JPH07172022A - Printing controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the printing speed of a printed matter including the same pattern occupying a plurality of pages. CONSTITUTION:Common parts are extracted out of the printing information of a pair of pages, which are stored in a page information memory, by a comparing, unit 18 to store them in a form information memory 20, then, the common parts are omitted from the page information memory. Subsequently, printing pattern development is effected based on the information of the form information memory 20 to store it into a pattern buffer 26 while the development of the printing pattern is effected based on the information of the page memory to store it into a pattern buffer 28. A CPU 10 composes the contents of these pattern buffers 26, 28 to store it into a printing buffer 30 and printing is effected by a printing unit 32.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing control device for controlling printing of printing information on a plurality of pages in a printing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a print control device for controlling a printing device operates as follows. Now, a case of printing two pages as shown in FIG. 4A will be described as an example. Also,
It is assumed that (B) and (C) in the figure show the minimum amount of information necessary for performing character drawing and ruled line drawing.

In order to print the first page, the application program draws ruled line drawing information corresponding to the ruled line under the character string "order slip" (that is, line type = solid line, start coordinate = A).
A point, an end point coordinate = point B, a drawing pattern = line drawing) are assembled and passed to the print control apparatus. The print control device converts this into a control command (ESC sequence) for the printing device and outputs it to the printing device. Thereafter, other ruled line drawing is performed in the same manner. Next, when the application program assembles character drawing information (that is, character string = “order slip”, start coordinate = point X, character size = m, character pitch = h) and passes it to the print control apparatus, the print control apparatus , Which is converted into a control command (ESC sequence) for the printing apparatus and output to the printing apparatus. Hereinafter, other character drawing is performed in the same manner. In this way, when all the drawing within one page has been performed, the print control device outputs a paper discharge control command (ESC sequence) of the print device to the print device. The printing device prints the first page in response to the paper discharge control command. Next, the data of the second page is printed in the same procedure.

[0004]

Therefore, in the case of the above-mentioned example, since the command (ESC sequence) for the ruled line printing or the like at the same position over two pages is generated by the print control device every page, The printing efficiency was not good and it took time to print.

This can be avoided by using the form registration function of the printing device to register the ruled lines at the same position over two pages as a form. It must support the form registration function.

Therefore, it is not possible to improve the printing speed with a normal application program that outputs common drawing information over a plurality of pages to the printing device every page, and the form registration function of the printing device is used to improve the printing speed. In order to use, the application program itself needs to be changed.

An object of the present invention is to provide a normal application program that outputs common drawing information over a plurality of pages to each page of the printing apparatus, that is, an application program that does not use the form registration function of the printing apparatus. It is also to improve the printing speed without the need to change the application program itself.

[0008]

The means of the present invention are as follows. The page information storage means stores print information of a plurality of pages. The common information extraction means extracts a common part from the print information of a pair of pages among the plurality of pages stored in the page information storage means. The common information storage means stores the common part in the print information of the pair of pages extracted by the common information extraction means. The common information expansion unit expands the print pattern based on the common print information stored in the common information storage unit to generate the common print pattern. The non-common information expanding means develops a print pattern based on the non-common print information for each page other than the one extracted from the print information of a plurality of pages stored in the page information storing means by the common information extracting means, and individually. Generate a print pattern. The synthesizing unit synthesizes the common print pattern generated by the common information expanding unit and the individual print pattern generated by the non-common information expanding unit for each page to generate a printing pattern.

[0009]

The operation of the means of the present invention is as follows. First,
The common information extraction means extracts a common part from the print information of a pair of pages among the plurality of pages stored in the page information storage means, stores it in the common information storage means, and stores the stored common print. Based on the information, the common information expanding means expands the print pattern to generate the common print pattern. In addition, the non-common information expansion means expands the print pattern based on the non-common print information for each page other than the one extracted from the print information of the plurality of pages stored in the page information storage means by the common information extraction means. The individual print pattern is generated. Then, the synthesizing unit synthesizes the common print pattern generated by the common information developing unit and the individual print pattern generated by the non-common information developing unit for each page to generate a printing pattern, and Is supplied to a printing device to print.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a print control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 is a CPU for controlling the whole. Reference numeral 12 is a plurality of pages of print information (page information) composed of character drawing information and ruled line drawing information assembled by an application program.

Reference numeral 14 is a page information memory I in which page information to be printed out of the plurality of page information 12 is stored, and 16 is page information memory II in which page information of a page to be printed next is stored.
Is. Reference numeral 18 denotes a comparison unit that compares the contents of these two page information memories 14 and 16 and extracts a common portion.
Is a form information memory for storing the common information portion compared and extracted by the comparison unit 18.

Reference numeral 22 is a character drawing control unit for developing a print pattern based on the character drawing information in the print information stored in the page information memory I14 and the form information memory 20, and 24 is the ruled line drawing information in the print information. It is a ruled line drawing control unit that develops a print pattern based on the. Reference numeral 26 is a pattern buffer I for storing a print pattern developed from the print information of the page information memory I14 by the character and ruled line drawing control units 22 and 24, and 28 is a print pattern similarly developed from the form information memory 20. Pattern buffer II.

30 is the pattern buffer I2.
6 and II 28 is a print buffer in which the synthesis result of the patterns stored is stored, and 32 is the print buffer 30.
The printing unit is a printing unit that prints the print pattern stored in the sheet onto a sheet.

