JPS59119958A - Image data control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the cost of hardware by clearing the overlay data after reading the contents of a data area table and preparing the development of the data on the next page to develop it with a shift of position. CONSTITUTION:An interface control part 11 controls transmission/reception of command, data and status which are transferred with a high rank system. A control memory 12 stores a control program which is executed by a main control processor (MCP) 14. A memory 13 works as a necessary memory when the MPC 14 executes the program. A picture development processor 15 obtains a pattern from a pattern generator 16 and develops it on a page memory 19. A data area table 17 shows the position and range of the overlay data developed over the memory 19. A control circuit 18 gives an access to the memory 19.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an image data control method for printing or displaying an overlay of a form and data on a page memory.

[Technical background of the invention and its key points]

In recent years, electrophotographic printers such as laser beam printers have come to be used as output devices for information processing systems. This type of page printer uses a control unit to develop the data to be printed out on one page of printing paper on the page memory in the form of a dot pattern, and then outputs the data and sends it to the printer. I am getting a print result of .

By the way, by providing the above page printer with a form overlay function, it is possible to print the specified format at the same time as the data when printing data, without using a specific grade printed in a specified format in advance, such as when arranging paper in a printer book. can do.

To realize this form overlay in terms of software, the form data is developed on the page memory before the next data is developed, the previous data is erased, and the new data is displayed in M1.
9L, Printing is in progress. On the other hand, in order to realize the above form overlay using hardware, it is common to provide a page memory for forms in addition to a page memory for data, and develop and overlay desired dot patterns on each page memory.

However, since the former process is performed by software, a load is placed on the top seven stems, which poses a problem in terms of processing speed. Furthermore, the degree of freedom is reduced in terms of form functions. On the other hand, the latter has the drawback of high hardware costs.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, and it is possible to reduce the hardware cost and reduce the processing speed by realizing the overlay of form and data in hardware within the control device. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an image data control method that has enhanced form functions without requiring any additional data.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention creates a data area table when expanding overlay data in a page memory in which form information data has been expanded in advance, reads based on the contents of this data area table when reading, and then clears the overlay data. This method is characterized by simultaneous parallel processing in which preparations are made for developing the next page data, and the data of the next page is expanded by slightly shifting the position (in block units).

As a result, hardware costs are reduced and form functionality is enhanced without slowing down processing speed.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 11 is an upper system interface control unit IC that controls the interface with an upper system (not shown).
It is P. The interface control unit 11 is a part that controls the transmission and reception of commands/data/status exchanged with the host system. 12 is a control memory CS. The control memory 12 stores a control program executed by a main control processor 1vffcP14, which will be described later. 13 is memory M
EM, the main control processor 14
It functions as a work memory necessary for executing a control program, as a form information memory, various buffers, and tables, and as a data storage buffer for storing temporary data when data such as characters cannot be expanded immediately.

The main control processor MC'PJ4 receives commands from the upper system through the interface control unit 11.
It receives data, interprets and executes commands using the memory 13, and controls the return of status to the upper system. This main control processor 1
4 gives parameters such as character code, character size, and position on the page memory where characters are placed to an image development processor 15 (described later), and also instructs the image development processor 15 to develop characters, etc. into an image pattern, and also provides printer interface control, which will be described later. The unit 20 also controls the printer by starting the print, reading the status, and so on.

15 is a picture expansion processor WP. The image development processor 15 is a high-speed image processing processor unit that generates a pattern from the pattern generator 16 based on the parameters received from the main control processor 14, and develops the pattern onto the page memory 19 in the form of a dot image. be. Furthermore, in accordance with a command from the main control processor 14, if it is overlay data, a data area table 17 indicating the range in which the data (character data, graphic data, etc.) is developed on the page memory 19 is created, or the created data area table is 17 also has the function of clearing the corresponding area on the page memory 19. 16 is a pattern generator PG that generates a character dot pattern according to the specification of a character code;
OM, read RAIJ for external characters.

I7 is a data area table DAT indicating the position and range of overlay data developed on the page memory 19. Each module/tree in this table 17 is provided corresponding to each block in the page memory 19.

I8 is a control circuit pcc required to access the page memory 1g.

The page memory 19 is accessed by the image development processor I5.
There are two types, one from the printer interface control unit 20 and the other from the printer interface control unit 20, and racing processing for these is also performed here. 19 is a page memory PM. The page memory 19 is a memory that stores character patterns, graphic patterns, and image information in the form of dot patterns and has a capacity equivalent to one page of printing paper. This is a 2-way printer interface control unit PIC, which performs various printer interface controls such as printer startup control, print data transmission control, page memory read control, print position synchronization control, and mechanical status supplement control. 'Second
The figure shows the data area table DAT and page memo IJP.
FIG. 3 is an operational conceptual diagram showing an operational relationship with M. FIG.

FIG. 3 is an operational conceptual diagram showing data flow and correspondence between memories.

Figure M4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the operation of the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

First, form information data is sent from the host system via the host system interface control section 11 and stored in the form information memory 13. The main control processor 14 converts this form information data into parameters ("character mark code", "character size", "rotation of one character", one character development mode...t, OAD, O
R+XOR, AND", "character start position", "character area occupied by one character", "pixel data", etc.) is sent to the image development processor 15 character by character, and commands to develop it based on the parameters. do. Image expansion processor 1
5 develops (writes) a one-character dot pattern onto the page memory 19 in accordance with the parameters received from the main control processor 14. This expansion is performed for all form information data, and a form is generated on the page memory 19 in the form of a tondo pattern.

