed under the control of the CPU 10.
Each character is set in the information block 701 in the character information storage buffer 70. That is, the character code CODE to be printed is set in the character code section 81 of the information block 701, and the attribute information ATR is set in the attribute information storage section 87.
The control flag section 80 is raised (set),
Display dataset information. In addition, excluding the above character code string and the attribute information attached to the code,
The main memory 11 stores various dot interpolation specification information such as a threshold value (th; a comparison value for comparison with the interpolated value generated from the interpolation table ROM 58), and furthermore, the enlargement/reduction magnification of the character pattern for each of the above character codes. stored in a predetermined work area. Furthermore, during dot interpolation, the CPU 10
According to the dot interpolation specification information input from the outside,
Control flag unit 80 in character information storage buffer 70
Control data is created for each information block 701 where the information block 701 is set, and various registers are initialized for dot interpolation in units of characters to be expanded based on the contents of the information block 701. That is,
CPC10 is a comparison value, that is, a threshold value, generated from the interpolation table ROM58 and used for comparison with the interpolated value.
After setting th in the register 50, set the standard dot step size (dx,
dy (reciprocal value of the enlargement/reduction magnification) is calculated and set in the step width storage units 85, 86 of the corresponding information block 701 in the character information storage buffer 70. Further, the CPU 10 retrieves from the character information storage buffer 70 an information block 701 for one character to be processed first, and reads the information block 701 for which the attribute information in the attribute information storage section 87 indicates character transformation such as rotation or italic. When using trigonometric function table 2, input the trigonometric function data (sin, cos, tan) according to the specified angle.
Set to 4. After that, these registers 26,
27, and the setting data (sin, cos, tan) of the trigonometric function table 24, an initial value (initial address;
X1init, Y1init), and dot increments DX1, DX2,
Calculate DY2 and store these data in register 31.
36 to 36, calculate the V size and H size data (Vsize, Hsize) associated with variations in character height and character width caused by pattern conversion such as enlargement and rotation, and store this in register 2.
1 and 22, and furthermore, when zoning occurs, the number of zones is calculated and this data is set in the register 25. Furthermore, when moving dot-interpolated characters within the range of 1 to 7 dots when outputting them (for example, moving dot-interpolated ruby characters, half-width characters, etc. within the range of 1 to 7 dots when printing out
(e.g. when moving up and down within a range of 7 dots),
Or, the number of dots in the main scanning direction of the pattern-converted character is not a multiple of the write width (8 bits) of the image memory to be output, and it becomes necessary to align it with the byte boundary (write width) on the image memory side. In some cases, an offset value within the range of 1 to 7 bits is set in the offset register 28.

In addition to setting various data for the dot interpolation process, information DIRF for specifying bidirectional/unidirectional printing mode is set in the print direction control flag 90 as control data for the printing process. At the same time, the registers 91 and 92 contain the dot increment width dx _L , which corresponds to the standard magnification to which the print duty of the dot-developed pattern is adjusted.
dy _L is set. Here, in the printing direction control flag 90, DIRF is set (“1”) only when specifying a so-called bidirectional printing mode in which a total of two lines of printing are performed in one reciprocating motion of the print head.
be done. In addition, the registers 91 and 92 contain preset values for adjusting (thinning out) the number of printed dots so that the number of printed dots for enlarged characters does not become too large and the power consumption during printing processing does not exceed the specified value. Dot step widths dx _L and dy _L corresponding to the reference adjustment magnification for performing the set print date adjustment processing are set.

After completing the initial setting of each register as described above, the CPU 10 starts the following dot interpolation address generation process.

Here, first, the overall operation will be explained by taking as an example the case where dot interpolation is performed using a real object (or elongated object, flat object) as an output object (for example, simple enlargement/reduction) as shown in FIG. 4a. During this dot interpolation, register 31 is set to "0" and register 32 is set to "0".
dot step width "dx" in register 33, initial value "sx" of Sm in main scanning direction in register 34, dot step width "dy" in register 34, "0" in register 35, initial value of Ss in sub-scanning direction in register 36. "sy" is set respectively.

