JPH0948155A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To output various bit map image data from a page buffer. SOLUTION: The area of a page buffer 54 is divided to a plurality of blocks 58 in the size of one line of bit map image data, the data is partitioned at each one line, and stored. ON and OFF are registered with the items of the block reverse and the line reverse of a page block corresponding table 62. In the case of printing, the one line data are sequentially selected from the head or final line side based on the ON or OFF of the block reverse, and the block 58 for storing the non-periodically selected data is decided according to the registered content of the table 62. The data are read from the head or end side of the decided block 58 based on the ON or OFF of the line reverse. Thus, vertically or laterally arbitrarily inverted data can be directly output from the buffer.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, and more particularly to a printing apparatus capable of reading various image data from a page buffer which is an image storage unit and printing the image data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a page printer device (printing device) using xerography, bitmap image data (an image to be printed is represented by a set of dots is sent from a host computer or the like. Some data is printed on a recording medium such as paper after the data is developed on a page buffer which is an image storage area. In this type of printing apparatus, bitmap image data is sequentially output from the page buffer to the printing mechanism when the printing mechanism becomes capable of printing. In the printing mechanism, a photosensitive drum or the like is irradiated with a light beam modulated based on input bitmap image data to form an electrostatic latent image, and the formed image is transferred to a recording sheet.

When printing a document or the like consisting of a plurality of pages by double-sided printing in the above printing apparatus, the recording paper on which one-sided (front-side) printing has been completed is turned upside down and printed on the back side. For this reason, the top and bottom sides of the recording paper are reversed between the front-side printing and the back-side printing, and the directions of the images printed on the front and back sides of the recording paper are aligned. Is output in reverse order to print an image that is vertically and horizontally reversed. Outputting the bitmap image data in reverse order in this way is called reverse dump.

However, the reverse dump is not always performed when printing on the back surface. Even when printing the same data depending on whether the printed document is bound in the longitudinal direction or in the lateral direction, the reverse dump needs to be performed on the one hand, but the reverse dump need not be performed on the other hand. Therefore, it is desired to be able to select whether to perform reverse dump or not. In addition, depending on the user's request, it may be required to print the so-called mirror image by inverting and outputting the bitmap image data only vertically or horizontally.

As a technique capable of responding to various demands as described above, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-50862 discloses that data read from a page memory in a normal order or a reverse order is 1
There is described a technique in which each line is stored in a line memory and then output from the head side or the tail side of the line memory. Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-20359,
A technique is disclosed in which the data read from the page memory is expanded in a scan buffer by inverting the upper bit and the lower bit by a gate means and then output from the scan buffer. However, in any of the above-mentioned techniques, there is a problem that a memory area for temporarily storing the data read from the page memory and a mechanism such as a gate means for inverting the upper bit and the lower bit must be provided. .

In order to meet the above-mentioned demand, a method of image-processing the bitmap image data in advance on the host computer side and writing it in the page buffer may be considered. However, in this method, if the image processing is realized by software, the processing time on the host computer side increases and the throughput decreases. In addition, even if a special mechanism is provided and it is realized, there is a possibility that it cannot be realized due to a factor on the host computer side.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above facts, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus capable of outputting bitmap image data which is arbitrarily inverted vertically and horizontally from the page buffer to the printing mechanism. .

