JPS60232972A - Printing-controlling system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To permit printing to be stopped only between lines in which no character is printed and ensure printing quality, by a system wherein a printing- stopping position can be controlled by a printer controller. CONSTITUTION:An operator inputs the number to be outputted, through a keyboard connected to a VDT9. The data thus inputted are sent to a host computer 7 through a terminal controller 8 when a transmitting key on the keyboard is depressed. The host computer 7 analyzes the received data, and transmits data in a designated file to a printer 11 incorporating the printer controller 10. Since the printer 11 prints data on a continuous paper, the operator or user depresses a switch in the printer 11 in the case where printing data are long, where he wants to see the result of printing, or where he promptly wants the result of printing for him when the relevant printing has been finished and data for the next person are being printed. After his object is attained, the switch is re- depressed, thereby restarting printing.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Application of the Invention] This printer control relates to a device that prints data developed in a full dot memory, and is particularly suitable for stopping printing line by line during printing according to operator instructions. Regarding the method.

[Background of the invention]

Hereinafter, FIG. 1 will be described assuming that data t input to this apparatus is developed into dots by a well-known processor in a full dot memory that corresponds one-to-one to the paper to be printed.

14 is a full dot memory corresponding to 1=1 for the paper to be printed, and the characters "Hitachi" have already been expanded into dots as print data.

Full dot memory is located in the printer controller.
The interface with the printer is a well-known de-airpapper 7 that is performed via two buffers for one dot line.
There are 7 methods. When the print stop switch is pressed while printing data in position 4, the printer stops printing after printing the dot line currently being printed. At this time, as shown in 5, the printing is stopped in the middle of one character in the vertical direction.

The operator restarts printing by pressing the switch that stopped printing again. At this time, this control method has the following problems.

When printing data is output on continuous paper (°), the operator may stop printing and cut the part of the printing paper that has already been printed. From the moment when force is applied to and stops,
The printing paper moves. Furthermore, when printing is stopped, the distance between the dots may become wider than when printing is not stopped.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 2, the font (constituting the letters ``日'' and ``N'') is shifted to either the left, right, top, or bottom, resulting in a problem that print quality deteriorates.

[Purpose of the invention]

An object of the present invention is to provide means for a printer controller to control the position at which the printing device stops when an operator gives the printing device a trigger to stop printing, such as by pressing a printing stop switch during printing. There is a K.

[Summary of the invention]

The problem with the conventional technology is that for each dot raster,
Print stop signal? Since it is a receiving method, there is a problem in that printing stops in the middle of one character, resulting in a drop in printing quality. Therefore, print data (not limited to character data)
In order to prevent printing from stopping in the middle of printing, a method is adopted in which the printing stop position can be set using the printer controller. [Embodiment of the Invention] FIG. 3 shows a system configuration in which the present invention is used. When the system is started up, a message is output on the VDT 9 indicating which of the files managed by the host combination Goto you wish to print. The operator inputs the number he wishes to output using the keyboard connected to the VDT 9. This input data is sent to the host computer 71C via the terminal control device 8 when the send key on the keyboard is pressed.

The host computer 7 analyzes the received data and determines the data of the specified file? , printer controller 10
The information is sent to the printer 11 built into the printer.

The printer controller is divided into a mode in which only character data is processed (referred to as mode 1) and a mode in which graphic images and 0 character data are processed (referred to as mode 2).

Since the printer 11 prints data on continuous paper,
If the print data is long, you want to ask for the print result, or you have already finished printing and the next person is printing the data, but you want your print result immediately. In such a case, the operator or user
Aim by pressing the switch attached.

achieve. After the operator or user has achieved the goal, press the switch again to resume printing.

The switch is effective only in mode 1. Therefore, on the premise that the processing operation is in mode 1, the configuration of the printer controller 10 related to the present invention and the printer control method for realizing the printing pause function during printing will be described below.

