JPS61209169A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To permit connection of a printer for high-density printing by changing density without a drastic change in program and to enable printing with a smaller device by adding operation codes in the beginning or etc. of host computer program. CONSTITUTION:A mode control controls five modes such as native mode, actual size mode and etc. that are designated by operation codes being put in, and, once a mode is designated, the mode is fixed until the next mode is designated. And, CG font designation command is put in. In a pitch conversion control unit 13 initializations of respective modes other than the CG front are stored, and the control unit 13 puts out initializations of modes designated at respective inputs of operation codes, and, if control commands are put in, character pitch and line pitch designating commands are converted or reduced in accordance with the modes that are controlled by the mode control 17, and they are put out by dot unit to the printing unit 19.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a printing device that performs printing based on data from a host device such as a computer.

In particular, the present invention relates to a printing device that can be replaced with a printer having a different dot density.

[Prior art]

So-called impact printers, which mechanically print characters by hitting a ribbon on paper, have been used as a standard computer output terminal device for many years. The printing density of this impact printer is 180 dots per inch, and printing is performed using usually 24 pins.

On the other hand, so-called non-impact printers that do not perform mechanical printing are capable of high-speed printing, and are also capable of obtaining high-quality printed images due to the high density of, for example, 240 dots per inch. Therefore, these non-impact printers are now being used instead of impact printers.

[Problems with conventional technology]

However, simply connecting a printer that prints at a density of 240 dots per inch to a host computer that controls a printer that prints at a print density of 180 dots/inch, which has been used in the past, causes problems.

For example, a host computer controlling a conventional printer has a density of 240 dots per inch and a density of 24
If a printer with a recording means (hereinafter indicated by font) that configures 24-dot printing is connected, the characters printed by the 180-dot/inch printer shown in Fig. 2(a) will be the same as those shown in Fig. 2('b). Each character is 3/ as shown in
The characters will be reduced to 4. In addition, when printing is controlled by the so-called designation signal cp1, LPI, which specifies the number of characters or lines per inch, as shown in Figure (C), the spacing between each character is not reduced and only the characters remain. is reduced, and the reduced characters are spaced apart, resulting in printing that is extremely difficult to read. Another example.

32 X per character with a density of 240 dots/inch
If a printer with a font with a 32-dot printing configuration is connected to the host computer, the size of one character is 18.
It will be the same as printed by a 0 dot/inch printer. However, when the 9-character spacing is specified in units of dots, if you print according to the host computer's instructions, adjacent characters may overlap each other and become unprintable, or they may be extremely close to each other as shown in Figure (d). This results in printing that is very difficult to read.

Therefore, in order to replace a low-density printer with a high-density printer and print in the same format with the same character size, it is necessary to significantly change the program of the host computer.

In addition, 9 normal printers use 280 dragons (11 inches) as form paper for printing the output of the host computer.
X380 VA (15 inch) paper is often used. The format for printing on such form paper is 1.
If you try to print with a printer using 84 size (257 m x 364 fl) paper in the same format as this, with 136 characters and 66 lines, Figure 3 (a),
As shown in (b), since both paper sizes are different, there is a drawback that information for one page of form paper cannot fit within one page of B4 size.

[Purpose of the invention]

In view of the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, the present invention makes it possible to connect a high-density printing device without significantly changing the program of a host computer, etc., which is supposed to connect a conventional low-density printing printer. Furthermore, even if the printer uses cut sheets, one form paper can be stored in one page of required B4 size or A4 size paper.
The object of the present invention is to provide a printing device that can store information to be printed within a page.

[Key points of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is capable of printing based on control information for printers having different dot densities, and is capable of printing characters of a plurality of sizes including characters of the same size as the characters printed by the printers having different dot densities. In a printing device capable of printing.

By selecting characters of the same size as the characters printed by the printer with a different dot density and converting the pitch specification information in dot units included in the control information, the format is the same as that printed by the printer with a different dot density. A first mode of printing in the format of .

A second method for printing in a specific format by fixing the character size and pitch to specific values regardless of the control information.
and a third mode in which input control information is printed without any conversion, and each of the modes is selectable.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 has a function of printing at a density of 240 dots per inch, and has a CG (character generator) font section 112, character size control section 12. Bi, 7chi conversion control unit 1
FIG. 3 is a circuit block diagram of a printing apparatus according to the present invention, which is composed of three components.

The data input to the I/F (interface) section 14 from a host device (not shown) is an operation code (a command specifying a mode, which will be described later).

The input data, including control commands and character codes, is once stored in the communication buffer 15 and then outputted to the command analysis unit 16 for each page of data.

The command analysis section 16 includes a mode management section 17. A pitch conversion control section 137, a character size control section 129, and a character control section 18 are connected, and data inputted from the I/F section is selected and outputted to each of the above-mentioned predetermined sections.

The above-mentioned operation code is input to the mode management section, which manages the following five modes specified by the operation code: native mode, actual size mode, reduced mode, B4 form mode, and A4 $I form mode, and once the operation When a mode is designated by a code, the mode is fixed until the first mode is designated.