Here, the dot step widths dx and dy set in the registers 32 and 34 are given as reciprocal values of the enlargement/reduction magnification. Also, in the register 33, [Ix=
(dx-1)/2] is given as the initial value sx, and the register 36 has [Iy=(dy-1)/2]
Iy is given as the initial value sy,
When dx or dy is less than "1" (i.e. when enlarging),
Ix or Iy becomes negative and indicates an address outside the original character pattern storage area of the one-character buffer 52, and when dx or dy is "1" or more (i.e., during reduction), Ix or Iy becomes positive and indicates one character. The address in the original character pattern storage area of the buffer 52 is shown. Further, the register 50 has an arbitrary level (0 to 255 levels) for comparing the interpolation value outputted from the interpolation table ROM 58 and determining which level or higher of the new dot is considered a meaningful dot. A comparison value, ie, a threshold value th, is set.

Furthermore, the CPU 10 reads the character code CODE ₁ in the character code section 81 of the information block 701 for the first character extracted from the character information storage buffer 70.
Accordingly, a dot pattern for one character to be interpolated is read from the kanji pattern memory 51, and this character pattern data is converted into a one-character buffer 5.
Write in 2. At that time, the one character buffer 52 is
As described above, the dot pattern data for one character to be subjected to dot interpolation is stored surrounded by meaningless "0" dots.

After setting the data in the registers 31 to 36 and taking out the character pattern to be interpolated into the one-character buffer 52, the initial dot addresses stored in the registers 33 and 36 are set under the control of the selection control circuit 49. Data sx and sy are selected by selection circuits 41 and 45 and stored in corresponding registers 42 and 46, respectively. Furthermore, at the start of main scanning, the data sx and sy stored in the registers 42 and 46 are selected by the selection circuits 43 and 47, and are sent to the corresponding registers 44 and 47, respectively.
It can be stored in 48.

Data stored in these registers 44 and 48
The value of the integer part of sx and sy is the bit selection circuit 5.
3, and the value of the decimal part is stored in the interpolation table ROM
58.

The bit selection circuit 53 selects the dot information of four points in one grid using the one character buffer 52 based on the value of the integer part inputted above, and selects the dot information of four points in one grid.
Supply to ROM58. At this time, when enlarging (dx,
dy,<1), the bit selection circuit 53
Since a negative value indicating an address outside the original character pattern storage area of the one-character buffer 52 is given,
Dot selection is started from dot information of four points in one grid, including dots outside the original character pattern storage area.
Furthermore, during reduction (dx, dy > 1), a positive value indicating the address within the original character pattern storage area of the one-character buffer 52 is given to the bit selection circuit 53. 1 in the area
Dot selection is started from the dot information of the four grid points.

The interpolation table ROM 58 is stored in the register 4 mentioned above.
Each offset value from 4 and 48 (total 10 bits)
, dot information of the surrounding four points from the bit selection circuit 53, and a 1-bit interpolation value switching selection signal from the dot pattern recognition unit DSP as input information,
Outputs an 8-bit interpolated value Q _xy according to the content. At this time, the dot pattern of four points per grid outputted from the bit selection circuit 53 is recognized by the dot pattern recognition section DSP, and as shown in FIG.
When it is a specific dot pattern, the on/off state of specific dots in the surrounding grid is recognized and a 1-bit interpolation value switching selection signal corresponding to the dot state is output. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, for example, among the four surrounding dots D ₀ , D ₁ , D ₂ , and D ₃ , only one point is off or "0" (D ₀ shown in white in the figure). In addition, the on/off status of specific dots Da and Db in the surrounding grid is recognized,
If Da, Dd="1", corner type table T ₁ as shown in Figure 2 d is selected, and
If at least either Da or Db is “0”, a diagonal type table as shown in Figure 2 f is created.
Outputs an interpolation value switching selection signal to select T0.
Also, when only one of the four surrounding dots D0, D1, D2, and D3 is on, that is, "1" (D ₀ indicated by a black dot in the figure), the specific dots Da, Recognizes the on/off status of Db,
If Da, Dd="0", corner type table T1 as shown in FIG. 2a is selected, and
If at least one of Da and Db is "1", an interpolation value switching selection signal is output to select a diagonal type table T0 as shown in FIG. 2e. In this way, the interpolated value of a new dot located within the four-point dot area is further determined by the state of the surrounding dots when the four dots form a specific pattern as described above. The 8-bit (level 0 to 255) interpolated value outputted from the interpolation table ROM 58 is input to a comparator 59 and compared with a comparison value, that is, a threshold value, stored in the register 36, and if the interpolated value exceeds the threshold value. For example, it indicates that it is a meaningful dot,
It outputs a "1" level signal, and if the interpolated value does not exceed the threshold value, it outputs a "0" level signal indicating that the dot is meaningless.

