JPH0619905A - Character output device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To additionally print out 'KANA' (Japanese syllabary) characters alongside of Chinese characters to give their pronunciation on the character output device side by providing the character output device with a character processing means for adding converted 'KANA' characters to a corresponding Chinese compound word out of a character string to be outputted as 'KANA' characters for pronunciation. CONSTITUTION:The character output device has a font ROM 6 for storing scalable fonts corresponding to input character codes and bit map font patterns prepared for 'KANA' characters, a built-in RAM 7 to be a memory medium, a 'KANA' character data base 7a for retrieving 'KANA' characters from a Chinese compound word, an extraction means for extracting the Chinese compound word from a character string to be outputted, a 'KANJI' (Chinese character) conversion means for converting the extracted Chinese compount word into 'KANA' characters, and a character processing means for adding the converted 'KANA' characters to the corresponding Chinese compound word out of the character string to be outputted as 'KANA' characters for pronunciation. Thereby Chinese characters with 'KANA' characters for pronunciation can be printed out by setting up a mode or the like on the output device side without starting up the application of a word processor or the like on the host side.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a character output device for outputting images of characters or symbols.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional printing apparatus is constructed so that it can print ruby characters of Chinese characters only when designated by an application running on the host side. More specifically, when a document is created on the host side, ruby characters are added and created. Ruby characters (code form) and normal characters (code form) are sent to the printing device, and the character output device converts the character code into an image pattern for printing.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, it is difficult to apply ruby to kanji unless the application such as a word processor is activated on the host side, and it is impossible to add ruby to the kanji on the output device side. is there. For this reason, ruby cannot be added to the kanji of a document created by a host device that does not have the ruby character creation function. Then, in view of the above-mentioned point, an object of the present invention is to provide a character output device capable of adding a ruby character and printing it on the character output device side.

[0004]

In order to achieve such an object, according to the present invention, a kanji compound word is extracted from a character string to be output and the extracted kanji compound word is converted into a kana character. It is characterized by comprising kana-kanji conversion means and character processing means for adding the converted kana characters as ruby characters to the corresponding kanji idiom in the character string to be output.

[0005]

According to the present invention, a kanji compound word to be output is converted into its reading, that is, reverse kanji conversion is performed, thereby obtaining a character for a ruby character, thereby enabling additional printing of the ruby character.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining a circuit configuration of a printing apparatus. In the figure, 1 is a printing apparatus main body and 2 is a host computer which is a data supply source. 3 is a central processing unit (CP) that controls everything in the printer body 1.
U) and 4 are input interfaces for storing data sent from the host computer 2. Reference numeral 5 denotes a program read only memory (ROM) in which a control program including a program described later with reference to FIG. 3 is stored.

Reference numeral 6 is a scalable font corresponding to the input character code (a character in which the character is represented by stroke information instead of a dot signal and stored) and a font in which a bitmap font pattern prepared for ruby characters is stored. ROM. Reference numeral 7 denotes a built-in random access memory (RAM) serving as a memory medium, which is provided with a ruby character database 7a for searching for ruby characters from kanji phrases. Further, 8 is an output unit for performing printing.

FIG. 2 shows the contents of a table of a database for ruby characters prepared in the built-in RAM.

This table has, as attributes, a kanji code and a ruby character code for reading it,
The kanji code in one record is the code for that idiom,
The ruby character code has a continuous number of phonetic codes corresponding to idioms. Then, the CPU 3 searches the table for a kanji idiom with a code to obtain the phonetic code for the kanji, that is, the ruby character to be added to the kanji.

FIG. 3 shows a rubi character processing procedure stored in the program ROM 5 according to the present invention.

When the data stored in the input interface 4 of FIG. 1 is a character, the execution procedure of the CPU 3 shifts to a character processing routine. First, in step 1, CPU
3 acquires the character code stored in the reception buffer. In step 2, the CPU 3 determines whether or not it is a kanji code, and if it is a kanji code, it acquires a continuous kanji code until a character code other than kanji appears again in step 3, and one kanji code is obtained. Get the kanji code for. The CPU 3 at this time operates as the extraction means of the present invention. If the acquired character code is not the Kanji code, the execution procedure jumps to step 9 of the normal processing.

After acquiring Kanji idioms in step 3, CP
In step 4, U3 accesses the database for ruby characters. In step 5, the table of the database is searched for the code string of the kanji idiom acquired by the above-mentioned processing. If there is a kanji compound character code string, the CPU 3 obtains the phonetic ruby character code string for it from the table in step 6. The CPU 3 at this time operates as the kana conversion means of the present invention. If there is no Kanji compound word character code string, the process jumps to the normal processing of step 9. Step 6
After acquiring the ruby character code string in, the CPU 3 acquires the ruby character bitmap font for the character code string from the font ROM 6 in FIG. 1 in step 7. After the ruby character processing (image conversion) is performed as in the conventional method, the ruby character image is expanded and stored in the image memory (not shown) in association with the character position of the corresponding kanji compound word so that the ruby character looks like ruby. . Next, after a line feed in step 8, the kanji-blended character string to be output is converted into an image in step 9 and is combined with the ruby character image on the image memory. At this time, the CPU 3 operates as the character processing means of the present invention.

In step 10, the CPU 3 goes to the next character stored in the input interface, and if it is another character code, repeats from step 1. If it is other than the character code, the character processing routine is terminated and the process proceeds to the next step.

After the creation of the ruby characters to be added to the kanji is completed as described above, the CPU 3 sends the character image in the image memory to the output section 8, so that the printing with the ruby characters is performed at the output section 8. The present embodiment shows the processing when the ruby character addition mode is instructed. Therefore, in the case of the mode in which the ruby characters are not added, the conventionally known print processing is performed. This print mode instruction may be issued from a keyboard on the host computer side or an operation unit (not shown) of the printing apparatus main body.

<Other Embodiments> (1) In the above embodiments, a printing device such as a page printer has been described as an example, but it can be easily applied to a CRT display device of a bit map.

(2) In the above embodiment, the description has been given on the assumption that the size of the ruby characters is constant. However, if the font ROM for ruby characters of various sizes is stored in advance in the font ROM 6 of FIG. It is also possible to select the ruby character size according to the character size of the kanji part.

(3) In this embodiment, the ruby characters and the kanji compound word sequence are image-combined in the image memory. However, the ruby character code converted from the kanji compound word sequence is saved together with its position information for one screen, and the ruby character is stored. May be collectively image-converted and output to the corresponding position.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, the kanji with ruby can be printed by setting the mode on the output device side without activating the application such as the word processor on the host side. There is an effect that it becomes possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the contents of a ruby character table according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure executed by a CPU 3 of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 CPU 7 Built-in RAM 8 Output section

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Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A means for extracting a kanji idiom from a character string to be output, a kana-kanji conversion means for converting the extracted kanji idiom to a kana character, and the converted kana character as a ruby character for the output target. And a character processing means for adding to the corresponding kanji compound word in the character string.