JPH09147129A - Pixel painting-out circuit of image output device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a pixel painting-out circuit of image output device which can shorten the time up to the end of printing. SOLUTION: Image data on only the outline of a figure are stored in a DRAM 3 and taken out as serial image data through a parallel-serial converter 2, a pixel painting-out circuit 1 detects and paints out pixels to be painted out, and a printer engine 13 prints the figure. Consequently, since the process that a CPU, etc., performed before is performed in parallel to the transfer of image data, the image output process can be speeded up.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pixel filling circuit of an image output device such as a printer or a display.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Among image output devices, for example, in a laser beam printer having a built-in outline font, when printing print data received from a host computer, outline font data is first generated to generate an image of a character to be printed. Based on the above, the outline of the character is written in the memory, and then the inside of the outline is filled, that is, the inside of the outline is detected and the pixels inside the outline are filled. Details of this process are described in documents such as “Page Printer Controller Technology” (Trikeps Publishing / March 30, 1992). Similarly, with respect to figures other than characters, the inside of the contour is filled in if it is necessary to write the contour on the memory.

Next, after image data for one page is created and written in the memory, the image data is read out from the memory, converted into serial format image data, and output to the printer engine. The printer engine receives serial image data and prints while sequentially scanning the paper.

[0004]

In the prior art, when a graphic is created by vector data or character image data is created by outline font data, CP is used.
U or dedicated hardware draws the outline of a figure or character in the memory, then performs the process to detect the inside of the outline, and then fills the inside of the outline, so the access frequency of the memory storing image data is It took a long time to create image data. Therefore, there is a problem that it takes time from the output of print data from the host computer to the end of printing.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a pixel filling circuit of an image output device which can shorten the time until the end of printing.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, when a graphic is created by vector data or when character image data is created by outline font data, only the outline of the graphic or character is written and written in the memory. Pixel fill detection means for detecting pixels to be filled such as inside the outline of a character or figure from serial image data transferred to the image output means for outputting image data, and pixel data based on information from the pixel fill detection means Is provided to fill the inside of the contour.

With the above structure, since the inside of the outline can be filled simultaneously while transferring the serial image data to the image output means, the inside of the outline of the character can be created when the image data of a character or a figure is created as in the conventional case. It is not necessary to perform the processing for detecting the error and the processing for filling the inside of the contour, and the processing time can be shortened accordingly.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A first embodiment of the present invention will be described using an example of a laser beam printer. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a laser beam printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The configuration will be described below. In FIG.
Reference numeral 8 is a CPU that controls the entire printer, 4 is a memory controller that generates a control signal for controlling memory access, 5 is a ROM that stores control codes of the CPU 8 and outline font data used for printing, and 3 is a A DRAM for storing print data transmitted from a host computer (not shown), a code required for control of the CPU 8, image data to be printed, and the like, 2 is 1-bit image data in 16-bit parallel format read from the DRAM 3.
It is a parallel-serial converter that converts image data in t-serial format.

Here, the ROM 5 is the memory controller 4
Via the ROM selection signal 25 output from the DRAM
3 is via a DRAM access signal 24 (RAS, CAS, write signal, read signal) output from the memory controller 4, and the parallel-serial converter 2 is via a data load signal 22 output from the memory controller 4. It is connected to the memory controller 4.

Reference numeral 6 denotes an EEPROM for storing printer operation setting values such as print paper size and print density, or data for maintenance such as total number of prints, and 1 denotes a pixel filling circuit for filling image data in parallel. -The serial image data 20 output from the serial converter 2 is input, and the pixel filling processed serial image data 21 is output.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a parallel interface for receiving print data transmitted from the host computer,
Reference numeral 10 is a control panel for displaying the printer status, and the user setting the printer. Reference numeral 9 is a control panel for outputting a display signal to the control panel 10 and detecting a switch (not shown) signal operated by the user. The control panel 10 and the control panel interface 9 are connected by a display signal and a switch signal 26.