On the other hand, after the interpolated value of one dot is output from the interpolation table ROM 58, the contents of the register 44 and the contents of the register 32 are added by the adder circuit 38, and the contents of the register 48 and the contents of the register 3 are added.
5 are added by the addition circuit 40, and the data of each addition result is sent to the corresponding data selectors 43 and 4 under the control of the selection control circuit 49.
7 and stored in registers 44 and 48. At this time, among the registers 32 and 35 indicating the dot increments in the main scanning direction, register 32 contains the dot increments according to the specified enlargement/contraction magnification.
dx is set, but the register 35 is set to "0" as described above because it is a true body (or long body, flat body) dot interpolation, and therefore the contents of the register 44 (dot address) is
Each time one dot is interpolated, the dot width dx is updated in accordance with the specified enlargement/reduction ratio, but the contents of the register 48 are not updated as a result, and the data at the time of initial setting is maintained as is. or,
Every time one main scan is completed, the contents of the register 42 and the contents of the register 31 are added by the adder circuit 37, and the contents of the register 46 and the contents of the register 34 are added by the adder circuit 39. The data of each addition result is selected by the selection control circuit 49.
are selected by corresponding data selectors 41 and 45 under the control of registers 42 and 4.
It can be stored in 6. At this time, among the registers 31 and 34 indicating the dot increment width in the sub-scanning direction, the dot increment width dy according to the specified enlargement/reduction ratio is set in the register 34, but the dot increment width dy in the register 31 is Since this is a dot interpolation for long bodies and flat bodies, "0" is set as mentioned above.
Therefore, the contents of register 46 (dot address)
is updated with a dot step width dy according to the specified enlargement/reduction ratio every time one main scan is performed, but the contents of the register 42 are not updated as a result and the initial setting data remains unchanged. Retained.

In this way, the interpolation table ROM5 is
8 outputs an interpolated value for the new dot address, and the comparator 59 compares this interpolated value with the threshold th of the register 50 to generate new dot information.

The new dot information output from the comparator 59 after interpolation processing is sequentially stored in the shift register 60 and sent out onto the CPU bus 12 in units of bytes.

At this time, if the character pattern data that has undergone dot interpolation processing and is sent to the CPU 12 is written to the line buffer 13 for printing out, and the offset register 28 has an offset value within the range of 1 to 7 dots. If the number of dots in the main scanning direction of the pattern-converted character is set (for example, when moving a dot-interpolated ruby character downward by i (i = 1, 2, ..., 7) dots when printing out), or the number of dots in the main scanning direction of the pattern-converted character. However, it is not a multiple of the write width (8 dots) of the image memory to be output, and it becomes necessary to match it with the byte boundary (write width) on the image memory side, and the offset value i is set in the offset register 28. If the offset register 28 is
The offset data generating section 29 generates offset data (i number of "0s") according to the offset value i of
The data is set in the shift register 60, and subsequently bit-interpolated data, that is, converted character pattern bits are written.

The above operation was performed when a real body (or a long body, or a flat body) was the output target, but for example, after the dot interpolation address generation process when a rotating body is the output target, registers 31 to 36 are In all cases, data is set in which predetermined trigonometric function data in the trigonometric function table 24 according to the designated rotation angle is included as one element.

That is, when the specified rotation angle [θ ₀ ], the number of dots in the x direction of the original font is [a+1], and the number of bits in the y direction of the original font is [b+1], the register 31 stores DX1=-dx・sinθ ₀ In the register 32, DX2=dx· _cosθ0; in the register 34, DY1=dy·cosθ0 _; in the register 35, DY2=dy· _sinθ0 .

