JPS594706B2 - Print pattern generator - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to a printing method.

The conventional printing method used in printing devices that have digital memory and print in dot patterns is to arrange characters in a page image on the memory, and each character is identified by a character address (upper bits of the memory address). The area represented (hereinafter referred to as page buffer)
It has an area that shows the dot pattern to embody each character (hereinafter referred to as font memory) and an area that shows the raster number of each character when printing (hereinafter referred to as raster index). When printing, after incilizing or clearing the raster index at the beginning of a line, when character codes for one line are read sequentially from the page buffer, the font memory is accessed based on the raster index value, converted to a dot pattern, and then printed. The first raster of a row is printed, then the raster index is updated, the page buffer is read again from the beginning of the same row, and the second raster of l rows is sequentially printed. Further, the raster index is updated and printing is performed in the same manner as described above, printing of all rasters is completed, the printing of the subsequent line is completed, the process moves to the next line on the page buffer, and one line is printed in the same manner. This method is repeated to print one page. Conventionally, the dot patterns stored in the font memory are printed as they are, and if the line size differs, the corresponding dot pattern must be stored in the memory, so the line size is limited to a small number due to memory capacity limitations. , and had the disadvantage that the position of the characters within a line was always constant, making it impossible to print as shown in FIG.

The purpose of this invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned conventional problems, and it is possible to specify the line size arbitrarily when printing, and to place characters at any position within the line. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing method having the effect of printing a printing pattern with great flexibility depending on the memory capacity.

The features of this invention include a raster index register table for controlling raster numbers, and a control memory that indicates line information corresponding to each line, specifically line size, character position within the line, character size, etc. The control memory information is transferred to the raster index table at the beginning of each line, and after each raster is printed, the raster index is updated by hardware or a processor, and one raster index number in the page buffer is stored. This attempts to perform printing with great flexibility by accessing the font memory while referring to the raster index register.

Next, the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 2 will be explained in detail.

In the figure, 1 is an input buffer, 3 is an editing area for editing sent data into a print format, 5 is a page buffer, 2 is a program counter that addresses the page buffer 5, and 6 is a position within a line or line size. 7 is a raster index register table indicating the raster number; 8 is a determination circuit for determining whether to print a blank space or a character; 9 is an address register indicating the address of the font memory; 10 11 represents a font memory, 11 represents an output buffer, and 12 represents a parallel-to-serial converter.

Figure 3 shows the data format of one line in the page buffer 5. The data in one line consists of a part indicating characters, line end information, and a part indicating the start address of the line, and the character part is divided into two parts. One is a raster index register number, and the other is a character address that is a local address of the font memory.

A character code to be printed is sent to input buffer 1. In the editing area 3, the character code is converted into the address of the font memory 10 in which the font of the character corresponding to the character code is stored, and is written into the page buffer 5 in accordance with the character arrangement of one page of the form. Further, information indicating the line size corresponding to each line of the page, the position of characters within each line, and the size of the characters is written into the initial value table 6 through the input buffer 1.

The initial value table 6 contains, for each line, the line size, that is, the number of rasters in one line, character position information that stores the position of the character in the line as a negative value, the number of rasters from the top of the line to the start of the character, and Character size information representing the size of the character by its raster number is stored. For printing, each time a line is switched, information on the corresponding line is transferred from the initial value table 6 to the raster index register 7 (hereinafter abbreviated as RI).
will be moved to

As for the information in R7, the content of the register number specified together with the character address in the page buffer is selected and judged by the judgment circuit 8. On the other hand, the character address is read under the control of the program counter 2. If the value of a is negative, an address indicating a blank space is set in the address register 9. The value of a in R7 is updated by 1 every time one raster advances.

If the value of a is positive, that value is combined with the address from the page buffer 5 as a raster number, and the font memory 10 is accessed. When the line end detection circuit 13 detects reading of one raster, the RIRO of R7
That is, the row size number is decreased by 1. Repeat this sequentially RIR
When it detects that O has become O, it detects that a font for one line has been generated, increments program counter 2 by 1, reads the start address of the next line in FIG. 3, and sets program counter 2. Then, the information in the next row is read from the initial value table 6 and transferred to the RI 7. By repeating such operations, print data converted into dot information for one page is generated. The output of the font memory 10 passes through an output buffer 11, is converted into serial information by a parallel-to-serial conversion circuit 12, and is sent to a printing device.

Next, details of character size specification are shown in FIG.

The count value of R is incremented by 1 for each raster print.

At that time, the sign of the count value is detected by a sign detector,
When it is negative, it is controlled to print a blank space. Therefore, characters can be printed at any position within a line depending on how the initial value is given. That is, printing is started (from the first word of the font memory) only when the count reaches zero after printing of a certain line is started. Further, the count value is shifted by n bits depending on the character size, and the total of 5 bits is recognized as a raster number, thereby performing simple enlargement of the character. (This is column-wise expansion; row-wise expansion is FO
This is done by making the sending clocks of ntdata/WORD the same. n As shown in FIG. 3, the count value is transferred to a shift circuit in the determination circuit 8.

Assuming that the raster number is represented by 5 bits, when the character size is set to normal, the lower 5 bits of the count value
Bits are output as raster numbers. If twice the character size is specified, the character is shifted by 1 bit and the lower 5 bits excluding the lowest 1 bit are output.

Therefore, the raster number is updated only once every two rasters.
In other words, the same pattern is read out twice, resulting in twice the size of the characters. After printing characters, that is, after printing 5 bits (different 32w0rd), the sign becomes negative again due to carry for each character size, and Space is supplied until the line ends.

The same applies when the page buffer 5 has an initial value table at the beginning of each row and has hardware for updating the raster index register table, or when the operation of the determination circuit is executed programmatically by a processor. It can have the following effect.

With the configuration as described above, the present invention can provide the following effects.

Each line has an initial value table, and when printing, one of them is selected and the raster index register is used, so any line size can be specified for each line. Also, characters can be printed at any position within a line with a small amount of memory capacity.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a printing pattern that could not be printed using conventional printing methods, FIG. Figure 4 shows the row data format. Figure 4 is a configuration diagram of the raster index register table. Figure 5 shows the configuration of the raster index register table.
A diagram showing a data format corresponding to one line in the initial value table, and FIG. 6 is a detailed diagram of character control. Explanation of symbols, 6...Initial value table, 7...
...Raster index register table, 8...
. . . Judgment circuit, 13 . . . Line end detection circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A font memory that stores dot patterns of characters made up of multiple rasters, a page buffer that stores character addresses and register numbers of print information, and print information that includes different combinations of print positions and character sizes, Read out the dot patterns of characters in the plurality of registers specified by the register number and the area of the font memory indicated by the character address at a timing and reduction or enlargement rate according to control information of the register specified by the register number. A printing pattern generating device having means.