JPH0499666A - Plotting system for page printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize reduction of size and cost by providing a plotting control section preparing parameter information for splitting a character or an image of data a plurality of times and a plotting section thereby reducing the bit map memory and package memory. CONSTITUTION:A plotting control section 101 takes out a character and an image in objective code blocks 301-303 from a page of characters and image and then they are converted into a data format usable in a plotting section 102 and stored in a code block 302. The plotting section 102 analyzes the code blocks 301-303 prepared in the plotting control section 101 and thus analyzed information is employed for plotting into bit map memories 301-313. According to the constitution, total bytes required by the bit map memories 311-313 and the code 301-303 can be only several tens Kbytes.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a drawing method in a page printer that draws and outputs characters or images in a bitmap memory.
In particular, the present invention relates to a drawing method in a page printer that draws and outputs characters or images using a small bitmap memory.

[Conventional technology]

Conventional page printers draw each character or image in one process, so a bitmap memory for one page or a bitmap large enough to draw each character and image in one process is required. I had.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The above-mentioned drawing method in the conventional page printer requires a large bitmap memory, which results in a large amount of memory being installed, which has the drawback of increasing the size and cost of the device.

In view of the above points, an object of the present invention is to newly add one character or one character.
By dividing and drawing the image according to the output,
The object of the present invention is to reduce the size and cost of the device by reducing the size of the bitmap memory and the number of memories mounted.

[Means to solve the problem]

The drawing method in the page printer of the present invention is that in the drawing method in the page printer that draws one character or one image data in a bitmap memory and outputs it, the parameter information that divides one character or one image data and draws it multiple times. and a drawing section that divides and draws one character or one image data according to the parameter information.

〔Example〕

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. The drawing control unit 101 determines which part of the character O image is stored in the bitmap memory 103, and
Based on this, the drawing unit 102 draws the bitmap memory 1.
03, and the output result 104 is the output thereof.

Next, the processing contents of each part will be explained.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the bitmap memory 103. One bitmap memory 201 has a capacity of several tens of dot lines, and has several bitmaps. The drawing performed by the drawing section is performed in units of one bitmap. Therefore, in one drawing, one character and one
It may not be possible to draw the entire image. Therefore, in the present invention, as shown in the configuration of the drawing control section in FIG. By creating it, drawing becomes possible.

As for the overall processing flow, the drawing control unit 101 uses the bitmap memory 313 that creates the code block 303.
, a bitmap memory 312 to which the drawing unit 102 draws characters and images, and a bitmap memory 311 to which the drawing unit 102 outputs what it has finished drawing.Three types of bitmap memories appear in sequence. .

First, the processing in the drawing control unit 101 will be explained.

The drawing control unit 101 extracts characters and images that fall into any of the code blocks 301 to 303 that are the targets of determination from among the characters and image data for one page, and outputs them to the drawing unit. 102 converts the data into a usable data format and stores it in the code block 302. The data format of code blocks 301 to 303 will be explained using characters as an example. As shown in the character data format in the code block and the configuration of the drawing unit in Figure 4, the character data 401 includes the drawing coordinates indicating the drawing position on the bitmap, the address of the memory where the character pattern is stored, the character size, etc. In addition to this information, it also contains information about which part of the character is to be drawn. In a format similar to this, image data and various information such as gray lines and shading in characters are created by the drawing control unit 101, and code blocks 301 to 301 are created by the drawing control unit 101.
303.

Here, the processing in the drawing unit 102 will be explained. The drawing unit 102 analyzes the code blocks 301 to 303 created by the drawing control unit 101, and draws the codes in the bitmap memories 301 to 313 based on the information.

In this way, conventional page printers require several megabytes of bitmap memory 103, but by using the processing method of the present invention, bitmap memories 311 to 313 and food blocks 301 to 303 can be used. In total, it would only take a few dozen part-time jobs.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention reduces the amount of installed memory and downsizes the device by providing a drawing means that has several bitmap memories for several tens of dot lines and code blocks that correspond one-to-one. Chemical competition has the effect of lowering prices.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the bitmap memory, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the drawing control section, and FIG. 4 is the code FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a character data format in a block and a configuration of a drawing section. 101... Drawing control unit, 102... Drawing unit, 103
...Bitmap memory, 104...Output result, 2
01...Detailed diagram of bitmap memory 103, 301
~303...Code block, 311~313...
Bitmap memory, 401...Character data.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a drawing method in a page printer that draws one character or one image data to a bitmap memory and outputs it, there is a drawing control unit that creates parameter information for dividing one character or one image data and drawing it multiple times, and A drawing method for a page printer, comprising: a drawing section that divides one image data according to the parameter information and draws the divided image data.