Reference numeral 13 denotes a printer engine for printing image data in an electrophotographic printing process. Reference numeral 12 denotes an engine control circuit for controlling the print process of the printer engine 13. The printer engine 13 and a control signal 28 (for rotating the photosensitive member) are used. Motor control, toner fixing device control, laser scanning motor control, and the like (not shown) are connected, and the pixel filling circuit 1 is also connected via the pixel filling processed serial image data 21.

Reference numeral 11 denotes an engine interface for issuing a print start request to the printer engine 13 and obtaining the status of the printer engine 13, which is connected to the engine control circuit 12 by a communication signal 27. In addition to the engine control circuit 12, the printer engine 13, and the control panel 10, a bus 23 including a 24-bit address bus, a 16-bit data bus, and a control bus is connected to the CPU 8 so that the CPU 8 can write and read data. .

Next, the operation will be described. The print data transmitted from the host computer is received by the parallel interface 7 and stored in the DRAM 3 by the CPU 8. The received print data is interpreted by the CPU 8, and first, a list called a display list that describes the configuration of the page is created to assemble the configuration of the page to be printed.

If the print data shown in the display list is raster image data, the CPU 8 directly stores the data in the DRAM 3. If it is graphic data defined by vector data, the outline of the graphic is constructed by straight lines and curved lines and written in the DRAM 3. If the data is a character code, a character image with only the outline is developed and generated. That is, the corresponding outline font data is read from the ROM 5, and then the outline font data is used to draw the outline of the character in a specified size.

In the conventional printer, the CPU 8 next detects the inside of the outline of the character or figure and then fills the inside of the outline. However, this printer does not perform this processing, only the outline is developed, and its image data is extracted. It is stored in the DRAM 3. The above processing is repeated according to the display list, and the image data for one page is written in the DRAM 3.

Next, the CPU 8 drives the communication signal 27 via the engine interface 11 to issue a print start request to the engine control circuit 12. When the printer engine 13 starts operating under the control of the engine control circuit 12, the memory controller 4 outputs 16 pixels of image data, that is, 16-bit data from the DRAM 3 onto the bus 23 using the DRAM access signal 24 and the bus 23. Here, in the image data, "1" represents black and "0" represents white.

Further, the memory controller 4 outputs the data load signal 22 to load the 16-bit image data on the bus 23 into the parallel-serial converter 2.
The parallel-serial converter 2 is a parallel type 16b.
Converts it image data to 1-bit serial data,
The serial image data 20 is output every 1 bit.
The above-described operation is performed every time 16 bits of the serial image data 20 are output.
Is output without interruption.

The pixel filling circuit 1 rewrites the pixels corresponding to the inside of the contour to black in the serial image data 20 of the figure or character having only the contour and outputs the pixel painting processed serial image data 21. The pixel-filled serial image data 21 is buffered by the engine control circuit 12 and output to the printer engine 13.

The printer engine 13 emits a laser (not shown) according to the pixel-filled serial image data 21 to form an image with toner on the sheet and fix the image to print. The operating status of the printer is CPU
The control panel interface 9 outputs a display signal 26 indicating an operating state, and the control signal is displayed on the control panel 10 to inform the user.

Next, the pixel filling circuit 1 and the parallel-
A detailed circuit of the serial converter 2 will be described. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a detailed circuit diagram of a parallel-serial converter in one embodiment of the present invention. Here, 200 is 16 bi
A t shift register 202 is a clock signal (hereinafter referred to as DOT) having a wavelength of one pixel in synchronization with the serial image data 20.
CLK) and is connected to the clock input of the shift register 200.

The data load signal 22 is connected to the data load input, the bus 23 is connected to the data input, and the serial image data 20 is connected to the serial out output.

FIG. 3 is a detailed circuit diagram of the pixel filling circuit according to the embodiment of the present invention. Here, 100 is a flip-flop and 101 is a JK set to a toggle output.
Flip-flop, 102 is 2-input AND, 103 is D
A clock signal having a frequency twice that of the OTCLK 202 and synchronized with a rising edge (hereinafter referred to as DOTCLK2) is connected to the clock input of the flip-flop 100.

