JPH0683823A - Data output device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To output expanded image data while efficiently excluding blank lines from them by detecting the blank lines from the bit image data and excluding the blank lines based on previously set rules. CONSTITUTION:When a printing instruction is inputted from a keyboard 3, a CPU 1 reads bit image data in a main RAM 10 and transfers them to a blank line detection part 11. The blank line detection part 11 checks whether over one bit of on dots to be printed for each dot sequence of one bit width parallel to the scanning direction of a serial printer 5 are existent in these bit image data or not and when over one bit of on dots are existent in the line as a result, data on this line are dispatched to a printer control part 8 as they are and printed from the serial printer 5. When only one bit of on dots are not existent on the line, however, the line is regarded as the blank line and handled as it is absent.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a word processor,
The present invention relates to a data output device for outputting expanded image data expanded into an output image in a facsimile, a personal computer, etc. and a composite electronic device thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a personal computer, a bit image data output device for printing bit image data has been constructed as shown in FIG. That is,
The CPU 1 controls the overall operation of the personal computer in accordance with various programs stored in the ROM 2, and the CPU 1 has a keyboard 3, a display unit 4 and a serial printer 5 as its peripheral devices, a keyboard controller 6, They are connected via the display control unit 7 and the printer control unit 8 and control their input / output operations. Here, the keyboard controller 6 performs a key sampling operation on the keyboard 3 and gives the CPU 1 a key code corresponding to the operation key. The display control unit 7 controls the writing / reading operation of the image data with respect to the video RAM 9, and the video R
The image data read from the AM 9 is displayed and output from the display unit 4. The CPU 1 gives the bit image data in the main RAM 10 to the printer controller 8 in response to the print command from the keyboard 3. The printer controller 8 is the main R
The bit image data read from the AM 10 is converted into parallel / serial data, and the motor of the serial printer 5 is driven. In addition, the main RAM1
The bit image data stored in 0 is data for one page to be printed, which is developed as a bitmap image. One dot of the print data and the main RAM 1
1 bit of 0 corresponds to 1: 1. Here, when a print command is given from the keyboard 3, the CPU 1 reads out the bit image data in the main RAM 10, gives it to the printer controller 8, and causes the serial printer 5 to output it.

[0003]

In the bit image output device configured as described above, even if the bit image data to be printed has a blank line, a wide line space, a vacant space, etc. Since it is faithfully reproduced and printed out, the number of paper feeds increases due to blank lines depending on the data content to be printed, and in the case of using roll paper, the roll paper is wasted and the thermal transfer ink ribbon However, there is a drawback that the number of carriage scans increases and the amount of ink ribbon used increases. Therefore, conventionally, a facsimile apparatus is provided with a paper save function that saves the roll paper to about half of the normal size by printing by compressing characters in the vertical direction (paper feed direction) by half. It is known that this type compresses characters, which makes the document difficult to read. An object of the present invention is to effectively remove a blank line from the expanded image data expanded into an output image so that it can be output.

[0004]

Means for Solving the Problems The means of the first invention is as follows. The blank line detection means detects a blank line from the expanded image data expanded into the output image, and the expanded image data is, for example, bitmap image data expanded into a print image. Further, for example, in the case of serial printing, the blank line is defined as a blank line in which on-dots (dots to be displayed or printed) do not exist on a line corresponding to a dot row having a 1-dot width parallel to the scanning direction. , The dot width of the blank line and the size of the dot row are arbitrary. The blank line removing means removes the blank line detected by the blank line detecting means from the developed image data.Even if the blank line is removed in parallel with the output operation, it is performed before the output operation is started. May be. The output means is a display device, a printing device or the like that outputs the expanded image data from which the blank lines have been removed by the blank line removal means. The means of the second invention is as follows. The blank line detecting means detects a blank line from the expanded image data expanded in the output image. The rule setting means sets a rule for removing blank lines from the developed image data, for example, sets data indicating at what ratio the blank lines are removed with respect to the blank lines between wide lines. The blank line removing means removes the blank line detected by the blank line detecting means in accordance with the rule set by the rule setting means. The output means is a display device, a printing device or the like that outputs the expanded image data from which the blank lines have been removed by the blank line removal means.

