JPH05246113A - Printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To avoid degradation of print quality caused by magnification varying process and resolve cost problem. CONSTITUTION:A ruled line data or graphic data is inputted by a character code from a host device. In magnification varying process, a dot pattern data corresponding to the character code is extracted, its singular points are detected, coordinates of each singular point is converted into vector information, and a magnification varying dot pattern data is developed in accordance with the vector information and a magnification. In the case of the ruled line data, a branch point and a bending point of the ruled line on the dot pattern is made to be singular point, the coordinates of each singular point is converted into vector information, coordinates of each branch point and bending point of the ruled line to be developed is calculated in accordance with each vector information and magnification, and the coordinates are connected so as to develop the magnification varying dot pattern of the ruled line.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer such as a page printer such as a laser printer or a digital copying machine, which prints out data processed by a computer page by page, and particularly emulation or conversion of a dot printer having a different resolution. The present invention relates to a printing apparatus suitable for drawing ruled line data and graphic data with high quality in a printing apparatus that performs double processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, print information output from a computer is roughly classified into dot pattern data including image data and graphic data and code data including a character code. Therefore, in the printing apparatus as described above, when the code data is received from the computer, the corresponding dot pattern data is extracted from the pattern memory and expanded in the image memory, and when the image data is received, the resolution is set. If they match, the image is scaled as it is, and if the resolutions are different, scaling processing is performed and the image data is expanded, and the image data thus expanded are superimposed and printed. ..

In such a printing apparatus, when a character double-width designation or quadruple-width designation is made, a method is generally known in which dot pattern data is simply scaled by a designated multiple. In addition, a method of smoothing after scaling to improve print quality, and a method of using a vector font when a vector font is included are also known.

The ruled lines are generally drawn by an image method or a combination of a ruled line font and an image. The combination of a ruled line font and an image is a method in which the size of the ruled line font is usually smaller than the character pitch and the line pitch, and the space between them is filled with an image.

[0005]

In the conventional printing apparatus,
When the dot pattern data is scaled (especially enlarged), there is a problem that the image data after scaling is conspicuous and print quality is deteriorated. Therefore, in order to improve the print quality, smoothing processing and drawing with a vector font are taken as measures, but in the former case, the improvement of the print quality can be expected only slightly. In the latter case, a vector font must be prepared, so there is a cost problem and a physical problem remains because dot fonts are naturally combined.

In a printing apparatus having the above-mentioned function and emulating a dot printer, the resolution is generally higher than that of a dot printer. Therefore, when drawing a ruled line with a combination of a ruled line font and an image, an image is drawn. Requires a scaling process, and when the scaling ratio is not an integer multiple, the line width of the ruled line font is different depending on whether the fractional part is rounded down or rounded up, and the ruled line becomes rattled.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to solve the problems of cost and the like and to avoid the deterioration of the printing quality due to the scaling processing.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention inputs a dot pattern including image data and graphic data and print information including code data including a character code in page units from a host device. In the printing device that extracts the dot pattern data corresponding to the code data from the pattern memory, combines the extracted dot pattern data with the dot pattern data input from the host device, and prints out in page units, a host device When the ruled line data or graphic data is input by a character code from and the scaling processing is performed, the singular points of the dot pattern data extracted corresponding to the character code are detected, and the coordinates of each singular point are vectored. Converted to information and scaled dot pattern according to the vector information and scaling ratio It is provided with a variable power dot pattern developing means for developing the data.

Incidentally, when the scaling dot pattern developing means converts the dot pattern of the ruled line data into vector information, the branch points and bending points of the ruled line on the dot pattern are set as singular points, and the coordinates of each singular point are set. Convert to vector information, and calculate the coordinates of each branch point and bending point of the ruled line to be developed by each vector information and scaling factor,
It is preferable to provide a means for expanding the variable-magnification dot pattern of the ruled line by connecting the respective coordinates.

Further, when the means for expanding the scaled dot pattern of the ruled line has the table of the coordinates of the singular points of various ruled line data in advance and the character code of the ruled line data is input,
Calculate the necessary singular point coordinates by referring to the above table,
Convert the calculated coordinates of the singular point into vector information,
It is also possible to calculate the coordinates of the branch point and the bending point of the ruled line to be developed based on the respective vector information and the scaling factor, and connect the respective coordinates to develop the scaling dot pattern of the ruled line.

[0011]

In the printing apparatus according to the present invention, when the ruled line data or the graphic data is input by the character code from the host apparatus and the scaling processing is performed, the singular point of the dot pattern data extracted corresponding to the character code is used. Is detected, the coordinates of each singular point are converted into vector information, and the scaling dot pattern data is expanded according to the vector information and the scaling ratio, so it is possible to avoid deterioration of printing quality due to scaling processing, and Problems such as cost can be solved.

When the dot pattern of the ruled line data is converted into vector information, the branch points and bending points of the ruled line on the dot pattern are set as singular points, and the coordinates of each singular point are converted into vector information. By calculating the coordinates of each branch point and the bending point of the ruled line to be developed by each vector information and the scaling factor, and connecting the respective coordinates,
You can develop variable-scale dot patterns for ruled lines.