In addition, the serial image data 20 and DOTC
The LK202 is connected to the input terminal of the AND102, the AND output 104 is the data input of the flip-flop 100, and the output 105 of the flip-flop 100 is JK.
The JK flip-flop 101 is connected to the clock input of the flip-flop 101 and the signal line of the pixel-filled serial image data 21. 201 is a reset signal of the printer system, which is a 16-bit shift register 2
00, flip-flop 100, and JK flip-flop 101.

The operation will be described below. Immediately after the power of the printer system is turned on, a reset signal 201 is output from a reset circuit (not shown) to clear the outputs of the shift register 200, the flip-flop 100, and the JK flip-flop 101 to zero. When printing the characters shown in FIG. 4A, the CPU 8 draws the contour data shown in FIG. In FIG. 4A, this contour is composed of the point next to the start point of the black pixel and the end point of the black pixel when each line is scanned from left to right. In order to draw this outline efficiently, it is better to make this data an outline font. When the conventional font data is used to create the contour data as shown in FIG. 5B, the following processing is performed. First, using conventional font data,
A contour as shown in (b) is generated and written in the DRAM 3. Next, as shown in FIG. 5A, the pixels that can be traced so that the contour is seen to the right are left as they are (300, 301 in this example).
Pixels that can be traced so that the contour is seen to the left are shifted to the right by one pixel (302, 303, etc. in this example), and pixels that can be traced so that the contour is seen upward or downward are deleted as shown in FIG. The contour data of b) is obtained.

When the printing operation starts as described above, the memory controller 4 activates the data load signal 22 and loads the image data on the bus 23 into the 16-bit shift register 200. Here, description will be given using the timing chart of FIG. 7 assuming that the data of the line 305 of FIG. 5B has been loaded. DOTCLK after data loading
Data is output for each pixel in synchronization with the rising edge of 202, and serial image data 20 is obtained. Here, the part where the data is "1" corresponds to the outline of the character. The serial image data 20 and the DOTCLK 202 are ANDed by the AND 102 and become the output 104, which is processed into the output 105 by the flip-flop 100. This output 10
Since the JK flip-flop 101 is driven with 5 as a clock, the image data changes from "0" (that is, white) to "1" (that is, black) at the first contour pixel, and remains black until the next contour pixel comes. Yes, it changes to “0”, that is, white at the next contour pixel and remains white until the next contour pixel comes. As a result of this processing, the line 305 of FIG. 5B is filled with the contour inside 307 as shown in FIG. The above processing is executed on the image data of each line, and the image data of only the contour in FIG. 5B becomes image data in which the inside of the contour is filled as shown in FIG. 4A.

As described above, in the present embodiment, if the image data of only the outline that does not fill the inside of the figure or the character is stored in the memory, when the serial image data 20 is transferred to the printer engine 13, Since it is possible to fill the inside of the contour at the same time, it is not necessary to detect the inside of the contour of the character and fill the inside of the contour when creating image data of characters and figures in memory as in the past. Therefore, the printing process can be speeded up accordingly.

Next, another embodiment of the pixel filling circuit 1 will be described. FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram of a pixel filling circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention. The configuration will be described below. 110 is a memory control circuit,
120 is a memory circuit, 130 is a window circuit, 140
A fill determination circuit, 150 is a memory address and a memory control signal, 160 is memory data, 170 is a pixel signal, and 21 is pixel-filled serial image data.

The outline of the operation will be described below, but the description is omitted because it is the same as the first embodiment except for the pixel filling circuit 1 in FIG.

Now, in order to detect the inside or outside of the outline of a figure or character in the image data, first, the serial image data 20 is fetched into the window circuit 130 of 3 dots in the vertical direction and 3 dots in the horizontal direction in the state of 3 × 3 dots. . In order to realize this, the image data for three lines is stored in the memory circuit 1.
The data is stored in memory 20, read out in synchronization with DOTCLK 202, and written in the window circuit 130.

Next, the image data is sequentially loaded into the window circuit 130 from left to right and from top to bottom of the page image, and the fill judgment circuit 140 causes the window circuit 13 to operate.
By detecting the feature of the contour pattern for the pixel at the center of 0, the left end and the right end of the contour are recognized, and it is determined whether the contour is inside or outside. If it is determined to be inside the contour, the pixel is changed from white to black and is output to the engine control circuit 12 as pixel-filled serial image data 21.

Next, details of the pixel filling circuit 1 will be described. First, the memory control circuit 110 will be described. FIG. 9 is a detailed circuit diagram of a memory control circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention. Address SRA0 required for reading and writing data in the memory is shown.
~ SRA12 and memory read / write signal 124
(Not shown), a memory chip select 123 (not shown) is generated.

In FIG. 9, 111 and 112 are 4-bit synchronous counters, and 113 is a 5-bit synchronous counter, which constitute an address counter. Synchronous counters 111 to 113
Is incremented from 0 by the rising edge of DOTCLK 202 and reset by the main scanning reference signal HSYNC.

Next, the memory circuit 120 will be described.
FIG. 10 is a detailed circuit diagram of a memory circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention, which shows a serial image according to the addresses SRA0 to SRA12 and the memory read, write signal 124, and memory chip select signal 123 output from the memory control circuit 110. The data 20 is written in the memory and the written data is read out.

In FIG. 10, 121 is an SRAM, 12
2 is a 3-bit latch, 125 is a latch signal, the serial image data 20 is input to D0 of the 3-bit latch 122 for each DOTCLK 202 and latched at the rising edge of the latch signal 125, and the addresses SRA0 to SRA12 are input.
It is stored in the SRAM 121 10 at the address indicated by. Similarly, the next serial image data is DOTCLK.
At the rising edge of 202, the address is incremented and stored in the SRAM 121 10. Through the series of operations described above, SR is performed for one main scanning line of the page image.
It is stored in the AM 121.

Then, the address counter is reset by HSYNC, and the count starts again from 0.
Next, the serial image data of the second line is input to D0 of the 3-bit latch 122, the serial image data of the first line that has already been input is input to D1, and the latch signal 125
Latched on the rising edge of
It is stored in the address 10 of 1. In this way, SRAM
Three lines of serial image data are stored in each 121, and image data SWD of three lines is stored.
Output as 0 to SWD2.

Next, the window circuit 130 will be described. FIG. 11 is a detailed circuit diagram of a window circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention, in which the image data SWD0 to SWD2 output by the memory circuit 120 are stored in a sample window composed of a shift register, and FIG.
Window data A1 to A3, B1 to B3, C1 shown in
Outputs ~ C3.

In FIG. 11, 131 to 133 are 3 bi.
The t shift register and 134 are shift clocks. The image data SWD0 to SWD2 for three lines output from the memory circuit 120 is converted into 3b by the shift clock 134.
It is input to the it shift registers 131 to 133, the next image data is input at the next shift clock 134, and the image data is shifted. That is, the image data is
Sequential scanning is performed by the sample window configured by the t shift registers 131 to 133, and the image data necessary for the filling determination is sampled.

Next, the painting determination circuit 140 will be described. FIG. 13 is a detailed circuit diagram of a fill judgment circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention, in which the window circuit 13
0 output window data A1 to A3, B1
˜B3, C1 to C3, the outline of the figure or character in the image data is detected, the inside of the outline is changed from white data to black data, and the serial image data 21 is output to the engine control circuit 12 as pixel-filled serial image data 21.

In FIG. 13, reference numeral 141 denotes a filling start contour detection circuit, which is AND 1411, 1412, NOR 14
13. Reference numeral 142 denotes a filling end contour detection circuit, which is AND1422 and AND14 having one inversion input.
21. 143 is a JK flip-flop set to toggle output, 144 is a 2-input selector, 14
Reference numeral 5 is a flip-flop, 146 is an AND, 147 is an inverter, 148 and 1414 are OR, and 149 is an output image data selection signal described in FIG.

As an example, a case of detecting a contour from the image data shown in FIG. 15A will be described. When the filling start contour detection circuit 141 detects the pattern of FIG.
1 "is output. Also, the filling end contour detection circuit 14
2 outputs "1" when detecting the pattern of FIG. 15 (c). In FIGS. 15B and 15C, the shaded pixel data is arbitrary. The sample window is shown in Figure 15.
When the image in (a) is scanned from left to right and comes to 171, the output of the filling start contour detection circuit 141 is from "0" to "1".
, And is output to the clock input of the JK flip-flop 143 via the OR 1414. Therefore, JK
The output of the flip-flop 143 becomes "1". Since this output is a signal indicating that it is inside the contour data,
It can be seen that the center pixel B2 of the sample window is inside the outline of the figure or character. Furthermore, B2 is "0"
Therefore, the output of the inverter 147 becomes "1" and AN
The output of D146 passes through the OR 148 and the selector 144, and is output by the flip-flop 145 in synchronization with the rising edge of the clock 1451. That is, white pixels are changed to black and output.

Next, when the sample window is shifted to the right by one pixel, the filling start contour detection circuit 141 detects "
However, the output of the JK flip-flop 143 is "0".
Since it remains 1 ”and B2 is“ 0 ”, the white pixel is changed to black and is output as in the previous pixel.

Further, a sample window is shown in FIG. 15 (a).
172, the output of the filling end contour detection circuit 142 changes from “0” to “1” and is output to the clock input of the JK flip-flop 143 via the OR 1414. Therefore, the output of the JK flip-flop 143 changes from "1" to "0", and it can be seen that the central pixel B2 of the sample window is on or outside the outline of the figure or character.

Here, the output of the AND 146 becomes "0" and is ORed with the "1" of B2 by the OR 148, and the selector 14
4 and the clock 145 in the flip-flop 145
A black pixel is output in synchronization with the rising edge of 1.

Next, when the sample window is shifted to the right by one pixel, both the filling start contour detection circuit 141 and the filling end contour detection circuit 142 remain "0",
The output of the JK flip-flop 143 also remains "0" and B2 is also "0", so a white pixel is output.

As described above, the filling judgment circuit 140 detects the first contour of one line of the image data,
It is possible to fill the inside of the contour following that and stop the painting when the next contour is detected. The filling start contour detection circuit 141 and the filling end contour detection circuit 142 shown in FIG. 13 show only a part of the patterns to be detected. Actually, a plurality of detection circuits are required to correspond to a plurality of image patterns, and the logical sum of each detection circuit is O.
You need to enter it in R1414. Further, in the circuit, if there is a line image in addition to the contour figure, there is a possibility that the line may be erroneously filled. Therefore, the selector 144 is controlled by the signal 149 indicating the contour data area so that the filling determination circuit 140 functions in the area where only the contour data exists. That is, in the contour data area, the output of the image data OR148 subjected to the filling processing is output, and outside the contour data area, the same data B2 as the serial image data 20 is output as it is.

Next, the contour data area designating circuit will be described. FIG. 14 is a detailed circuit diagram of a contour data area designating circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention, showing the location of the contour data when the CPU 8 generates image data to be printed from print data received from the host computer. Extract the coordinates on the indicated page, latch the coordinates, that is, the horizontal and vertical fill start and end coordinates, and count the coordinates with a down counter to start the fill.
Detect the end point. Therefore, the image data to be output is switched by setting the signal 149 indicating the contour data to "1" in the contour data area and setting it to "0" in other cases.

In FIG. 14, 151 to 154 are 16b.
It latches, 166 to 169 are latch signals of the latches 151 to 154, 23 is a bus, and 155 to 158 are 16 bits.
Down counters, 161, 163 are 16-input NOR,
162 and 164 are 16-input ORs, and 165 are 4-input ANs.
D and VSYNC are sub-scanning reference signals.

The CPU 8 latches the horizontal start coordinates of the contour data in the latch 151 and the horizontal end coordinates in the latch 15.
2, the start coordinate in the vertical direction is written in the latch 153, and the end coordinate in the vertical direction is written in the latch 154 by using the bus 23 and the respective latch signals 166 to 169. The written coordinate data is transferred to the down counters 155 and 156 by HS.
With YNC, the down counters 157, 158 have VSYNC
Loaded with C respectively. Down counter 155, 1
56 down counts the coordinate data each time the rising edge of DOTCLK 202 comes, and down counter 1
57 and 158 down-count the coordinate data each time the rising edge of HSYNC arrives.