[0005]

The operation of the means of the first invention is as follows. When printing bit image data, if a blank line exists in the image data, the blank line detecting means detects the blank line in the bit image data. Then, the blank line removing means removes this blank line from the bit image data,
The output means outputs the bit image data from which the blank line has been removed. The operation of the means of the second invention is as follows. Now, when printing bit image data,
If a blank line exists in this image data, the blank line detection means detects a blank line in this bit image data. Then, the blank line removing means removes the detected blank line based on a preset rule (for example, a ratio), and the output means outputs the bit image data from which the blank has been removed. Therefore, it is possible to remove the blank line from the expanded image data expanded to the output image and output it.

[0006]

[First Embodiment] A first embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
An example will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a bit image output device in a personal computer. Here, the bit image output device of the present embodiment is different from the conventional configuration example shown in FIG.
Is added, and the others are configured in the same way,
Those having the same name are denoted by the same reference numeral, and the description thereof will be omitted. When the print command is input from the keyboard 3, the CPU 1 reads the bit image data in the main RAM 10 and transfers it to the blank line detection unit 11. The blank line detection unit 11 checks whether or not there is one or more on-dots to be printed for each dot row of 1-dot width parallel to the scanning direction of the serial printer 5 in this bit image data. If the line has one or more on-dots, the data on this line is passed to the printer control unit 8 as it is and printed out from the serial printer 5, but there must be one dot on the line. For example, the line is regarded as a blank line and is treated as if the line did not exist.

In this embodiment having the above configuration,
The blank line detection unit 11 handles a dot row having a 1-dot width parallel to the scanning direction of the serial printer 5 as one line in the bit image data to be printed, and performs an operation of checking whether or not it is a blank line in order from the head line. Do this for all lines. Here, if there is no one dot on one line to be printed, it is detected as a blank line, and the data of this blank line is not given to the printer control unit 8, and there is no data of this line. It is assumed that As a result, all blank lines are removed from the bit image data and printed.

FIG. 2B shows a printing example in this case,
FIG. 2A shows the bit image data before printing. When all blank lines are removed from the bit image data and printed, the print content becomes as shown in FIG. , The blanks are removed, and only the print data is printed in the state of being close to each other in the row direction. As a result, as compared with FIG. 2A, FIG. 2B is printed in a shape compressed to approximately 2/3 in the row direction.

[0009]

[Second Embodiment] A second embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the bit image output device. Here, the bit image output device of the present embodiment is different from the conventional example shown in FIG. 6 in that a blank line detection / selection / selection unit 21 and a selection / selection rule storage unit 22 are added, and the other configurations are the same. Therefore, the same components are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.
In the first embodiment, every time a blank line is detected, all the blank lines are removed from the bit image data. However, the present embodiment stores the rule of removing the blank line from the print target. The selection / selection rule storage unit 22 is provided to detect blank lines according to this rule.
The sorting / selecting unit 21 removes blank lines from the bit image data.

That is, in the selection rule storage unit 22, when a plurality of blank lines exist continuously, rule data indicating at what rate the N blank lines are removed is set in advance. Then, the blank line detection / selection section 2
In the case where 1 consecutive N blank lines are detected, 1 determines the percentage of blank lines to be removed from the N blank lines based on the ratio data set in the selection rule storage unit 22. , And control the number of blank lines printed accordingly. Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the operation when setting the ratio of blank line removal. First, in the guidance display area of the display unit 4, message data for inquiring what percentage the blank line is reduced is displayed and output (step A1). In this state, the keyboard 3
Any one of the above numeric keys “1” to “9” is operated. In this case, the numeric keypad is a key for inputting and designating a ratio indicating the percentage of blank lines to be reduced among N consecutive blank lines. Function as. That is, the key "1" is "1".
0% ", key" 2 "is" 20% "... key" 9 "is" 9 "
0% ”. Then, in step A2, it is in a standby state until the ten key is operated, and when any one of the ten keys is operated, the ratio data corresponding to the operation key is input as the setting data,
It is stored in the sorting rule storage unit 22 (step A
3).

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation when printing the bit image data. Now, when a print command is input from the keyboard 3, the bit image data in the main RAM 10 is read and transferred to the blank line detection / sorting selection unit 21. In this state, the blank line detection / sorting section 21 resets a built-in blank line counter (not shown) (step B).
1). Then, from the bit image data, first, the data for the first line is extracted (step B2), and whether the line is a blank line or not is checked by the same method as in the first embodiment (step B3). . Here, if it is not a blank line, that is, if it is a line including one or more on-dots, the data for this one line is transferred to the printer control unit 8 (step B4). Then, in the next step B5, it is checked whether or not the processing for all lines is completed. If not completed, the process returns to step B2,
Thereafter, similarly, the data for the next one line is extracted, and if it is not a blank line, the data for one line is transferred to the printer control unit 8 (step B4).

