JPH09230846A - Printer, its control method and font data management method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable managing bitmap fonts by dividing them and to enable reducing data volume to hold the bitmap fonts in a device. SOLUTION: Image information of two or more parts obtained by dividing bitmap data of a character into two or more parts is stored in a font memory. For instance, bit-map font 301 of 'E' is stored by dividing it into four parts. Also, in the font memory, combined information 300 on the image information of the two or more parts to generate the bitmap data of the character from two or more parts is stored. Information, which shows the coordinates of each part position, the widths and the heights of each part, is included in the combined information 300. The printer combines images of four parts based on the combined information 300 when 'E' is specified by print data, for instance, and forms bitmap data 301 of the character.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus for printing an image based on print data, a control method therefor, and a font data management method for suitably managing bitmap fonts.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a printing apparatus which holds bitmap data, forms a bitmap image using the bitmap data designated by the print data, and prints the bitmap image. Here, the bitmap font data held in the printing device requires a huge amount of data. For this reason, it is general to compress the bitmap font data and hold it inside the printing apparatus to reduce the amount of data to be held.

[0003]

However, some bitmap fonts cannot be compressed,
Even if compression is possible, there are some that have a low compression rate, and the reduction of the data amount may be insufficient. In addition, even a compressible bitmap font may have a slow decompression processing speed, which may cause a problem that the printing processing time becomes long.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and makes it possible to divide and manage a bitmap font and to reduce the data capacity of the bitmap font held in the device. An object is to provide a data management method, a printing apparatus, and a control method thereof.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a font data management method capable of sharing image information of parts obtained by dividing a bit map font, and more efficiently reducing the data capacity. A printing apparatus and a control method thereof are provided.

Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to individually apply compression processing to parts obtained by dividing a bitmap font, and apply an appropriate compression processing to each part to reduce the data capacity. It is an object of the present invention to provide a font data management method, a printing apparatus, and a control method thereof that can efficiently reduce the number.

[0007]

The printing apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above object has the following configuration. That is, first storage means for storing image information of a plurality of parts obtained by dividing the bit map data of the character into a plurality of parts, and a plurality of the plurality of parts for generating the bit map data of the character from the plurality of parts. Second storage means for storing combination information relating to image information of the parts, and image information of a plurality of parts for the character designated by the print data is acquired and combined from the first storage means on the basis of the combination information. Forming means for forming bitmap data of a designated character.

Also, preferably, the first storage means is
The image data of each part obtained by dividing the bitmap data of each character into a plurality of parts in a common form is stored, and the second storage unit stores the common combination information for each character. This is because it is possible to manage a plurality of characters with common combined information and reduce the amount of data.

Preferably, the first storage means is
The image data of each part obtained by dividing the bitmap data of each character into a plurality of parts in an individual form is stored, and the second storage means stores individual combination information for each character. This is because each character can be divided in an appropriate form.

Further, preferably, the connection information includes information indicating the position and size of each part.

Further, preferably, the combination information includes built-in information indicating a position and a size of each part and specific information for specifying image information used for each part, and the forming means is designated by print data. Acquiring image information based on the specific information of the combined information of the characters
Combine the acquired image information based on the embedded information to form bitmap data of the specified character. With this configuration, for example, the first storage unit can store one image for a plurality of parts having the same image information.
It is sufficient to store the image information for the parts, and the image information can be shared.

Further, preferably, the sharing of the image information in the first storage means is performed in each character unit. This is because each character can be divided appropriately and shared efficiently.

Further, preferably, the sharing of the image information in the first storage means is performed in units of a group composed of a plurality of character groups. Since the image information of one part can be shared by many characters, it is effective in data reduction.

Further, preferably, it further comprises loading means for loading the image information and the combined information into the first and second storage means.

Further, preferably, the loading means includes a generation means for changing the division mode of each character based on the amount of the font memory of the load destination and generating the image information and the combination information to be loaded.