Also, register 33 (X1init) and register 3
6 (Y1init): (1) When 0°≦θ ₀ ≦90°, X1init=1/2a-1/2(a+1-dx) cos2θ ₀ Y1init=-1/2(1-dy)-1 /2(a+1-dy) dy/dxsin2θ ₀ (2) When 90°≦θ ₀ ≦180°, X1init=a+1/2(1-dx)-1/2(b+1-dy) dx/dysin2θ ₀ Y1init= 1/2b+1/2(b+1-dy)cos2θ ₀ (3) When 180°≦θ ₀ ≦270°, X1init=1/2a+1/2(a+1-dx)cos2θ ₀ Y1init=b+1/2(1-dy) +1/2(a+1-dx) dy/dxsin2θ ₀ (4) When 270°≦θ ₀ ≦360°, X1init=1/2(1-dx)+1/2(b+1-dx) dx/dysin2θ ₀ Y1init= Set 1/2b-1/2(b+1-dy) _cos2θ0 , respectively.

As described above, each setting DX1, DX2 _, DY1, DY2,
Y1init is calculated and the corresponding register 31
~36, and then sequentially executes the dot interpolation address generation process for the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction as described above, to obtain the specified angle θ ₀
An inverted character pattern dot according to is obtained.

Also, when generating a dot interpolation address when an oblique character is to be output, predetermined trigonometric function data in the trigonometric function table 24 according to the specified slope angle is stored in a specific register among the registers 31 to 36. The data containing this as one element is set.

That is, the specified italic angle is [θ ₀ ], the number of bits in the x direction of the original font is [a+1], and the y of the original font is
If the number of direction bits is [b+1], in the range 0°≦θ ₀ ≦90°, register 31 has DX1=-dx・tanθ ₀ register 32 has DX2=dx register 34 has DY1=dy DY2=0 is set in the register 35, and X1init=1/2(1-dx)-(b+1-dy)dx/dytan is set in the register 33.
Y1init=-1/2 (1-dy) is set in the θ ₀ register 36, respectively.

As described above, each setting value DX1, DX2 _, DY1, DY2,
Y1init is calculated and the corresponding register 31
~36, and then sequentially executes the dot interpolation address generation process for the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction as described above, to obtain the specified angle θ ₀
A slanted italic character pattern is obtained according to .

Each set value DX1, DX2, DY1, DY2, X1init, including the trigonometric function data according to the specified angle θ ₀ , such as the dot step width and initial address, as described above.
Based on Y1init, the dot interpolation address generation processing for the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction is sequentially executed as described above, and new dot information is obtained based on the generated dot interpolation address. This new dot information is sequentially stored in the shift register 60 in the same manner as above, and is stored in byte (8 bit) units.
It is outputted via the CPU bus 12. For example, it is written to the line buffer 18 of the print control section 17.

At this time, the line buffer 13 has a bit width corresponding to the dot configuration of the normal printed character height (for example, 8 vertically
×3=24 bits), and therefore, the above-mentioned modified characters such as rotated characters and italic characters cannot fit into the 24-bit size, except in the case of reduced patterns. Therefore, in such a case, during the register initialization described above, the CPU 10 stores the specified converted character font, its angle, scaling factor, etc. in order to divide the newly generated character pattern into multiple zones. The number of zones for the originally converted character is calculated, data representing this number of zones is set in the zone specification register 25, and the contents of the register 25 are decremented each time a pattern is written in zone units ( -1) and
Until the content becomes "0", the pattern data of each zone is treated as the same character pattern. That is, for the zone designated by the zone designation register 25, continuous dot printing is designated without intervening blank areas (ie, line spacing) between each pattern. An example of zone division at this time is shown in FIG.