Next, the 1 that should be printed on top of the form from the upper system.
Pages of data will be sent to you. Hereinafter, this data will be referred to as overlay data in the sense that it can be overlaid on the form. The main control processor 14 sends the overlay data character by character to the image development processor 15 with a flag indicating overlay data added to the above parameters, and issues a development command. However, at this time, the main control processor 14 checks whether the dot pattern of the data at this time can be immediately developed on the page memory 19.

That is, while the data of the previous page is being read (=printing), it is necessary to check whether the dot pattern has been expanded to the area where the reading has been completed.

The page memory 19 is divided into n blocks, and while the first block is being read, the data divided into the first to (i-1) blocks is sent as is to the image development processor 15, and the data is not developed into the page memory 19. Although it is possible, the data contained in the i-th to n-th blocks cannot be developed into the page memory 19, so they are saved in the data storage bath 13 in the form of parameters to be sent to the image development processor 15. (Save to be expanded later) These are page notes IJ Z
As the revenge on Q progresses, and each time it is completed in block units, it is expanded to the corresponding block on the page memory 19.

The image development processor I5 accesses the pattern generator 16 for each character of the overlay data sent from the main control processor 14, extracts a character dot pattern, executes the calculation specified by the parameters, and controls the control circuit 18. The data is written to the page memory 19 via the page memory 19. At the same time, a character data area is registered in the data area table 17 (data area entry in block units) corresponding to the corresponding block in the page memory 19. This ~ pattern is shown in Figure 2.

If data spans blocks, the data area table 17 for the corresponding area for both blocks
Create.

Now, when reading of the i-th block is completed, the overlay data area in the first block is cleared based on the data area entry (DAgt) of the data area table 17 of the first block created at the time of expansion writing. This command is sent to the main control processor 14.
is issued to the image development processor 15. After this, the image development processor 15 also initializes DAEi. When the overlay data of the next page can be developed in the first block, the image development processor 1
5 is a data area table 17 each time data is sent from the main control processor 14 and an expansion command is issued.
While creating (registering in the DAE) the dot pattern is developed and written onto the page memory 19.

The progress of the read reblocking can be determined by the main control processor 14 checking the page memory addresses produced by the printer interface controller 20.

When the reading of the last block is completed, the data area of the last block is cleared, and if it is the last page, the operation ends here. When the next page is available, data storage buffer 13
All the data is lost, expanded to the corresponding area of page memory 19, and the next page's overlay data is filled with HUL.
After detecting L or end, print start of the next page is started.

By controlling in this way, overlay data can be expanded at high speed.

Now, when the dot pattern of the form data and the dot pattern of the overlay data physically overlap, clearing the overlay data in the data area table 17 will prevent part of the form from disappearing. In such a case, processing is carried out by repairing the form before starting printing of the next page by specifying (software specification) in an item called form repair information in the form information.

Note that form information conceptually consists of two types: form data information and form control information, and form data information is controlled by form control information. Further, the form information includes basic form information, overlay data control information, sheet form modification information for each copy, form repair information, and form restoration information. Since the development of these form information is not directly related to the gist of the present invention, the explanation here will be omitted.

In the embodiment of the present invention, only a printer is shown, but the present invention can also be applied to a display device in a similar manner.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, overlay of form data and print data can be realized within the control device, thereby reducing the load on the host system. Further, the portion that has been read out on the page memory is immediately erased block by block, and the data of the next page is sequentially written, so that the processing speed does not decrease.

Furthermore, since the above-mentioned erased portion is only the data portion based on the data area table created at the time of data development, the erasing time is short, and the form data remains as is, allowing the data to be overlaid on the next page quickly. realizable. In addition, when pledged data cannot be immediately expanded into page memory, a data storage buffer is provided so that the data expansion can be postponed to a later time, so continuous processing is possible even when data such as figures is mixed, and speed reduction is prevented. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are operational conceptual diagrams conceptually showing the operation of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention. 11... Upper system interface control unit (IC
P), 12...control memory (C8), 13 memo') (
Mgu), 74... Main control processor (
ucp), Z ty... Image expansion processor (engineering wp)
), 16... Pattern generator (PG), 17... Data area table (DAT), 78... Control circuit (FCC), 19... Page memory (PMλ2
0...Printer interface control unit (PIC).

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a data output device that develops form data and automatic lay data on a page memory and prints or displays the data in a desired format, the page memory is divided into blocks and a corresponding data area table is generated and stored. memory, and a data storage clearing area where form data arriving from the outside is temporarily stored.
The form data stored in this buffer is expanded to the page memory, and if the next data to arrive is overlay data, the above data area r-pull is generated in the memory indicating the range to be expanded to the page memory, and according to this table. and a processor unit that clears the corresponding area on the page memory, and when reading of the data developed on the page memory is completed in block units, this processor unit clears the read-completed block based on the data area table. , an image data control method characterized by expanding and writing vacancy data into this block area.