First, with the same number of rising edges of HSYNC as the coordinate data, the down counter 157 for counting the start coordinate data in the vertical direction becomes all 0s, and N is reached.
OR163 becomes "1".

Next, the same number of DOTCLK2 as the coordinate data.
With the rising edge of 02, the down counter 155 that counts the horizontal start coordinate data becomes all 0s, the NOR 161 becomes "1", and the output of the AND 165, that is, the signal 149 indicating the contour data area becomes "1". During this period, the image data that has been subjected to the filling processing is selected and output as the pixel-filling-processed serial image data 21.

Furthermore, the same number of DOTCLK as the coordinate data
At the rising edge of 202, the down counter 156 that counts horizontal end coordinate data is set to all 0s.
The OR 162 becomes "0", and the output of the AND 165, that is, the signal 149 indicating the contour data area becomes "0". During this period, the same data B2 as the serial image data 20
Is selected and the pixel image-filled serial image data 2
Output as 1. The above-described processing is repeated for each line until the down counter 158 that counts the vertical end coordinate data becomes 0.

When the down counter 158 for counting the vertical end coordinate data by the same number of rising edges of VSYNC as the coordinate data becomes 0, OR16.
4 becomes "0", the output of the AND 165, that is, the signal 149 indicating the contour data area becomes "0", and the same data B2 as the serial image data 20 is selected and output. In the contour data area designating circuit described above, it is necessary to have a plurality of latches for holding coordinate data in order to deal with a mixed area of a plurality of contour data and line data, or to rewrite the coordinates for each line for which the filling process has been completed.

By using this pixel filling circuit as described above, for example, when a character as shown in FIG.
Contour data using normal outline font data as shown in FIG. 4B may be created, and it is not necessary to create special font data or process contour data as shown in FIG. 5B. It is possible to perform the filling processing without adding extra cost or adding processing.

[0056]

According to the present invention, when the serial image data is transferred to the image output means, the pixel corresponding to the inside of the outline of the image data can be painted simultaneously with the transfer by the pixel filling detection means and the pixel information changing means. Therefore, it is not necessary to detect the inside of the outline of the character or figure and fill the inside of the outline when creating the image data of the character or figure in the image memory as in the conventional case. Can be speeded up.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a laser beam printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detailed circuit diagram of a parallel-serial converter according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a detailed circuit diagram of a pixel filling circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4A is a diagram showing an example of character data in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4B is a diagram showing an example of character data in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5A is a diagram showing an example of character contour data according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5B is a diagram showing an example of character contour data according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a filling state inside a contour of a character according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a timing chart of the pixel filling circuit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram of a pixel filling circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a detailed circuit diagram of a memory control circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a detailed circuit diagram of a memory circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a detailed circuit diagram of a window circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a sample window according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a detailed circuit diagram of a filling determination circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a detailed circuit diagram of a contour data area designating circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention.

15A is a diagram showing image data according to another embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 15B is a diagram showing image data according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 15C is a diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. Image showing image data

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Pixel Filling Circuit 2 Parallel-Serial Converter 3 DRAM 4 Memory Controller 5 ROM 6 EEPROM 7 Parallel Interface 8 CPU 9 Control Panel Interface 10 Control Panel 11 Engine Interface 12 Engine Control Circuit 13 Printer Engine

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display location G09G 5/36 530 9377-5H G09G 5/36 530W 9377-5H 530M B41J 3/12 G

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An image memory for holding image data, a parallel-serial converter for reading image data in parallel format from the image memory and converting it into image data in serial format, and displaying or printing image data in serial format. An image output device comprising image output means,
From the serial image data output from the parallel-serial converter, pixel fill detection means for detecting pixels to be filled, such as inside the outline of a character or figure, and pixel data is rewritten with information from the pixel fill detection means. A pixel filling circuit of an image output device, comprising a pixel information changing unit.