The operation of such a structure will be described below with reference to a series of flow charts shown in FIGS. First, page information 12 consisting of character drawing information and ruled line drawing information sequentially assembled by the application program as described in the explanation of the operation of the prior art.
Of the print information of the first page of the page (step S1),
This is stored in the page information memory I14 (step S
2). Then, the print information of the next page is taken out (step S
3) If it is not present (step S4), the process is ended, but if it is present (step S4), it is stored in the page information memory II16 (step S5).

Here, the CPU 10 causes the comparison unit 18 to compare the stored contents of the page information memories I14 and II16 (step S6), and if there is no common portion (step S7), the character and ruled line drawing control unit. 22 and 24, a print pattern (ESC sequence) is developed based on the information in the page information memory I14 and stored in the print buffer 30 (step S8). As a result, the printing unit 32 prints the contents of the print buffer 30 (step S9). Then, the CPU 10 copies the contents of the page information memory II16 to the page information memory I14, clears the page information memory II16 (step S10), and repeats the above-described processing from step S3. The step S10 is actually performed by exchanging the physical names (pointers) of the page information memory I14 and the page information memory II16, not by copying the memory contents.

On the other hand, in step S7, if there is a common part in the stored contents of the page information memories I14 and II16,
That is, in the case of the example shown in FIG.
10 stores the common information portion in the form information memory 20 (step S11), and deletes the common information portion from the page information memories I14 and II16 (step S1).
2). Then, the character and ruled line drawing control units 22 and 24 develop the print pattern (ESC sequence) based on the information in the form information memory 20 and store it in the pattern buffer I26 (step S13). Also, similarly,
Based on the information in the page information memory I14, the print pattern (E
(SC sequence) and stored in the pattern buffer II 28 (step S14). Then, the CPU 10
Contents of pattern buffer I26 and pattern buffer II2
8 is combined with the contents of 8 and the combined result is printed in the print buffer 3
It is stored in 0 (step S15). As a result, the printing unit 32 prints the contents of the print buffer 30, that is, the first page (step S16).

Then, the CPU 10 controls the page information memory II1.
After clearing 6 (step S17), the character and ruled line drawing control units 22 and 24 develop a print pattern (ESC sequence) based on the information in the page information memory II16 and store it in the pattern buffer II28 (step S1).
8). Then, the contents of the pattern buffer I26 and the contents of the pattern buffer II28 are combined, and the combined result is stored in the print buffer 30 (step S19). As a result, the print unit 32 causes the contents of the print buffer 30, that is, 2
The page is printed (step S20).

Then, the CPU 10 controls the page information memory II1.
After clearing 6 (step S21), the print information of the next page is taken out (step S22), and if it is not present (step S23), the process is terminated, but if there is (step S2).
3), the page information memory I14 is stored (step S2).
4).

Here, the CPU 10 compares the stored contents of the form information memory 20 and the page information memory I14 by the comparison unit 18 (step S25), and if there is no common portion (step S26), the form information memory. Two
After clearing 0 (step S27), the above step S
Returning to step 3, the above processing is repeated.

If there is a common part in the stored contents of the form information memory 20 and the page information memory I14 (step S
26), only the common information part of the form information memory 2
The common information part is deleted from the page information memory I14 (step S2).
9). In this way, the common part with the previous page is always registered in the form information memory 20. Then, by the character and ruled line drawing control units 22 and 24, the page information memory I14
A print pattern (ESC sequence) is developed based on the information of (1) and stored in the pattern buffer II 28 (step S30). Then, the process returns to step S19 to repeat the above process.

As described above, the drawing information common to every page is automatically detected and the drawing information is detected.
By registering the form in, the amount of data converted and generated by the character and ruled line drawing units 22 and 24 for each page is reduced, and the printing speed is improved.

[0022]

According to the present invention, an ordinary application program that outputs common drawing information over a plurality of pages to each page of a printing apparatus, that is, an application program that does not use the form registration function of the printing apparatus. Even in this case, the printing speed can be improved without the need to change the application program itself.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a first half portion of an operation flowchart of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the latter half of the operation flowchart of the embodiment.

FIG. 4A is a diagram showing an example of printing two pages;
(B) and (C) are diagrams showing information for performing character drawing and ruled line drawing, respectively.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... CPU, 12 ... Print information (page information), 14 ... Page information memory I, 16 ... Page information memory II, 18 ... Comparison section, 2
0 ... Form information memory, 22 ... Character drawing control unit, 24
... Ruled line drawing control unit 26 ... Pattern buffer I, 28 ...
Pattern buffer II, 30 ... Print buffer, 32 ... Printing section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A page information storage means for storing print information of a plurality of pages, and a common information extraction means for extracting a common part from print information of a pair of pages among the plurality of pages stored in the page information storage means. A common information storage unit that stores a common portion in the print information of the pair of pages extracted by the common information extraction unit; and a print pattern expansion based on the common print information stored in the common information storage unit. Common information expanding means for generating a common print pattern, and printing based on non-common print information for each page other than the one extracted from the common information extracting means from the print information of a plurality of pages stored in the page information storage means A non-common information expansion unit that expands a pattern to generate an individual print pattern; and the common print pattern and the non-common information expansion unit generated by the common information expansion unit. Print control apparatus characterized by comprising a synthesizing means for generating a synthesized and printed patterns and generated the individual printing pattern for each page I.