In this case, if the coordinates of singular points of various ruled line data are stored in advance as a table and the character code of the ruled line data is input, the coordinates of the necessary singular points are calculated by referring to the above table. It is possible to speed up the expansion processing of the scaled dot pattern of the ruled line.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a laser printer showing an embodiment of the present invention, which comprises a printer controller 1, an engine 2, a panel device 3, and a disk device 4. The host device 5 is a host device of this printer.

The printer controller 1 includes a CPU 6, a program ROM 7 and a font ROM (pattern memory).
8, RAM 9, bitmap memory 20, NVRAM1
0, IC card 11, engine interface (hereinafter, interface is abbreviated as I / F) 12, panel I / F
F13, disk I / F14, host I / F15
/ F and.

The CPU 6 is a central processing unit that controls the printer controller 1 as a whole according to a program in the program ROM 7, a mode instruction from the panel device 3, and a command from the host device (host computer) 5. The program ROM 7 is a read-only memory that stores the control program of the printer controller 1, and the font ROM 8 is a read-only memory that stores the dot pattern data of the font.

The RAM 9 is a work memory for the CPU 6,
Random access memory used for input buffer for storing input data, page buffer for storing page data, vector file for storing vector information, font file for storing downloaded fonts, bitmap Memory 20
Is a random access memory for writing dot pattern data (bitmap data) in page units.

The NVRAM 10 is a non-volatile memory for storing the contents of the mode instruction from the panel device 3, and the IC card 11 is a removable memory card used when externally supplying font data and programs. Is. The engine I / F 12 is an interface for communicating commands, statuses, and print data with the engine 2 that actually prints, and a panel I / F 13
Is an interface that communicates commands and status with the panel device 3 that informs the user of the current printer status and gives a mode instruction.

The disk I / F 14 is an interface for communicating with the disk device 4. Host I /
The F15 is an interface that communicates with the host device 5, and is typically a Centro I / F or RS232C.
The disk device 4 is an external storage device that stores various data such as font data, programs, and image data, and is a floppy disk device (FDD) or hard disk device (HDD).

Next, the operation of this embodiment thus constructed will be described. FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing an example of processing according to the present invention by the CPU 6 of FIG. This routine starts when one page of print information is input from the host device 5 to the input buffer of the RAM 9, and first determines whether or not the mode is the variable magnification mode, and if it is not the variable magnification mode, performs normal processing.

That is, the print information for each byte is taken out from the input buffer, and if the taken out print information is a dot pattern containing image data and graphic data, it is stored in the bitmap memory 20 as it is. If the extracted print information is code data including a character code, it is converted into page data and stored in the page buffer of the RAM 9.

After that, the same processing as described above is repeated, and when the printing information for one page is completely processed, if the page data is created, the dot pattern data corresponding to each character is extracted from the font ROM 8. The dot pattern data on the bitmap memory 20 as a video signal to the engine 2
To print out. At this time, if the dot pattern data from the host device 5 is stored in the bit map memory 20, the dot pattern data extracted from the font ROM 8 is overlaid and combined.

On the other hand, in the variable magnification mode, one byte of print information is taken out from the input buffer, and it is judged whether or not the print information is the character code of the ruled line data or the graphic data. Extract the dot pattern data from the font ROM8,
Detects the singular points of the extracted dot pattern data,
The coordinates of each singular point are converted into vector information, which is stored in the vector file of the RAM 9. After that, the process returns to the determination as to whether the extracted print information is a character code of ruled line data or graphic data.

Here, since the dot patterns corresponding to the ruled line data and the graphic data by the character code have few types and are simple patterns, by extracting the dot pattern data in a closed system, the vector information can be simplified and simplified. It can be vectorized.

If the fetched print information is another character code, page data is created and stored in the page buffer as described above, and then the fetched print information is a character of ruled line data or graphic data. Return to the judgment whether it is a code or not. If the fetched print information is dot pattern data from the host device 5, it is scaled in the X and Y directions and stored in the bitmap memory 20, and then the fetched print information is the characters of the ruled line data or graphic data. Return to the judgment whether it is a code or not.

When the extracted print information is neither a character code nor dot pattern data, that is, a page break code, a development process is performed. That is, if the vector information is created, the variable dot pattern is expanded on the bitmap memory 20 according to the vector information and the variable ratio, and then the variable dot pattern data on the bitmap memory 20 is used as a video signal. It is transferred to the engine 2 and printed out.

If page data is created,
The dot pattern data corresponding to each character of the page data is extracted from the font ROM 8 on the bitmap memory 20, and the dot pattern data is scaled in the X and Y directions and expanded on the bitmap memory 20. The variable-magnification dot pattern data above is transferred to the engine 2 as a video signal and printed out.