The means for calculating the number of zones mentioned above are shown in Figures 6 and 7.
As shown in the figure, the size of the rectangle (including squares) in the x and y directions that circumscribes the converted (transformed) character is determined from the specified rotation angle, italic angle, scaling factor, etc. , find the number of bits (the number of x and y dots) on the two sides of the rectangle that touch each other, and use this as V when initializing the register described above.
By setting the data in the registers 21 and 22 as size (Vsize) and H size (Hsize) data, it can be easily recognized. In other words, for a character that has been converted at a certain angle, that character is written (handled) based on a rectangular area on the horizontal and vertical lines circumscribing the character; for example, in a printout. During the dot interpolation process, the number of zones can be easily obtained by dividing the H size data stored in the register 22 by the bit width of the line buffer 18, "24". Also, during dot interpolation processing during display output, the register 21
The number of zones can be easily determined by dividing the V size data stored in 2 by the bit width of 1 display line "24".

Further, by fixedly assigning arbitrary zone designation data to the zone designation register 25, image data of the same designated zone can be repeatedly developed into an image. Thereby, the character pattern modified by the above-mentioned dot interpolation processing can be further printed out as a modified character pattern in which part or all of it is made redundant.

Further, the above-mentioned V size (Vsize) and H size (Hsize) data are also referred to when character pitch is determined, underline/sideline processing, etc. In other words, as mentioned above, the height (character height) and width (character width) of the entire character are as follows: It changes variously depending on the inclination angle and the enlargement/reduction magnification added to it. Therefore, the above-mentioned modified characters can be converted into normal row and column directions (x, y
When outputting an image with a specific direction), it is not possible to determine character pitch, underline/sideline, etc. using existing fixed parameter specifying means.

Therefore, here, the circumscribing rectangle as described above is treated as the body face of the character for each process such as character pitch and underline/sideline. These processing means will be explained below.

First, the character pitch processing operation will be explained. As described above, dot interpolation processing for one character is performed,
Each time the newly generated dot image for one character is expanded (written) to the output target, for example, the line buffer 18 in the print control unit 17, the CPU 10 updates the contents of the register 21 (Vsize).
Determine whether the has been updated. If the contents of the register 21 have not been updated, the data (Vsize) stored in the register 21 plus 1/2 of that value is sent to the print control unit 17 as control data indicating character pitch. and controls the pitch of characters developed on the line buffer 18. Also, when the contents of the register 21 are updated, the data before the update is stored in a specific register area, and at the time of the update, the data before the update stored in the specific register area and the updated data are The value of 1/4 of the sum of is further added to the updated data stored in the register 21, and this is supplied to the print control unit 17 as control data indicating the character pitch, and the characters developed on the line buffer 18 are control the pitch.

In this way, for a character converted at a certain angle, the writing (handling) of that character is performed based on the rectangular area on the horizontal and vertical lines circumscribing the character. The pitch between adjacent characters is determined based on the width of the rectangle (Vsize for printout, Hsize for display output). The same pitch control as described above is also performed for the row pitch. Character pitch CP and line pitch for various modified characters at this time
An example of LP settings is shown in FIG.

In the pitch control described above, the pitch is determined by always considering the area occupied by adjacent characters (circumscribed rectangles), but in order to simplify the process, the pitch is simply set by register 21 (or register 2) at the time.
2) Control means may be provided to determine the pitch based on the value.

Next, the operation for printing out underlines/sidelines based on the above-described circumscribed rectangle will be explained. At this time, the data (Vsize) stored in the register 21 is referenced. Underline/sideline control section 23
The underline/sideline dots are developed on the line buffer 13 according to the underline/sideline instructions included in the print control information input via the CPU bus 12, but the above-mentioned deformed characters such as inverted and italic characters are However, line expansion using normal character width cannot handle this. Therefore, when the contents of the register 21 (Vsize) are constantly input and there is an underline/sideline instruction, an underline/sideline dot pattern is generated with a line length according to the updated data contents of the register 21 at that time, and the line buffer 13 is The pattern is developed in correspondence with the corresponding characters. FIG. 9 shows an example of the development of underlines for various modified characters at this time.

Next, FIG. 1 and FIGS. 11 to 16 show the print control operation when printing out a mixture of enlarged or modified characters obtained as described above and other dot-forming characters, such as full-width characters. Explain with reference to.

Here, as shown in FIG. 13, we will explain the case where enlarged characters and full-width characters that have been enlarged twice vertically and twice horizontally are printed out in a center-aligned state by the above-mentioned dot interpolation process. do.

When printing double-height and double-width enlarged characters and full-width characters in a center-aligned state as shown in FIG. 13, the following printing instructions are given from the outside.

(1) Set the magnification (here, 2x vertically and 2x horizontally).

(2) Send character codes “A”, “B”, and “C” and CR (print start) code.

(3) Send paper by the paper feed amount l1 (here l1=lh/2).

(4) Return the enlargement magnification to the standard magnification, that is, the magnification of 1x vertically and 1x horizontally, which specifies full-width characters.

(5) Character codes “a”, “i”, “u”, “e”, “o”,
Send CR code.

(6) Feed the paper by the paper feed amount l2.

(7) Character code “ka” “ki” “ku” “ke” “ko”
Send CR code.

Note that here, the character information storage buffer 70 is provided independently of the main memory 11, but if the character information storage buffer 70 is placed in the main memory 11, each of the above character codes is stored in the main memory. The data is written to each information block in the buffer area in 11.

On the other hand, inside the printer control device, the following printing process control is performed.

(a) Upon reception of the CR code in (2) above, the image of zone 0 (upper half) of characters A, B, and C enlarged (twice vertically and twice horizontally) by the above-mentioned dot interpolation processing is sequentially line buffered. 13 and print it out.

Next, in preparation for printing enlarged characters A, B, and C in zone 1, the contents of the corresponding information block 701 in the character information storage buffer 70 are updated. Here, ZONE=1 and dH=lh are registered in the zone designation section 82 and the relative distance storage section 83, respectively.
The details of the CR processing at this time are shown in the flowchart of FIG.

(b) For (3) above, execute l1 paper feed.

(c) After performing the paper feed of l1, the paper feed amount l1 is subtracted from the value dH in the relative distance storage section 83 of the information block 701. The details of the LF (paper feed execution) process at this time are shown in the flowchart of FIG.

(d) Upon reception of the CR code in (5) above, images of the full-width characters "A", "I", "U", "E", and "O" are developed one by one on the line buffer 13, and the developed images are printed out. (See the flowchart in Figure 15).

(e) This feed amount is compared to the paper feed amount l2 in (6) above.
Since l2 exceeds the printing range of zone 1 of the enlarged characters (A, B, C), (1) First, feed the paper by the value of dH.

(2) Print zone 1 of enlarged characters “A”, “B”, and “C”.

(3) Since printing of the enlarged characters (A, B, C) is now completed, the block information of the enlarged characters (A, B, C) registered in the character information storage buffer 70 is discarded.

(4) Execute the remaining paper feed (here l2−dH).

Details of the LF (paper feed execution) process at this time are shown in the flowchart of FIG.

(f) Upon receiving the CR code in (7) above, images of the full-width characters "ka", "ki", "ku", "ke", and "ko" are developed one character at a time on the line buffer 13 and printed out (Fig. 15). (see flowchart).

In this way, the center-aligned character printing process in which full-width characters and enlarged characters (or modified characters) coexist as shown in FIG. 13 is sequentially executed.

Here, with reference to FIGS. 14 to 16, we will explain the print mode processing operations and the dot number adjustment processing operations of the enlarged pattern in the aforementioned LF (paper feed execution) processing and CR (print start) processing. do.

In the LF process shown in FIG. 14, the relative distances dH... stored in the relative distance storage sections 83... of the information blocks 701... in the character information storage buffer 70...
, the minimum value l _nio is searched, and furthermore, its relative distance dH; if l _nio does not exceed the paper feed amount l, the paper is fed by l _nio , and then l _nio is subtracted from the relative distance dH. The operation up to this point has already been explained.