Further, preferably, the change of the division form in the generation means reduces the division number for a character used frequently and increases the division number for a character used infrequently. This is because when it becomes necessary to reduce the amount of data due to the limitation of the amount of font memory, it is possible to prevent the processing speed from decreasing by increasing the number of divisions from a character that is less frequently used.

Further, preferably, the first storing means is
Image data of multiple parts obtained by dividing the character bitmap data into multiple parts is stored after being compressed.
The combination information includes embedded information indicating a position and a size of each part, and specific information specifying a compression process applied to the image information of each part, and the forming unit includes a character specified by print data. Image information of a plurality of parts is acquired, expanded, and combined from the first storage unit based on the combination information to form bitmap data of the designated character. Since the image information of each part is compressed, the amount of data is reduced. Further, if the compression processing suitable for each part is performed, the data amount will be further reduced.

Further, preferably, it further comprises a loading means for loading the image information and the combined information in the first and second storage means.

Further, preferably, the loading means comprises a generation means for changing the compression state of each character based on the amount of the font memory of the load destination to generate the image information and the combined information to be loaded. For example, if the font memory has a sufficient amount, the processing speed is improved by not performing the compression processing as much as possible.

Further, preferably, the change of the compression state in the generating means reduces the compression rate for a character used frequently and increases the compression rate for a character used infrequently. Since the compression rate is increased for characters that are rarely used,
The reduction in processing speed can be prevented.

In addition, the control method of the printing apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above object includes a first storing step for storing image information of a plurality of parts obtained by dividing character bit map data into a plurality of pieces, A second storing step of storing combination information relating to image information of the plurality of parts for generating bitmap data of the character from the plurality of parts; and a character specified by print data based on the combination information. A step of obtaining image information of a plurality of parts to be used and combining them to form bitmap data of the designated character.

The font data management method of the present invention which achieves the above object is a method of managing font data composed of bitmap data, which is obtained by dividing the character bitmap data into a plurality of pieces. Image information of the parts is stored, and combination information regarding image information of the plurality of parts for generating bitmap data of the character from the plurality of parts is stored, and the combination of the characters specified by the print data is combined. It is characterized in that image information of a plurality of parts is acquired based on the information and combined to form bit map data of the designated character and output.

[0023]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following embodiments, an example will be described which is applied to a printing apparatus that receives print data from a host computer and prints out.

[First Embodiment] <Description of Device Configuration (FIG. 1)> FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electrophotographic printing device according to the present embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 100 denotes a printing apparatus according to this embodiment, which forms a print result 110. A host computer 120 outputs print information (data for print output).

In the printing apparatus 100, the CPU 10 as a processing unit that controls the entire printing apparatus and performs the processing described later.
1 and the following configuration. Reference numeral 102 is a reception buffer for temporarily storing the data sent from the host computer. Reference numeral 103 denotes a font memory, which stores font data by dividing it into a plurality of parts as described later. The data structure of the font memory 103 will be described later. A page buffer memory 104 stores received data in page units. Reference numeral 105 is a bit map memory for expanding image data for one page. Reference numeral 106 denotes a printer engine that actually performs print processing based on the image data expanded in the bitmap memory 105.

In the CPU 101, a ROM 101A storing a program (processing procedure corresponding to the flowchart of FIG. 3 described later) for functioning as a processing unit,
A RAM 101B used as a work area is built in.

<Description of Printer (FIG. 2)> FIG. 2 shows a laser beam printer (hereinafter referred to as LB) applied to this embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of the P). This LBP
Allows the registration of character patterns and fixed forms (form data) from a data source (not shown). In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1000 denotes an LBP main body, which inputs and stores character information (character code), form information, macro instructions, and the like supplied from an externally connected host computer, and responds according to the information. A character pattern, a form pattern, and the like are created, and an image is formed on a recording paper as a recording medium.

1012 is a switch for operation and L
An operation panel 1001 is provided with an ED display and the like, and a printer control unit 1001 controls the entire LBP 1000 and analyzes character information supplied from a host computer. The control unit 1001 mainly converts character information into a video signal of a corresponding character pattern and outputs the video signal to the laser driver 1002.

