JPH0831066B2 - Communication control device - Google Patents

Description

Description: (a) Technical Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication control device that is connected to an electronic computer, is controlled by a command from the electronic computer, and exchanges information through a line. In particular, it relates to a communication control device having a function of synthesizing code information and image information from an electronic computer and sending it to a line.

(B) Background of technology Not only the data handled by facsimiles but also the data are often in the form in which a graph or a figure b is inserted in the text a as shown in FIG. When a document with such a figure is processed by an electronic computer and transmitted by a facsimile or the like, it is handled differently from a document composed of only characters. That is, the part such as the figure b is also composed of a group of pixels, but the shape of the figure is infinite, and thus cannot be coded.

(C) Conventional Technology and Problems There are displays, printers, facsimiles, etc. as terminal devices capable of transmitting and receiving image information.

Conventionally, the following method is used to send an image from an electronic computer to these terminal devices.

Sentences and figures are directly stored in the form of image information in a memory of an electronic computer in advance, and the stored image information is sent to a terminal device via a communication control device or the like.

A character generator (CG) converts a text edited with code information into image information corresponding to the code information and sends it to the communication control device.

However, in this method, a manuscript in which sentences and figures are mixed is created in advance and made into data of one size (for example, A4 size), all of which is converted into image information by a facsimile or the like and input to a computer for storage. Similarly, all texts, figures, etc. are similarly stored as image information, that is, a group of pixels in a memory or the like in the electronic computer. Therefore, it is impossible to directly change or insert the stored image information. Even if you partially change (for example, change the date) or insert a text or figure, you can change or insert the one that was in the state before it was stored in the computer, or create a new one and then fax it again. Had to enter through and accumulate. However, it is troublesome to change and create a hard copy document before input.

With one method, it is easy to change and insert code information from a keyboard, etc., so you can easily change and insert memory contents, but it is difficult to code figures and generate them in CG. Only the characters and symbols decided by the system could be used, and image information such as figures and maps could not be inserted.

By improving this, a portion that can be represented by code information is accumulated in the form of code information, and an area that cannot be represented by code information is left blank and image information is inserted into the area. However, since such processing is performed by the electronic computer, there is a drawback in that the load of the electronic computer itself, the memory, and the file capacity increase, which adversely affects the performance of the system economically and system. there were.

(D) Object of the Invention In order to solve such a problem in the conventional processing of image information, the present invention converts code information into image information in a communication control device, and images such as graphics during the conversion processing. The purpose is to be able to synthesize information.

(E) Configuration of the Invention To achieve this object, the present invention is provided with a screen buffer for storing code information such as characters and symbols input from an electronic computer, and the code information stored in the screen buffer is used as image information. In a communication control device for converting to and transmitting to a line, means for writing code information and image area designation information input from a computer into a screen buffer, and when the information read from the screen buffer is code information, converted to image information However, in the case of the image area designation information, the image information corresponding to the area is inserted and the combined image information is created.

(F) Embodiment of Invention Next, an embodiment will be used to explain how the communication control device according to the present invention is actually embodied. FIG. 2 is a principle view of the present invention, in which 1 is an electronic computer and 2 is a communication control device. The electronic computer 1 comprises a central processing unit 3, a main storage unit 4 and an auxiliary storage unit 5 such as a magnetic disk unit. The communication control device 2 is usually used for online control, and has its own processing device in addition to the central processing device 3 of the electronic computer.

The communication control device 2 includes a screen buffer 6 for one page, and the screen buffer 6 is provided in the same number as the number of lines that can be processed by the communication control device 2. The screen buffer 6 is stored in the form of code information, and character information is input by a keyboard of a terminal device or the like. To read out the screen buffer 6 and output it in the form of an image, a character pattern corresponding to code information is extracted from a character generator (hereinafter abbreviated as "CG"). By the way, CG is designed for efficient use of memory.
Characters are alphanumeric (ie alpha / numeric), JIS
It is preferable that the characters of the first level, the characters of the JIS second level, and the user-defined characters are divided and stored in separate storage units. That is, for alphanumeric characters, a CG7 for alphanumeric characters is provided in the communication control device 2, and the alphanumeric character portion in the screen buffer 6 is stored in the image buffer 8 by extracting the CG7 for alphanumeric characters. The image buffer 8 is also provided for each line similarly to the screen buffer 6.

The JIS first-level character CG41 is stored in the main storage device 4, and the JIS first-level character in the screen buffer 6 is extracted by extracting the CG41 in the main storage device 4. The pattern is stored in the image buffer 8.

The CG51 for JIS second level characters and user-defined characters may also be provided in the main storage device 4, but in order to reduce the load on the main storage device 4, in this example, they are stored in the auxiliary storage device 5. There is. A second code buffer 9 is provided for each line separately from the screen buffer 6, and the same number of second image buffers 10 for patterning and storing the code information in the code buffer 9 are provided as the number of lines. The second image buffer 10 is read out and the character pattern is stored in a predetermined column of the image buffer 8.

A graphic that cannot be coded, such as a character, is stored in the main memory 4
It is stored in the image information storage area 42 by inputting it by facsimile or the like. When inserting a graphic or the like, the image information storage area 42 is read out and inserted into the image buffer 8 at a position corresponding to the graphic position B of the screen buffer 6.

For example, the case of synthesizing a graphic-like document as shown in FIG. 1 will be described as follows. First, the character portion a of FIG. 1 is stored in the form of code information in the screen buffer 6 and the second code buffer 9, and the figure b is stored in the image information storage area 42 of the main storage device 4 by a facsimile or the like. Stored in the form. When storing the code information of the designated number of digits from the main storage device 4 in the screen buffer 6, the JIS
The code of the second level or the user-defined character is detected, and alphanumeric code information and JIS No. 1 are stored in the screen buffer 6.
The code information of the character of the level is stored, and the code information of the JIS second level or the user-defined character is stored in the second code buffer 9. Then, the second code buffer is read out, the corresponding character pattern is extracted from the CG51 for JIS second level characters, stored in the second image buffer 10, and input to the image buffer 8 can be performed at high speed. Keep it.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the screen buffer 6, in order to secure an arbitrary area B for inserting the graphic b, an arbitrary row and column of the screen buffer 6 are designated and the arbitrary area in the screen buffer 6 is designated. Set the image area. For example, the image area B is set in the area from the x ₁ line to the x ₂ line and the y ₁ column to the y ₂ column of the screen buffer. In this way, in the area of the screen buffer where an image such as a figure is placed, data representing the start and end of the image area B is stored for each line.

With the code information and the image information stored in this manner, the code information in the screen buffer is converted into image information line by line. That is, the code information in the screen buffer 6 and the code information in the second code buffer 9 are converted into image information and stored in the image buffer 8. That is, when the storage in the screen buffer 6 is completed, it is determined whether or not the second code buffer 9 stores the JIS second level or the code information of the user-defined character. If it is stored, the code information in the second code buffer 9 is transferred to the processing device 3, and the transfer of the image information corresponding to the code information is requested. When the image information is received from the processing device, it is stored in the second image buffer 10. In the case of JIS second level or user-defined character code information, the image information is taken out from the second image buffer 10 and transferred to the image buffer 8. For alphanumeric characters, read CG7 for alphanumeric characters and
The characters of the IS first level are transferred to the image buffer 8 by reading the CG41 of the main storage device 4.

Further, in order to insert the image information into the position corresponding to the image area B, the image information storage unit 42 of the electronic computer is read and inserted into the image buffer 8.

Such composition is performed for each line in the screen buffer 6. For example, in the case of the document shown in FIG. 1, CG7 and 41 are extracted line by line from the first line, the second image buffer 10 is read out, converted into image information, and sent to the communication line. To be done. In the case of character information such as "1 line B" in FIG. 1, among the characters "1 line B",
"1" and "B" are extracted from alphanumeric CG7, and "book" is JIS first level CG of main memory 4.
Extracted from. If there are user-defined characters or JIS second-level characters, the CG51 of the auxiliary storage device 5 is previously stored as described above.
And is stored in the second image buffer 10. In this case, one line in the screen buffer 6 is converted into image information one by one, for example, in order from the left digit according to the code information, and is added to the image buffer 8. At that time, in the case of alphanumeric characters, it is extracted from CG7 for alphanumeric characters, JIS 1st level characters are from JIS 1st level character CG41, JIS 2nd level characters and user-defined character C
For G, the process of reading from the second image buffer 10 is sequentially performed according to the code information of one line.

