JPS61126592A - Character generator - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] This book is about character generators.

[Conventional technology]

The character generator used in fl, t, dot matrix printers, etc. is structured as follows. - For example, if you want to intercept the I character (including the space after @) with 24 dots horizontally and 16 dots vertically, use a
24X16=aa for the unicorn letters in Figure IIIJ6
π) 1 - Assign 6 In the same figure, an example of the alpha dot ``工'' is shown. The data is t-structure H, and everything else is @0''.

Similarly, for other characters, numbers, etc., 48 bytes are allocated each including the space between characters before and after the character data.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

In the above-mentioned conventional type, even if the space between one character is stored, the memory capacity becomes large and it is difficult to store it in one piece. In particular, for thin fonts like the alphabet ``工'', the spaces between the letters accounted for most of the font, and the memory circuit was wasted.

The present invention eliminates the waste of memory circuits and reduces the memory capacity.

[The tth way to solve the problem]

The present invention stores character data in a first storage circuit without including spaces between characters, stores the first address of each character data in the first storage circuit in a second storage circuit, and stores character data before and after the character data. At least 2 of the number of character spacing columns and the number of character data columns are to be stored.

〔Example〕

In Fig. 1, 1 is a print data input source, and 2 is a first storage circuit consisting of a ROM.The circuit shown in Fig. 2 stores each character data in a 2-byte column, excluding spaces between characters. A storage circuit w,2 (hereinafter referred to as a data table) consisting of a 63FiROM with The start address of the character data in the storage circuit 2 is stored.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a print buffer consisting of a RAM, which buffers the character data corresponding to the print data, including spaces before and after the print. , 5 is a Cpa that performs various controls; a register 58 that is read from the data table 3 and stores the number of space columns before t and the number of space columns after t; a register c that stores the start address of g 5 ds; . ,
) 5ty, down counter (hereinafter referred to as L counter) S to which the number of character data rows is preset
It has c s.

In the CPυ5, there is a print data/address converter 5e that converts the print data into the corresponding address of the data table 5, and a print buffer write pointer (below DA, W pointer and W pointer) that specifies the address of the print buffer 4. ) 5f'. 6 is a print drive section.

Next, the operation will be explained with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 3. From the print data input source 1, for example, alphabet
'' is supplied, and the address of the table data of "A" in the data table 3 is calculated by the print data/address converter 5e. As a result, the table data of raJ is stored in registers 5a and 5d in CpUs.

The R pointer 5b is written into the L counter 50.

Therefore, first, the number of previous space columns in the register 5a is added to the W pointer 5f. 1, the previous space is made available in the print buffer 4, then the P pointer 5bVc
The data at the start address a6 of rAJ, that is, the first tally of the character data of "A", which is indicated by the process, is retrieved into the print buffer 4 at the position indicated by the W pointer 5f. When this writing is completed, the R pointer 5b is incremented, the W pointer 5fe is incremented by one, and the L pointer 5b is incremented by one.
Decrement the counter by 5ct. Thus raJ
The second column of character data in print buffer 4J
c″ is written.

This operation is repeated, and the L counter S, a, becomes 0.
That is, when all the character data of "A" is written into the print buffer 4, the number of space columns after is added to the W pointer 5f, and the W pointer points to the first position tt- of the next character.

The character data of "raJ" is inserted into the print buffer 4 with a space between characters before and after it.

When the next print data is supplied from the print data input source 1, the character data is written into the print buffer 4 with a space between characters before and after the character data in the same manner as described above.

When one line of character data is written into the print buffer 4 as described above, the contents are sequentially read out and supplied to the print drive section 6, where printing is performed. This printing operation is the same as the conventional one, so a description thereof will be omitted.

° In the above example, the character data is buffered in the print buffer with the number of inter-character space columns 177
Next, an example in which the print buffer is not retained will be described.

@4 In the figure, 7 is a data buffer that stores print data as it is, 5g is a data buffer pointer (hereinafter referred to as 'D pointer) that specifies the address of data buffer 7, and 5h is read from data buffer 7. This is a galactor counter (hereinafter referred to as a C counter) that counts the number of print data. Reference numeral 51 is a refined bin drive pulse generator for driving the print bin.

The same numbers as in FIG. 1 indicate the same things.

Next, the operation will be explained with reference to chart 70 in FIG.

First, the D pointer 5g is cleared and the first address of the data buffer 7 is specified. Then, the print data is supplied from the print data input source 1 to the print data t-a P U 5, and it is determined whether or not this is a print command. If NO, it is print data, so it is sent to the data buffer indicated by the D pointer 5g. Write to address 7. When this writing is completed, the D pointer 5gt is incremented by one to designate the next address in the data buffer 7, and the next print data is stored there.

This operation is repeated to sequentially store print data until the data buffer 7 is full. When a print command is supplied, the 0 counter 5h? Clear and specify the first address of data buffer 7. Then, the rad carriage for printing is started, and the bin drive pulse generators s and i1 are started.

Next, the print data indicated by the a counter 5h is fetched from the data buffer into the CPU 5, and the print data/address converter 5e calculates 1 tornu of the table data corresponding to the print data. In exactly the same way as in the example, the corresponding table data is stored in register 5.
It is written to the a, sa, p pointers 5b and L counter 5C.

Then, the bin drive pulses are counted by the number of front space rows in the register 5a, and during this period, the print bin is not driven and the print head is advanced by the number of front space rows.

Therefore, the first column of character data in the memory circuit 2, indicated by the R pointer 5b, is taken into a register in the CPU 5 (.) (not shown). When the next bin drive pulse is generated, the data of the first column is supplied to the print drive unit 6 to perform printing.

After completing the stamping in the first column, the R pointer 5b is incremented by one, the L counter 5ce is decremented by one, and the data is recorded in the second column f rHP U 5. The second column is printed by the next bin drive pulse.

This operation is repeated, and when all columns of character data are read out and the contents of the L counter 5c become 0, the register 5c
Count the bin drive pulses by the number of trailing space columns in a and send the print head.

This completes the printing of one character.

Next, the Ω counter 5he is incremented by one to designate the next print booter in the data buffer 7. below,
The operations following ``■'' in FIG. 5 are performed again to print the next character.

In this way, printing is performed sequentially based on the print data in the data buffer 7, and when the contents of the 0 counter 5h match the contents of the D pointer 5g, all the print data in the data buffer 7a is read out. , the head carriage and the bin drive pulses are stopped to feed the paper.

In the above embodiment, a case will be described in which 7 is used in a printer, and t displays characters etc. on a 01'IT display. It can also be used in cases. .

'! 'ft-5fm The sum of the number of space columns, the number of character data columns, and the number of trailing space columns is unusually constant, so one of them can be calculated by calculation, and only two of them can be calculated. may be stored.

Furthermore, the fully proportional mode, in which the space between characters is adjusted according to the degree of the character, can be easily realized by appropriately setting the number of spaces before and after each character.

You can enter not only single words, but also idioms and sentences.

Furthermore, it can be applied not only to characters but also to various symbols, figures, etc.

〔effect〕

The feature of the present invention is to store a plurality of character data in the first memory circuit without including spaces between characters, and to store the start address of this character data, the number of preceding space columns, and the number of character data columns. Since at least two of the number of rear space columns and the number of rear space columns are stored in the second storage circuit, the storage capacity can be reduced to a greater extent than in the past, and it is also advantageous in terms of cost.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

tx1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the memory contents of the main part in Figure 1 in detail, and Figure 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of Figure 1. Figure 4 shows another embodiment. Block diagram 1. Figure 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of Figure 4, m6
The figure is an explanatory diagram showing the storage state of a conventional character generator. 2...First memory circuit 3...Second memory circuit or higher

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A first storage circuit that stores a plurality of character data representing letters, numbers, etc. without including spaces between characters; It consists of a second memory circuit that stores the leading address and also stores at least two of the number of front space columns, the number of character data columns, and the number of rear space columns, and based on the data in this second memory circuit. , a character generator characterized in that a desired spatial space is provided before and after each character data.