The laser driver 1002 is the semiconductor laser 1
003 is a circuit for driving a laser beam 1004 that is emitted from the semiconductor laser 1003 in accordance with an input video signal. Laser light 100
Reference numeral 4 is a rotary multi-facet 1005, which is shaken in the left-right direction to scan on the electrostatic drum 1006. Thereby, the electrostatic drum 100
An electrostatic latent image of a character pattern is formed on 6. This latent image is developed by the developing unit 1007 around the electrostatic drum 1006.
And then transferred to recording paper. This recording paper uses a cut sheet, and the cut sheet recording paper is LBP
1000 stored in a paper cassette 1008
Paper feed roller 1009 and transport rollers 1010 and 101
1 and the electrostatic drum 1006
Is supplied to.

<Description of Bitmap Font Combining Process (FIG. 3)> FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the procedure of the printing process in the printing apparatus of this embodiment. In this embodiment, when print information is received from the host computer 120, the CPU 101 is interrupted and the data is stored in the reception buffer 102. That is, the receiving process is performed in parallel with the process shown in FIG. However, since such a receiving process is known, its description is omitted.

In step S201 of FIG. 3, the character code is read from the reception buffer 102. Then, in step S202, the character information corresponding to the read character code is read from the font memory 103. Then, in step S203, it is determined whether or not the bitmap font is divided based on the combined information (described later) inside the character information.

If it is determined in step S203 that the bitmap font is not divided, the process proceeds to step S205, and the bitmap font is expanded on the bitmap memory 105. Further, step S
The above-described processing from step S201 is repeated until it is determined in 206 that the bitmap expansion processing for one page has been performed. In this way, when it is determined that the bitmap expansion processing for one page is completed, the process proceeds from step S206 to step S207, and the printer engine 106 of the mechanism (laser beam printer) as shown in FIG.
To print out.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S203 that the bit map font is divided based on the read combining information, the process proceeds from step S203 to step S204, the bit map font combining process is performed, and the character is divided. Corresponding bit map data is formed, and the formed bit map data is used to develop on the bit map memory 105.

The data structure of the font memory 103 for dividing and managing bitmap fonts and the combining processing for combining such bitmap fonts to form bitmap data will be described in detail below.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of the font memory 103 in this embodiment. In FIG. 4, the all-character common data 201 is character information common to all the characters in the group. Here, a group is a set of a plurality of characters that are grouped in graphic set units, character set units, typeface units, and the like. The character data 202 is character information for each character. Further, the all-character common data 201 has a character attribute 203 and a pointer 20.
It is composed of 4. 20 points for the character attribute 203
5a, pitch 205b, combination information 205c, and the like. Here, the point 205a and the pitch 205b show the point (size) and pitch (character space) of each character of the group. The combined information 205c is information indicating the division state of the bitmap of each character in the font set. The pointer 204 is information for associating the storage position of each 1-character data with the character code.

Further, one character data is composed of a character attribute 206, a bitmap 207 and the like. Further, the character attribute 206 of the one-character data 202 is composed of a cell width 208a and a cell height 208b indicating the width and height of the character, and combined information 208c indicating the divided state of the bitmap of the character.

Regarding the combination information 205c and 208c, if a common division method is used for each group such as a graphic set unit, a character set unit, a typeface unit, etc., the combination information 205c is provided with the combination information. In this case, information indicating whether or not the character is divided is added to the combined information 208c in one character data.

When a different division method is used for each character, since each character needs to have joint information, the joint information 208c has joint information. In this case, the combined information 205c becomes unnecessary.

Further, the combined information applied to many characters in the group is stored as the combined information 205c, and the combined information 20 is stored.
For a character divided in a form different from 5c, exceptional combination information may be stored in the combination information 208c corresponding to the character. In this case, the combined information 20
8c includes information indicating the presence / absence of division and whether or not to apply the combined information 205c. If there is division and the combination information 205c is not applied, the combination information of the character is further stored in the combination information 208c.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the combined information in this embodiment. In FIG. 5A, reference numeral 300 is the combined information. As described above, the combined information 300 is composed of information such as the position (coordinates), width, and height of each part obtained by dividing the bitmap font, and is necessary to form the bitmap font. Stores information about parts.

As shown in FIG. 5B, the character image 301
Is a display of the letter “E” divided into four,
302 is a coordinate at the time of combining, and 303 is a reference point at the time of combining. That is, the coordinates of each part in the connection information shown in FIG. 5A represent the position of the reference point 303 of each part using the coordinates 302 at the time of connection.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the character image shown in FIG. 5B in binary display. Bitmap data 401
Is composed of divided parts 402 to 405, and FIG.
Each of these parts 402 to
405 is stored in order.

Next, the combining process (step S204 in FIG. 3) in this embodiment using the font data stored in the above-mentioned form will be described. Figure 7
6 is a flowchart for explaining a bitmap font combining process in this embodiment. In the following, the parts 402, 403, and 40 shown in FIG.
"E" in which data is stored in order of 4, part 405
The case of the letters will be described as an example.

First, the coordinates, width, and height of one part are read from the combined information 300 (step S501), and the data of one part corresponding to the read information is read from the bitmap 207 (step S502). At this time, the amount of data read from the bitmap 207 can be determined from the width × height in the combined information. For example, although the part 402 is stored at the beginning of the bitmap 207, the width of this part 402 is 5 and the height thereof is 5 according to the combined information, so 5 × 5 = 25 bits of data are bit-combined. It will be read from the map 207. Then, this is drawn in the bitmap memory 105. Then, when the bitmap is read next time, it is performed from the 26th bit.

Next, in step S503, each part read in step S502 is loaded with the bitmap memory 1
05 Draw on top. Further, in step S504, the processes in step S501 and subsequent steps described above are repeated until it is determined that the combining process is completed (until all four parts are combined in this example).

As an example of the method of arranging the read parts, for example, the procedure shown in FIG. 8 can be considered.
FIG. 8 is a flow chart for explaining the procedure for arranging one part in this embodiment. In step S601, the reference position is set to (a, b). Here, the reference position indicates a development position on the bit map memory 105, and is a position on the bit map memory of the dot at the upper left corner of the part. Further, step S601
In, the variable p is set to the width of the part, and the variable q is set to the height of the part. Then, step S6
In step 02, the counter j is set to zero, and in step S603, the counter i is set to zero.

In step S604, the bitmap 20
One dot of data is read from 7, and step S605
Then, this data is converted into (a + i,
Draw to b + j). Then, in step S606, the counter i is incremented by 1, and in step S607 it is determined whether i = p. If i ≠ p, the process returns to step S604 to draw the next dot in the relevant row of the relevant part. On the other hand, if i = p, it means that the drawing of the one line of the part is completed, and therefore the process proceeds to step S608 to draw the next line.

In step S608, the counter j is incremented by 1, and it is determined in step S609 whether j = q. If j ≠ q, there is a next line to be drawn in the part, so the process returns to step S603, and drawing is performed from the first column of the next line. On the other hand, step S
If j = q in 609, it means that the drawing of the relevant part has been completed, and thus this processing is ended.

The reading from the bitmap in step S604 described above is performed based on this count value by separately preparing a counter for reading the bitmap. The bitmap reading counter is initialized to "1" when the first part is drawn, and is incremented by 1 each time one dot data is read. Therefore, in the example of FIG. 6, when the drawing of the part 402 is completed, the value becomes “26”, and when drawing the part 403, reading of data is started from the 26th bit map.

The drawing process shown in FIG. 8 may be performed by software or hardware.

By performing the series of processes as described above, it is possible to manage the division of characters in arbitrary units such as character units and group units.

[Second Embodiment] In the first embodiment, the division management of the character bitmap font has been described. In the second embodiment, a case where the division management described in the first embodiment is applied and bit map data of each divided part is shared to reduce the data capacity will be described.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the combined information in the second embodiment. In the second embodiment, the dividing method is changed for the character image 301 of the first embodiment, and the character image 601 shown in FIG.
The "E" character divided into six parts will be described. As shown in the figure, the character image 601 is composed of parts divided by 602 to 607.
Since 07 is the same data, it can be shared.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9C, the bitmap data of the part 602 has a part number 1, the bitmap data of the part 603 has a part number 2 and the bitmap data of the part 604 has a bitmap number of 2. Part number 3
The part number 4 is given to the bitmap data of the part 606, respectively.

The joining information 600 shown in FIG. 9A is information for joining the parts of the character image 601 shown in FIG. 9B. In the present embodiment, a part number is set for each part information in the combined information 600 as shown in FIG. 9C, and if the part numbers are duplicated, it means that the parts are shared. To do.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart for explaining the bitmap font combination processing in the second embodiment. The data processing in the second embodiment will be described according to the flowchart of FIG. Step S7
01, S703, and S704 are the same as steps S501, S503, and S504 of FIG. Therefore,
The processing of steps S705 and S706 different from that of FIG. 7 will be described below.

In step S705, it is determined from the part number of the combined information 600 whether or not the parts are shared. As a result, if the parts are not shared, the bitmap 207 is sequentially read in step S706, as in step S702 of FIG. 7 described above. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S705 that the parts are shared, step S70
In step 6, each part is read based on the part number. If the combined information includes the part number regardless of whether the part is shared, it can be configured to specify the part by the part number and read the part regardless of whether the part is shared. , Step S705 is unnecessary.

It is needless to say that, in the second embodiment, only one bit map data is stored for the part in which the bit map data is shared. For example, in the data shown in FIG.
The bitmap 207 has parts 602 to 604, 606.
Only stored. As a result, the bit map data capacity is reduced.

However, if excessive sharing is performed to reduce the data capacity and the number of divisions increases,
The binding rate may be reduced. Further, if the number of divisions is reduced in order to keep the coupling speed high, the parts cannot be shared and the data capacity may increase.

Therefore, the font data is used as a character having a high frequency of use with priority on the combining speed (restricting the number of divisions), and a character having a relatively low frequency of use with a data capacity priority (priority on division and sharing of font data). By creating it, the data capacity is reduced and the processing speed is maintained. Further, when the font memory 103 has a sufficient free space, the combination speed may be prioritized, and if the free space has no margin, the data capacity may be prioritized.

In the sharing of parts, even if the sharing is performed within one character, a graphic set unit,
It may be shared within a group unit such as a character set unit or a typeface unit.

As described above, by appropriately setting the division mode of the bitmap font, each part can be shared and the data capacity can be reduced. Also,
By controlling the number of splits and the amount of sharing, it is possible to prevent the decrease in binding rate.

[Third Embodiment] In the third embodiment,
A case will be described in which the data capacity is reduced by compressing each part obtained by dividing the bitmap font as in the first embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining the combined information in the third embodiment. In the third embodiment, each part is compressed with respect to the character image 301 of the first embodiment, and each part is compressed into non-compressed parts 802, 805 and compressed parts 803, 804. A description will be given using the composed character image 801.

The combining information 800 is information for combining the character images 801. In the third embodiment, the presence / absence information of compression for each part information in the combined information 800,
The identification information of the compression process and the amount of data (the number of bits) after compression are added.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart for explaining the bitmap font combination processing in the third embodiment. The processing shown in steps S901 to S904 in FIG. 12 is the same as the processing in steps S501 to S504 in FIG. 7, so detailed description will be omitted here, and points different from FIG. 7 will be mainly described.

In step S905, step S902
Check whether the parts read in are compressed.
The judgment is made based on the presence / absence information of the compression of the combined information 800. If the part is compressed, the process proceeds to step S906, and the decompression process is performed based on the identification information of the compression process of the combined information 800. As for the reading of the parts in step S902, if the parts have not been subjected to compression processing, the number of bits of width × height is read from the bitmap 207 as in the first embodiment. On the other hand, in the case of a compressed part, the number of bits indicated by the amount of data (the number of bits) added to the combined information 800 is set in the bitmap 20.
Read from 7.

Of course, the bitmap 207 stores uncompressed parts 802, 805, a part 802 compressed by the compression means A, and a part 802 compressed by the compression means B in the order indicated by the combined information 800. It is assumed that

As described above, decompression processing corresponding to a plurality of types of compression is made executable, and compression processing suitable for each part is performed. However, when excessive compression is performed to reduce the data capacity. The decompression speed may decrease, and if the compression is reduced to increase the decompression speed, the data capacity may increase. Therefore,
Characters that are frequently used may be uncompressed, and characters that are relatively infrequently used may be compressed to generate font data, thereby reducing the data capacity and maintaining the processing speed. . Further, when the font memory 103 has a sufficient free space, it may be shifted stepwise such as non-compressed and compressed if the free space has no margin.

Further, the second and third embodiments may be combined. That is, it is apparent that the font data can be further reduced in the amount of data by sharing the parts as in the second embodiment and compressing each part.

As described above, it is possible to reduce the data capacity and prevent the decompression speed from decreasing by the presence / absence of compression and the proper use of a plurality of compression processes.

The font data of each of the above-described embodiments may be stored in a removable storage medium such as a ROM pack and provided by mounting this in the printing device, or a host computer or the like. It may be downloaded from an external device.

In the configuration in which the font data is loaded from an external device such as a computer, for example, in the case of the font data as in the second embodiment, the external device is provided with a plurality of stages of font data in which the sharing amount is changed. Have it ready. Then, the download destination font memory 10
If the free space of 3 is sufficient, font data with priority of combination speed may be downloaded, and if there is no free space, font data with priority of data capacity may be downloaded. Furthermore, when downloading font data as in the third embodiment, if there is sufficient free space in the font memory 103, font data containing a large amount of uncompressed font data is downloaded, and there is no free space available. For example, it can be configured to download font data containing a lot of compressed font data.

In the above embodiment, the font data stored in the font memory of the printing apparatus has been described as an example, but it may be applied to the storage and management of the font data in the host computer or the like.

A laser beam printer has been described as an example of the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment, but the image forming apparatus is not limited to this and is applicable to an ink jet printer described below.

<Schematic Description of Apparatus Main Body> FIG. 13 is a schematic view of an ink jet recording apparatus IJRA to which the present invention can be applied.

In the figure, the lead screw 5005
Rotates via the driving force transmission gears 5011 and 5009 in association with the forward and reverse rotations of the drive motor 5013. The carriage HC has a spiral groove 5004 of the lead screw 5005.
Has a pin (not shown) that engages with, and is reciprocated in the directions of arrows a and b with the rotation of the lead screw 5005. An ink jet cartridge IJC is mounted on the carriage HC. Reference numeral 5002 denotes a paper pressing plate that holds the paper in the platen 5 in the carriage movement direction.
000. Reference numerals 5007 and 5008 denote home position detecting means for confirming the presence of the lever 5006 of the carriage in this area and switching the rotation direction of the motor 5013. 5016
Is a cap member 502 that caps the front surface of the recording head.
Reference numeral 5015 denotes a member for supporting the inside of the cap, and 5015 is a suction means for sucking the inside of the cap to perform suction recovery of the recording head via the opening 5023 in the cap. Reference numeral 5017 denotes a cleaning blade. Reference numeral 5019 denotes a member which allows the blade to move in the front-rear direction. These members are supported by a main body support plate 5018. It goes without saying that the blade is not limited to this form and a known cleaning blade can be applied to this example. Reference numeral 5012 denotes a lever for starting suction for recovery of suction. The lever 5012 moves with the movement of the cam 5020 engaging with the carriage, and the driving force from the drive motor is controlled by known transmission means such as clutch switching. Is done.

The capping, cleaning, and suction recovery are configured so that the desired processing can be performed at their corresponding positions by the action of the lead screw 5005 when the carriage comes to the area on the home position side. As long as the desired operation is performed at the timing, any of the above can be applied to this example.

<Description of Control Configuration> Next, a control configuration for executing the recording control of the above-described apparatus will be described with reference to the block diagram shown in FIG. In the figure showing the control circuit, 1700 is an interface for inputting a recording signal, 1701 is an MPU, 1702 is an MPU 1701.
RO storing the control program executed by
M and 1703 are dynamic type ROMs for storing various data (recording data, recording data supplied to the head, etc.). Reference numeral 1704 is a gate array that controls the supply of print data to the print head 1708, and includes an interface 1700, an MPU 1701, and a RAM 17.
Also, data transfer control during 03 is performed. Reference numeral 1710 denotes a carrier motor for transporting the recording head 1708, and reference numeral 1709 denotes a transport motor for transporting the recording paper. Reference numeral 1705 is a head driver for driving the head, and 1706 and 1707 are motor drivers for driving the carry motor 1709 and the carrier motor 1710, respectively.

The operation of the above control structure will be described. When a recording signal is input to the interface 1700, the gate array 1
The recording signal is converted into recording data for printing between the 704 and the MPU 1701. And the motor driver 1
The printheads 706 and 1707 are driven, and the printhead is driven according to the print data sent to the head driver 1705 to perform printing.

The components of the font data management according to the present invention can be incorporated in the control structure of the ink jet printer as described above, and the present invention is not limited to the laser beam printer and can be applied to the above ink jet printer and the like. it is obvious.

Even when the present invention is applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (eg, host computer, interface device, reader, printer, etc.), a device composed of one device (eg, copying machine, facsimile) Device).

Further, an object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium having a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or an apparatus, and the computer (or CPU) of the system or the apparatus.
And MPU) read and execute the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the function of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

Examples of the storage medium for supplying the program code include a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, and CD.
-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (Operating System) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. ) May perform some or all of the actual processing, and the processing may realize the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instructions of the program code, It goes without saying that the CPU included in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0088]

As described above, according to the present invention, the bitmap font can be divided and managed, and the data capacity of the bitmap font held in the device can be reduced.

Further, according to the present invention, the image information of the parts obtained by dividing the bitmap font can be shared, and the data capacity of the font data can be reduced more efficiently.

Also, according to the present invention, it is possible to individually perform compression processing on parts obtained by dividing a bitmap font, and to reduce the data capacity by applying appropriate compression processing to each part. It can be done efficiently.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to manage a bitmap font in units of one character or group, and to share the divided parts.
Alternatively, the data volume can be reduced by compression.

[0092]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electrophotographic printing apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of a laser beam printer applied to this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of print processing in the printing apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a data configuration of a font memory in the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of combination information according to the first embodiment.

6 is a diagram showing the character image shown in FIG. 5B in binary display.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a bitmap font combining process according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an arrangement procedure of one part in the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating combined information according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a bitmap font combining process according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating combined information according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a bitmap font combining process according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a schematic view of an inkjet recording apparatus IJRA to which the present invention can be applied.

14 is a block diagram showing a control configuration for executing recording control of the inkjet recording apparatus of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 CPU 102 Receive Buffer 103 Font Memory 104 Page Buffer Memory 105 Bitmap Memory 106 Printer Engine

Claims (22)

[Claims] 1. A first storage unit for storing image information of a plurality of parts obtained by dividing character bitmap data into a plurality of parts, and for generating bitmap data of the character from the plurality of parts. Second storage means for storing combination information relating to image information of the plurality of parts, and image information of the plurality of parts based on the combination information for the character designated by the print data.
Forming means for obtaining and combining from a storage means to form bitmap data of the designated character. 2. The first storage means stores image information of each part obtained by dividing bitmap data of each character into a plurality of parts in a common form, and the second storage means stores the image information of each part. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the combination information common to each character is stored. 3. The first storing means stores image information of each part obtained by dividing the bitmap data of each character into a plurality of parts in an individual form, and the second storing means stores the image information of each part. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein individual combination information is stored for each character. 4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the combination information includes information indicating a position and a size of each part. 5. The combination information includes built-in information indicating a position and a size of each part, and identification information identifying image information used for each part, wherein the forming unit includes a character designated by print data. Image information is acquired based on the specific information of the combination information, and the acquired image information is combined based on the embedded information to form bitmap data of the designated character. The printing apparatus according to Item 1. 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the first storage unit stores image information for one part for a plurality of parts having the same image information and shares the image information. Printing device. 7. The printing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the sharing of the image information in the first storage unit is performed for each character. 8. The printing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the sharing of the image information in the first storage unit is performed in units of a group including a plurality of character groups. 9. The printing apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising a loading unit that loads image information and combined information into the first and second storage units. 10. The load means comprises a generation means for changing the division mode of each character based on the amount of the font memory of the load destination and generating image information and combination information to be loaded. Item 9. The printing device according to Item 9. 11. The printing according to claim 10, wherein the changing of the division mode in the generating unit reduces the division number for a character that is frequently used and increases the division number for a character that is infrequently used. apparatus. 12. The first storage means compresses and stores the image information of a plurality of parts obtained by dividing the bit map data of the character into a plurality of parts, and the combined information is a position of each part, Includes built-in information indicating the size and specific information for specifying the compression process applied to the image information of each part, and the forming unit includes images of a plurality of parts based on the combined information of the characters specified by the print data. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein information is acquired from the first storage unit, expanded, and combined to form bitmap data of the designated character. 13. The printing apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising a loading unit that loads the image information and the combined information into the first and second storage units. 14. The load means comprises a generation means for changing the compression state of each character based on the amount of the font memory of the load destination and generating image information and combination information to be loaded. Item 14. The printing device according to item 13. 15. The printing according to claim 14, wherein the changing of the compression state in the generating unit reduces the compression rate for a character that is used frequently and increases the compression rate for a character that is used infrequently. apparatus. 16. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a printing unit that performs printing based on the bitmap data formed by the forming unit. 17. A first storing step of storing image information of a plurality of parts obtained by dividing character bitmap data into a plurality of parts, and for generating bitmap data of the character from the plurality of parts. A second storing step of storing combination information about image information of the plurality of parts, and acquiring and combining image information of a plurality of parts to be used based on the combination information for a character designated by print data. And a forming step of forming bitmap data of a designated character. 18. The combination information includes embedded information indicating a position and a size of each part, and specific information specifying image information used for each part, wherein the forming step includes a character specified by print data. Image information is acquired based on the specific information of the combination information, and the acquired image information is combined based on the embedded information to form bitmap data of the designated character. Item 18. A method for controlling a printing apparatus according to Item 17. 19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the first storing step stores image information for one part for a plurality of parts having the same image information and shares the image information. A method for controlling a printing device. 20. The first storing step compresses and stores image information of a plurality of parts obtained by dividing character bit map data into a plurality of parts, and stores the combined information in a position of each part. Includes embedded information indicating the size and specific information that identifies the compression process applied to the image information of each part, and the forming step includes the image of the plurality of parts based on the combined information of the characters specified by the print data. 18. The method for controlling a printing apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the information is acquired, decompressed, and combined to form bitmap data of the designated character. 21. The method for controlling a printing apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising a printing step of printing based on the bitmap data formed in the forming step. 22. A method of managing font data composed of bitmap data, comprising storing image information of a plurality of parts obtained by dividing a bitmap data of a character into a plurality of parts, and storing the character information from the plurality of parts. Storing combination information about image information of the plurality of parts for generating the bitmap data of, and acquiring and combining image information of the plurality of parts based on the combination information with respect to a character designated by the print data. A font data management method comprising forming and outputting bitmap data of the designated character.