Each mode will be explained here.

Native mode is a mode when connecting this printing device to a host device assuming that the printing density of the connected printer is 240 dots/inch, and the control code and character code of the input data are Printing is performed without any conversion or conversion.

Table 1 The default setting in native mode is landscape horizontal printing, and other initial settings vary depending on the paper size used.The initial settings for B4 size, A4 size, and B5 size are 9. For example, as shown in Table 1 above. The character pitch and line feed pitch are specified and executed using font B, font A, and font B, which will be described later. (The printing effective area and each pinch unit are dots).

Next, the actual size mode will be explained. Even if the host device is intended to be connected to a printer with a print density of 180 dots/inch, the actual size mode requires changing the program of the host device by adding an operation code that specifies the 1-line mode. This mode allows a 240 dot/inch printing device to print in the same character size and form as that printed by the printer.

Next, in the reduction mode, even if the host device is intended to be connected to a 180 dot/inch printer, by specifying this mode in the operation code, the printing format of the 180 dot/inch printer can be reduced to 3/4 as it is. The size ratio of an A4 cut sheet and a B4 cut sheet is about 3/4, so the format that a printer with an original 180 dots/inch prints within 84 sizes is A4 size. This is a mode that allows you to print by reducing the size of the image.

Next, the B4tfL table mode is a mode in which the content printed on one page of 280 m (11 inches) x 380 van (15 inches) form paper is stored in a B4 cut sheet, and this mode is specified with an operation code. By doing so, landscape horizontal writing printing is specified, and the font to be used, character pinch, and line feed pitch are selected as shown in Table 2 below.

Table 2 Next, the A4 book mode is a mode in which the content printed on one page of form paper is stored on an A4 cut sheet, and by specifying this mode with the operation code, landscape horizontal printing is specified. The character pitch and line feed pitch of the font to be used are selected as shown in Table 3 below.

Table 3 A CG font designation command is input to the pinch conversion control unit 13.

In addition, the pinch conversion control unit 13 stores initial settings other than CG fonts in each mode as commands that specify each initial setting, and outputs the initial settings of the mode specified by the input operation code each time an operation code is input. , when a control command is input, the character pitch adjustment command and line pinch specification command (together referred to as pitch specification command) included in the control command are converted or converted according to the mode managed by the mode management section 17 described above, and the dot It is output to the print control section 19 in units. Note that control commands unrelated to each mode are output to the print control section 19 without being converted in any way.

The character size control section 12 specifies the font of the CG font section 11 according to the mode managed by the mode management section 17. The CG font unit 11 converts character codes and character pattern data.

When a character code is input from the character control section 18, a dot pattern of a character corresponding to the character code is output from the font specified by the character size control section 12.

The CG font section 11 has font A as a built-in font,
It has a 2N type font of font B, and the character types of font A and font B are alphabets, numbers, and fonts, respectively.
Katakana, special characters, and simple graph ink.

Also, the body face composition (width x height) of font A is 1
It is 6 x 24 dots, and the body face composition of font B is 20 x 4 dots.

As an externally connected font, a Kanji font with a body face of 24 x 24 dots can be used alone or in combination with two
It is possible to connect two types of fonts: a kanji font with a body face of 4 x u dots and a kanji font with a body face of 32 x 32 dots.

Also, if a 32 x 32 kanji font is to be specified and a 32 x 32 kanji font is not connected to the CG font unit 11, a 24 x 24 kanji font is specified.

The 4/3x circuit 20, which will be described later, is designated to execute a "4/3x enlargement method", which will be described later.

Also, when a font to be used is specified by the command analysis section 16 in native mode, the specified font is used as the CG font section (however, if a font is specified in other modes, it is ignored and the mode ).

A character code is input from the command analysis unit 19 to the character control unit 18, and the 8-character control unit 18 outputs the above-mentioned character code to the CG font unit 11, and the CG font unit 11 uses the font specified by the character size control unit 18. Convert the character code to dot pattern data corresponding to the character code 4
/3 output to the circuit 20.

The 4/3 multiplication circuit 20 is controlled by the character size control unit 12 to
If execution of "3x enlargement method" is specified, "4/3" described later
Double enlargement method j is executed to enlarge the 24 x 24 dot pattern data to 32 x 32 dot pattern data and output it to the character control section 18.

If execution is not specified, the input pattern data is output as is to the character control unit 18.

The print control section 19 forms a print signal based on the control command output from the pitch conversion control section 13 and the tone pattern data output from the one-character control section 18, and outputs it to the print section 21.

The printing unit 21 prints on printing paper according to the above-mentioned printing signal.

Next, the processing in the pitch conversion processing section will be explained with reference to FIG.

When data is input from the command analysis unit 16 (STI)
It is determined whether the data is an operation code (Sr2). If the input data is an operation code, a command that specifies the initial settings of the mode specified by that operation code is read and output (Sr
1). A command specifying initial settings is input to the print control unit 19, and the print control unit 19 normally processes (executes) the above-mentioned command (Sr1).

