JPH08161127A - Data processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a data processor for printing out a read picture on receipt paper or the like so as to check it at the time of reading out a picture by an image scanner. CONSTITUTION: A CPU 2 stores picture data inputted by the image scanner (not shown in the diagram) by a read picture printing controlling processing through an image scanner interface 4 in a buffer 4a in a data memory 4, controls the transfer start timing of the printer 6 for picture data stored in the buffer 4a in accordance with an arithmetic result based upon relation between the picture reading speed of the image scanner and the printing speed of the printer 6 and prints out reading picture data so as to check it.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an electronic register (EC
R), a data processing device used in a POS system and the like, and more particularly, to a data processing device that controls a data transfer speed when a read image read by an image scanner is printed for confirmation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art ECR (electronic cash register) and POS (Point Of Scales System) terminal devices output input sales data, accumulate (register) the sales data, and register the sales amount and sales. It is an inspection and settlement device that outputs the number of products, the number of sales, etc., and is also installed in department stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, etc., and immediately collects data used for product management, customer management, sales management, etc. It is a terminal device.

[0003] These devices print the sales amount, quantity, discount amount, etc. of registered merchandise on receipt paper, and
In order to print the same registration contents on journal paper and use them for business management, it has a built-in printing device that prints on receipt paper and journal paper. Thermal printers with line heads arranged in a line are often used, and based on print data such as sales amount, quantity, discount amount, etc. of products entered in transaction units, the print target area of receipt paper and journal paper In contrast, printing is being executed.

In addition to the print data such as sales amount, quantity, discount amount, etc. of the goods input in the transaction unit, the receipt paper may be printed with the design mark or service message of the store, or as the receipt paper. In some cases, a design mark or the like of a store is printed in the background in advance, which is used to contribute to sales promotion or store promotion.

[0005]

However, in the design mark and service message of the store other than the sales data printed on the receipt paper by the thermal printer built in such a conventional ECR or POS system, Since the printed fonts and message contents were uniform, it was hard to say that the receipt paper was effectively used for shops and customers in terms of service. There is also a problem in that the use of a special receipt paper causes an increase in cost.

Therefore, in the present invention, an image scanner is connected to the ECR device, and a pop raw paper or the like prepared in advance, for example, service contents designed with lettering characters is read by the image scanner and a composite image printable on receipt paper is formed. The purpose is to make effective use of receipt paper by adding a forming function.

However, since the conventional ECR or POS system does not have a large-screen display device like a computer system, it is impossible to display and confirm an image read by an image scanner. It is also impossible to mount the display device of the above in terms of cost.
Therefore, in the ECR or POS system, the image data read by the image scanner cannot be confirmed at the reading stage.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a data processing device for printing a receipt image or the like so that the read image can be confirmed when the image is read by an image scanner.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In a data processing device that executes a series of data processing based on the data input from the input means and prints the result of the data processing on a predetermined paper by the printing means, an image reading means for reading an image and a reading operation by the image reading means. Image storage means for storing the obtained image data, the image reading speed of the image reading means and the printing speed of the printing means are compared, and the image data stored in the image storage means is compared based on the comparison result. And a control unit for controlling the start timing when outputting to the printing unit.

Further, in this case, as in the data processing apparatus according to the second aspect, the control means, after starting the image reading by the image reading means based on the result of the comparison calculation between the image reading speed and the printing speed. It is effective to calculate the waiting time until the image data output to the printing means is started.

[0011]

According to the invention described in claim 1, a series of data processing is executed based on the data inputted from the input means,
In a data processing device for printing the data processing result on a predetermined sheet by a printing means, the image data read by the image reading means is stored in an image storage means, and the control means controls the image reading speed of the image reading means and the printing means. And the start timing when the image data stored in the image storage means is output to the printing means based on the comparison result.

Therefore, the print start timing can be controlled in accordance with the scan timing of the read image so that the print operation of the read image is terminated at the same time as the scan of the read image is finished, and an image reading function is added. In this case, the cost reduction and the operability (responsiveness) of the device can be made equal to those of the device equipped with a large-sized display device.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the control means controls the image data in the printing means after the start of image reading by the image reading means on the basis of the comparison calculation result of the image reading speed and the printing speed. By calculating the waiting time until the output is started, it is possible to accurately control the print operation start timing that matches the scan timing of the read image.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4 are views showing an embodiment in which a data processing device according to the present invention is applied to an electronic register (hereinafter, referred to as ECR). First, the configuration will be described.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the main part of ECR1. In this figure, the ECR 1 is composed of a CPU 2, a program memory 3, a data memory 4, an image scanner interface 5 and a printer 6.

CPU (Central Processing Unit) 2
Computes numerical values required for various operations while exchanging various data with the data memory 4 according to various control programs stored in the program memory 3, and based on this arithmetic processing, each unit in the ECR 1 is operated. It outputs various control signals for controlling. In addition, the CPU 2 stores image data input via the image scanner interface 4 by an image scanner (not shown) in a buffer 4 in the data memory 4 by a read image printing control process described later.
The transfer start timing of the image data stored in the buffer 4a to the printer 6 is controlled based on the calculation result based on the relationship between the image reading speed of the image scanner and the printing speed of the printer 6, and Print so that you can check the image data.

In the program memory 3, the CPU 2 performs ECR.
Various control programs for controlling various operations of No. 1 and a control program for controlling a read image print control process described later are stored. The data memory 4 forms a data area for temporarily storing sales data, and at the same time, C
A buffer 4a for storing read image data for one screen when the read image print control process is performed by the PU 2 is stored.

Image scanner interface 5
Is connected to an image scanner (not shown) by a line to which the data Data, the timing pulse Tp and the sampling pulse Cp are input as shown in the figure, and the image data Data input from the image scanner is 1 bit by the sampling pulse Cp. The data is sampled every time, transferred to the buffer 4a in the data memory 4 under the control of the CPU 2 and accumulated, and outputs an interrupt request signal to the CPU 2 in accordance with the input timing pulse Tp.

The printer 6 is composed of, for example, a print head section in which thermal elements of segment units are arranged in a line and a transport section in which receipt paper and journal paper are set, and a predetermined time interval from the printer control section 9 is set. The sales data and the composite image data, which are input line by line, are printed on receipt paper and journal paper. Further, the printer 6 prints the read image data transferred from the buffer 4a by the read image print control process executed by the CPU 2, for example, on receipt paper.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First,
FIG. 2 shows the relationship between the scanning speed Vs and the printing speed Vp when the scanning speed of the image scanner is Vs (m / s) and the printing speed of the printer 6 is Vp (m / s).
Generally, the scanning speed Vs and the printing speed Vp have a relationship of Vs <Vp. In FIG. 2, the scanning distance 1 and the scanning speed V when one image is read line by line with an image scanner
The relationship between s and the printing speed Vp is shown.

In the case of the present embodiment, the read image data is not output to the printer 6 until the scanning of a certain section by the image scanner is completed, and the read image data is transferred to the printer 6 from the point beyond this certain section. By starting and printing, the scanning distance of this fixed section is obtained so that the scanning end timing of the image and the printing end timing become the same.

As shown in FIG. 2, the total scanning distance when one image is read line by line with an image scanner is "l",
When the scanning distance in a certain section is “lx”, the relationship of the following expression (1) is established.

(L-lx) / Vs = 1 / Vp (1) From this relational expression, lx can be obtained by the following expression (2).

{L- (Vs / Vp)} l = lx (2) The printing speed Vp is a constant determined by the specifications of the printer 6 used, for example, Vp = 0.062 (m /
s). Further, the total scanning distance 1 is determined for each model as the specification of ECR1, but in the present embodiment, for example,
Let l = 0.08 (m). The scanning speed Vs is a constant depending on the specifications of the image scanner in the case of the stationary type, and may be calculated by the average scanning speed in the case of the manual type. In this embodiment, the scanning speed Vs = 0.04 (m
/ S). With the above settings, the scanning distance lx in a certain section in this embodiment is obtained using the equation (2).

Lx = {l- (0.04 / 0.062)}
0.08 = 0.028 (m) The print dot pitch of the printer 6 is 8 dots / m.
If m, the number of dots of the scanning distance lx in a certain section is 2
It becomes 24 dots.

The read image print control process executed by the CPU 2 under the above conditions will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, the scanning distance lx in a fixed section is calculated under the above-mentioned setting conditions (step S1), the number of dot lines is calculated from the calculated lx as described above, and the value of the number of dot lines is set to the number of lx lines. The above-mentioned lx dot number "224" is set as the set value CT for counting (step S2). Next, "0" is set in the buffer save counter SCT that counts the memory address in the buffer that stores the read image data for the number of lx lines (step S3), and the image scanner according to the timing pulse Tp input by the image scanner.・ When an interrupt request signal is input from the interface 5,
To start interrupt processing, interrupt ENAB
In the LE state, the interrupt processing shown in FIG. 4 is started (step S4).

Here, description will be given according to the flowchart of the interrupt processing shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, first, read image data for one line is read from the image scanner interface 5 (step S21), and the read image for one line is read in the buffer memory of the count value set in the buffer save counter SCT. The data is saved (step S22). Then, the buffer save counter SCT is incremented (SCT + 1 →
SCT) (step S23), and it is determined whether or not the count value has reached the final line (END) corresponding to the total scanning distance l (step S24). If not reached, the process immediately exits and returns to the read image print control process. If reached, the interrupt ENABLE state is set to the DISABLE state (step S25), the process is exited and the read image print is performed. Step S of control processing
Go to 5.

Returning to step S5 of FIG. 3 again, the count value of the buffer save / counter SCT and the count set value CT of the number of lx lines are compared, and if CT> SCT, the interrupt processing of step S4 is performed. Return to CT
In the case of the relation of ≤SCT, that is, when the scanning distance of the image scanner exceeds the number of lx lines, the output pointer is set to "0" (Pt = 0) (step S).
6). Then, one line of the read image data saved in the buffer 4a from the output pointer is transferred to the printer 6 for printing (step S7), and the output pointer Pt is counted up (Pt + 1 → Pt) (step S).
8).

Then, the set value of the output pointer Pt is compared with the count value of the buffer save counter SCT (step S9), and if Pt <SCT,
Returning to the printing process of step S7, when Pt ≧ SCT is satisfied, it is determined whether or not the set value of the output pointer reaches the final line (END) corresponding to the total scanning distance 1 (step S10). . If it has not reached, the process returns to the printing process of step S7, and if it has reached, this process ends.

With the above processing, in the ECR1 of the present embodiment, the image scanner is connected to the image scanner by the ordinary apparatus having the ordinary 1-line or 2-line display section to read the image, and the read image is correctly read. In order to confirm whether or not the read image is printed, it is possible to control the print start timing of the printer 6 in accordance with the scan timing of the read image and to end the print operation of the read image of the printer 6 simultaneously with the end of the scan of the read image. The cost reduction and the operability (responsiveness) of the device when the image reading function is added can be made equal to those of the device equipped with a substantially large-sized display device.

In the above embodiment, the scanning speed Vs of the image scanner is assumed to be the average speed, and the scanning distance lx in a certain section is approximately obtained. It is possible to measure the scanning speed Vs which changes sequentially by the pulse Tp. FIG. 5 shows an example of the functional block configuration of the ECR 10 equipped with the function of measuring the scanning speed Vs that changes in sequence.

Since the resolution for one line (the distance between the lines) is determined as the specification of the apparatus, it is sufficient that the time between the timing pulses Tp can be measured. ECR1 in Figure 5
At 0, the input interval of the timing pulse Tp input from the image scanner is measured by the counter 12 that counts up according to the reference clock of the clock generator 11, and the measurement result is sent to the CPU 2 to be stored in the buffer in the memory 4. The read image data saved in 4a is printed by the printer 6
By changing the timing of transfer to, the relative speed of the printing speed of the scanning speed can be kept constant and the responsiveness when the read image is scanned by manual operation can be improved.

In the ECR 1 shown in FIG. 1, the buffer 4a for one reading range screen is used.
If the relation of p> scanning speed Vs is established, a buffer having a memory capacity for the scanning distance lx of a certain section that determines the print start timing is used. If lx is exceeded, the read image data is read from the top of the buffer again. Is saved and the printing operation of the printer 6 is performed at the same time, the memory size of the buffer can be significantly reduced, and the cost of the ECR can be further reduced.

[0034]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the print start timing is controlled according to the scanning timing of the read image, and the print operation of the read image is terminated at the same time when the scanning of the read image is completed. It is possible to reduce the cost and operability (responsiveness) of the device when adding the image reading function.
Can be made equivalent to that equipped with a substantially large display device.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to accurately control the printing operation start timing that matches the scanning timing of the read image.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a main part of an ECR to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a relationship between a scanning speed at the time of reading an image of the image scanner of the present embodiment and a printing speed of the printer.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of read image print control processing executed by the CPU of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an interrupt process executed by the interrupt ENABLE shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a main part of an ECR having another scanning speed counting function.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ECR 2 CPU 3 Program Memory 4 Data Memory 4a Buffer 5 Image Scanner Interface 6 Printer 10 ECR 11 Clock Generator 12 Counter

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A data processing device for executing a series of data processing based on data input from an input means and printing the result of the data processing on a predetermined paper by a printing means, and an image reading means for reading an image, An image storage unit that stores the image data read by the image reading unit is compared with the image reading speed of the image reading unit and the printing speed of the printing unit, and stored in the image storage unit based on the comparison result. A data processing device, comprising: a control unit that controls a start timing when the image data to be output is output to the printing unit. 2. The waiting time until the control means starts image data output to the printing means after the image reading by the image reading means is started based on the comparison calculation result of the image reading speed and the printing speed. The data processing device according to claim 1, wherein