When the expansion processing is performed by using both the vector information and the page data, the variable scale dot pattern data corresponding to the character code of the ruled line data or the graphic data on the bitmap memory 20 and the other The variable-magnification dot pattern data corresponding to the character code is superimposed and synthesized. If the dot pattern data from the host device 5 is stored in the bitmap memory 20, variable dot pattern data obtained by combining one or both of the above is superimposed and combined.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart specifically showing only the process corresponding to the character code of the ruled line data in the process of FIG. 1. When the character code of the ruled line data is input, the dot pattern data corresponding to the character code is inputted. (Rule line font) is extracted from the font ROM 8, the coordinates of the branch points and bending points (singular points) of the ruled line on the dot pattern data are obtained, the coordinates of each singular point are converted into vector information, and the vector is obtained. Coordinates of each branch point and bending point of the ruled line to be developed are calculated based on the information and the scaling factor, and the respective coordinates are connected to develop the scaling dot pattern of the ruled line.

FIG. 4 shows ruled line data sent from the host device 5. A cell (inside a thin line frame) is a drawing region of a ruled line font, and an inside of a dotted line region is an image. As can be seen from the figure, the points drawn at the X and Y coordinates (branching points and bending points) are the singular points of the ruled line, and the coordinates of these singular points are converted into vector information and expanded by the vector information and the scaling factor. After calculating the coordinates of each branch point and the bending point of the power ruled line, by connecting the respective coordinates, it is possible to finally draw a ruled line of substantially the same quality as the original image.

FIG. 5 shows an example of vector information obtained from the coordinates of the singular points of the ruled line data shown in FIG. The vector information has coordinates and attributes (type of ruled line font) of a singular point, and has a ruled line attribute (such as line width) as a header. 6 shows an example of graphic data, and FIG. 7 shows an example of vector information obtained from the coordinates of the singular points. In the vector information, the portion A is a 1-byte attribute area indicating the line width (0 indicates the filling) and graphic information such as a polygon or a circle. The part B is a coordinate area given as an offset of the basic coordinates of the cell to be developed (drawn). The last byte is the terminator.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when the ruled line data or the graphic data is input from the host device 5 by the character code and the double-width mode is designated, it is extracted corresponding to the character code. Detects singular points in the dot pattern data, converts the coordinates of each singular point to vector information, and expands the variable-size dot pattern data according to the vector information and the scaling factor. Can be avoided, and since it is not necessary to prepare a vector font, problems such as cost can be solved.

Since there are only types of ruled line fonts as shown in FIG. 4, when the coordinates of the singular points of each ruled line font are stored in the program ROM 7 as a table in advance and the character code of the ruled line data is input, By calculating the coordinates of the required singular point with reference to the above table, it is possible to speed up the expansion processing of the variable-scale dot pattern of the ruled line.

Although the embodiments in which the present invention is applied to a laser printer have been described above, the present invention is not limited to this, and other page printers such as LED printers, liquid crystal shutter printers, ink jet printers, digital copiers and the like. It can be applied to various printing devices.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to avoid the deterioration of the print quality due to the scaling process and solve the problems such as cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing a process according to the present invention by a CPU 6 of FIG.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a laser printer showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart specifically showing a process corresponding to a character code of ruled line data in the process of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of ruled line data.

5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of vector information obtained from coordinates of singular points of the ruled line data shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of graphic data.

7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of vector information obtained by coordinates of singular points of the graphic data of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Printer Controller 2 Engine 3 Panel Device 5 Host Device 6 Central Processing Unit (CPU) 7 Program R
OM 8 Font ROM 9 RAM 10 NVRAM 20 Bitmap memory

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location G09G 5/40 8121-5G

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A dot pattern including image data and graphic data and print information including code data including a character code are input from a host device in page units, and dot pattern data corresponding to the code data is input from a pattern memory. In a printing device that extracts and combines the extracted dot pattern data with the dot pattern data input from the host device and prints out in page units, ruled line data or graphic data is input from the host device in a character code. When performing the scaling process, the singular points of the dot pattern data extracted corresponding to the character code are detected, the coordinates of each singular point are converted into vector information, and the vector information and the scaling factor are converted. Variable dot pattern exhibition that expands variable dot pattern data according to Printing apparatus characterized in that a means. 2. When the variable-magnification dot pattern developing means converts the dot pattern of the ruled line data into vector information, the branch points and bending points of the ruled lines on the dot pattern are set as singular points, and the coordinates of each singular point are set. Is converted into vector information, and the coordinates of each branch point and bending point of the ruled line to be developed are calculated according to each vector information and the scaling factor,
2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for developing a variable-scale dot pattern of a ruled line by connecting the respective coordinates. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the means for expanding the variable-scale dot pattern of the ruled line has a table of coordinates of singular points of various ruled line data in advance, and the character code of the ruled line data is input. At this time, the coordinates of the necessary singular points are calculated by referring to the table, the calculated coordinates of the singular points are converted into vector information, and the branch points and bends of the ruled lines to be developed according to each vector information and the scaling factor. A printing apparatus characterized in that a variable-scale dot pattern of a ruled line is developed by calculating coordinates of points and connecting the respective coordinates.