The print data transmitted from the host computer 7 is taken into the link buffer 12 in the printer controller 10 via the terminal control device 8. A well-known processor 15 receives all print data into the link buffer 12 and then transfers this data to a full dot memory 1 corresponding 1:1 to all dots on the printing paper.
Expand the dots to 4. This print data includes a control character sequence that defines which part of the continuous paper is to be processed, a control character sequence that determines the line pitch for each line, and a control character sequence that determines the spacing between characters. etc. are included. When the well-known microprocessor 13 is expanded to the full dot memory 14, the fifth
Expand in the format shown in the figure. The number of dots in the horizontal direction of the full dot memory consists of the printing area (I) and a 2-byte flag.The printing area is the part corresponding to the printing paper,
If you write 1ze in this area, it will be printed in black on the printing paper. The flag specifies how the printer controller controls the printer after the printer controller sends the print area to the one-dot raster turn printer. In the case of this embodiment, the number of dots in the horizontal direction of the printing area is 2112 dots. In this flag part, the well-known microprocessor 15 calculates the printing position in the vertical direction according to the control character sequence specifying the line pitch of each line included in the print data, and if it is not the last dot raster of each line, the flag is set to ``X@001''. For the final dot raster of each row, write "X@0011".

Here, the process of expanding into the full dot memory and the process of outputting print data to the printer adapter 15 can be performed in parallel.

In other words, while printing one dot raster's worth of data, the next line is edited at line 5. The flag corresponding to the line for which editing has been completed is X.
It is set to "001" by the well-known processor 15. If the 25 bits of this flag are not 1, printing will stop.

When the editing for one line is completed and the well-known processor 15 that starts printing outputs the data to the printer adapter 15, data is transferred from the full dot memory 14 every 2 bytes.
The information is sent to the printer adapter 15. The flag part data is also transmitted to the printer adapter via the same signal line α as the print data. The printer adapter 15 identifies whether the sent data is print data or a flag. When an operator or user presses a switch attached to the printer 11, a latch in the printer adapter 15 is turned on. The latch signal is connected to a full dot memory read control section 16 that controls a print pointer indicating which data on the full dot memory 14 is to be printed. In this state, X”00 is sent to the printer adapter 15 as 7 lag data.
11" is sent, the printer adapter 1
5 stops sending data to the printer and stops updating the print pointer of the full dot memory read control section 16. At this time, the print pointer points to the next data to be printed. In this state, if you press the switch on the printer 1 again, the latch will be reset and the data will be reset. The printer 1
1 and the print pointer of the full dot memory read control section 16? Update and resume.

According to this embodiment, it is possible to specify the printing stop position tv from the printer controller, which caused a problem in the conventional embodiment. This prevents printing from stopping midway in the vertical direction of one character.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, the interface between the printer controller and the printer can be realized by controlling the printing stop position by the printer controller, so that each character is written without stopping at the raster in the middle of the printed character. It is possible to allow printing to stop only between two lines, and the printing quality can be guaranteed.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the full dot memory and printer interface, Figure 2 is a diagram showing the print result display after printing is temporarily stopped using the conventional technology, Figure 3 is a block diagram of the system configuration, and Figure 4 is the printer controller block. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a full dot memory. 2... Buffer, 5... Buffer 1.4... Buffer 2.5... Print paper, 7... Host computer, 8... Terminal control device, 9... Video terminal, 10 ...Printer controller, 11...
Printer, 12...Link buffer, 13...Processor, 14...Full dot memory, 15...Printer adapter. Atsushi 1 Eye 1 Diagram 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] t 7 that corresponds 1:1 to all dots on the paper to be printed
/L/ The data input to this device,
It has a function of expanding dots on the full dot memory,
In a well-known microprocessor and a printing device that prints data on the full dot memory, a flag area is provided for all dot rasters on the printing paper on the full dot memory, and printing is stopped when data is developed. The flag corresponding to the desired dot raster is set to ON, and when the operator issues a print stop command by pressing a switch on the printing device during printing, the flag in the full dot memory is set to ON. turned on