JPH09292955A - Printer driver device provided with video signal output device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To permit a great number of people to simultaneously view the whole face of printing paper which cannot be viewed unless it is printed by providing a video signal generation output means for generating a video display signal from an image data generated in a printer driver device and displaying a video. SOLUTION: When this printer driver device 4 receives a print output signal 3 from a computer device 1, it is stored in a DMA memory 6. Then, a processing that various control codes and print signals are separated is executed and they are converted into a program language and are stored in a RAM memory 7. Then, they are converted into picture image data and are stored in a picture image memory 8. In a video display signal generation circuit 12, the image data are converted into RGB being the three primary colors of light for video display based on the image data accumulated in the picture image memory 8 and mixed with vertical/horizontal synchronizing signals to generate the video display signal.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A device according to the present invention is connected between a computer device and a printer device which receives and prints a print output signal from the computer device, and prints the output signal from the computer device in a printer language. After converting to a printer language such as outline font data that is one, create image image data,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a completely new printer driver device for producing a video image display signal at the same time as outputting a print output signal of an engine section of the printer device from the data and / or for that purpose. That is, the present invention relates to a printer driver device that outputs a video image displayable signal from a print output signal from a computer device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a computer device issues a print output instruction to a printer device, a print output signal from the computer device is output to the printer device in a signal format ("printer control code" format) that can be decoded by the printer device. In this case, the signal format output from the computer device may be output with a printer control code that the printer device does not understand because the manufacturer is different, etc. A “printer control code conversion device” for converting control codes may be provided. In recent printer control code conversion devices, not only conversion of printer control codes, but also printer driver functions using outline fonts or the like that can smoothly output printout of images based on characters There is a "printer driver device" that has a built-in. In the present invention, in a "printer driver device" in which the printer control code conversion device has a printer driver function, the image image data (or "bitmap data" or "video image data") built in the device is also called. A new device capable of outputting a signal to a video image display device such as a television device (or a high-definition television device or an image display device according to another standard [eg: projection device]). To provide.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a technique of a new printer driver device having a built-in video image display signal generating circuit for generating a video image display signal from image image data built in the printer driver device. Especially.

[0004]

[Object of the invention]

According to the present invention, there is provided a computer device, a printer device, and a printer driver device installed between the computer device and the printer device.
A DMA memory built in the printer driver device;
AM memory, image image memory, CPU for controlling these, printer driver software for converting printer language, control software for controlling each function in the apparatus, and video image display signal Composed of a generation circuit

[0005]

With the above construction, when a print output signal is input from the computer device to the printer driver device, the printer driver device temporarily transfers the data from the computer device to a DMA (Direct Mean) in the device.
memory access) Store and hold in memory. The print output signal stored and held as described above is subjected to processing such as separation of various control codes and print signals, and then converted into outline font data, which is one of the programming languages, and is temporarily stored in a RAM (Random Access).
Memory) Store in memory. Further, the outline font data stored in the RAM memory is converted into image image data which is data in units of black and white dots [dots or bits] to be printed on the printing paper, and is stored in the image image memory. A signal in print dot units stored in the memory is read out as a line-sequential signal in the print direction line order, and various previously separated control codes (eg line feed, page break, blank, etc.) are added to the printer device ( Alternatively, it is again converted into a printer control code that can be input by the printer device and transmitted to the printer device, and the engine unit of the printer device executes a normal print output process. On the other hand, it is an object of the present invention to create a video image display signal based on the image image data converted and stored in the image image memory and output the image display signal to the video image display device.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the main functions of a "printer driver device" to which a video image display signal generating circuit installed between a computer device and an engine section of a printer device is added. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a synthesizing circuit at the time of scanning at a triple scanning frequency and outputting a synthesizing signal of three lines. Figure 3 shows the method of reading the dot signals created in the image image memory at 2-dot intervals and 3-dot intervals. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of a signal format converted into a printer signal in a printer driver device installed between a conventional computer device and a printer device. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the amount of dots in dot units to be printed (memory capacity of the image image memory in FIGS. 1 and 2) when the printer apparatus prints on JIS A4 paper at a print density of 300 dpi. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example for calculating the number of dots that can be displayed on the video image display device. In the figure, the format of the print control code of the print output signal input from the computer device 1 is an application program (hereinafter referred to as “AP”) of the computer device 1 and / or operating software (hereinafter referred to as “OS”). The data transmission method from the computer device to the printer device is usually determined by the printer control code (Note: "Defactory Standard") that is suitable for the printer device (generally the same manufacturer) prepared in the computer device. , And in many personal computer devices, the control code conforms to the "Centronics standard").

