JPH0781151A - Method and device for drawing-control - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To draw at high speed when the strict printing quality is not required by writing a drawing data over another drawing data in the same area indicated by a page memory and printing. CONSTITUTION:When a drawing data D is not read out of a page memory in the drawing based on the drawing mode, a drawing data S is written over another drawing data D in the same area indicated by a page memory (ST6). At the time of drawing control when the drawing content of the page memory is printed (ST7), in which the specified printing operation is specified (ST8), a drawing data S is written over the drawing data D in the same area indicated by a drawing memory without reading the drawing data D out of the page memory, even if the drawing data D is read out of the page memory in the drawing based on the drawing mode (ST9), and the drawing is printed (ST7).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to printing of characters and figures, and more particularly to a drawing control method and a drawing control apparatus for drawing such information in a dot type print pattern.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, information processing devices such as general-purpose computers have been used not only in the EDP (electronic data processing) field but also in the computer graphics field such as CAD, structural analysis or simulation field. For this reason, the print contents output to the printing device are not only simple characters but also complicated contents including figures (image diagrams of lines, surfaces, solids, faces, etc.).

The information relating to such characters and figures generally has a huge data amount, and the processing contents and objects are complicated and diverse. Therefore, in graphic printing, the processing amount of graphic information required of the printing apparatus is also increasing.
Above all, it takes a long time to perform the drawing control process for drawing the graphic information into the dot-type print pattern and drawing it.

[0004]

Naturally, in graphic printing, it is natural that fineness of a drawn figure or the like is required, and in the drawing control processing, faithfully reproducing the instructed drawing mode. is necessary. In order to faithfully reproduce this drawing mode, it is necessary to perform a logical operation specified by the drawing mode between the drawing data held in the page memory in dot format and the new drawing data. is there. Thereby, for example, the character can be embedded in the ground pattern held in the page memory.

There are 16 kinds of logical operations defined in this drawing mode as shown in FIG. 9, and as an example, the new drawing data is stored in S (source) or the destination stored in the page memory. Drawing data to D (des
(Tination), it is possible to specify D = S (overwrite), D = D + S (OR write), D = D * S (AND write), and the like as the relationship of these logical operations.

For example, in the case of inserting a white character in a quadrangular frame, a black quadrangle is first drawn in the page memory, and the drawing data D and the drawing data S obtained by expanding the character into a dot-shaped character pattern are drawn. And -S * D (here, "-S" represents the negation (NOT) of S) to form a blank character, which is used as new drawing data D.

Thus, in the normal drawing mode designation,
For example, when a character or the like is newly embedded in the ground pattern drawn in the page memory, it is necessary to perform a logical operation between the drawing data D as the ground pattern and the character data S. In this case, first, the drawing data D is read from the page memory,
Further, the drawing data D and the character data S are logically operated and the result is written in the page memory. Due to the relation with the amount of data that can be logically operated at a time, the drawing data D is read out a plurality of times. There is a case where the series of processes of 1) is repeatedly performed, and the process requires a great deal of time. In order to correctly implement the drawing mode, blank characters (spaces) in the case of character data or dotted blank areas (blanks between dots) in the case of graphic data
However, it is necessary to draw, and the drawing process takes time.

When processing a complicated figure, for example, when drawing a thick straight line from the point A to the point B as shown in FIG. 10A, the thick line is regarded as a rectangle and two diagonal lines are formed. The coordinates of the vertices C and D are calculated, and a troublesome process of filling the entire rectangle is performed. Further, as for the end point processing for adjusting the shape of the end portion of the line, FIG.
As shown in 0 (b), the end portion of the line may be corrected into a round shape, but the processing for correcting the round shape requires a more complicated process than the case where the end portion of the line is flattened. Become.

The printing time including the drawing processing time may take several minutes to several tens of minutes to print one page, depending on the processing capacity in the drawing control processing. In such a printing apparatus, since the drawing process that faithfully reproduces the instructed drawing mode is performed, the drawing process as instructed for the blank part process or the straight line end point process is also performed. It is not possible to omit these processes. For this reason, for example, even when it is desired to know only the rough layout of the figure, there is a problem in that it takes time to print because the usual fine drawing processing is performed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and when printing characters or figures, a drawing control method and drawing control can be performed at high speed when strictness is not required for the print quality of these characters. The purpose is to provide a device.

[0011]

In order to solve the above technical problems, the drawing control method according to the present invention according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, includes source data including character data and graphic data for printing. Also, when drawing mode data relating to these source data is input, this source data is expanded into dot format drawing data S (ST1) and drawn in the page memory, the drawing based on the above drawing mode changes the drawing data D from the page memory. When it is to be read out (ST2), the drawing data D of the same area previously held in the page memory is read out (ST3), and the drawing data D and the drawing data S are read based on the drawing mode. Logical operation is performed (ST4), the result of this operation is written in the original area of the page memory (ST5), and the drawing based on the drawing mode is performed. Is not for reading the drawing data D from the page memory, the drawing data S is overwritten on the drawing data D of the same area held in the page memory to perform drawing (ST6), and the drawing contents of the page memory are changed. In the drawing control method for printing (ST7), if the printing operation is specified (ST8),
Even if the drawing based on the drawing mode is performed by reading the drawing data D from the page memory, the page memory 1
The drawing data S is overwritten on the drawing data D in the same area held in the page memory 1 by using the drawing mode for drawing without reading the drawing data D from the drawing (ST
9), and this is printed (ST7).

Further, the drawing control device, as shown in FIG.
Receiving means 3 for receiving source data composed of character data and graphic data relating to printing and drawing mode data relating to these source data, and a page in which the source data is held as dot-form drawing data D When the drawing based on the memory 1 and the instructed drawing mode is performed by reading the drawing data D from the page memory 1, the drawing data D of the same area previously held in the page memory 1 is read and this drawing is performed. A logical operation based on the instructed drawing mode is performed between the data D and the given drawing data S, and the operation result is written in the original area of the page memory 1, while drawing based on the instructed drawing mode is performed. When the drawing data D is not read from the page memory 1, the given drawing data S is used as a page memo. 1. Drawing means 4 for overwriting and drawing on the drawing data D in the same area held in 1 and input means 6 or the above-mentioned upper layer when the source data is expanded to the drawing data S in the dot format and drawn. When the designation of the printing operation from the device 2 is not specific, the rendering means 4 is provided with the rendering mode relating to the rendering data S and the source data to instruct the rendering, while the instruction of the printing operation is identified. In the case of the drawing, even if the drawing based on the drawing mode for the source data is performed by reading the drawing data D, the overwriting drawing mode is used in which the drawing is performed without reading the drawing data D from the page memory 1. , The overwriting drawing mode and the drawing data S are drawn by the drawing means 4
Is given to the page memory 1, and the drawing data S is overwritten on the page memory 1 for drawing, and the printing means 7 for printing the drawing content of the page memory 1.

[0013]

According to the above drawing control method, character data and graphic data (images such as diagrams, plan views, three-dimensional views and faces)
When the source data consisting of (1) is expanded to the drawing data S in the dot format (ST1) and is drawn, if the print operation is specified (ST8), the drawing data D is written regardless of the drawing mode for the source data. A drawing mode that does not read, for example, D = S (overwrite) or D = -S (overwrite in which the black and white of the drawing data S is inverted) is directly written in the same area held in the page memory. Overwrite on the drawing data D and draw (ST
Then, the drawing result is printed (ST7). Therefore, at the time of drawing, the drawing data D is not read from the page memory, and the logical operation based on the drawing mode is not performed between the drawing data S and the drawing data D.

Further, according to the drawing control device, the receiving means 3 receives the source data sent from the higher-level device 2 and the drawing mode related thereto. On the other hand, the character / graphics processing unit 5 monitors the instruction input from the input unit 6 and the instruction of the printing operation from the higher-level device 2, and expands the source data into the dot format drawing data S to perform this drawing. . When the character / graphics processing unit 5 draws, if the instruction of the printing operation is specific,
Regardless of the drawing mode relating to the source data for drawing, a drawing mode for drawing without reading the drawing data D, for example, an overwrite drawing mode in which D = S (overwrite) is used, and this overwrite drawing mode and the drawing data S are drawn. It is given to the means 4 to instruct drawing. In response to this instruction, the drawing means 4 stores the supplied drawing data S in the page memory 1
Drawing is performed by overwriting on the drawing data D in the same area held in the drawing area, and the drawing result is printed by the printing unit 7.

Therefore, in the drawing by the character / graphic processing means 5, when the printing operation instruction is specific, the drawing data D is not read from the page memory 1, and the drawing data S and the drawing data D are not read. Also, the logical operation based on the drawing mode is not performed. If the instruction of the printing operation is not specific, the drawing is performed based on the drawing mode related to the source data to be drawn. Therefore, depending on the drawing mode, the drawing data D is read from the page memory 1 and the drawing data D is drawn. The original drawing process is performed such as performing a logical operation with the data S and writing the operation result in the page memory 1.

[0016]

Embodiments of a printing control method and a printing apparatus using the drawing control apparatus according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the printing apparatus according to this embodiment. This printing apparatus includes a drawing control device 25 for performing processing such as drawing of print data, a printing mechanism 21 having a print head for printing on paper, and an operation panel 22 (corresponding to the input means 6) for inputting operation of a print mode. Becomes
The source data such as character data or graphic data sent from the host computer 12 (corresponding to the higher-level device 2) is converted into a dot-type print pattern and printed.

The drawing control device 25 has a host interface section 13 (corresponding to the receiving means 3) which controls the interface with the host computer 12 and exchanges data.
Input data memory 18 for storing source data relating to printing sent from host computer 12, operation panel 2
Panel interface unit 1 that receives input data from 2
4 and MPU (microprocessor unit) as the center, and has an MPU section 15 that operates according to a control program.

The MPU unit 15 includes a mode determination unit 30 for determining a print mode instructed from the host computer 12 or the operation panel 22, a character / graphics high speed processing unit 31 for drawing a graphic or a character, and a character / graphics normal process. Part 3
2 and a drawing address generation unit 1 for expanding character data and graphic data into a dot format and generating a drawing address
6 are provided (the mode determination unit 30, the character / graphics high speed processing unit 31, the character / graphics normal processing unit 32, and the drawing address generation unit 16 correspond to the character / graphics processing unit 5).
The PU unit 15 controls the operation of each unit of the drawing control device 25 as a whole. The MPU unit 15, the host interface unit 13, and the input data memory 18 are connected to the first internal bus 23 for data transfer between these units.

The drawing control device 25 further includes a BitBLT unit 17 (corresponding to the drawing means 4) for logically operating drawing data and drawing the drawing data in the page memory 20, a character pattern memory 19 in which character patterns are stored, and drawing data. Has a page memory 20 for holding the same, and these are connected to the second internal bus 24 together with the printing mechanism 21. By thus dividing the bus into the first internal bus 23 and the second internal bus 24, the competition of the buses is reduced.

For example, if the source data is a circle whose center coordinates and radius are specified, the drawing address generating unit 16 first approximates this with a polygon and further converts it into a predetermined straight line, and the coordinate value of this straight line is paged. It is converted into a drawing address (destination address) of the memory 20 and, for example, the bits from address A to address B are output as ON or the like.

The BitBLT unit 17 is an LSI
And the like, and is started by giving a logical operation or the like defined in the drawing mode related to the converted destination address, bit information (drawing data S) and the source data. And the drawing data D from the destination address of the same print area of the page memory 20 if necessary depending on the type of logical operation.
(The one previously drawn and held) is read, a logical operation is performed between the drawing data S and the drawing data D, and the result is written in the original area of the page memory 20, while the logical operation is overwritten In the above, the drawing data S is overwritten on the destination address and drawing is performed in the page memory 20.

Here, the drawing control method according to the above embodiment will be described.
The operation of the drawing control device will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. A printing mode is designated prior to printing, and is divided into a high-speed mode for performing rough printing with rough print quality at a high speed, and a normal mode with good normal print quality.

The print mode is instructed by an operation input from the operation panel 22, but in this embodiment, in addition to the operation input from the operation panel 22, the print mode can be automatically set. It is assumed that the high-speed mode or the normal mode can be instructed also by the command instruction from the host computer 12.

According to an instruction from the host computer 12, for example, the print mode set and registered at the time of setup is transferred together with the print data, and the print data is received by the host interface unit 13 and then this print mode is determined by the mode determining unit 3.
Registered as 0. On the other hand, since the print mode by the operation input from the operation panel 22 is held in the register provided in the panel interface unit 14, the mode determination unit 30 constantly monitors the instructions from the host computer 12 and the operation panel 22, The latest instructed print mode is registered, and this is used as the print mode for the subsequent printing.

Then, the subsequent print data drawing process is performed based on the print mode. For example, in the case of the high speed mode, the drawing mode for the characters / graphics is forcibly shifted to a process such as overwriting. The processing speed is increased by not reading the drawing data and performing the specified logical operation. On the other hand, when the print mode is the normal mode, a logical operation or the like based on the drawing mode for characters / graphics is executed as usual to perform the drawing process.

Source data such as character data or graphic data relating to printing is sent from the host computer 12 to the printing device together with drawing mode data that defines logical operations, and these source data are first input data memory 1.
8 is stored. The source data for printing one page consists of a plurality of blocks, which are composed of blocks containing character data, blocks containing graphic data, or blocks in which a drawing mode is designated.

The block designating the drawing mode is usually included at the beginning of the character data and the graphic data and in the middle thereof, and the character data and the graphic data after the block designating the drawing mode are based on the drawing mode. Drawing processing is performed. Further, the attribute of the block is designated in the header of each block, and it is discriminated whether this block relates to character data or graphic data.

After that, the print data stored in the input data memory 18 is drawn in the page memory 20. At this time, the registered print mode is checked by the mode determination unit 15 to determine whether it is the high speed mode or the normal mode. Is determined (step S10). If it is determined that the high-speed mode is instructed, the mode determination unit 15 causes the character / graphics high-speed processing unit 31 to perform drawing processing. If the normal mode is instructed, the character / graphics normal processing unit 32 is used. Let the drawing process.

In the character / graphics high-speed processing section 31, the source data stored in the input data memory 18 is sequentially read in block units (step S11), and the character data,
The type of graphic data is determined (step S13). In the character / graphics high-speed processing unit 31, if the block is character data related to character processing, the following character high-speed processing (step S14) is executed. S15) is executed,
After that, the process returns to the data reading process (step S11), the next block is read, and the same process is performed. Since a page break or the like is designated in the last block related to printing of one page, the process ends here as the end of data (step S12). Thereafter, the drawing data for one page drawn in the drawing process is sent from the page memory 20 to the printing mechanism 21 in accordance with an instruction from the MPU unit 15 and printed.

In the character / graphics normal processing unit 32, similarly to the above, the source data stored in the input data memory 18 is sequentially read in block units (step S16), and the character data, the graphic data or the drawing mode is designated. A distinction is made (step S18). If the read block is character data, the character / graphics normal processing unit 32 executes the character normal processing (step S19) shown below, and if the read block is graphic data, the character / graphics normal processing (step S19).
20) is executed, and if the block specifies a drawing mode, this drawing mode is registered in a predetermined area. The drawing mode related to this registration is updated every time the drawing mode is designated by the block, and is used as the drawing mode when drawing the subsequent character data or graphic data. After that, the process returns to the data reading process (step S16) to read the next block. Then, if the source data is exhausted, the process is terminated (step S17).

Hereinafter, the high-speed character processing (step S14) and the high-speed graphic processing (step S15) performed by the high-speed character / graphics processing section 31, and the normal character processing (step S19) and the high-speed processing performed by the normal character / graphic processing section 32 Details of the normal process (step S20) will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS.

In the character high-speed processing (step S14), this drawing processing is omitted for blank characters, and the drawing mode is fixed for other characters regardless of the specified drawing mode (defining logical operation). Is set to D = S (overwrite), and the character pattern is directly stored in the page memory 2
By overwriting 0, the number of accesses to the page memory 20 is reduced to increase the speed.

Although D = S (overwrite) is used as the drawing mode in the high-speed character processing described above, the other logical operation that does not require reading from the page memory 20 is D.
= 0 (all blanks), D = -S (overwrite by inverting black and white of characters), and D = 1 (all filled), but D = S was adopted in terms of practicality and legibility.

As shown in the flow chart of FIG. 5, the contents of this high-speed character processing are as follows. First, it is judged whether the character contained in the block read in the data reading processing (step S11) is a blank character (step S21). . If this is not a blank character, the character pattern of this character data is read from the character pattern memory 19, and the destination drawing address of this character pattern is drawn to the drawing address generation unit 33.
Ask in. Subsequently, the logical operation is set to D = S (overwrite), and transferred to the BitBLT unit 17 together with the character pattern S and the obtained drawing address.
Then, the destination address of the page memory 20 is overwritten with the character pattern S (step S22). In this case, in the drawing mode D = S (overwrite), it is not necessary to read the drawing data D from the page memory 20, and no logical operation is performed.

On the other hand, if the source data is a blank character (space), the drawing process of this character portion is omitted and the page memory 20 is not updated. Then, generally, for consecutive characters, the next character position is determined by specifying the character interval, etc. Therefore, the drawing address generation unit 33 calculates the drawing address of the next character position based on the specification of the character interval (step S23). ) Finish processing. If the character block includes a plurality of characters, the process returns to step S21 and the same process is repeated. By omitting this blank character, the time required for the drawing process for that character becomes unnecessary.

In the high-speed character processing, the drawing of the blank character is omitted. For example, if another character figure or the like has already been drawn in the drawing area of the blank character in the page memory 20, the character figure is Since the characters are printed and the logical operation based on the designated drawing mode is not performed for the characters, for example, originally blank characters are printed as normal black characters, and the printing is rough as a whole.

On the other hand, in the figure high-speed processing (step S15), with respect to a figure of a straight line (thick line), this thick line is approximated by a plurality of straight lines, and the usual filling process within the line width is not performed. Increase processing speed compared to. For figures other than straight lines, the figure pattern is used as it is regardless of the designated drawing mode.
The number of accesses to the page memory 20 is reduced.

As for the processing content, as shown in FIG. 7, first, it is determined whether or not the graphic data relating to the source data is a straight line (step S30), and if this is not a straight line, the drawing address generating unit 16 makes a dot format from this graphic data. Of the graphic pattern and the drawing address thereof are obtained, and the graphic pattern, the drawing address and the drawing mode D =
Designate S and transfer it to the BitBLT unit 17 to activate it. On the other hand, the BitBLT unit 17 transfers the graphic pattern S to the corresponding drawing address of the page memory 20 and overwrites it (step S31), and finishes the process.

When the figure is a straight line (thick solid line or thick dotted line, hereinafter referred to as "thick line"), a plurality of straight lines (dotted lines) are provided at predetermined intervals over the line width of the thick line to form a thick line. It is approximated (see FIG. 10C). Therefore, the line width of this thick line is first calculated (step S3
2) Then, the thick line is divided into predetermined line segments and sequentially drawn.

First, the pattern of the first line segment is examined, and it is judged whether or not this is a blank portion (for example, a portion between the points of the dotted line) (step S34). If this is not a blank portion, a vector of the length of the pattern portion is provided for the thickness (line width), and the drawing address generation unit 16 obtains dot patterns and drawing addresses for each of the plurality of line segments provided within the line width. , The drawing mode D = S (overwrite) is transferred to the BitBLT unit 17 together with this data, and the page memory 20
Overwrites the corresponding drawing address of (step S3
5). On the other hand, if the pattern of the line segment is a blank portion, no drawing is performed for this and the transfer to the page memory 20 is omitted.

Thereafter, the drawing address generator 16 obtains the drawing address for the pattern position next to the line segment (step S36), and the process returns to step S33 again to perform the drawing process of the line segment next to the thick line. In this way, the entire thick line is drawn in the page memory 20, and if the entire length of the thick line is completed (step S33), the process is finished.

Since the drawing of the blank portion is omitted in the graphic high-speed processing, if another graphic or the like is already drawn in the drawing area of the blank character of the page memory 20, the graphic is printed. Will be done. In addition, since the thick line is approximated by a plurality of straight lines, if the number of the straight lines is increased, a thick line apparently close to the solid line is printed. Further, as another example of the graphic high-speed processing, a method is adopted in which when a thick straight line is drawn, the line width portion of this thick line is filled and the end point processing of this straight line is omitted.

Further, in the character normal process (step S19), the drawing process for the character data is performed based on the drawing mode designated by the source data as usual. As for the processing content, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6, the character pattern for the character included in the block is read from the character pattern memory 19, and the drawing address is obtained by the drawing address generation unit 33. Subsequently, together with the character pattern S and the obtained destination drawing address, the drawing mode (defining a logical operation) designated by the drawing mode data and registered in the predetermined area is transferred to the BitBLT unit 17. On the other hand, in the BitBLT unit 17, the drawing data D from the destination address of the page memory 20 when necessary based on the logical operation.
Is read, the specified arithmetic processing is performed between this and the character pattern S, and the result is written in the page memory 20 (step S24). After that, the next character position is calculated (step S25), and the process ends.

As shown in FIG. 9, there are 16 types of designations in the above-mentioned arithmetic processing, and in the case of a process which needs to be read from the page memory 20, for example, D = D + S (OR writing), the page memory 20 is used. The corresponding drawing data D is read, a logical operation is performed between the drawing data D and the character pattern S, and the result is written back to the page memory 20.

On the other hand, the designated arithmetic processing does not require reading from the page memory 20, and D =
There are 0 (all blanks), D = S (overwrite), D = -S (overwrite by inverting black and white of characters), and D = 1 (all fill). For example, in the case of D = S, the page memory 20 is stored. The process is only to write the drawing data S, and the reading of the drawing data D and the logical operation are not performed. Also, in general, BitB
When the LT unit 17 cannot perform a logical operation at one time due to the memory capacity, the process of reading the data D, performing the logical operation, and writing the result to the page memory 20 is divided into several times. Will be repeated.

On the other hand, in the figure normal process (step S20), a normal line filling process is performed for a straight line (thick line) figure, and a figure other than a straight line is based on the drawing mode designated by the source data. Draws the figure.

As shown in FIG. 8, the contents of the processing determine whether or not the figure relating to the source data is a straight line (step S
40), if this is not a straight line, the drawing address generator 16
Then, a dot-type graphic pattern is generated from this graphic data and its drawing address is obtained, and then the drawing mode specified by these graphic pattern S, drawing address and source data is transferred to the BitBLT unit 17 and activated. . On the other hand, the BitBLT unit 17 reads the drawing data D from the corresponding drawing address of the page memory 20 and performs the specified logical operation between the graphic pattern S and the drawing data D if necessary depending on the type of logical operation. The result is transferred to the original drawing address of the page memory 20 and written (step S49), and the process ends.

When the figure is a straight line (thick line), the line width of the thick line is calculated (step S41), and the drawing data and drawing address of the starting end point of the thick line are generated by the drawing address generation unit 16 and The drawing mode specified by the source data is transferred to the BitBLT unit 17, the logical operation specified here is performed, and the result is written in the original drawing address of the page memory 20 (step S42).

Then, the thick line is divided into predetermined line segments and sequentially drawn. First, it is checked whether or not the pattern of the first line segment is a blank portion (step S44), and if it is not a blank portion, the pattern portion is regarded as a polygon, and the drawing address generation unit 16 performs processing for filling the inside of this polygon. This fill pattern is generated as a plurality of dots and their drawing addresses in the drawing address generation unit 16, and these are written in BitBL together with the drawing mode specified by the source data.
The data is transferred to the T unit 17, and the logical operation designated here is performed and the result is written in the original drawing address of the page memory 20 (step S45). If the pattern of the first line segment is a blank portion, the blank portion is regarded as a polygon and the same processing as above is performed to draw the blank portion in the page memory 20 in the designated drawing mode (step S4).
6).

After that, the next pattern position is calculated (step S47), the process returns to step S43 again, and it is checked whether or not the length of the thick line segment is completed (step S47).
43), if finished, draw the end endpoint in the page memory 20 in the same manner as the start endpoint (step S4).
8) Then, the process ends. A predetermined end point process is performed on the start end point or the end end point, and is corrected to, for example, a round shape.

Therefore, according to the above embodiment, when the print mode is designated as the high speed mode, the source data is rendered in the page memory 20 regardless of the rendering mode (logical operation is specified) designated by the source data. Since the drawing mode at the time of writing is fixedly set to, for example, D = S (overwrite) and the drawing data is not read from the page memory 20 and the pattern of the character or the figure is overwritten as it is, the conventional page memory 20 is used for drawing. The drawing process is performed at a higher speed than the process of reading the data and performing the logical operation defined in the drawing mode, and thus the printing speed can be increased, which is effective when the printing quality is not strictly considered.

If the data type is character data,
Since the drawing of blank characters is omitted regardless of the drawing mode, the drawing process is shortened. Similarly, when the data type is graphic data, the drawing of the blank part such as dotted line and broken line is omitted regardless of the drawing mode. So the drawing process was shortened.
This means that if there is the previous drawing data drawn in the page memory 20, this will be printed, but since the printing speed is increased, it is effective when print quality is not strictly considered.

Further, in the case of the straight line of the graphic data, the line connecting the both end points is repeatedly approximated by the line width without filling the line width of this straight line, so that the drawing process can be speeded up. It was In addition, when the graphic data is a straight line, the end point process of the straight line is omitted, so that the drawing process is shortened.

The print mode for speeding up the drawing process can be designated from both the command designation from the host computer 12 and the operation panel 22 provided in the printing apparatus. It is effective that the high speed mode can be flexibly and automatically specified from the host computer 12 when necessary.

As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, when printing such as character graphics is not required in printing quality and fidelity,
The printing speed can be easily improved, and in normal document printing, there is no particular effect on the recognition of the characters themselves, so that the full utilization is expected.

[0057]

As described above, according to the drawing control method of the present invention, when the source data is expanded into the drawing data S in the dot format and drawn, the source data is specified when the printing operation is specified. Regardless of the drawing mode
In the overwriting drawing mode, the drawing data S is overwritten on the drawing data D in the same area held in the page memory for drawing, so that the drawing data D is not read from the page memory and the drawing is performed. Since the processing load such as the logical operation based on the mode is removed, the drawing process can be performed at a high speed, and thus the printing speed can be increased, which is effective in the printing in which the printing quality of the character graphic is not strictly considered.

According to the drawing control device of the present invention, the receiving means 3, the page memory 1 for holding the drawing data D, the drawing means 4 for drawing the drawing data S in the page memory 1, and the source data are stored. When the dot format drawing data S is developed and drawn, if the designation of the printing operation from the input unit 6 or the host device 2 is specific,
Even if the drawing based on the drawing mode for the source data is performed by reading the drawing data D, the page memory 1
An overwrite drawing mode for drawing without reading the drawing data D from is used, and the drawing data S and the drawing data S are given to the drawing means 4 to instruct drawing, and the drawing data S is overwritten on the page memory 1. Since the configuration having the character / graphics processing means 5 for performing drawing is adopted, the processing load of reading the drawing data D from the page memory 1 and performing logical operation based on the drawing mode on this is removed, so that the printing speed can be increased. It is possible to achieve this, and it is effective at the time of printing in which the printing quality of character graphics is not strictly considered.

When it is necessary to confirm the rough layout, the printing operation can be specified by both the input unit 6 and the host device 2. Therefore, the printing operation can be flexibly and automatically performed by the host device 2. It can be specified and effective.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of a drawing control method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a principle configuration diagram of a drawing control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a printing apparatus using the drawing control apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a drawing control method according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation of high-speed character processing.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation of character normal processing.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of high-speed graphic processing.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation of a graphic normal process.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing types of logical operations defined in a drawing mode.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of drawing contents of various figures,
(A) shows filling of a thick straight line, (b) shows end point processing of the straight line, and (c) shows a state in which the thick straight line is approximated by a plurality of straight lines.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 page memory 2 upper device 3 receiving means 4 drawing means 5 character / graphics processing means 6 input means 7 printing means

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Masahiko Kobayashi 1015 Kamiodanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Fujitsu Limited

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A page memory in which source data consisting of character data and graphic data relating to printing and drawing mode data relating to these source data are input, and this source data is expanded into dot-shaped drawing data (S) (ST1). When the drawing based on the drawing mode is performed by reading the drawing data (D) from the page memory (ST)
2) Read the drawing data (D) of the same area previously held in the page memory (ST3), and perform a logic between the drawing data (D) and the drawing data (S) based on the drawing mode. A calculation is performed (ST4), and the calculation result is written in the original area of the page memory (ST5). On the other hand, when the drawing based on the drawing mode is not performed by reading the drawing data (D) from the page memory, the drawing data is drawn. In the drawing control method, the drawing data (D) in the same area held in the page memory is overwritten with (S) to perform drawing (ST6), and the drawing content in the page memory is printed (ST7). If the designation is specific (ST
8) Even if the drawing based on the drawing mode is performed by reading the drawing data (D) from the page memory, the drawing data is drawn using the drawing mode for drawing without reading the drawing data (D) from the page memory. A drawing control method characterized by overwriting (S) on drawing data (D) in the same area held in the page memory, drawing (ST9), and printing (ST7). 2. Receiving means (3) for receiving source data composed of character data and graphic data relating to printing and drawing mode data relating to these source data, which is sent from a higher-level device (2), and the source data is in a dot format. Page memory (1) retained as the drawing data (D) of the page memory and the drawing based on the specified drawing mode is performed by reading the drawing data (D) from the page memory (1) first. The drawing data (D) in the same area held in (1) is read, and a logical operation is performed between the drawing data (D) and the given drawing data (S) based on the specified drawing mode. While writing the calculation result in the original area of the page memory (1), the drawing data (D) is drawn from the page memory (1) based on the specified drawing mode. When not to perform out a page a given drawing data (S) memory (1)
The drawing means (4) for overwriting and drawing on the drawing data (D) in the same area held in the input area, and the input when the source data is expanded to the dot format drawing data (S) and drawn. If the designation of the printing operation from the means (6) or the host device (2) is not specific, the drawing mode relating to the drawing data (S) and the source data is given to the drawing means (4) for drawing. On the other hand, if the instruction of the printing operation is specific, even if the drawing based on the drawing mode for the source data is performed by reading the drawing data (D),
An overwrite drawing mode is used in which drawing is performed without reading the drawing data (D) from the page memory (1). The overwrite drawing mode and the drawing data (S) are given to the drawing means (4) to instruct drawing. Character / graphics processing means (5) for performing drawing by overwriting the drawing data (S) on the page memory (1)
And a printing means (7) for printing the drawing contents of the page memory (1).