JPH0725076A - Recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To contrive to effectively utilize memory at the printing of modified characters and, reduce processing time by a method wherein modified character cache memory temporarily storing modified characters, to which character modification treatment are applied when the modified character is spread over band-like adjacent recording region, is equipped. CONSTITUTION:By rearranging picture data on the basis of the result of the analysis in a data analyzing part 15, the picture data are formated per paginal unit and then stored in a paginal format memory 16. The picture data stored in the memory 16 are read successively so as to be expanded to bit map image by means of character information stored in a character pattern memory 18. When the character modification such as bold type, italic type, the rotation of a type, its scale-down and-up or the like is specified, character modification treatment is applied to the character. When the modified character is spread over band-like region, only the portion, which is stored in a modified character cache memory 19, of the modified character is transferred to bit map image.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording device for performing bit map expansion and recording based on an input character code or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Currently, a DTP (Desktop) that enables high-quality editing and printing close to full-scale printing with a simple desktop system.
Publishing) has been developed, and a recording device corresponding to this has been required, and it has come to have many functions such as the type, size, and recording position of a character to be recorded can be specified in detail. When recording such various characters, when characters are expanded into a bitmap image, one character may not be able to fit in one band-shaped area, or a certain character may be expanded over the next band-shaped area. Conventionally, in such a case, the bit map image is stored in the bit map memory corresponding to the band-shaped area and recorded only in the portion that can be developed in the band-shaped area to be recorded. Therefore, for the character to be expanded over the next strip-shaped area, it is necessary to cut out only the portion to be recorded and expand it to the bitmap image. For example, JP-A-3
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 266676, there is a method in which a field memory for several lines is provided, and a character having a boundary of a band-shaped area is once expanded in the field memory and only a portion to be recorded is cut out and transferred to a bitmap memory. is suggesting.

This will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 9. When receiving the reception data of the label 101 as shown in FIG. 5 from the host side, it is divided at the division point P based on the size (X × Y) of the frame memory, and as shown in FIG. Is drawn in the frame memory 132. At this time, since the barcode 102 and the character “AA” 103 are on the dividing line, this is expanded in the field memory 133 as a bitmap image. Next, field memory 1
Of the data in 33, the data in the upper region from the division point P is copied to the corresponding area of the frame memory 132 as shown in FIG. 7, and this is printed out. Next, as shown in FIG. 8, the data in the lower area from the division point P is displayed in the frame memory 1
32, and draw the barcode 102 and the character "AA" 103
Is developed as a bitmap image in the field memory 133 as in FIG. Next, of the data in the field memory 133, the data in the lower area from the division point P is copied to the corresponding area of the frame memory 132 as shown in FIG. 9, and this is printed out. As a result, the image of FIG. 8 is printed on the paper after the image of FIG. 7, and the label shown in FIG. 5 is printed out.

[0004]

However, the above conventional method has a problem that the cost is increased because a field memory for several lines is always required. Further, when printing modified characters such as bold, italic, rotated, reduced / enlarged, it is difficult to modify only a part of the characters, and it is necessary to process all characters at once. In the above, there is a problem in that the character modification processing at the boundary of the band-shaped area requires a plurality of character modification processing, which increases the processing time.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems, and to provide a recording apparatus which can effectively use the memory and reduce the processing time when printing a modified character. To do.

[0006]

To this end, a recording apparatus of the present invention is a recording apparatus for recording based on an input character code or the like, and a bitmap memory for storing a bitmap image corresponding to a band-shaped recording area. Bit map processing means for developing a bit map image in the bit map memory for each band-shaped recording area based on the input character code, etc., and character modification when the character code is specified as a decorative character such as bold or italic The character modification processing means for performing the processing and the character modification processing is performed when the character to be expanded at the time of performing the bitmap expansion is a modified character and the modified character straddles the adjacent strip-shaped recording area. And a modified character cache memory for temporarily storing the modified character.

[0007]

According to the present invention, when the modified character to be expanded is located in the adjacent strip-shaped recording area when the bitmap expansion is performed, the modified character is temporarily stored in the modified character storage memory. Even when the modifier character extends over a plurality of strip-shaped recording areas, only one modifier character is needed, and it is possible to avoid a delay in processing time during bitmap expansion.

Further, even when the modified character does not extend over the adjacent strip-shaped recording area, the modified character is temporarily stored in the modified character storage memory so that the modified processing is repeated even when the same modified character comes again. No need.

Further, by dynamically managing the modified character storage memory, the modified character storage memory is secured only when the system has a sufficient memory, so that the memory can be effectively used and realized at a low cost. it can.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of a recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, 1 is a pulse motor for operating the head carriage 3, 2 is a timing belt for moving the head carriage 3, 3 is a head carriage on which a recording head is integrally mounted, and 4 is a head carriage 3 for moving the head carriage 3. Guide rails 5, a paper feed motor for moving the recording paper 6, a recording paper 6 to be printed by the recording head, and a feed roller 7. The head carriage 3 is driven by the pulse motor 1 along the guide rail 4 to move, and performs recording on a belt-shaped area having a predetermined width. The recording paper 6 is driven by the paper feed motor 5 and is conveyed in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction in which the head carriage 3 is driven. The recording paper 6 is conveyed when the recording of the band-shaped area is completed and the recording is not performed by the recording head. , Transportation is performed. Instead of transporting the recording paper 6, the head carriage 3 can be configured to move the recording direction of the belt-shaped area substantially at a right angle.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a recording apparatus of the present invention. In the figure, 11 is a host computer, 12 is a recording device, 13 is an input processing unit, 14 is an input buffer memory, 15 is a data analysis unit, 16 is a page format memory, 17 is a bitmap processing unit, 1
Reference numeral 8 is a character pattern memory, 19 is a modified character cache memory, 20 is a bitmap memory, 21 is a printer control unit, and 22 is a printer unit.

The host computer 11 includes a recording device 12
In response, image data such as a character code is transmitted. In the image data sent from the host computer 11, in addition to the character code, information about the recording format, information about the position and size at which each character should be recorded, and information about the modified characters such as bold, italic, rotation, shrink / enlarge, etc. May be included. The recording device 12 is a host computer 11
It receives the image data sent from and records it.
The recording device 12 also includes an input processing unit 13, an input buffer memory 14, a data analysis unit 15, a page format memory 16, a bit map processing unit 17, a character pattern memory 18, a modified character cache memory 19, a bit map memory 20, and a printer. Control unit 21 and printer unit 22
And so on.

The input processing unit 13 is a host computer 1.
1 exchanges data with the host computer 11
The image data sent from is received and sequentially stored in the input buffer memory 14. Input buffer memory 14
Is a buffer for sequentially storing the image data sent from the host computer 11. The data analysis unit 15
Image data is sequentially taken out from the input buffer memory 14, analyzed, the image data is formatted in page units, and stored in the page format memory 16. The page format memory 16 is a buffer that stores image data formatted in page units.

The bit map processing section 17 develops the image data formatted page by page into a bit map image for each band area using the character pattern memory 18, and stores it in the bit map memory 20 corresponding to the band area. In addition, in the case of character modification designation such as bold, italic, rotation, reduction / enlargement, character modification processing is performed,
It is stored in the modified character cache memory 19. The character pattern memory 18 is a memory for storing a character pattern corresponding to a character code, and can be stored in various formats such as an outline font in addition to the dot matrix format.

The modified character cache memory 19 is a cache memory for temporarily storing characters that have been character modified, such as bold, italic, rotated, and enlarged / reduced. Normal,
Store when the modifier character extends between the strip areas. The bitmap memory 20 has a capacity corresponding to a strip area recorded in the printer unit 22. The printer control unit 21 takes out the bitmap image stored in the bitmap memory 20, transfers it as print data to the recording head in the printer unit 22, and controls the drive of the head carriage and the recording medium. Printer section 2
Reference numeral 2 is composed of a head driver, a motor driver, etc. for actually performing recording.

The operation of the recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described. The image data such as the character code sent from the host computer 11 is accepted by the input processing unit 13 and stored in the input buffer memory 14. The image data stored in the input buffer memory 14 is sequentially read by the data analysis unit 15 and analyzed. The analysis performed by the data analysis unit 15 includes, for example, processing for determining the recording order according to the position information regarding the format in the image data and the designation information regarding the position and size at which the characters should be recorded. You can Based on the results of this analysis, rearrange the image data, etc.
The data is formatted in page units and stored in the page format memory 16.

The image data stored in the page format memory 16 is sequentially read in the bit map processing section 17, and is expanded into a bit map image using the character information stored in the character pattern memory 18. In case of character modification designation such as bold, italic, rotation, reduction / enlargement, character modification processing is performed. When the modified character extends between the strip-shaped areas, the modified character is stored in the modified character cache memory 19, and only the part recorded this time is transferred to the bitmap image. The bitmap processing unit 17 develops a bitmap for each strip area recorded in the printer unit 22, and stores the developed bitmap image in the bitmap memory 20 assigned to the strip area. Bitmap memory 2
The bitmap image expanded to 0 is read by the printer control unit 21, and the printer unit 22 is driven to perform actual recording.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a modified character cache processing method in one embodiment of the recording apparatus of the present invention. In the modified character cache process, first, step S1.
At, it is determined whether or not the designated character is to be modified. For example, in the case of a character designated as bold, if the bold character is stored in advance in the character pattern memory, it is determined that the modifier is not necessary and the process ends.

In step S2, if the designated character has been modified and is already stored in the modified character cache memory, it is determined that the modified character is not needed and the process ends. In step 3, bold and italic,
Character modification processing such as rotation and reduction / enlargement is performed.

Next, in step S4, it is determined whether or not the designated character is divided and printed, that is, whether or not it extends over the band-shaped areas. When it is determined that the character does not extend between the band-shaped areas, the modifier character ends without being cached. If the designated character is divided printing, the modified character is finally stored in the modified character cache memory in step S5. FIG. 3 shows a case where the modifier character “ABCDEF” is straddling between the strip regions R, and the modifier character “ABCDEF” is stored in the modifier character cache memory 19.

[0021]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, even if a modifier character extends between the strip-shaped regions,
By storing the modified characters once in the cache memory, it is only necessary to modify the characters once, and it is possible to avoid the processing time delay when expanding the bitmap. Thus, it is possible to effectively use the memory and reduce the processing time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart relating to a modification character cache process in an embodiment of the recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of a recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a conventional recording method.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a conventional recording method.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a conventional recording method.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a conventional recording method.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a conventional recording method.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... Host computer, 12 ... Recording device, 13 ... Input processing unit 14 ... Input buffer memory, 15 ... Data analysis unit 16 ... Page format memory, 17 ... Bit map processing unit 18 ... Character pattern memory, 19 ... Modified character cache memory 20 ... Bitmap memory, 21 ... Printer control unit, 2
2 ... Printer section

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A recording device for recording based on an input character code or the like, a bit map memory for storing a bitmap image corresponding to a band-shaped recording area, and the band-like recording based on the input character code or the like. Bitmap processing means that expands as a bitmap image in the bitmap memory for each area, character modification processing means that performs character modification processing when the character code is a decorative character such as bold or italic, and bitmap expansion. When the character to be expanded when performing is a modifier character and the modifier character straddles the adjacent strip-shaped recording area,
A recording device, comprising: a modified character cache memory for temporarily storing modified characters subjected to character modification processing.