[0007] However, as various computer devices are commercially available from various manufacturers and become widespread, in the office (or floor) where the computer device is used for business, its purpose of use and other various types of computer devices are increased. For the reason, it is not always necessary to prepare the computer device and the printer device of the same maker, but it is the actual situation that many computer devices and printer devices of different signal formats are prepared in the same office. Is often a problem. Therefore, when it is desired to combine a printer device manufacturer different from a computer device manufacturer, the printer control code cannot be connected because the signal format and connection terminal of the printer control code are different in some cases. A "printer control code conversion device" for converting the signal format and the connection terminal has been prepared. More recently, due to the progress of application programs (AP) and operating software (OS) of computer devices, in documents that can be created on the computer device side, not only letters, but also figures, diagrams / illustrations, and sometimes photographs are included. It is now possible to create mixed documents, and the printer is also required to have a device that can perform smooth printing with no jagged curves. The printer driver function of the printer also has an outline font / data conversion function. Printer devices are becoming commercially available.

However, the printer language built into the printer driver device is called an outline font, and the print data to be printed such as characters, figures, charts, and illustrations is drawn by a numerical formula based on the "Bezier curve". Therefore, the printing is 300 dpi (Dot per dot).
Inch = 300 dots per inch) means that the printing density is high, and smooth printing is possible without jaggedness even with diagonal characters. In the present invention, the video image display signal generation circuit 1 is provided as a function for displaying on the video image display device 16 based on the print output signal converted into the outline font data.
It is to provide a new technology that adds 2. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, when the outline font data is printed on JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) A-row No. 4 paper (A4 paper) as an example, 1 in bit units corresponding to the length / width of A4 paper is used. A memory for drawing 300 dots per inch is provided, and the image data created in the printer language is accumulated and held in the memory.

In relation to the above, in the example of one sheet of A4 paper, the storage capacity of the image image memory 8 in which image image data is stored is a size corresponding to the size of one sheet to be actually printed. It has a memory capacity of bit (or dot) unit (actually software technology is used, 1/2 of the required amount of image data, 1 /
I am trying to print in 3 and 1/4! ). Therefore, the bit-wise memory capacity of the image memory 8 is as shown in FIG.
(4 sheets) and calculated as a general print density of 300 dpi, the size of A4 sheet is 210 m across.
m and length are 297 mm, so the width is 210 mm / 2
5.4 mm (1 inch) x 300 dots = 2480 dots, vertical is 297 mm / 25.4 mm x 300 dots = 3
508 dots, vertical x horizontal = 2480 x 3508 = 87 million dots / 8
≅1 Mbyte, which is a general view of designers that usually one A4 size sheet requires 1 M (mega) byte of memory element. further,
When it comes to color printers, three primary colors plus four black
Since color is required, multiply the memory capacity by 4
It is necessary to equip double the size of 4 Mbytes, and the unit cost of the memory device is high, which greatly affects the manufacturing cost.

This can be expressed by the number of bits corresponding to the image display as shown in FIG. According to a catalog of a certain manufacturer, the video image display device 16 in the high-density format has 1280 dots in the horizontal direction and 1024 lines in the vertical direction, so that the vertical / horizontal image is displayed on a four-sided video image display device. The horizontal width is 1280 dots × 2 = 2560 dots 2560 dots ÷ 2400 dots = 1.067, which means that the left and right sides of the video image display device 16 are displayed with a margin of about 6-7%. Is a very convenient frame. However, as shown in FIG. 6, the vertical vertical width is doubled, and the display is 1024 lines × 2 = 2048 lines, and the number of dots of A4 paper is 34 as described above.
Since it is 50 dots, the vertical length is 3450 dots ÷ 2048 dots = 0.594 ≈
Since it is 60%, only about 60% of the vertical width is displayed at one time, so this is roughly divided into two times for scroll display.

Further, when the size of a normal TV screen is calculated, the normal TV screen has a length of 3 to 4 and a length of 525 lines (which may be considered as dots). Is 525 × 4 / 3≈700 dots,
When converted from the number of dots of, horizontal is 2400 dots ÷ 700 ≈ 3.4, vertical is 3450 ÷ 525 ≈ 6.6, and vertical and horizontal scanning is performed every 3 dots, and vertical is 2
It is possible to display by scrolling by dividing into planes.

Next, the operation of the printer driver device 4 will be described. When the printer driver device 4 receives a print output signal 3 (in the case of a personal computer device: a bidirectional parallel interface) from the computer device 1, the input signal is first It is stored in the DMA memory 6. The print output signal stored in the DMA memory 6 is converted into a program language (PDL, for example, "outline font data") after being subjected to processing such as separating various control codes from the print signal, and the RAM memory. 7
Is stored. Further, the outline font data stored in the RAM memory 7 is the black and white and color signals (CMYK: cyan, magenta,
The data is converted into image image data which is data in the unit of [dot or bit] of (yellow, black) and stored in the image image memory 9. In this case, in the case of color printing, memories for color information of four colors of CMY and K, which are the three primary colors, are prepared, and 8C, 8M, 8Y and 8K are provided. The information of the image image memory 8 stored in each of the memories 8C, 8M, 8Y and 8K is read as a bit-wise line-sequential signal, and various control codes previously separated are added to the printer (or again). A printer control code that can be input by the printer device is transmitted and transmitted to the printer device, and the received printer device executes normal print output processing.

On the other hand, the video image display signal generating circuit 12 according to the present invention is based on the image image data stored in the image image memory 8 and is the three primary colors C.
Based on the color information of the four colors of K in MY, this is converted into RGB which is the three primary colors of light for video image display, and a vertical / horizontal synchronizing signal generating circuit as a video image display signal is incorporated. A video image display signal is generated by combining both signals. Of course, the vertical / horizontal synchronizing signal is synchronized with the signal when the image image memory 8 is read out. However, when scrolling to the above-mentioned upper and lower positions, it becomes possible by making the vertical reading position of the image image memory 8 correspond to the scroll change. Also,
In the video image display, the four-screen video image display device 40 has been described, but in the case of displaying only one screen,
Image data stored in image memory 8
It can be dealt with by thinning out every 2 bits horizontally and decimating to 1/3, or by the following method.

In the above case, when the dot signals created in the image image memory are thinned out to 1/2 or 1/3 and read, the dot signals of the horizontal line are as shown by 41 and 51 in FIG. Read pulse width signal is 2 dots or 3
By reading the dots at the same time, the roughness of the dots can be corrected. That is, when the horizontal line 31 is read out, if each dot is read every 3 dots in the case of a 3-dot interval, and scan signals (41 to 46 in FIG. 3) are sequentially output with the pulse width signal, the dot 3 is read. It is possible to output a sum signal for the number of times. Further, in the case of the interval of 2 dots, the signal of the sum of 2 dots can be output by reading with the scan signals for 2 dots (51 to 56 in FIG. 3).

In these cases, the screen to be displayed is rougher than the four-sided screen, but the printing density of 300 dpi per inch is 300 dots / 25.25 when converted per mm.
Since 4 mm = 11.81 lines (dots), the number of lines (dots) per 1 mm in the image / image memory 8 is 1.
I think there are 1.4 dots (dots), which is not a problem. However, when the thinning signal is rough and causes a problem, each line is read by a scanning signal that is three times as large as the horizontal scanning signal as shown in FIG. 2 and is passed through two 1H delay circuits 21 and 22. 2H delay is performed, and the three signals are combined by the adding circuit 23, and then converted into a 1/3 scan signal by the input forward output element (FIFO element) 24, and then converted into a video signal by the video signal generating circuit. 3 after combining and outputting from output terminal 16
It is also possible to combine two signals and output them. = Reference =: When viewed on a 20-inch type of a normal television receiver, the number is 1.5 per 1 mm, and in the case of a high-definition television, it is about twice as many (3.7 dots / mm) (the number of dots). ).