Now, when a blank line is detected, the process proceeds to step B6 to detect the number of consecutive blank lines, and first, an increment process for adding "1" to the blank line counter is performed. Then, the data for the next one line is extracted (step B7), and it is checked whether or not it is a blank line (step B8). If the blank lines are continuous, the process returns to step B6 and the value of the blank line counter is incremented again. As a result of repeating such an operation every time a blank line is detected, the value of the blank line counter becomes the number of consecutive blank lines.

When the number of consecutive blank lines is obtained in this way, the process proceeds to step B9, where the blank line detecting / sorting selection unit 21 is set in the number of consecutive blank lines in the blank line counter and the sorting selection rule storage unit 22. The ratio is calculated based on the existing ratio data, and as a result, the blank line reduced by the ratio of the blank line counter value is transferred to the printer control unit 8 as the print target data. Then, the process proceeds to step B10, the blank line counter is reset, and then the process proceeds to step B5 to repeat the above operation until the processing for all rows is completed.

As described above, in this embodiment, when continuous blank lines are detected, the number of blank lines is reduced according to preset ratio data. For example, the number of blank lines is 10. Percentage data for books is "2
If it is "0%", eight blank lines are to be printed.
If there is only one blank line and the ratio data is "50% or less", the blank line is not removed,
The one blank line is removed on condition that it is “60% or more”. In addition, for example, when the number of blank lines is 6 and the ratio data is "30%" and a fractional number occurs in the number of blank line removal, the number is removed by rounding off to obtain the number of blank line removal.

In the above embodiments, the serial printer is taken as an example. However, this may be used as a line printer, and not only the case of printing bit image data but also the case of displaying and outputting it. . Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the blank line is detected for each dot row of 1 dot width, but the dot width is arbitrary. In each of the above embodiments, bit image data is transferred to the main RAM 10.
However, the bit image data may be obtained by receiving communication data as in an external storage device or a facsimile. Further, the data received by the facsimile device according to the CCITT (International Telegraph and Telephone Advisory Committee) T4 recommendation is coded by MH or MR, and the nature of this coding is to detect a blank line even if it is not coded into bit image data. Therefore, the detection of the blank line may be performed before encoding the bit image data. Further, in the second embodiment described above, the ratio data for removing blank lines is set in the selection rule storage unit 22,
You may make it set the number. That is, when three or more blank lines are continuous, the number of blank lines after the third blank line may be set to "3" so as to be removed. In addition, the content set in the selection rule storage unit 22 is arbitrary, and the blank line may be removed according to the setting content.

[0017]

According to the present invention, since blank lines can be effectively removed from the expanded image data expanded into the output image and then output, it is possible to reduce the number of paper feeds and to roll the paper. The amount of paper used can be reduced, and the amount of ink ribbon used also decreases.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram of a bit image output device showing a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a printing example of the first embodiment, and FIG. 2B is a diagram showing a printing example when printing is performed in a state where a blank portion is removed from the bit image data shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block configuration diagram of a bit image output device showing a second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a selection rule storage unit 22 in the second embodiment.
6 is a flowchart showing the setting operation for the.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a bit image data printing operation in the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block configuration diagram of a conventional bit image output device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 2 ROM 5 Serial Printer 8 Printer Control Unit 10 Main RAM 11 Blank Line Detection Unit 21 Blank Line Detection / Random Selection Unit 22 Random Selection Rule Storage Unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A blank line detecting means for detecting a blank line in the developed image data developed in an output image, and a blank line removal for removing the blank line detected by the blank line detecting means from the developed image data. A data output device comprising: a means and an output means for outputting the developed image data from which the blank line has been removed by the blank line removal means. 2. A blank line detecting means for detecting a blank line in the expanded image data expanded into an output image, and a rule setting means for setting a rule for removing a blank line from the expanded image data, Blank line removal means for removing the blank line detected by the blank line detection means according to the rule set by the rule setting means, and output means for outputting the developed image data from which the blank line has been removed by the blank line removal means. A data output device comprising: