JPS5845732B2 - Printing control device - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention receives print information via an input/output channel of a computer system, a terminal of a communication line system, etc., converts this print information into a character dot pattern, and transfers it to a printing device. It relates to a print control device.

This type of printing control device generally converts a character code (referred to as an external code) imported from the outside into a shellfish code and stores it in a page memory. When the codes are accumulated, the inner code is read from the page memory, and the inner code is used as address information to read the character dot pattern from the pattern memory and transfer it to the printing device.

In order to improve the page production speed, a plurality of page memories are provided, and while one page memory is occupied by the printing device (for reading character dot patterns), the remaining page memories are used. It is controlled to import the following codes.

However, in such a conventional configuration, there are problems in that the data system and control system of the page memory are multiplexed, which complicates the entire device, and that an excessive capacity is required for the page memory.

Let me further discuss the latter problem.

In reality, it can be said that the maximum number of characters per page is never printed on a page, and there is usually a considerable amount of blank space.

In the print information, the margins are compressed.

Therefore, if one page memory has a capacity corresponding to, for example, the maximum number of characters on one page, there will be a considerable amount of empty area on the page memory even if one page of character text is stored.

However, the number of words in the character text on the next page is unknown, and it cannot be determined whether it can be stored in the empty area of the page memory.

Therefore, even if there is an empty area in this page memory, the character text of the next page must be stored in the other page memory.

In other words, each page memory requires a capacity corresponding to the maximum number of characters per page or a capacity times the number of pages.

Moreover, two or more page memories are provided.

In this way, in the conventional method, the capacity of the page memory inevitably becomes excessive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a print control device that reduces the capacity of a page memory and unifies the data system of the page memory without reducing the production speed of one page.

However, the feature of this invention is that it is provided with a work memory that converts an external code from the outside into an internal code and stores it, and a page memory that takes the internal code from this work memory. The inner code is read from the page memory, and during the line feed period of the printing device, that is, the period when print scanning is stopped, the inner code is read from the work memory and stored in the page memory.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically explained using one example.

The drawing is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

The character text of the external code sent via the input/output channel or communication line of the computer system is stored in the work memory 2 via the input register 1.

This storage address is defined by the input address register 3, and the input address register 3 is incremented each time one word of the outer code is written.

The outer code stored in the work memory 2 is immediately converted into an inner code and stored in another area within the work memory 2.

At the initial stage, when the printing device has not started printing,
The inner code is immediately read from the work memory 2, transferred to the page memory 5, and stored therein.

The read address of work memory 2 and the write address of page memory 5 are specified by output address register 4 and input address register 6, respectively.

Note that line feed codes for identifying breaks in one line are inserted into the character text according to a certain rule.

When one page of character text of the inner code is stored in the page memory 5, a print scanning synchronization signal is obtained from the printing device, and one line of the inner code is read out from the page memory 5 under the control of the output address register 7. is read out to the output register 8.

Note that a means (not shown) is provided for detecting the accumulation of one page's worth of character text.

The internal code on the output register 8 forms part of the address of the pattern memory 9, and specifies the starting address of the entry in which the corresponding character dot pattern is stored.

A raster counter 12 for counting the print scan rask number in one line is provided to indicate the displacement from the start address of the character dot pattern, and is located in the lower part of the page memory output register 8.

Although not shown in other countries, it is possible to prepare a blank raster counter for creating blank areas between lines, and to restrict the dot pattern data of characters between lines.

The above page memory output register 8 and raster counter 12 are combined and used as the address of the pattern memory 9 to access the pattern memory 9 and output character dot pattern data onto the shift register 10.

The shift register 10 produces a 1-bit image example for the printing device during the raster valid period using a clock according to the bit modulation (transfer rate).

The line feed code detector 11 detects the line feed code on the output register 8 to detect the end of one line printing scan of the printing device.

During the period from the end of this print scan until the print scan synchronization signal for the next line is output from the printing device, the read operation of the page memory 5 is stopped and the write operation is switched to.

During this period, the output address register 4 and the input address register 6 are each incremented, and part of the character text of the inner code stored in the work memory 2 up to this point is transferred to the code memory 5.

As described above, in the printing control device of the present invention, the next character text is stored from the work memory within the time slot from when the printing device finishes printing one line to when it starts printing scanning for the next line. A portion is transferred to page memory.

Therefore, subsequent character texts can be sequentially stored in the empty area of the same page memory regardless of the number of words, and the capacity of the page memory can be used without waste.

In other words, the capacity of the page memory does not need to depend on the maximum number of characters per page, and since only one page memory is required, the capacity of the page memory can be reduced in a distant manner.

Furthermore, since the data system and control system of the page memory are unified, the configuration of the device is simplified.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figure is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a printing control device according to the present invention. 1...Input register, 2...Work memory, 5...
・Page memory, 8... Output register, 9... Pattern memory, 10... Shift register, 12... Raster counter, 11... Line feed code detector, 3, 4, 6,
7. ...address register.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Pattern memory that stores dot patterns for various characters and character codes from outside (referred to as external codes)
It is equipped with a work memory that temporarily stores the internal code converted from the stored external code, and a page memory that stores the internal code transferred from the work memory. A character dot pattern for one line is read from the pattern memory using the inner code read from the page memory as address information and transferred to the printing device, and the page memory is switched to a writing operation during the line feed period of the printing device, and the above-mentioned A printing control device characterized in that it is configured to read a subsequent inner code from a work memory and store it in the page memory.