JPH07105882B2 - output method - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an output method for identifying different information in document information and outputting each as different color information.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in this type of apparatus, image information sent from a host computer or the like, which is an external apparatus, such as character codes and print control data, is once edited for each page and stored in a page memory. . The image information for one page stored in the page memory is sequentially read and converted into dot data according to the character code. Then, in accordance with the converted dot data, for example, in a laser beam printer, a laser beam is modulated into an on / off signal corresponding to the dot data to form a latent image on a photosensitive drum (not shown) to form an image. There is.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram for explaining an example of this type of image processing apparatus. Reference numeral 11 denotes an input control unit which interfaces character information A consisting of character codes, which is communicated from the host computer.

Reference numeral 12 is a page memory in which the previously stored sentence information A is sequentially erased by the sentence information A input to the input control unit 11.

A main control unit 13 refers to the character pattern generation unit 14 to convert the character code read out from the page memory 12 into dot pattern information B ₁ and B ₂ for each character, and convert it to the input color designation information. Based on this, the first color bitmap memory 15a and the second color bitmap memory 15b are stored.

16 is the first color scan buffer, which is the first scan buffer
16a and a second scan buffer 16b, and the dot pattern information B ₁ is alternately read and written in parallel to the first scan buffer 16a and the second scan buffer 16b based on the control signal input from the read controller 18a. It is processed.

17 is the second color scan buffer, the first scan buffer
17a and the second scan buffer 17b, and the reading and writing of the dot pattern information B ₂ to the first scan buffer 17a and the second scan buffer 17b are alternately performed based on the control signal input from the read control unit 18b. It is processed. The read controller 18a uses the read signal D ₁ sent from the main controller 13 to read the first color scan buffer 16a.
Control signal is output to.

The read control unit 18b outputs a control signal to the second color scan buffer 17 based on the read signal D ₂ sent from the main control unit 13.

Reference numeral 19a denotes a parallel-serial converter, which includes a first scan buffer 16a,
Converts parallel dot pattern data read alternately from the second scan buffer 16b to the serial first color dot pattern data C _1, and outputs as image information to the semiconductor laser driving circuit (not shown) such as a laser beam printer.

Reference numeral 19b denotes a parallel-serial converter, which is a first scan buffer 17a,
The parallel dot pattern data alternately read from the second scan buffer 17b is converted into serial second color dot pattern data C ₂ and output as image information to a semiconductor laser drive circuit (not shown) of a semiconductor laser, for example.

The main control unit 13 classifies the text information A input to the input control unit 11 into colors according to the color designation information sent from the host computer, and stores dot images corresponding to form data such as ruled lines in the first color bitmap memory 15a. In addition to the storage, the dot image corresponding to the character data is stored in the second color bitmap memory 15b. Then, by controlling the writing or reading of the dot image via the scan buffer 16 or the scan buffer 17 in the subsequent stage, for example, the first color dot pattern data corresponding to each color is supplied to the image driver, for example, the laser driver of the laser beam printer. The input data was processed so that the C ₁ and second color dot pattern data C ₂ could be output and the character information and ruled lines could be printed in different colors.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

For this reason, when the text information A to be input is the text information A for a laser beam printer of a single color with no color designation, the main control unit 13 corresponds to the input text information A. Since the dot image to be stored is stored in either the first color bitmap memory 15a or the second color bitmap memory 15b, the monochrome text information A input to the laser beam printer capable of two-color printing is selected. If it is possible to reproduce only one of the colors, the ruled lines and text information can be output only in the same color, and for example, when the print pitch and line pitch restrictions are strongly specified by the print control information,
There is a problem that the ruled lines that are output as images overlap the text information, making it very difficult to identify.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is a bitmap for each color of the first pattern and the second pattern in the text information of a single color according to the selection information input from the outside. It is an object of the present invention to provide an output method by which the first pattern and the second pattern, which should be output in a single color, can be output in various colors in different colors by expanding the output.

[Means for solving problems]

The output method according to the present invention comprises a determination step of determining whether or not selection information is input from the outside, and a first pattern to be monochrome output when determining that the selection information is input in the determination step. And the second pattern are output in different colors, or if it is determined that the selection information is not input in the determination step, the first pattern and the second pattern to be output in single color are output in single color. And an output control process for

[Action]

According to the present invention, it is controlled whether the first pattern and the second pattern, which are to be monochromatically output, are output in different colors or in monochromatic color according to the selection information. First and second patterns to be output
It is possible to output various patterns in different colors.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of an image processing apparatus to which an output method according to an embodiment of the present invention can be applied.
Is a main control unit that also serves as the expansion control means of the present invention, and distinguishes the character data and the form data in the text information A input through the input control unit 11 and stored in page memory 12 in page units. At the same time, the dot pattern information B ₁ and B ₂ corresponding to the character data and the form data is stored in the first color bit map memory 15a or the second color bit map memory 15b based on the output state of the color classification selection signal 2 input from the host. Deploy independently and simultaneously.

When the color-coded selection signal 2 input from the host is not output, the character data and form data in the text information A stored in the page memory 12 in page units are used as dot pattern information B ₁ or dot pattern information B. _It is converted into 2 and expanded in the first color bitmap memory 15a or the second color bitmap memory 15b.

Next, the operation will be described.

The main control unit 1 determines whether or not color-coded expansion processing is performed on the monochromatic text information A input to the input control unit 11 based on the color-coded selection signal 2 sent from the host computer.

