JPS6035072B2 - Character pattern generation circuit - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an apparatus for outputting many types of character patterns, such as kanji, in which ``when a sequential output type memory such as a magnetic disk is used as a character pattern memory, characters can be efficiently output from the memory. This invention relates to a character pattern generation circuit that generates patterns.

Kanji patterns are generally more complex and diverse than alphanumeric patterns. In order to output kanji to a display or printer, a large capacity character pattern memory is required. Conventionally, large-capacity memories include sequential memory such as magnetic disks or magnetic drums, which are used as auxiliary memories in electronic computers and the like. This type of memory generally has a fast read data transfer speed, but a slow access time. Therefore, when this is used as a character pattern memory, character patterns cannot be generated quickly and the character output speed becomes slow. on the other hand,
Using random access memory such as core memory or IC memory eliminates the problem of access time, but these are more expensive than the former. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a character pattern generation circuit that efficiently generates character patterns from a low-cost sequential readout memory.

That is, using a circular sequential readout memory such as a magnetic or optical disk memory, a magnetic or optical drum memory, an electric or magnetic high capacity shift register, a magnetic or optical endless tape, etc. The objective is to realize a high-speed and low-cost kanji pattern memory. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the contents recorded in a circulating sequential readout memory such as a magnetic disk or a magnetic drum.

The left end of the figure is connected to the right end, forming a circular memory. As time passes, this content moves sequentially, passing through the information retrieval ports (for magnetic disks, magnetic drums, etc., this corresponds to the magnetic head for retrieving items) provided at specific positions on each track one after another. do. therefore,
During one cycle of the information stored in each track, the information in this memory always passes through one of the information extraction ports once. Paying attention to this point, if you access the memory for character patterns in units of multiple characters and read them out from memory in the order in which they can be retrieved, you can retrieve the entire series of character patterns while the information content of each track goes around. be able to. However, this is an example where each track is provided with an independent control circuit. If there is only one control circuit for all tracks and it is used by switching for each track, and if character patterns of different tracks in the same sector are required, only one of them will be used while the information goes around. I can't take it out. Therefore, in this case, the information content needs to be returned as many times as the number of characters. However, since such a situation does not occur very often, there is no problem in practical use. The above principle will be specifically explained with reference to an example.

For example, suppose you want to display "Kanji generator...J" and n characters on the kanji display.The character pattern memory is a magnetic disk.When accessing the disk one character at a time in the display order as in the past, Since the average disk access time is usually equivalent to half a rotation of the disk,
It takes an average number of hours of work to read n characters. On the other hand, when using the above principle, if the kanji are lined up as shown in Figure 1, then...
Characters can be removed from the disk in the order they can be taken out, such as raw, bag, etc., and all characters can be read out during one rotation of the disk.

Next, a method for realizing the above principle will be described.

FIG. 2a shows the contents of the control memory according to the invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes a first control memory (hereinafter referred to as sector switch memory) which stores in sector order the sectors of the magnetic disk in which a series of characters to be read are located.

2 is a second control memory (hereinafter referred to as accompanying information memory) that stores information indicating the track number required for the sector to be read and the storage location of the read character pattern;
It is.

In the sector switch memory I, one word is assigned to each sector in the order of the sector address as the magnetic disk output switch information.

