JPH05131682A - Printing controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform an image processing ensuring a high-quality printing result by providing a means for outputting printing information obtained by a smoothing control means controlling the smoothing of inputted printing information. CONSTITUTION:In a formater control part 21, printing information received from a host computer 1 is temporarily stored in a reception buffer 2111 to be analyzed in a command analyzing part 211. Next, whether or not a command to an image processing circuit is smoothed is judged in a judgement processing part 2121. The ON/OFF operation of a change-over device 2132 to a smoothing circuit is controlled. In the smoothing circuit 2133, with the switch of the change- over device 2132 connected, a video signal received from an output processing part 3231 is smoothed in accordance with a predetermined algorithm, and the result is outputted to an engine control part 22 as a video signal. Thereafter, the engine control part 22 controls each mechanism for conducting printing in a printer engine part 23.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print control device, and more particularly to a print control device having a smoothing function when a bit image is transferred from a bitmap memory to a printer engine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printing apparatus provided with this type of print control apparatus is configured so that a smoothing circuit works on all print data developed by analyzing input print information and developing it in a bit map memory. ing.

Further, ON / OFF of the smoothing circuit can be arbitrarily switched only by the intention of the user.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, since the smoothing circuit works for all bit images, there is a drawback that the print quality may be deteriorated rather than the image data.
In addition, it is difficult for the user to judge the effect of the smoothing process.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional example, and an object of the present invention is to provide a print control apparatus which enables image processing to obtain a high-quality print result. It is in.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the object, a print control device according to the present invention includes an input unit for inputting print information, a calculation unit for performing a predetermined calculation based on the print information input by the input unit, and a calculation by the calculation unit. According to the result, a smoothing control means for controlling execution / non-execution of the smearing process for the print information input by the input means, and an output means for outputting the print information obtained by the smoothing control means are provided.

[0007]

According to this structure, the input means inputs the print information, the arithmetic means performs a predetermined arithmetic operation based on the print information input by the input means, and the smoothing control means follows the arithmetic result by the arithmetic means. The execution / non-execution of the smearing process for the print information input in step S1 is controlled, and the output unit outputs the print information obtained by the smoothing control unit.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. <First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of a printing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a host computer of an external device, which outputs print information including print data and control codes. A printing device 2 receives print information output by the host computer 1 and prints a visible image based on the print information on a recording member such as a recording paper.

The printing apparatus 2 is provided with a formatter control unit 21 and an engine control unit 22 and a printer engine unit 23.

The formatter control unit 21 includes a command analysis unit 211 and a command execution unit 212.
An output control unit indicated by 3 is provided.

The command analysis unit 211 has a reception buffer 2111 for receiving and storing print information from the host computer 1, and the command execution unit 212 has a judgment processing unit 2121, a drawing processing unit 2122, and a bit map memory 2123. The output control unit 213 has an output processing unit indicated by 2131, a switching device indicated by 2132, and a smoothing circuit indicated by 2133.

The function of each unit described above will be described.

The formatter control section 21 includes the print control means of this embodiment, and temporarily stores the print information received from the host computer 1 in the reception buffer 2111 and analyzes it by the command analysis section 211. Furthermore, the analyzed command is executed by the command execution unit 212, and the processing related to character printing and graphic drawing is calculated by the drawing processing unit 2122 and sequentially expanded in the bitmap memory 2123. With respect to the command of the image processing circuit, the determination processing unit 2121 determines whether or not to perform smoothing processing, and controls the ON / OFF switching device 2132 of the smoothing circuit. The output control unit 213 outputs the contents of the bitmap memory 2123 to the output processing unit 2131.
Is converted into a video signal and output to the engine control unit 22. The output processing unit 2131 exchanges statuses of various operating states of the engine control unit 22 and the printer engine unit 23 and engine control commands, and controls image transfer timing to the engine control unit 22. In the smoothing circuit 2133, when the switch of the switching device 2132 is connected, the video signal from the output processing unit 2131 is received, smoothing processing is performed according to a predetermined algorithm, and the result is output to the engine control unit 22 as a video signal. To do. The engine control unit 22 controls each mechanism for printing in the printer engine 23. The printer engine unit 23 is a printing mechanism unit for forming a permanent visible image on a recording sheet, which is a recording member, based on print information and the like received from the host computer 1. Further, the formatter control unit 21 includes a CPU 214 that controls the entire control, a ROM 215 that stores programs and the like according to the flowchart of FIG. 2 for operating the CPU 214, and a control unit that includes a RAM 216 used as a work area for various programs. These circuits are used in the command execution unit 21 together with the entire operation.
It also handles the actual configurations and operations of the second determination processing unit 2121 and the drawing processing unit 2122.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining the print control procedure according to the first embodiment.

In FIG. 2, S (steps) 1 to S16
Indicates each processing step.

First, the print data sent from the host computer 1 is stored in the reception buffer 2111 (S
1). Next, one command is fetched from the reception buffer 2111 to the command analysis unit 211 (S2). Next, it is judged whether the fetched one command is a command related to drawing processing (S3), and if it is a drawing command, the process proceeds to S6. on the other hand,
If the command is not a drawing process related command in S3, the process proceeds to S4 to determine whether the command is a paper discharge command. If the command is not a paper discharge command, the meaning of the command is interpreted and the corresponding process is performed (S5). ), Again S1
Return to.

In S6, it is determined whether or not the command is an image processing command, and in the case of an image processing command, S7.
Proceed to. If the command is not related to image processing,
In step S10, the drawing process is performed on the bitmap. In S7, the area of the image area is calculated, and then the process proceeds to S8. When there are multiple image areas, the areas are added. As a result of the calculation in S7, if the area of the image area is larger than the reference value registered in advance,
A flag is set (S9). After that, the process proceeds to S10 and the drawing process is performed. If it is determined in S8 that the area of the image region is smaller than the reference value, the process proceeds to S10 without setting a flag and the drawing process is performed. After the drawing process is completed, the process returns to S1 again.

On the other hand, if it is determined in S4 that the command is a paper discharge command, the process proceeds to S11, in which statuses of various operating states of the engine control unit 22 and the printer engine unit 23 and engine control commands are exchanged, and the engine control unit 22 is sent. An output process for controlling the image timing is performed (S1
1). The output processing converts the content of the bitmap memory 2123 into a video signal and outputs it. In the next S12, S
Whether or not the smoothing process is performed is determined according to the size of the image area calculated in 7. When it is determined that the area of the image region is larger than the value registered in advance, that is, when the flag is set, the smoothing process is not performed and the process proceeds to S14. If it is determined that the image area is small, that is, if the flag is not set, the process proceeds to S13, the smoothing circuit 2133 performs a smoothing process according to a predetermined algorithm, and then the process proceeds to S14. In S14, a video signal is output to the engine control unit 22. The engine control unit 22 receives this video signal, and the printer engine unit 2 receives the video signal.
3 Controls each mechanism to perform print processing (S15). Finally, in the printer engine unit 23, a permanent visible image is formed on the recording paper and the paper is ejected as a print result (S1).
6). When the above process is completed, the process returns to S1 to repeat each process. The actual operations of S14 to S16 are performed by the engine control unit 22 and the printer engine unit 23, and the operation from S1 is repeated while the formatter control unit 21 grasps the operation status of these units.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the image quality may be deteriorated by performing the smoothing process on the image data. However, when the image data has a wide area, the smoothing process is performed. It is possible to output without performing the processing, and it is possible to compensate for the defect of the smoothing circuit that has conventionally worked for all print information from the host computer, and obtain a print result with higher image quality. Second Embodiment Now, in the first embodiment, whether or not to perform the smoothing process is automatically determined by comparing the area of the image region with a value registered in advance. By preparing a command for specifying whether or not to perform smoothing processing as in the second embodiment,
It is also possible for the user to arbitrarily select. <Third Embodiment> In the first embodiment described above, whether or not to perform the smoothing process is determined according to the size of the image area. However, as in the third embodiment,
It is also possible to obtain a high-quality print result by making a judgment based on the image quality of the image.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Image data may deteriorate in printing quality by being subjected to smoothing processing, but when the area of the image data is large, it is possible to output without performing smoothing processing, and conventionally, it is possible to output from the host computer. It is possible to compensate for the drawbacks of the smoothing circuit, which worked for all print information, and obtain higher quality print results.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a printing system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a print control procedure according to the first embodiment.

[Description of Reference Signs] 1 host computer 2 printing device 21 formatter control unit 22 engine control unit 23 printer engine unit 211 command analysis unit 212 command execution unit 213 output control unit 2111 reception buffer 2121 determination processing unit 2122 drawing processing unit 2123 bitmap memory 2131 Output processing unit 2132 Smoothing processing switching device 2133 Smoothing circuit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An input unit for inputting print information, a calculation unit for performing a predetermined calculation based on the print information input by the input unit, and print information input by the input unit according to a calculation result of the calculation unit. A printing control apparatus, comprising: a smoothing control means for controlling execution / non-execution of the smearing processing for the above, and an output means for outputting the print information obtained by the smoothing control means. 2. The calculating means includes calculating means for calculating the area of the image area of the print information input by the input means, and the smoothing control means has the area of the image area calculated by the calculating means is equal to or smaller than a predetermined size. And a non-execution unit that does not execute the smoothing process when the area of the image region calculated by the calculation unit is larger than a predetermined size. Item 2. The print control device according to item 1. 3. The print control device according to claim 1, wherein the output destination of the output means is a printing device.