If the main controller 1 determines that the color-coded selection signal 2 sent from the host computer is output (TRUE), the text information A stored in the page memory 12 is expanded and controlled as follows. To do.

First, the main control unit 1 identifies the character data in the text information A read from the page memory 12 and the form data such as ruled lines. Here, the main control unit 1 converts a dot image corresponding to form data such as ruled lines with reference to the character pattern generation unit 14, and converts the dot image into a first color bitmap memory.
In addition to being stored in 15a, the dot image corresponding to the character data is converted with reference to the character pattern generation unit 14 and stored in the second color bit map memory 15b.

Then, by controlling the writing or reading of the dot image via the scan buffer 16 or the scan buffer 17 in the subsequent stage, for example, the first color dot pattern data corresponding to each color is supplied to the image driver, for example, the laser driver of the laser beam printer. By outputting C ₁ and dot pattern data C ₂ of the second color, the character data and the ruled line data in the text information A input in a single color can be printed in different colors.

On the other hand, when the main controller 1 determines that the color-coded selection signal 2 sent from the host computer is not being output (FALSE state), the sentence information A stored in the page memory 12 is as follows. To control the expansion.

The main control unit 13 outputs the dot image corresponding to the form data such as ruled lines and the dot image corresponding to the character data in the monochromatic text information A sent from the host computer to the first color bit map memory 15a or the second color bit. Stored in map memory 15b. Then, by controlling writing or reading of the dot image via the scan buffer 16 or the scan buffer 17 in the subsequent stage, for example, the first color dot pattern data that becomes a single color designation for the laser driver of the laser beam printer, which serves as an image output unit. Either C ₁ or the second color dot pattern data C ₂ is output, and the input data is processed so that the text information and the ruled line are printed in the same color.

In this way, the main control unit 1 can select the print data processing for each color of the character data and the form data in the text information A of the single color designation according to the output information of the color classification selection signal 2 sent from the host computer. Becomes

In the above embodiment, the color-based expansion control for printing the single-color designated text information A in two colors has been described.
Image output means, for example, a laser beam printer
In the case of a model having reproduced colors equal to or more than the colors, many color-based printing variations can be added to the color identification for the input single-color text information A. That is, if one color is used for the character data and different colors are printed according to the type of the form data, the character data and the form data can be distinguished and various colors can be printed. .

Next, the document information processing operation based on the output method of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining an output method showing an embodiment of the present invention, and for example, color-coded expansion processing of monochromatic character information is taken as an example. Note that (1) to (8) indicate each step.

First, the main controller 1 waits for a print command to be input (1), and when the print command is input, accepts input of text information (2). Next, it is determined whether the color-coded selection signal 2 is in the ON state (3), and if YES, it is determined whether the input text information is form data (4). If YES, the dot pattern of the form data is determined. The data is expanded in the first bitmap memory 15a (5), and the process proceeds to step (7) and thereafter. If NO, the dot pattern of the character data is expanded in the second bitmap memory 15b (6). Next, it is judged whether all pages have been printed (7) and YE
If S, the dot pattern development process is terminated, and if NO, the process returns to step (1).

On the other hand, in the case of NO in the determination in step (3), the character data and form data of the input sentence information are stored in the first bitmap memory 15a or the second bitmap memory 1
Deploy to either 5b (8) and return to step (7). The color-coded selection signal 2 is input to the main control unit 1 via software processing (data command) and dedicated hardware (designated cable).

As a result, when the monochrome text information 3 is composed of the form data 3a and the character data 3b as shown in FIG. 3, the form data 3a and the character data 3b are independent of the first bitmap memory 15a or The output image data 4 can be obtained by developing in the second bitmap memory 15b and printing the output form data 4a and the output character data 4b in different colors (hatched portions).

In the above embodiment, the case where the expansion of the input sentence information is controlled based on the color classification selection signal 2 sent from the host computer has been described. However, by providing a switch for inputting the color classification selection signal 2 on the printer side, a single color The color output of the designated text information can be processed on the printer side, and the color-coded selection signal 2 sent from the host computer can be forcibly released.

In addition, the color code selection signal 2 sent from the host computer or the color code selection signal 2 designated by the printer side.
When is input, if the form data 3a and the character data 3b are alternately expanded into the different first bit map memory 15a or the second bit map memory 15b for each page, a highly designed document image can be output. .

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, it is controlled whether the first pattern and the second pattern, which are to be monochromatically output, are output in different colors or in monochromatic color according to the selection information. Therefore, there is an effect that the first pattern and the second pattern, which should be output in a single color, can be output in various colors in different colors when necessary.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing apparatus to which an output method according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an output method according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the print output side according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of this type of image processing apparatus. In the figure, 1 is a main controller, 2 is a color-coded selection signal, 11 is an input controller, 12 is a page memory, 14 is a character pattern generator, and 15 is a character pattern generator.
a is a first color bit map memory, 15b is a second color bit map memory, 16 and 17 are scan buffers, 18a and 18b are read control units, and 19a and 19b are parallel-serial converters.

Front Page Continuation (72) Inventor Hisao Urata 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (56) Reference JP 60-182876 (JP, A) JP 61-79660 ( JP, A) JP 62-270342 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A judgment step of judging whether or not selection information is inputted from the outside, and a first pattern and a second pattern to be outputted in monochrome when judging that the selection information is inputted in the judgment step. Output in different colors, or when it is determined in the determination step that the selection information has not been input, output control for outputting the first pattern and the second pattern to be output in single color in single color An output method comprising: