JPH078584B2 - Character generator for double-sided printing - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a character generator for double-sided printing used in a double-sided printer that performs double-sided printing by a raster scan method.

"Prior Art" In a printer that obtains a recorded image by forming an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive drum, the front and back of recording paper can be used as the recording surface, and double-sided printing can be performed.

FIG. 15 shows an outline of a laser printer for double-sided printing as such a device. A recording sheet 12 cut into a predetermined size is stacked on a sheet feeding section 11 of this printer. When performing double-sided printing, one sheet of recording paper sent from the paper feed unit 11 is first conveyed in the forward path P1 on the conveyance path,
After passing P2, it passes between the photoconductor drum 13 and the transfer unit 14.

Prior to this, an image corresponding to an even page is scanned on the photosensitive drum 13 by the laser device 15 to form an electrostatic latent image. The photoconductor drum 13 rotates in the direction of the arrow, and the electrostatic latent image is developed by the developing unit 16 to form a toner image. This toner image is sequentially transferred onto one surface of the recording paper (hereinafter referred to as a non-inverted surface) by the action of the transfer unit 14 using a corona discharger.

After that, the recording sheet moves along the normal path P3 and is heated or pressure-fixed by the fixing unit 17 represented by a heat roll. The recording paper after fixing is guided upward by its leading end by a paper guide piece (not shown) protruding by the excitation of a solenoid.
It is inverted through P5 and sent to the folding section 18. The recording sheet that has reached the folding section 18 descends along the forward path P6, with the trailing end thereof as the leading edge, and then passes between the photoconductor drum 13 and the transfer section 14 again via the previous path P2. At the time of the second passage, the reversed surface of the recording paper (hereinafter referred to as the reversed surface) faces the photoconductor drum 13.

At this time, a toner image to be transferred is formed on the photosensitive drum 13 on the reverse surface of the recording paper by the same process as described above. This toner image corresponds to an odd page. The toner image is transferred onto the recording paper by the action of the transfer unit 14. The recording sheet after the transfer reaches the fixing unit 17 through the route P3, and the toner image transferred to the reversal surface is fixed. The recording paper after fixing moves in the horizontal direction as it is, reaches the stacker unit 19 through the normal path P7, and is sequentially stacked here.

When printing three or more pages, the recording sheets 12 are sequentially fed one by one from the paper feed unit 11, printed for two pages, and then stacked on the stacker unit 19.
When printing only one page or when the last page is an odd page, follow the procedure P1, P2, P3, P7 for this recording paper.
Is selected and printing is immediately performed on the non-inverted surface, and the stacker unit 19 is immediately deposited.

In this way, the double-sided printer including the folding unit 18 realizes a stack (page stack) arranged in page order not only during single-sided printing but also during double-sided printing.

FIG. 16 shows an outline of a character generator for double-sided printing which has been conventionally used in such a double-sided printer. To the input data processing unit 21 of this apparatus, print information 22 representing print contents and control contents is sent from an information supply source such as a host computer (not shown). The input data processing unit 21 decodes the print information 22, and (i) character code string, (ii) vertical position and horizontal position as a print start city of the character, (iii) and width of each character cell and Data regarding height is stored in the page data memory 23.

FIG. 17 shows the contents of these stored data. Here, the character code string abcde is each code information of the character string ABCDE printed on the recording paper 12 shown in FIG. 18, and the vertical position y ₀ is shown by a broken line for the leading character A. The sub-scanning position where the cell starts scanning,
The horizontal position x ₀ represents the main scanning position at which this cell starts scanning. Also, the width w of the character cell
Represents the length in the main scanning direction, and the height h represents the length in the sub scanning direction. Here, the sub-scanning direction is opposite to the feeding direction of the recording paper 12.

The data for one page stored in the page data memory 23 is sequentially sent to the character generation control unit 25. The character generation control unit 25 supplies the address information 27 of each character code to the font memory 26 and generates scan data 28 for each raster for these characters.

FIG. 19 is for explaining the principle of video data generation. The font memory 26 stores the bit pattern of each character. In the figure, in the memory area for the letter A
It represents a 16 × 16 bit pattern. The address information supplied to the font memory 26 includes data for designating a character code in line units or byte units. When the data on the ninth line for the characters A, B, C, and D is processed, the bit pattern on the ninth line for the character A or the bit pattern in bytes corresponding to this is read as the scan data 28. And the control signal 29 output from the character generation control unit 25.
Is written to the scan buffer 31 under the control of. In front of the scan data 28 of the character A at this time, blanks (signal “0”) are set by the number corresponding to the horizontal position x ₀ .

In this way, when the scan data 28 for each of the characters A, B, C, and D is written in the scan buffer 31, these are scanned by the character A in the number of scan lines until the line generation corresponding to the vertical position y _0. As scan line video data 32 with the number of lines "9" added,
It is read at a predetermined timing.

By the way, when such a double-sided printing character generator is used in the above-mentioned double-sided printer to print on both sides of the recording paper, as shown in FIG. When binding with a stapler or the like, it is possible to create a very easy-to-read document even for the non-inverting surface (even pages). However, when the left end portion of the reversal surface of the recording paper is bound, the content of the non-reversal surface is upside down as shown in FIG. 21.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In view of such a situation, the present invention has a character in which one recording surface is turned upside down and leftward and rightward according to the binding method of sheets without changing the existing sheet conveying path. It is an object of the present invention to provide a character generator for double-sided printing, which is capable of performing printing such as.

"Means for Solving Problems" In the present invention, as shown in principle in FIG. 1, a recording unit for recording image information on a recording sheet while passing it through,
After reversing the recording sheet that has passed through this recording section and has been recorded on one side, enter the recording section from the trailing edge of the same recording sheet that entered the previous recording section, and then to the reversed side. Each side of a double-sided printer having a double-sided recording conveyance path that enables the recording of double-sided recording and a stacker unit that sequentially stacks the recording paper on which double-sided recording has been completed or the recording paper on which only one side has completed recording The character pattern generator that prepares two kinds of fonts, a first font that represents those normal patterns and a second font that represents a vertically inverted pattern, and two perpendicular sides of the recording paper. A print information input means for inputting the binding position control data indicating which one of the sides parallel to the binding is to be bound and the character code of each character to be printed on the recording paper, and the print information. A page data memory that stores the character code input from the input means in page units and a page determination that determines whether the character code stored in this page data memory corresponds to an odd page or an even page Means and the character code stored in the page data memory when the determination result of the page determination means is an even-numbered page and one end represented by the binding position control data is one end parallel to the conveyance direction of the recording sheet. The print mode setting means for setting the print mode of the character pattern corresponding to the above to the reverse mode in which the entire page is reversed and the normal mode in which the top and bottom are not reversed in other cases and the print mode setting means. The first font is set when the normal mode is set by the means, and the second font is set when the reverse mode is set. When the font selection means for selecting each and the print mode setting means set the reverse mode, the character codes stored in the page data memory are read in the reverse order in the normal mode and correspond to the read character codes. And a video signal generation control means for performing reading of each line in the selected font in the same order as in the normal mode, and a video signal suitable for the binding position of the recording sheet is rasterized from the video signal generation means in raster units. Generated by.

According to the present invention, when binding the left end portion of the non-inverted surface as shown in FIG. 2, the print contents of the non-inverted surface or the inverted surface are reversed vertically and horizontally, so the above-mentioned inconvenience is solved. .

[Examples] The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to Examples.

FIG. 3 shows the circuit configuration of the character generator for double-sided printing of this embodiment. The same parts as those in FIG. 16 are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be appropriately omitted. This device includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 51. C
The PU 51 is connected to each unit through the bus 52, and performs various data processing for character generation. Of these, the ROM 53 is a read-only memory that stores a program in which a data processing procedure is written, and the RAM 54 is a random access memory for temporarily storing data. However, the program may be stored in a disk device (not shown), read out, and stored in the RAM 54. In this case, the ROM 53 becomes unnecessary. The I / O port 55 is for inputting input data 56 for printing from an information source such as a host computer (not shown). The page discrimination register 58 is a register for registering whether the printing surface of the recording paper is an odd page (reversed surface) or an even page (non-reversed surface). The determination as to whether it is an odd page or an even page is made, for example, by monitoring the state of print information stored in page data memory 23 in page units.
The display drive circuit 59 is a circuit that drives the display 61 for displaying the print mode of the paper. The character generator 62 has two fonts, a first font 63 and a second font 64, and one of these fonts is designated according to the position where the paper is bound. The first font is a font representing a normal character pattern, and the second font is a font obtained by inverting it vertically and horizontally. The binding position register 66 is a register for registering a binding position designated when a document is created on the host computer side (not shown). The data designating the binding position is sent from the host side as control data prior to the document of each page. There are two types of binding position designation modes: an upper binding mode for binding the upper end of an odd page and a left binding mode for binding the left end.