If the input data is not an operation code, the input data is a control command and the first step is to determine whether the current mode is native mode (5T5).
In the native mode, the input control command is normally processed by the print control unit 19.

In other words, in the native mode, input control commands are normally processed without any conversion.

If the current mode is not the native mode in Sr5, then it is determined whether the current mode is the book mode (including both B4 book mode and A4 book mode) (5T6), If so, check whether the input control command is a pinch specification command (including both character pitch specification command and line pitch specification command), whether it is a command that specifies the number of characters in one line, and the number of lines in one page. It is necessary to judge whether the command specifies the S
r7. Sr8.5T9), if YES, the input control command is not normally processed; if NO, the input control command is normally processed by the print control unit 19 (Sr1
).

If the current mode is not the ledger mode in Sr6 (
In other words, if the current mode is the actual size mode and the reduced mode), the input control command is the pinch ttt constant command (
(including both a character pinch designation command and a line pinch designation command) (5TIO), and if it is not a pitch designation command, the input command is normally processed by the print control unit 19 (Sr1).

If the input control command is a pitch specification command, it is necessary to determine whether the current mode is the actual size mode or not.5TI
I), if in actual size mode, determine whether the specification of the pitch specification command is specified in dot units 5T12),
When specifying in dot units, multiply the specified value by 4/3 (for example, if specifying 30 dots, multiply by 30x; 4/3-40 = 40
Convert to dot specification. As a result, the pitch is specified to be the same length as the printer's pitch of 180 dots/inch) (ST13), and is normally processed by the print control unit (Sr
1).

If it is not in dot units, it is converted into dot units <5T14) and is normally processed by the print control unit 19 (Sr1
).

In 5TII, if the current mode is not the actual size mode (that is, if the current mode is the reduced mode), it is determined whether the pitch specification command is specified in dot units (5T15), and if it is specified in dot units. The print control unit 19 performs normal processing.

If dot units are not specified, convert to dot units: 57
16), multiply the converted value in dots by 473 (ST
17), normally processed by the print control unit 19 (for example, 6CP
If specified as I or 6LPI, 240 /6-
40, a character pitch or a line pitch of 30 dots is specified, and the print control unit 19 normally processes it).

As for the mode before the first mode specification command is input, it is sufficient to configure the O8 to set the predetermined mode when the printing device is powered on. It is desirable that the mode is configured to be selectable between native mode and actual size mode.

Next, to explain the r4/3 times enlargement method j mentioned above, r
The 4/34/3 method is 2 as shown in Figure 6(a).
4 X 24 X output from 24 dot kanji CG
32 by enlarging the 24-dot dot pattern data 41
To create dot pattern data 42 of 32 dots, for example, a 3x3 dot pattern 41a is extracted as a block from 24x24 dot pattern data 41, as shown in the same publication.

If this block is the pattern shown in the figure, this pattern 41a is converted into a 4×4 dot pattern 42a. At this time, various types of 3×3 dot block patterns exist, and the number of patterns is 2q=512 types. Therefore, 4×4 dot patterns corresponding to the individual patterns are stored in the ROM and converted as necessary. A similar transformation is performed for each extracted block, and 6
By converting the four blocks, dot pattern data of 32 x 32 dots is created from dot pattern data of 24 x 24 dots.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained in detail above, according to the present invention, by adding an operation code to the beginning of the host computer program, it is possible to replace a conventional low-density printing printer with high-density printing without major program changes on the host computer. It is now possible to connect a printing device, and it is also possible to reduce the size of the print made by a conventional 1/180-inch 24-pin printer.
Furthermore, one page of information to be printed on the form paper is printed on the desired B.
It is also possible to fit it into a 4 size or A4 size cut sheet.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram of a printing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of conventional printing. Figure 3 is a diagram comparing the sizes of form paper and cut sheets. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the main part flow of the pitch conversion control block. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing character pitch, line pitch, and effective printing area. FIG. 6 is a diagram explaining the "4/3 times enlargement method." , 1...Printing paper. 2... Form paper. 3...B4 paper size. 4...A4 paper size. 31... Row pitch. 32...Character pitch. 33... Effective printing area vertical. 34... Effective printing area horizontal. 41...U x 24 dot pattern. 41a...3x3 dot pattern. 42...32 x 32 dot pattern. 42a...4x4 dot pattern patent Applicant: Casio Computer Co., Ltd. Same as above
Casio Electronic Industries Co., Ltd. Patent Attorney Dai
Yoshiyuki Suga Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 5 Figure 6 Cause (b)

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A printing device capable of printing based on control information for printers with different dot densities, and capable of printing characters of a plurality of sizes, including characters of the same size as those printed by the printers having different dot densities. In this step, by selecting characters of the same size as characters printed by the printer having a different dot density and converting pitch designation information in dot units included in the control information, the format to be printed by the printer having a different dot density is obtained. The first mode is to print in the same format as the above, and the second mode is to print in a specific format by fixing the character size and pitch to specific values regardless of the control information.
What is claimed is: 1. A printing device having a third mode in which input control information is printed without any conversion thereof, and each of the modes is selectable.