Therefore, this memory requires a capacity equal to the number of words equal to the number of sectors on the magnetic disk. For each sector,
Information regarding whether or not the sector should be read is stored in each word, and when the sector is not read, specific data X (for example, data in which all bits are "1") to indicate this is stored. do. If that sector is the sector to be read, other data is stored. In this case, accompanying information (information indicating the storage location of the track number and proposed character pattern) is required, and this information is stored in the accompanying information memory 2. Therefore, in order to associate the sector to be read, the index address a, (i
=1, 2...n) is stored. In the accompanying information memory 2, corresponding to this index address a, the track number and the storage location Q of the read character pattern are stored as described above.
Store. Incidentally, in most cases, one character pattern is required within one sector, but sometimes character patterns of multiple tracks may be required within one sector. In this case, the index address a in the sector switch memory 1 can only point to one address in the accompanying information memory 2. Countermeasures against multiple character patterns are taken within the accompanying information memory. Suppose now that two different track character patterns are required for one sector.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 2b, first, the accompanying information in the accompanying information memory 2 for the first character pattern is designated by the index address a in the sector switch memory 1. To this set of incidental information, in addition to the previous track number and character pattern storage location information b, an index address a, which stores the incidental information of the second character pattern, is added. Thereby, it is possible to indicate the accompanying information for the second character pattern. In this case, since two character patterns are required for one sector, data x is stored at the index address position in the accompanying information of the second character pattern. This is the same as the data X in the sector switch memory 1 that indicates that the sector is not to be read. The reason for this will be explained later in the explanation of the operation. Even if there are three or more character patterns of different tracks in the same sector, they can be connected one after another using the index address a in the accompanying information, as above.

Note that if only one character pattern is required within one sector, data X is entered in the index address portion of the accompanying information. The character pattern reading operation using the above control memory is as follows.

(1) Using a computer or the like, write the sector switch information and its accompanying information calculated in advance based on the character codes of a series of output characters into the sector switch memory 1 and the accompanying information memo IJ2.

(2) Every time a sector address is output from the magnetic disk, the contents of the sector switch memory 1 are read based on the sector address. If this content is data x, it is a sector that does not require character pattern calculation work, so do nothing and wait until the next sector address is output]. {3} If the contents of the sector switch memory are different from data x, that sector is the sector in which the character pattern should be expressed, so the accompanying information stored in the accompanying information memory is read out using the contents as an index address.

'4' A track is selected using the track number 2 of the accompanying information, and the storage location is designated by the information on the storage location of the read character pattern, and the reading of the character pattern in that sector is commanded.

This allows the necessary character pattern to be read out.
'5) The data of the index address part of the accompanying information is written to the part pointed to by the current sector address of the sector switch memory.

That is, the sector switch memory exchanges the index address pointing to the current accompanying information in the accompanying information memory with the index address section in the accompanying information. This situation is shown in FIG. This figure shows the case where three different track character patterns are required within one sector. a indicates before rewriting, and b indicates after index address rewriting. As a result, the next time the same sector address comes around,
The contents of the sector switch memory will point to the accompanying information of the next character pattern in the accompanying information memory.

Note that if only one character pattern is required within the same sector, the content of the index address section in the accompanying information is data X. This is transferred to the sector switch memo river, so next time the same sector address comes around,
It is no longer necessary to read out the character pattern of that sector. ■ Every time the sector address is updated, {2}, (
By repeating the operations 3}, {4', and {5-), while the magnetic disk rotates once and the sector address goes around once,
You can reveal all the character patterns you need.

However, when a plurality of character patterns on different tracks are required within the same sector, different tracks cannot normally be selected at the same time, so the character patterns must be read out one character at a time. In this case, it is not possible to complete the presentation of a series of character patterns within one rotation time, and the rotation time required is the same as the number of times the rotation is repeated. Such a case rarely occurs, and even if it does occur, it does not pose a practical problem because the overall access time is usually faster than when the disk is accessed character by character.
In addition, if it is desired to avoid such a situation, it can be solved by providing a plurality of read control circuits on the magnetic disk and making it possible to read a plurality of tracks at the same time. Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to Examples.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of a character pattern generation circuit according to the present invention. This is an example in which a magnetic disk or a magnetic drum is used as the character pattern memory. A magnetic head (hereinafter referred to as a magnetic disk) is a magnetic head for detecting sector divisions of a magnetic disk, and outputs a sector address 100 by a sector counter 11.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a magnetic head attached to each track storing a character pattern, which is switched and used by a magnetic head switching circuit 14 according to the value of the track number 106.

1 is the aforementioned sector switch memory, and 2 is an accompanying information memory.

Of these, 21 stores the track number, and 22 stores the address of the next character pattern buffer memory. 23 is
This is the part that stores the next index address. 3 is a character pattern buffer memory for temporarily storing a series of read character patterns.

The operation of the character pattern generation circuit shown in FIG. 4 will be explained with reference to the time chart shown in FIG. 5a. However, let us take as an example the case where sector address m, track number and character pattern are read. That is, the index address a of the accompanying information memory is located at the address m of the sector switch memory,
This shows a case where the track number in the accompanying information of the corresponding position is the sleeve. It is assumed that information is written in advance in other locations in the sector switch memory and accompanying information memory. [1) At tm, sector address 100 (value m) is output from sector counter 11,
Sector switch memory I is supplied.

The contents 101 (value a) are read from the sector switch memory 1 based on the address m. If this value a is equal to the value x indicating that the sector does not require character pattern calculation work, the following ■, '3l, '4) will not be executed, and the tm+ indicating the beginning of the next sector will not be executed. , the user is forced to wait in the same state until . (2) When the value a is different from the data X, the sector is the sector in which the character pattern is to be extracted, and this value a is set in the index address register 2. The accompanying information stored in the accompanying information memory 2 is read out using the contents of the address register 2 as an address. '3' Track number 10 of the accompanying information
3 is moved to the track number register 3, and the character pattern buffer memory address section 104 is moved to the buffer memory address register 15.

The index address field 105 (value a') is returned to the sector switch memo, and the content a at the address m is changed. {4) The contents set in the track number register 13 are supplied to the track switching circuit 14, and based on the value, the magnetic head corresponding to the track number among the magnetic heads 20 is selected.

On the other hand, the character pattern readout command 1 is sent to the readout control circuit 16.
08 is given, and character pattern presentation starts at tm'. As a result, the character pattern signal 107 recorded at the sector address m and the track number 2 is loaded into the position of the address b of the character pattern buffer memory 3 within the time period from tm to tm+. {5) Every time the sector address is updated, the above [1}, {2', [3',
By repeating the operation {4', a desired character pattern is obtained in the character pattern buffer memory 3.

Whether all the character patterns have been obtained can be determined by checking whether the contents of the sector switch memory 1 are all the value X. Also, the fourth
Although not shown in the figure, a character counter is provided separately, and the number N of characters to be read is set in advance. This is subtracted each time a character is read out. Depending on whether the value becomes 0 or not, You can also know. {6) Character patterns are buffer memo When all the required character patterns are collected, the character pattern reading operation is terminated and the character patterns in the buffer memory are transferred to an output device such as a Kanji display or a Kanji printer.

In FIG. 5a, within one sector period, a determination is made as to whether or not a character pattern in that sector should be read, various registers are set, and character pattern reading operations are performed.

Depending on the character pattern recording method and the speed of the character pattern generation circuit in this embodiment, it may not be possible to perform both operations in the same sector. In that case, as shown in Figure 5b, readout judgment of the next sector's character pattern and setting of various registers are performed in the previous sector, and based on the results, the character pattern of the sector concerned is proposed. Do the following. At the same time, in parallel with the character pattern reading operation, determination of whether the character pattern of the next sector is to be determined and various registers are set. Next, FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of a kanji printer using the character pattern generation circuit shown in FIG. 4.

First, the character code of the character to be printed is prepared on a computer 4.

This character code is input by a person, read from an auxiliary storage device of the computer 4, or generated within the computer 4 itself. Based on this series of character codes, matching data 120 from the sector switch memory and the accompanying information memo are sent to the character pattern generation circuit 6 inside the computer 4 . The character pattern generation circuit 6 shows the portion of FIG. 4 excluding the character pattern buffer memory. 3 is the same as the character pattern buffer memory shown in FIG. The character pattern generation circuit 6 reads the character pattern from the magnetic disk 5 in the above-described procedure based on the data sent from the computer etc. 4, and writes it into the character pattern buffer memory.

When the reading of a series of character patterns is finished and the required character patterns are in the character pattern buffer memory 3, the computer etc. 4 issues a command 121 to the printer control circuit 7 to print the character patterns in the character pattern buffer memory one after another into a kanji print. Print outside.

Normally, printers are structured so that they print sequentially from the left of the printing paper outside the printer, but printers that are structured so that any printing position can be selected at high speed print the output from the character pattern generation circuit directly. The character pattern buffer memory 3 becomes unnecessary.

In addition, in a printer with the former structure, two character pattern buffer memories are prepared, and one buffer memory is allocated for inputting character patterns from the magnetic disk and one for printing to the printer, so that both operations can be performed in parallel. By doing so and using the buffer memory alternately, the printing speed of the Kanji printer can be further increased. Note that if the same character appears multiple times in a series of characters to be printed,
Character Pattern Buffer Memo IJ' You only need to read one character pattern, and you can use that character pattern repeatedly when printing.

FIG. 7 shows an embodiment in which the character pattern generation circuit shown in FIG. 4 is applied to a kanji display.

The character pattern reading operation is the same as in the case of the kanji printer described above, and will therefore be omitted.

Character Pattern Buffer Memo The hidden character pattern is temporarily transferred to the frame memory 15 by the display control circuit 9.

The frame memory 15 is a memory for holding the entire display screen in the form of character patterns. frame memory 15
The character patterns stored in are controlled by the display control circuit 9.
The data is sequentially and repeatedly reproduced, and the display section 161 such as a CRT is refreshed and displayed.

Note that if the frame memory is of a random access type similar to the character pattern buffer memory, the character pattern buffer memory can be omitted and the character pattern read from the magnetic disk can be directly transferred to the frame memory.

Further, if a display unit such as a storage type display tube or the like having a memory function is used as the display unit, the frame memory 15 can be omitted.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to generate character patterns at high speed using a slow, large capacity sequential readout memory.

This is highly effective when complex and diverse character patterns, such as kanji, are required. In the main text, the explanation of principles and embodiments is based solely on the example of magnetic disks, but this explanation also applies to magnetic drum memories, optical disks or drum memories, electric or magnetic large-capacity shift registers, magnetic disks, etc. Alternatively, it can be directly applied to a circular sequential readout type tape such as an optical endless tape.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the contents of a sequentially exposed memory used in the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are diagrams showing the storage format and operation of the control memory according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the character pattern generation circuit according to the present invention, FIG. 5 is a time chart showing the operation of FIG. 4, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are diagrams showing the character pattern generation method according to the present invention. They are block diagrams of embodiments applied to a Kanji printer and a Kanji display, respectively. 1 is a sector switch memory, 2 is an accompanying information memory, 11
1 is a sector counter, 14 is a track switching circuit, and 3 is a character pattern buffer memory. Figure 4 Figure 4 Figure 7 Inferior figure Figure 7

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A plurality of tracks divided into a plurality of sectors, and a head that scans the plurality of tracks in the length direction and detects at least one of the plurality of character patterns respectively stored in the same sector of each track. a sequential read type memory having a memory location corresponding to the plurality of sectors, the memory location being accessed one after another in the order in which the sectors are scanned, and the memory location being accessed one after another in the order in which the sectors are scanned; A device that stores in advance a first code when a character pattern is stored, or a second code when a character pattern to be read out is not stored in the corresponding sector, and from the sequential readout type memory. a buffer memory for storing the read character pattern; a track number from which the character pattern is to be read at an address corresponding to the first code; and a third code for storing the read character pattern in the buffer memory. , a second memory that stores in advance a first code when there are more tracks to be read in the same sector and a second code when there are no more tracks to read, the sequential read type; When the read code from the first memory is the first code, the memory reads the character pattern from the track specified by the track number read from the second memory, and reads the character pattern from the track specified by the track number read from the second memory. The first memory stores the read character pattern in the buffer memory according to the address corresponding to the third code read from the second memory. 1. A character pattern generation circuit characterized in that the first or second code is stored in a storage position for a corresponding sector on the first memory.