FIG. 4 shows a data processing process in such a character generator for double-sided printing. Of this device
Input data 56 is supplied to the I / O port 55 from the host computer in page units (step). CPU5
In step 1, the vertical print position (y ₀ ) is first calculated for the character code string on the first line (step), and then the horizontal print position (x ₀ ) is calculated (step). These print positions y ₀ and x ₀ are the predetermined positions (the 17th position) of the page data memory 23.
(See the figure).

After that, the CPU 51 reads the contents of the binding position register 66, and when this specifies the top binding mode (step; YES), the first type of the same format as the conventional example illustrated in FIG. 19 is used.
Register to select the font 63 of (step). At this time, the characters "normal mode" indicating that printing is performed in the normal printing format are displayed on the display 61 (step). In this normal mode, printing is performed in the printing format shown in FIG. FIG. 5 shows an example of data set in the page data memory in this normal mode.

On the other hand, when the binding position register 66 designates the left binding mode (step; NO), the printing format varies depending on whether the printing surface is an odd page or an even page.

The following Table 1 shows the relationship between the binding position of paper and the printing format.

That is, when the left binding mode is selected, as is clear from comparison between FIG. 21 and FIG. 2, the printing mode is the normal mode on the odd pages and the reverse mode is the up / down / left / right opposite on the even pages. Must be selected.

Therefore, the CPU 51 reads the contents of the page discrimination register 58, and selects the first font as the normal mode when the recording paper to be printed is an odd page (reverse surface) (step; YES) (step). , Display normal mode (step). On the other hand, when the recording paper to be printed is an even-numbered page (non-inverted surface) (step; NO), the first data in the page data memory 23
With respect to the character code string of the line, the arrangement order of these codes is inverted vertically and horizontally in the RAM 54 (step). Next, as the printing position is reversed, the changed vertical printing position (y ₀ ′) and horizontal printing position (x ₀ ′) are calculated (step,). The character code after the order change and the print position (y ₀ ′, x ₀ ′) after the calculation are written again in the page data memory 23, and the contents are changed. The same applies to the character code strings in the second and subsequent rows.

By the way, FIGS. 6 and 7 show the printing states of the same print data in the normal mode and the reverse mode. In these figures, the length (horizontal width) of the recording paper 12 in the main scanning direction is W, and the length (vertical width) in the sub-scanning direction or the paper transport direction opposite thereto is H. Also, the length in the main scanning direction of the character string to be printed is wt. In this case, the horizontal print position x ₀ ′ in the reverse mode
And the vertical position y ₀ ′ are calculated by the following equations.

x ₀ ′ = W− (x ₀ + wt) …… (1) y ₀ ′ = H− (y ₀ + h) …… (2) When the conversion of horizontal position x ₀ ′ and vertical position y ₀ ′ is completed The CPU selects the second font 64 as the font to be used in this inversion mode and similarly registers it in the page data memory 23 (step). At this time, the characters "reverse mode" indicating that the printing is performed in the reverse mode are displayed on the display 61 (step). FIG. 8 shows an example of data set in the page data memory 23 in this inversion mode.

In this way, when printing in the top binding mode, the normal mode is always selected, but when printing multiple pages in the left binding mode, the normal mode and the reverse mode are alternately selected in page units, In response to this, the display content of the display 61 is also changed alternately.

Next, the read control of the character pattern on a line-by-line basis will be described for each of the normal mode and the inversion mode.

FIG. 9 shows the operation of the double-sided printing character generator when the left binding mode is instructed by the page discrimination register 58. In the left binding mode, the printing format is different between the odd-numbered page and the even-numbered page, and the reading control of the character pattern is also different accordingly.

First, the case where the page to be printed is an odd page (step; YES) will be described. CPU51 is page data memory 2
The data stored in 3 is read row by row from the first row. If the information on the characters on the first line stored in the page data memory 23 is as shown in FIG. 5, for example, the CPU 51 first determines the first font 63 in the character generator.
Select (step). Then, the address of the first byte for printing the character ABCDE by raster scanning is set as the base address (step).
Generally, the base address an on the font 63 for reading the nth byte can be expressed by the following equation.

Here, Ad is the start address of the bit pattern of these characters when reading the corresponding characters from the first font 63, and w is the width of the character cell in dots. The width of a character cell in bytes is w / 8.

Since n = 1 in the first byte, the base address a ₁ is as follows.

a ₁ = Ad (4) That is, each of the characters A to E is sequentially read one byte at a time from the respective head addresses assigned to these characters in the first font 63 (step). The read 8-bit bit pattern is loaded into the corresponding position of the scan buffer 31. At this time, of course, the horizontal position x ₀ determines the writing start position of the character A.

When the bit pattern is read out one byte for each of the characters A to E, the base address is updated (step). Since n = 2 in the second byte, the base address a ₂ is as follows.

Similarly, the bit pattern of each character is read from the first font 63 byte by byte. When the CPU 51 finishes reading the bit pattern for the first line (step; YES), it reads the bit pattern for one line loaded in the scan buffer 31 as a video signal in synchronization with a video clock (not shown) (step). . Such an operation is repeated until the reading of all the lines forming one character is completed (step). When all lines of characters A to E have been read (YE
S, end), and similar video signal creation operation is started for the next row.

FIG. 10 shows such a reading operation for the character B. In the figure, the CPU 51 reads the data 71 stored in the page data buffer, converts the code for the character B into a base address 72, and reads the bit pattern data 73 for the third line, for example, in byte units. Reading is performed in a normal order such that the third line is followed by the fourth line. The bit pattern data 73 is input to the scan buffer 31, and the video data 74
Will be output as.

Next, the case where the page to be printed is an even page (step; NO) will be described. The CPU 51 reads the data stored in the page data memory 23 so as to trace back one line at a time from the last line. If the information on the characters in the last line has the contents shown in FIG. 8, for example, the CPU 51 first selects the second font 64 (step). Then, similarly, the base address is set (step). The base address an in this inversion mode is the same as the above-mentioned expression (3) in the normal mode. That is, each letter E ~
A is sequentially read one byte at a time from the address of the first line of the second font 64 (step). The read 8-bit bit pattern is loaded into the corresponding position of the scan buffer 31. Of course, the horizontal position x ₀ ′ at this time determines the writing start position of the character E. When the bit pattern of 1 byte is read for each character, the base address is updated (step). In this way, the same operation is repeated until the bit pattern for one scan is read (step). When the bit pattern for one scan is loaded into the scan buffer 31 (YES), these are converted into a video signal (step) and sent to the printer. The above operation is repeated for each character E to A until the scanning thereof is completed (step; NO).

FIG. 11 shows how the bit pattern of the character B is read from the second font 64. Since the second font 64 is obtained by reversing the first font vertically and horizontally, the reading is performed in the same direction as in the normal mode shown in FIG. 10 also in this case. As a result, the printing shown in FIG. 6 is obtained in the normal mode, whereas the printing is performed in the state rotated by 180 degrees as shown in FIG. 7 in the reversing mode. As is clear from FIGS. 6 and 7, the left edge of the page in this case is parallel to the conveyance direction of the recording paper.

Although the left binding mode has been described above, when the upper binding mode is instructed by the binding position register 66,
Printing is always performed in normal mode. Of course, at this time, only the first font is used.

By the way, in the embodiment, the printing in the so-called landscape mode in which the printing is performed along the longitudinal direction of the paper has been described, but the so-called portrait mode in which the printing is performed in the direction perpendicular to this also has the same problem conventionally. FIG. 12 shows a case where left binding is performed in the longitudinal direction in this portrait mode, and the character font is the first font of the previous embodiment rotated 90 degrees. The feeding direction of the recording sheet and the printing operation are exactly the same as in the previous embodiment, and the longitudinal direction of the recording sheet is the main scanning direction. Therefore, the upper end of the page in the portrait mode is one end parallel to the conveyance direction of the recording paper. As in the case of FIG. 20, no particular inconvenience occurs at the binding position shown in FIG.

When the upper binding is performed in this portrait mode, when there is only one type of font, printing is performed in reverse on even pages as shown in FIG. 13, which makes it very difficult to read. Such a problem can be solved by causing characters to be generated by using a vertically inverted font. FIG. 14 shows a case where printing is performed by making the printing formats of odd pages and even pages different.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the recording sheet is reversed based on whether or not the position at which the recording sheets are bound is one end parallel to the direction in which the recording sheets are conveyed. It was determined whether or not the entire surface of the printed page was reversed 180 degrees. As a result, the binding position is not limited to one of the two sides of the recording paper at right angles, and the degree of freedom in creating the document can be increased. Furthermore, in both the landscape mode printing and the portrait mode printing, when recording sheets are bound together, an easy-to-read document corresponding to the binding position can be created. Also,
Since the character pattern to be printed is reversed instead of reversing the direction of the recording paper itself 180 degrees up and down, it can be used without changing the existing transport path, and the complication can be avoided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the principle of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a printing example using the character generator for double-sided printing of the present invention, and FIGS. 3 to 12 are one embodiment of the present invention. For the purpose of explaining an example, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an outline of a character generator for double-sided printing, FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the operation of the device, and FIG. 5 is a stored content of a page data memory in a normal mode. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view for explaining the printing state in this normal mode, and FIG.
FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the printing state in the reverse mode, FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the stored contents of the page data memory in the reverse mode, and FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing the operation of the apparatus in the left binding mode, FIG. 10 is an explanatory view showing the principle of the character B generation in the normal mode, FIG. 11 is an explanatory view showing the principle of the character B generation in the reverse mode, and FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing the left binding state in the portrait mode. Fig. 13 and Fig. 13 are perspective views showing the state of top binding when the same font is used in the same mode, and Fig. 14 is the same mode in which fonts that are vertically and horizontally reversed are alternately used. Fig. 15 is a perspective view showing the state of top-stitching in the case of doing, Fig. 15 is a schematic configuration diagram of a laser printer for double-sided printing, and Fig. 16 is a configuration of a conventional character generator for double-sided printing. Block diagram, FIG. 17 is an explanatory view showing the contents of the page data memory in this conventional device, FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the printing state in the conventional double-sided printing character generator, and FIG. 19 is this FIG. 20 is an explanatory view showing the principle of generation of the letter A in the conventional device, FIG. 20 is a perspective view showing a state of top binding in landscape mode, and FIG. 21 is left binding using the same font in this landscape mode. It is a perspective view showing a state. 12 …… Recording paper, 13 …… Photosensitive drum, 18 …… Folding section, 19 …… Stacker section, 23,43 …… Page data memory, 31 …… Scan buffer, 41 …… Character pattern generation section, 42… ... Binding position designating means, 44 ... reading control circuit, 51 ... CPU, 53 ... ROM, 58 ... keyboard, 62 ... character generator.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display location G06F 3/12 P G06K 15/12 C H04N 1/393 4226-5C B41J 3/12 S (72) Inventor Yuichiro Sasaki 2274 Hongo, Ebina City, Kanagawa Prefecture Fuji Zero Tsukus Co., Ltd., Ebina Business Office (72) Inventor, Shoji Shimojima 2274 Hongo, Ebina City, Kanagawa Prefecture (56) Reference, Ebina Business Office, Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP-A-53-110830 (JP, A) JP 54-68636 (JP, A) JP 59-5081 (JP, A) JP 52-22830 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A recording section for recording image information on a recording sheet while passing the recording sheet, and a recording sheet which has passed through the recording section and recorded on one surface, is reversed, and then recorded previously. The recording path for double-sided recording that allows recording on the reversed side by entering the recording section from the trailing edge of the same recording sheet that has entered the section In a double-sided printer having a stacker unit for sequentially stacking recording sheets on which printing has been completed on only one side, a first pattern showing normal patterns of each character
The character pattern generator that prepares two types of fonts, the first font and the second font that represents a vertically and horizontally reversed pattern, and one of the two sides of the recording paper which are parallel to one Print position input data for inputting the binding position control data indicating whether to bind and the character code of each character to be printed on the recording paper, and page data for storing the character code input from the print information input unit in page units. The memory, a page discriminating unit that discriminates whether the character code stored in the page data memory corresponds to an odd page or an even page, and the discrimination result of the page discriminating unit is an even page. When the one end represented by the binding position control data is one end parallel to the conveyance direction of the recording paper, the page data memory is Printing mode setting means for setting the printing of the character pattern corresponding to the stored character code on the recording paper to the reversing mode in which the top and bottom of the entire page are reversed, and to the normal mode in which the top and bottom is not reversed in other cases Font selecting means for selecting the first font when the normal mode is set by the print mode setting means and the second font when the reverse mode is set by the print mode setting means; and the print mode setting means. When the means sets the inversion mode, the character code stored in the page data memory is read in reverse order in the normal mode, and one line in the selected font corresponding to the read character code is read. And video signal generation control means for performing the reading for each in the same order as in the case of the normal mode, Recording a character generator for duplex printing, characterized in that to generate a raster units video signal that matches the position to be bound from the video signal generating means of the paper.