After the above paper feeding is executed and the relative distance dH is updated, the printing direction control flag 90 is checked. Here, the printing direction control flag 90
is set, that is, if the flag is set, it is determined that the bidirectional printing mode (bidirectional printing by both forward and reverse feeding of the print head) is specified, and the serial dot printer 14 is activated. Set the printer mechanism to bidirectional printing mode and start image development processing of the characters to be printed. Furthermore, if the printing direction control flag 90 is not set, it is determined that the unidirectional printing mode is specified, and the printer mechanism of the serial dot printer 14 is set to the unidirectional printing mode, and the characters to be printed are set to the unidirectional printing mode. Start the image deployment process.

A detailed processing flow of the image development process to the line buffer 13 at this time is shown in FIG. Here, change the character pattern to line buffer 13.
After expanding, check whether the expanded magnification factor exceeds the standard magnification factor determined by the allowable number of printing dots (printing power consumption) based on the step widths dx _L and dy _L set in registers 91 and 92. It is determined whether or not. That is, here, the X-direction step width dx _i of the character pattern developed in the line buffer 13 and the X-direction step width dx _L stored in the register 91, and the Y-direction step width dy _i of the character pattern stored in the register 91. The step size dy _L in the Y direction is compared, and at least if dx _i is less than dx _L , or
If dy _i is less than dy _L , it is determined that the magnification of the developed pattern exceeds the standard magnification, and a staggered mask is applied to the developed character pattern of the line buffer 13 to thin out printed dots. This results in
It is possible to avoid the inconvenience that the number of printed dots increases extremely and the printing power consumption exceeds the specified value, causing the serial dot printer 14 to turn off the power. It is possible to avoid the inconvenience that the paper surface becomes completely black due to continuous dot printing.

In addition, in the CR processing shown in Fig. 15, the character string to be printed is a character pattern (a single zone character pattern that is not divided into zones) that can be printed with one character head movement operation. If it is determined whether or not there is, and printing is completed with one print head movement operation, the printer mechanism is set to bidirectional printing mode, regardless of the instruction content of the print direction control flag 90. As a result, character patterns that can be printed in one print head movement can be printed in both directions, reducing printing time and performing high-speed printing, and can be expanded or transformed into multiple zones. For characters, if you want to print according to the user's specifications, that is, if you want high-speed printing without placing emphasis on print quality, you can set the print direction control flag to perform high-speed printing in both directions. Printing is executed and
In addition, when you want to eliminate deterioration in print quality due to pattern misalignment between zones and obtain enlarged or modified character patterns with high print quality, use the print direction control flag 9.
By resetting 0 and specifying the unidirectional printing mode, it is possible to obtain enlarged or modified character patterns of high print quality without pattern deviation between zones.

In addition, in FIGS. 14 and 15 above, confirmation of the completion of image development is determined based on the above-mentioned Hsize value and the zone value to be developed next. For example, if the width of one zone is When 24 dots are added, if 24 x (zone value) > Hsize, it is determined that the image development is complete.

In the above example, the enlargement factor of the character pattern subjected to dot interpolation processing exceeds the preset standard enlargement factor, the number of printed dots increases extremely, and the power consumption during printing exceeds the specified value, causing the printer's power supply to be turned off. In order to avoid the inconvenience of causing dropouts, the printing dots are thinned out using a staggered pattern, but printing may be performed in two steps as shown in FIG. 17, for example. In this case, in the example shown in FIG. 17, "A,"
A” (“1010, 1010”) is logically ANDed in byte units, the image is expanded to the line buffer 13, and printed, the same pattern as the previous time is expanded to the line buffer 13 again, and then the expanded image is The image is logically ANDed with "5, 5"("1010,1010") in byte units, and the image is developed on the line buffer 13 and printed.