The text-only area can be processed by simply reading out the CGs 7, 41, and 51 in this manner, but the portion having the graphic is processed as follows. FIG. 4A is an enlarged view of a certain line of the screen buffer 6, for example, the nth line extending over the image area B and the area A of the sentence a.
The image buffer 8 is one line including the image area B of
It is shown to be output to. FIG. 4B shows the image buffer 8 in which a certain line extending over the image area and the text area is stored in the form of image information. The text area is CG7, 41, 5 as described above.
1 is extracted, converted into image information line by line and input to the image buffer 8. Then, when a pointer indicating the beginning of the image area B is detected in a certain row, the image information of the corresponding row is read from the image information storage unit 42 and the image information β is inserted.
When the end of the image area is detected, image information α such as characters and symbols is inserted instead of the image information. When the image information of one row is stored in this manner, it is sent to the facsimile through the line. 1 to send to the line
This is done in units of one dot line, but by preparing two image buffers for one line, conversion of the next line in the screen buffer 6 into image information while one line of dot lines is being sent out. Can be done. By repeating such processing for each line, a document in which a figure b is included in the sentence a is completed as shown in FIG.

When converting the screen buffer 6 into the image buffer 8, all the code information in one line may be converted into the image information α, and then the image information β corresponding to the image area may be stored in the image buffer.

The above processing is performed for each communication line under the control of the processing device 3, and the image information is sent out.

In this way, the character information and the graphic information are combined. However, when a part of the character information is changed, for example, when the date is corrected, the data stored in the screen buffer 6 is stored in a file or the like. When the data is stored in a unit, the data is read out and displayed on a display or the like, and only the portion requiring correction is corrected, the code information of the corresponding address in the screen buffer 6 is corrected. Correct image information
When it is desired to change, only the image information portion needs to be corrected / changed and stored again in the image information storage unit 42 of the main storage device 4 by facsimile or the like.

In the illustrated example, alphanumeric characters, JIS first-level characters and J
Although the CGs of the IS second level / user-defined characters are provided in different storage means, they may be provided in one or two types of storage means.

(G) Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, a screen buffer for storing code information such as characters and symbols input from an electronic computer is provided, and the code information stored in the screen buffer is converted into image information. In the communication control device that converts and sends to the line, write the code information and image area specification information input from the computer to the screen buffer, and if the information read from the screen buffer is code information, convert it to image information In the case of the area designation information, the image information corresponding to the area is inserted to create the combined image information, so that the code information and the image information can be easily combined and sent to the line. Since the communication control device can perform composition, information such as characters and image information such as graphics can be combined without increasing the memory load of the electronic computer.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram exemplifying a document containing graphics, FIG. 2 is a block diagram exemplifying a communication control device according to the present invention, FIG. 3 is a diagram exemplifying a storage state of a screen buffer, and FIG. 4 is a screen buffer. It is a figure which illustrates the memory | storage state of one line and an image buffer. In the figure, 1 is a computer, 2 is a communication control device, 3 is a central processing unit, 4 is a main storage device, 41 is a CG for JIS first level characters, 42 is an image information storage unit, 5 is a magnetic disk device, 51 is a CG for JIS level 2 characters and user-defined characters, 6
Is a screen buffer, 7 is a CG for alphanumeric characters, 8 is an image buffer, 9 is a second code buffer, and 10 is a second image buffer.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A communication control device comprising a screen buffer for storing code information such as characters and symbols input from an electronic computer, converting the code information stored in the screen buffer into image information and transmitting the image information to a line. A means for writing code information and image area designation information input from the electronic computer into the screen buffer; and when the information read from the screen buffer is code information, it is converted into image information, and in the case of image area designation information, Means for creating image information by inserting and combining image information corresponding to the area, and a communication control device.