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is an image storage means capable of storing image data representing an image to be printed, and an image storage area of the image storage means. Management for storing management information for managing a block in which data is stored and a data stored in the block among a plurality of blocks formed by being divided into sizes corresponding to one line of data Information storage means and image data to be stored in the image storage means are divided into a plurality of line data for each line, and the plurality of divided line data are respectively stored in the blocks and the management information is updated. Control means, inversion state instructing means for instructing the necessity of upside down and horizontal inversion of the image to be printed, and an instruction made by the inversion state instructing means First read direction determining means for determining whether to read a plurality of line data corresponding to the image to be printed in order from the data corresponding to the first line or the data corresponding to the last line based on the necessity of inversion. And a second reading direction determining means for determining whether to read the line data in order from the head side or the end side based on the necessity of left / right inversion indicated by the inversion state instructing means, and printing. A plurality of line data corresponding to an image to be reproduced are selected one by one according to the order determined by the first reading direction determination means, and a block in which the selected line data is stored is determined based on the management information. Then, the line data is read from the judged block in the order judged by the second reading direction judging means. Constructed and a read control means issuing.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided block size changing means for changing the size of the block in which the image data is divided and stored in accordance with the size of the image data to be printed.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the storage area of the image storage means is divided into a plurality of blocks each having a size of one line of image data, and the image data representing the image to be printed is divided for each line to store the image. Stored in the means. Further, the management information storage means stores management information for managing the block in which the line data of the image data is stored and the data stored in the block in association with each other. When the inversion state instructing unit instructs the necessity of vertical inversion and the necessity of horizontal inversion of the image to be printed, the first
In the reading direction determining means, the plurality of line data corresponding to the image to be printed are sequentially read from the data corresponding to the first line or the data corresponding to the last line based on the necessity of the inversion. Is determined. Further, the second reading direction determining means determines whether to read each line data in order from the head side or the end side of the data based on whether or not the instructed left-right inversion is necessary. In the reading control means, a plurality of line data corresponding to the image to be printed are selected one by one according to the order judged by the first reading direction judgment means, and the block storing the selected line data is selected at any time. The line data is read from the block determined based on the management information in the order determined by the second read direction determination means.

As described above, the storage area of the image storage means is divided into a plurality of blocks each having a size of one line of the image data, and the area of the image storage means is managed by using the blocks, so that the area can be freely adjusted in the vertical and horizontal directions. It is possible to directly read the image data inverted to the image storage means.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the block size is changed according to the size of the image data to be printed, the printing work can be maintained soundly even when printing image data of different sizes.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a printing apparatus 10 according to this embodiment.
Is shown. The printing apparatus 10 includes a printing unit 14 that prints an image on the recording paper 12, and a print control unit 16 that controls the operation of the printing unit 14. The printing unit 14 and the print control unit 16 include a power supply unit 18
It is operated by the power supplied from.

The printing unit 14 has an electrophotographic printing mechanism, a transport mechanism for the recording paper 12, various sensors, etc., and the image data 22 of an image to be printed and various operation command signals 24 from the print control unit 16. When is input, the recording paper 12
Print on one side or both sides of and eject to the external paper ejection tray. The printing unit 14 also synchronizes with a status signal 26 indicating the status of each unit (for example, the size of the paper stored in the cassette tray, the position of the paper on the transport path, etc.) and the print control unit 16. And outputs a synchronizing pulse 28 for the print control unit 16.

An operation panel 20 provided on the front surface of the main body of the printing apparatus 10 is connected to the print control section 16. The operation panel 20 includes a plurality of keys for the operator to input various commands and the like, a display for visually confirming the processing status, etc. When the operator performs a predetermined key operation on the operation panel 20, The instruction signal 30 corresponding to the key operation is output to the print control unit 16. The print control unit 16 outputs to the operation panel 20 a response to the instruction signal 30 from the operation panel 20 and a display signal 32 such as a processing status to be displayed on the display.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 34 is a machine interface (I / F) terminal connected to the print controller 16. A host computer (information processing device) is connected to the machine I / F terminal 34 via a communication cable (not shown), and print information including various data and commands is input from the host computer.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of the print control unit 16. As shown in FIG. 2, the print control unit 16 is a CPU that plays a central role in various controls in the printing apparatus 10.
Equipped with 36. The CPU 36 is connected to a system bus 38, and the system bus 38 has a panel interface (I / F) circuit 40 and a machine interface (I / F).
F) The circuit 42 is connected. Panel I / F circuit 40
Is a circuit for interfacing with the operation panel 20 (FIG. 1), transfers the instruction signal 30 input from the operation panel 20 to the system bus 38, and displays the information to be recognized by the operator by the display signal 32. Is output to the operation panel 20 as The machine I / F circuit 42 is a circuit for interfacing with the host computer or the like, and is connected to the machine I / F terminal 34 (FIG. 1).

The system bus 38 also includes a non-volatile memory (NVM) 44 and a ROM.
46 and RAM 48 are connected. NVM44 is
The storage device is backed up by a battery (not shown), and stores data to be retained even when the power is off. The ROM 46 is a non-volatile memory, and stores programs for realizing various functions of the printing device 10, font data used when printing characters, and the like. The RAM 48 is a working memory, and temporarily stores data necessary for realizing the functions of the printing apparatus 10, data input via the machine I / F circuit 42, and the like.

A part of the storage area of the RAM 48 is used as a page buffer 54 capable of storing a plurality of pages of bitmap image data of an image printed on the recording paper 12. The area of the page buffer 54 is divided into a plurality of blocks 58 (see FIG. 3) having a size of one line of bitmap image data, as will be described later, so that the bitmap image data can be stored line by line. ing. The other part of the storage area of the RAM 48 is used as a management table storage area 56 in which a management table (described later) necessary for managing the area of the page buffer 54 is stored.

A printing unit interface (I / F) circuit 50 and a bitmap controller 52 are also connected to the system bus 38. Printing unit I / F circuit 50
Outputs the bitmap image data read from the page buffer 54 to the printing unit 14 as the image data 22 (FIG. 1). The printing unit I / F circuit 50 also interfaces with the printing unit 14 for the status signal 26, the synchronization pulse 28, and the operation command signal 24 (FIG. 1). The bitmap controller 52 controls the transfer of bitmap image data between the page buffer 54 and the printing unit I / F circuit 50.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of the management table stored in the management table storage area 56 (FIG. 2). In the management table storage area 56, a block management bit table 60 and a page / block correspondence table 62 are stored as management tables. Block management bit table (hereinafter referred to as "management bit table") 60
Is for managing whether or not the blocks 58, 58 ... Are used, and has a plurality of management bits 64 corresponding to the blocks 58. Information indicating "in use" or "empty" is registered in each management bit 64, and a block 58 storing image data and a block 58 not storing image data can be identified by searching the registered information. on the other hand,
Page / block correspondence table (hereinafter "correspondence table"
62) is for managing the correspondence between the block 58 in which the image data is stored and the image data stored in the block 58.
"Line number", "Block number", "Start address"
And “final address” item. The page number p of the bitmap image data to be printed is registered in the “page” item column, and the line number k representing the line of the image data is registered in the “line number” item column. Further, in the column of the item of “block number”, a block 58
In the columns of the items of "start address" and "end address", the start and end addresses m and n in the page buffer 54 of the block 58 are registered.

The correspondence table 62 of this embodiment further includes items of "block reverse" and "line reverse". In the column of “block reverse”, whether or not the image printed on the recording sheet 12 is vertically inverted,
That is, the information (ON (ON) or OFF (NO)) indicating whether to output the bit map image data stored in the page buffer 54 by vertically inverting it is registered, and the column of the "line reverse" item is registered. On the recording paper 12
Information indicating whether or not the image to be printed is horizontally reversed, that is, whether the bitmap image data stored in the page buffer 54 is horizontally reversed and output (ON (Yes) or OFF (No)). be registered. The column of the item of block reverse and line reverse is used as a reverse switch for instructing the necessity of up / down / left / right inversion of the printed image, and corresponds to the inversion state instructing means of the present invention.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described. At the time of printing, a host computer (not shown) inverts instruction information instructing an inversion state of the image printed on the recording paper 12 prior to transmission of print information including print data designating an image or a character to be printed. , And a print request including size information indicating the size of the image to be printed in the line direction (first scan direction) is transmitted to the printing apparatus 10. In the case of normal one-sided printing, the inversion instruction information indicates one of four modes of “original (no inversion)”, “vertical inversion”, “horizontal inversion” and “vertical left / right inversion” as the image inversion state. To do. In the case of double-sided printing, one of the above modes is designated for each of the front and back sides of the recording paper 12.

Note that which mode is to be instructed is made by the user selecting an appropriate one from the menus displayed on the display of the host computer in advance. For example, if it is necessary to perform a reverse dump at the time of printing on the back surface during double-sided printing, “original” is selected for the front surface of recording sheet 12 and “vertical up / down / left / right inversion” is selected for the back surface. If it is not necessary to perform a reverse dump when printing on the back side, “original” is selected for both the front and back sides of the recording paper 12.

Next, referring to the flowchart of FIG.
A print process performed by the CPU 36 executing various programs will be described. In step 102 of FIG. 4A, the state of the machine I / F circuit 42 (FIG. 2) is monitored to determine whether a print request has been sent. When the reception of the print request is confirmed in step 102, the size information and the inversion instruction information of the image included in the print request are interpreted in step 104. In step 106,
The area of the page buffer 54 is divided into a plurality of blocks 58 with the size of one line of the image interpreted in step 104,
A block number b is assigned to each of the plurality of divided blocks 58. In step 106, the start and end addresses m and n in the page buffer 54 of each block 58 are also returned.
Are stored in the RAM 48 in association with the block number b.

In step 108, the management bit table 60 stored in the management table storage area 56 is rebuilt according to the number of blocks 58. That is, the same number of management bits 64 as the blocks 58 are formed in the management bit table 60, and the management bit number n (n = n) is set in each management bit 64.
b) is added and "vacant" is registered.

In step 110, print data for one page is received from a host computer (not shown) and analyzed, and bitmap image data corresponding to the analyzed print data is expanded on the page buffer 54. At this time,
The developed bitmap image data is divided into a plurality of line data for each line, and the divided plurality of line data are stored in the area of the block 58, respectively. Step 1
At 12, it is determined whether the bitmap image data expanded on the page buffer 54 is the first one page. If the determination in step 112 is affirmative, the print instruction process is started in the next step 114. The print instruction process is
As will be described later, it is a process for outputting the image data 22 and the like to the printing unit 14, and is executed in parallel with the main printing process.

When the determination at step 112 is negative, the routine proceeds to step 116, where it is determined whether the bitmap image data stored in the page buffer 54 is the final page.
When the determination in step 114 is denied, the process returns to step 110 and steps 110 to 116 are repeated. When the bitmap image data for the final page is stored in the page buffer 54, the determination at step 116 is affirmed and the process ends.

FIG. 5 is a routine showing the details of the storage process for one page of the bitmap image data (step 110 in FIG. 4A). In step 204, one page of bitmap image data to be stored in the page buffer 54 is divided into a plurality of line data for each line,
A line number k is assigned to the plurality of divided line data.
For example, since A4 size 400 dpi bitmap image data has 3304 lines, it is divided into 3304 line data, and numbers k = 1 to 3304 are sequentially assigned. In step 206, the page number p and the line number k of the plurality of line data are all registered in the correspondence table 62 stored in the management table storage area 56. as a result,
Correspondence table 62 shown in FIG.
Also, all the numerical values for one page are described in the blank part of the item of "line number". At this time, the items of "block number", "start address", "final address" and "reverse" are left blank.

Next, at step 208, an empty bit of the management bit table 60 (FIG. 3) is searched for a block 58 as a storage destination of the line data. Here, the contents registered in each management bit 64 of the management bit table 60 are interpreted in the order of management bit number n (n = b), and the management bit 64 in which "vacant" is registered is searched. If no free bits are found in step 308, it means that there is no free area in the page buffer 54. Therefore, in such a case, the determination at step 310 is denied and the process returns to step 208, and waits until an empty bit occurs without performing the subsequent work. When the print instruction process is activated in step 114 of FIG. 4A, the data stored in the block 5 is read out and an empty bit is generated, so that the process does not wait forever.

If a free bit is found in step 208, the determination in step 210 is affirmed and step 212
Proceed to. In step 212, the registered content of the relevant management bit (empty bit) 64 is changed from "free" to "in use". In step 214, the correspondence table 62 is
The block number b of the block 58 and the head / final addresses m and n corresponding to the management bit (empty bit) 64 are registered. As a result, the page number p and line number k of the line data and the block 58 in which the line data is stored.
No. b and the head / final address m, n of the block 58 are registered in association with each other. In step 216, the corresponding line data is associated with the associated block 58.
To be stored.

In step 218, it is determined whether all the plurality of line data divided in step 204 have been stored. When the determination in step 218 is denied, the process returns to step 208 and steps 208 to 218 are repeated.
When all the divided line data are stored, the determination at step 218 is affirmative and the routine proceeds to step 220.

In step 220, "ON" or "OFF" is registered in the column of block reverse and line reverse of the correspondence table 62 based on the inversion instruction information interpreted in step 104 of FIG. 4A. That is,
As shown in FIG. 9, both block reverse and line reverse are turned off when the content of the inversion instruction information from the host computer is "original", and both block reverse and line reverse are turned on when "inverted". To do. Further, in the case of "horizontal reversal", the block reverse is turned off and the line reverse is turned on, and in the case of "vertical reversal", the block reverse is turned on and the line reverse is turned off. Incidentally. In step 220, the same contents are registered in all the columns for one page of the item of block reverse and line reverse.

As described above, the page buffer 54 stores all the bitmap image data for one page, and at the same time, all the descriptions for the page are set in each item of the correspondence table 62.

As a method of re-searching for an empty bit again when no empty bit is found in step 208, a method of re-searching after waiting for a fixed time is performed, or an area releasing process (after printing one page is completed) It is possible to employ a method of receiving a signal notifying that an empty bit is created from (described later) and searching again.

Next, the print instruction process started in step 114 of FIG. 4A will be described with reference to FIG. 4B. In step 122, a print command is output to the printing unit 14 based on the one-sided / two-sided print designation included in the print information. As a result, in the printing unit 14, the conveyance of the recording paper 12 is started according to a predetermined sequence,
The recording paper 12 accommodated in the cassette tray or the recording paper 12 which is turned upside down after the one-sided printing is completed is conveyed to the printing mechanism by the conveying mechanism. In step 124, it is determined whether or not the recording paper 12 has reached the printing mechanism and an output request for one page of bitmap image data has been sent from the printing unit 14. When the reception of the output request is confirmed in step 124, the reading direction of the bitmap image data from the page buffer 54 is set in step 126. In step 128, one page of bitmap image data is read from the page buffer 54 according to the reading direction set in step 126. The bitmap image data read from the page buffer 54 is output to the printing mechanism of the printing unit 14 via the printing unit I / F circuit 50 (FIG. 2). In the printing mechanism of the printing unit 14, the photosensitive drum is irradiated with a light beam based on the bit map image data input from the page buffer 54 to form an electrostatic latent image (image), and the image is recorded according to an electrophotographic process. It is transferred to the sheet 12.

In step 130, the area of the page buffer 54 in which the bitmap image data is stored is released. In step 132, it is determined whether the printed page is the final page. If the determination in step 132 is negative, the process returns to step 114, and steps 114 to 13
Step 2 is repeated. If the determination in step 132 is affirmative, the process ends.

FIG. 6 is a routine showing the details of the read direction setting process (step 126 in FIG. 4B) of the bitmap image data. In step 304, the correspondence table 62 is referred to, and the block reverse switch corresponding to the page p to be printed is confirmed. That is, the contents registered in the correspondence table 62 are sequentially interpreted line by line, and the part in which the page number corresponding to the page p to be printed is registered is searched. When the line in which the page number p is registered is found, the item of the block reverse of the line is checked, and it is confirmed whether the content registered in the item is “ON” or “OFF”. In step 306, it is determined whether the content of the block reverse confirmed in step 304 is ON. If the determination in step 306 is affirmative, step 308 sets the block read direction flag on the software in the reverse order of the blocks. When the determination in step 306 is negative, the block read direction flag is set in step 310 in the normal order of the blocks.

In the next step 312, the page p to be printed is
Check the line reverse switch corresponding to. That is, similar to the above, the line reverse item column corresponding to the page p to be printed is checked to see whether the content registered in the item is “ON” or “OFF”. Step 314
Then, it is determined whether the content of the line reverse confirmed in step 312 is ON. When the determination in step 314 is affirmative, the line reading direction flag is set in reverse order in step 316, and the process ends. Step 314
If the determination is negative, the line reading direction flags are set in the normal order in step 318, and the process ends.

Since the contents registered in the block reverse and line reverse items are the same on a page-by-page basis, all line numbers (lines) corresponding to the page p to be printed in steps 304 and 312 above. There is no need to check the switch for, only the first one found.

FIG. 7 is a routine showing the details of the output processing for one page of the bitmap image data (step 128 in FIG. 4B). In step 404, the block reading direction flag is referred to, and it is determined whether the flag indicates a normal order. If the determination in step 404 is affirmative, in step 406, the line data to be read next from among the plurality of line data to be printed is determined in ascending order of the line numbers from the data corresponding to the leading line. When the determination in step 404 is negative, in step 408, the line data to be read next is determined from the data corresponding to the final line in descending order of the line number. In step 410, step 406 or 408
Block 58 that stores the line data selected in
Judge. That is, the contents registered in the correspondence table 62 are sequentially interpreted line by line, and step 406 or 40 is executed.
The line in which the line number k corresponding to the line data selected in 8 is registered is searched. When a line in which the line number k is registered is found, the address values m and n registered in the head / final address items of the line are read.

In step 412, the line reading direction flag is referred to, and it is determined whether or not the flag indicates a normal order. If the determination in step 412 is affirmative, in step 414, the block 5 determined in step 410 is determined.
8 from the head side of the block 58, that is, from the head address m to the last address n.
Read in ascending order of addresses. When the determination in step 412 is negative, in step 416, the line data stored in the determined block 58 is read from the end side of the block 58, that is, from the final address n to the start address m in descending order of addresses. When reading data from the final address n, the output method is changed depending on the number of bits forming one pixel. For example, when one pixel has 1 bit, the data is output in reverse order on a bit-by-bit basis, but when one pixel consists of several bits, the data is not reversed in the 8 bits constituting the pixel.

In step 418, it is judged whether reading has been completed for all the blocks 58 corresponding to the page p to be printed. When the determination in step 418 is denied, the process returns to step 404 and the above is repeated. When all the bitmap image data for one page to be printed is read out, the determination at step 418 is affirmed and the process ends.

FIG. 8 is a routine showing the details of the process of releasing the area of the page buffer 54 (the process of step 130 of FIG. 4B). In step 502, it is determined whether the printing unit 14 has sent a notification indicating that printing of one page has been normally completed. The fact that the printing is normally completed means that, when the printing performed on the recording paper 12 is the front side printing at the time of the double-sided printing, the recording paper 12 is conveyed in the reversing path, and the double-sided printing is performed. In the case of the back side printing and the single sided printing at the time, it means that the recording paper 12 is discharged to the paper discharge tray. Step 502
When it is confirmed that the printing is normally completed in step S504, all the block numbers b corresponding to the printed page p are read from the correspondence table 62 and stored in the RAM 48 in step 504. That is, the registered content of the correspondence table 62 is set to 1
Interpretation is performed for each line in order, a part in which a page number that matches the printed page p is registered is searched, and when a line in which the page number p is registered is found, the block number b of the line is read. .

In step 506, the management bit 64 corresponding to the block number b read from the correspondence table 62.
Change all registered contents of from "in use" to "free".
In step 508, all the registered contents corresponding to the printed page p are deleted from the correspondence table 62.

Next, an example of the read processing of the bitmap image data from the page buffer 54 will be described using the registered contents shown in FIG. In the example of FIG. 3, the page buffer 54 stores bitmap image data for two pages, the first page and the second page. When reading the bitmap image data of the first page, the page (p =
Since both the block reverse and the line reverse corresponding to 1) are OFF, the block read direction flag and the line read direction flag are set in the normal order. Therefore, the first judged block is 0 among the blocks 0 to 3303 in which the bit map image data for the first page is stored, and the reading starts from the address 0 and ends at the address 583. The next block to be determined is 1, and reading starts at address 584 and ends at address 1167. After that, the reading is repeated while incrementing the block number. Finally block 3303 is determined, addresses 1928952 to 1929535
Is read out. As a result, the page buffer 54 outputs the bitmap image data from the upper bits to the lower bits in the normal order, that is, the bitmap image data without any inversion.

Further, when the bitmap image data of the second page is read, the block reverse and line reverse corresponding to the page are both ON, so the block read direction flag and the line read direction flag are set in reverse order. . Therefore, of the blocks 6608 to 9911 in which the bitmap image data for the second page is stored, the first block to be determined is 9911, and the address is
Reading starts at 5788607 and ends at address 5788024. After that, reading is repeated while decrementing the block number. Finally, block 6608 is determined and a read is performed from addresses 3859655 to 3859072. As a result, the page buffer 54 outputs the bitmap image data in reverse order from the lower bits to the upper bits, and outputs the bitmap image data which is vertically and horizontally inverted.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the relationship between the block reverse and line reverse setting states and the bitmap image data to be output. When both block reverse and line reverse are OFF, the bitmap image data is inverted. It will not be the same as the original. When the block reverse is OFF and the line reverse is ON, only the right and left are inverted, and when the block reverse is ON and the line reverse is OFF, only the up and down is inverted. When both block reverse and line reverse are ON, both up and down and left and right are reversed.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the area of the page buffer 54 is divided into a plurality of blocks 58 each having a size of one line of bitmap image data, and the bitmap image data is divided and stored line by line. At the same time, a reverse switch is provided in the correspondence table 62 for instructing the necessity of up / down / left / right inversion of the bitmap image data, and the data is read out while incrementing or decrementing the block 58 based on the setting state of these reverse switches. Therefore, it is possible to directly read the bitmap image data which is vertically or horizontally inverted from the page buffer 54. That is, if the area of the page buffer 54 is virtually divided into a plurality of blocks 58 with the size of one line of bitmap image data,
Since the bitmap image data can be stored separately for each line, as described above, the data of one line of the bitmap image data and the area of the block in which the data is stored are associated and registered in the correspondence table 62. Then, by determining the block in which the data to be output is stored and the data reading direction from the block and reading the data, various inversion data can be transferred to the printing mechanism without a line memory as in the past. Can be output.

Moreover, in the present embodiment, the area of the page buffer 54 is provided with a capacity for a plurality of pages of bitmap image data, and each block 5 of the page buffer 54 is provided.
Information indicating whether or not data is stored for 8 is registered in the management bit table 60, and the data is stored in the block 58 that is determined to be empty based on the registered information, so that it has a capacity for a plurality of pages. Even if the page buffer 54 is used, it is possible to favorably input / output bitmap image data to / from the page buffer 54.

In the present embodiment, the page buffer 5
Since the size of the block 58 is changed according to the size of the bitmap image data stored in 4 in the line direction, one line of data is always exactly stored in the block 58 even for bitmap image data of various sizes. Since it can be stored, it does not interfere with printing work.

In the above embodiment, the correspondence table 62 stored in the management table storage area 56 is provided with items of block reverse and line reverse, and information (ON / OF) indicating the inverted state of the bitmap image data is provided.
Although F) is registered, a storage area for the information may be separately provided. Further, although the ON / OFF registration for the items of block reverse and line reverse is performed based on the inversion instruction information from the host computer, it is possible to perform the operation on the operation panel 20 (FIG. 1) equipped in the printer 10. Alternatively, the operation may be performed by the operator. Further, in the above embodiment, the page buffer 54 is capable of storing the bitmap image data for a plurality of pages, but the page buffer 54 may be capable of storing the data for one page.

[0054]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the storage area of the image storage means is divided into a plurality of blocks each having a size corresponding to one line of the image data and managed. This has an excellent effect that the image data which is arbitrarily inverted right and left can be directly read from the image storage means.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the size of the block is changed according to the size of the image data to be printed, the printing work can be performed well even when printing image data of different sizes. , Which has an excellent effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printing apparatus according to this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a print control unit applied to a printing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a page / block correspondence table and a block management bit table stored in a management table storage area.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of print processing performed by the printing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process of storing one page of bitmap image data in a page buffer.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a process of setting a reading direction of bitmap image data.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a process for outputting one page of bitmap image data from the page buffer.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a process of releasing a page buffer area.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a relationship between setting states of a block reverse switch and a line reverse switch and bitmap image data output from a page buffer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 printing device 12 recording paper 14 printing unit 16 printing control unit 36 CPU 54 page buffer (image storage unit) 56 management table storage area 58 blocks 60 block management bit table 62 page / block correspondence table

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location H04N 1/387 B41J 3/12 S

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image storage unit capable of storing image data representing an image to be printed, and a plurality of blocks formed by dividing a storage area of the image storage unit into a size corresponding to one line of the image data. A management information storage unit that stores management information for managing a block in which data is stored and the data stored in the block in association with each other, and image data to be stored in the image storage unit for each line. Into a plurality of line data, and stores the plurality of divided line data in each of the blocks, and updates the management information, and a writing control unit, and whether or not the image to be printed needs to be vertically inverted and horizontally inverted. Based on the inversion state instructing means for instructing the necessity and the necessity of the vertical inversion instructed by the inversion state instructing means, a plurality of lines corresponding to the image to be printed are displayed. First read direction determining means for determining whether to sequentially read the data from the data corresponding to the first line or the data corresponding to the last line, and the necessity of horizontal inversion indicated by the inversion state instructing means. And a second reading direction determining means for determining whether to read the respective line data sequentially from the head side or the trailing side, and a plurality of line data corresponding to the image to be printed, the first reading direction. The blocks are selected one by one according to the order judged by the judging means, the blocks in which the selected line data are stored are judged based on the management information, and from the judged blocks, the second reading direction judging means A printing apparatus comprising: a read control unit that reads line data in accordance with the determined order. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising block size changing means for changing a size of a block in which the image data is divided and stored according to a size of image data to be printed.