With such a print processing means, as in the above-described embodiment, it is possible to avoid the inconvenience that the power consumption during print processing exceeds a specified value and causes the printer to shut down. However, in this printing processing means, the dot pattern generated by the above-mentioned dot interpolation process is faithfully printed out as the printing result, not the pattern obtained by thinning out the printing dots. As described above, according to the printer control device of the present invention, there is provided a pattern processing means for enlarging or transforming a character pattern having a predetermined dot matrix structure, and the number of vertical dots of the pattern obtained by this pattern processing means is determined by the number of vertical dots in the image line. In a printer control device having a means for dividing the image into zones of a predetermined dot width when the width becomes larger than the vertical width of the screen, the following is applied to each character code to be printed. The zone number to be developed, the relative distance between the development start position and the print head position, and character attribute information are provided with a storage means for storing the same, and the relative distance recorded for each character is stored. Among them, a means for selecting the relative distance having the minimum value and developing an image from the corresponding information in units of one character, and calculating the relative distance for each character unit information subjected to image development processing each time a paper feeding operation is performed. A means for reducing the amount of paper feed is provided, and based on these means, pattern development and printing processing are sequentially executed. This allows for mixed printing with different pitches, thereby realizing a printer control device that is capable of printing dots at more flexible line feed pitches, including center-aligned printing, with a relatively simple configuration.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of essential parts in an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 to 16 respectively show dot interpolation processing means for obtaining enlarged or modified character patterns in the above embodiment. Figures 2a to 2f are for explaining the dots surrounding the new dots generated by the dot interpolation process.
A diagram showing the relationship between the dot information (dot pattern) of the four grid points, the level division of the interpolation value set in the interpolation table ROM, and the table type, FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the table type selection switching operation, Figures 4a to d are diagrams each showing an example of pattern conversion, and Figures 5a and b are diagrams showing a comparison between the main and sub-scanning directions during CRT display and the main and sub-scanning directions during printout. , Figure 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between various setting data, Figure 7 is a diagram showing the relationship between a character whose pattern has been converted by dot interpolation processing and the rectangle circumscribing the character, and Figure 8 is a diagram showing the relationship between various modified characters. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of setting the character pitch and line pitch. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of underline development for various modified characters. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining zone designation operation. FIG. Figures 12 to 16, which show the structure of one information block in the character information storage buffer, are for explaining the operation of the above embodiment, and Figures 12 and 13 are for explaining the operation of the above embodiment, respectively. 14 to 16 are flowcharts showing the operation processing flow in the above embodiment, and FIG. 17 is the operation processing flow in another embodiment of the present invention. This is a flowchart showing the following. 10...CPU, 11...Main memory (MM), 12...CPU bus, 13...Line buffer (image line buffer), 14...Serial dot printer, 21, 22, 25, 2
6, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 3
5, 36, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 5
4, 56, 91, 92...Register, 23...Underline/sideline control section, 24...Trigonometric function table, 2
9...Offset data generation section, 37, 38, 3
9, 40...addition circuit (ADD-A, ADD-B,
ADD-C, ADD-D), 41, 43, 45, 4
7...Data selector, 49...Selection control circuit (SC), 51...Kanji pattern memory (KPM),
52... Single character buffer, 53... Bit selection circuit, 55... Discrimination control circuit, 57... Dot discrimination circuit, 58... Interpolation table ROM, 59... Comparator, 60... Shift register, 70...
Character information storage buffer, 701...Information block, 80...Control flag section, 81...Character code section, 82...Zone specification section, 83...Relative distance storage section, 84...Pointer section, 85, 86... . . . Step width storage unit, 87 . . . Attribute information storage unit, 90 . . . Print direction control flag.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Printer control that controls pattern printing for a printing device that uses a print head with a predetermined width to print an image by scanning the print head and feeding paper. The apparatus includes a memory means for storing the print position in the paper feeding direction for each pattern lined up in the scanning direction of the print head, and a memory means for checking the print position for each pattern stored in this memory means, a paper feed control means for instructing paper feed from the position of the print head to the nearest print position; and a pattern at the nearest print position having a width that can be printed by one scan of the print head. In this case, this pattern is developed, and when the width of the pattern becomes larger than the width of the print head, the pattern is divided into zones with the width of the print head, and the pattern of the zone to be printed is developed. and a pattern developing means that moves the paper, and resets the printing position of each pattern stored in the storage means to a value updated by the amount of paper feed in accordance with the paper feed by the paper feed control means;
For patterns that are printed in zones,
printing position management means for setting a value updated by the width of the print head as a print position for printing in the next zone as the pattern development means develops the pattern in the corresponding zone; A printer control device characterized in that it is possible to print a pattern with a width that can be printed by one scan of a head and a pattern larger than the width of the print head in a mixed manner.