[0016]

By implementing the above-described invention, there is a device in which a document or the like created by a conventional computer device can be viewed on a computer display device or the screen of the display device can be viewed on another display device. However, in the case of the device, it is particularly powerful in documents in which only screen information can be seen, especially in charts and the like that are good at computer devices. It is necessary to scroll to the left and right, but the left and right widths can be seen on one side, and because of the video screen display, it can be displayed on a large screen and a beautiful document like an OHP (overhead projector) device, and it can be instantly displayed in large numbers. There is an effect that people can watch. In the embodiment of the present invention, the printer driver device is described by adding the video image display signal generating circuit function of the present invention to the example. However, a hardware lip installed between the computer device and the printer device ( RI
It goes without saying that the same can be carried out in the device P). Further, in the above-described embodiment, a detailed description is given of an example of a printer device having a document density of 300 dpi which is widely used, but 600 dpi or more, and further 450 d.
Needless to say, the same technique can be applied to an intermediate density such as pi.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the main functions of a printer driver device provided with a video image display signal generating circuit according to the present invention, which is installed between a computer device and a printer device. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a synthesizing circuit at the time of scanning at a triple scanning frequency and outputting a synthesizing signal of three lines. Figure 3 shows the method of reading the dot signals created in the image image memory at 2-dot intervals and 3-dot intervals. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of a signal format converted into a printer signal in a printer driver device installed between a conventional computer device and a printer device. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the dot size in dot units printed by the printer device. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example for calculating the number of display dots of the video image display device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, a computer device 2, an output terminal 3 from the computer device to the printer device, an output signal line 6 from the computer device to the printer device, a DMA memory 7 in the printer driver device, a RAM memory 8 in the printer driver device, an image image Data storage memory 9, printer language reconversion device 10, CPU control program 11, various conversion / control CPs in the printer driver device
U 12, video image display generation circuit 14, printer device 16, video image display device 18, page description language software 21, 22, 1H delay circuit 23, synthesizing circuit 24, input sequence output circuit 31 to 35, vertical read pulse Width signal 41 to 46, horizontal 3 dot simultaneous reading pulse width signal 51 to 56, horizontal 2 dot simultaneous reading pulse width signal 61, JIS A4 paper size, print dot capacity figure 70, 4-sided video image Example of display device

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A printer is installed in the middle of a computer device and an engine section of a printer device which receives and prints a print output signal from the computer device, and performs a language process in a printer language from a print control code output from the computer device. In a printer driver device that outputs the language-processed signal to an engine section of the printer device, a video image display signal is generated from image image data created by the printer driver device, and a video signal generation output capable of displaying a video image is output. A printer driver device characterized by having means. 2. The printer driver device according to claim 1, wherein when the video image display signal is generated from the image image data contained therein, the image data is contained in the printer driver device every 1 bit or 2 bits.
A printer driver device characterized by comprising means for thinning out bit data at regular intervals of bit or integer multiples to generate video image display data. 3. The printer driver device according to claim 2, wherein bit data is thinned out from image image data contained in the printer driver device at regular intervals of every one bit, every two bits, or every integer multiple. When the video image display data is generated by generating the video image display data, the number of dots thinned out of the image image data or the sum of the image image data before and / or after the thinned dots is generated and output. Printer driver device. 4. The printer driver device according to claim 2, wherein when the video image display signal is generated from the image image data contained therein, the output signal of the generated video image display data is 1H before the horizontal read line (H). , And / or a video signal display signal is complementarily generated by the sum with the signal of each subsequent line.