JPS6129013B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a dot printer used as an output device of an information processing device, and is intended to improve the efficiency of information transfer from an external device to a line buffer of the printer.

Figure 1 A, B, and C show the state of characters actually printed by the printer. A is an example of 10 standard characters, that is, characters of standard size, and
This is an example in which nine standard characters and one large-sized character are printed. C is an example printed in enlarged mode, consisting of 9 enlarged characters and 1 large-sized character. In the case of kanji characters such as the character "dai" in the printing example of the ordinary square map, the height of the character is the same as that of the standard character, but the horizontal direction is twice the size of the standard character. The generator also stores the pattern in large letters. Enlarged characters are stored in the character generator as standard character patterns, but when printing, the same dot is printed twice in the horizontal direction, so the enlarged characters are also twice as wide as the standard characters. . Enlarged characters are used for headings, for example, and when printed in enlarged mode, enlarged characters and standard characters are not mixed, and all of the lines are printed as enlarged characters.

In the line buffer, one standard character is assigned to one address, so when it is a standard character, there is a one-to-one correspondence between the character position actually printed on the paper and the address in the line buffer, and it is possible to print in the forward direction as well. There is no problem with so-called bidirectional printing, in which printing is performed while moving backward from the right side to the left side. However, in the enlarged mode, each character code is stored in the line buffer in the arrangement shown in Figure 2 A, and
If the information in A indicates the position to be printed in the enlarged mode, there is no one-to-one correspondence between the address of each character information in the line buffer and the position where it is actually printed. Therefore, especially when printing in reverse, the burden of layout work becomes heavy so that each character is printed in the correct position. To reduce this burden, it is a good idea to store the actual printing position in correspondence with the actual printing position during line buffering.As a countermeasure, it is recommended that both enlarged and large characters be exactly twice the size of standard characters. It is effective to write two character codes with the same contents in succession to two adjacent addresses of the line buffer as shown in (c). According to this, when printing from left to right, the left code of two identical character codes is read and enlarged, and when printing from right to left, the right code is read and enlarged. Since the data is read out and printed in an enlarged manner, there is substantially a one-to-one correspondence between the address of the character code in the line buffer and the corresponding print position.

However, when information is received from the outside, it is necessary to decode whether each character is an enlarged character or a large character to which enlargement processing is not applied, and write it to each line buffer while editing. Since the transfer rate is not constant, the processing is complicated and time-consuming, and the transfer efficiency is significantly reduced.

The purpose of the present invention is to effectively solve this problem, and for this purpose, when receiving data, the present invention writes all the characters as standard characters of the same size to the line buffer, and also writes the actual character string of one line. It also stores auxiliary data such as the width of the image, the number of large characters, and the total number of characters transferred, and after data reception is complete, the line buffer size can be changed and character modes can be distinguished based on this information. A method is adopted in which editing such as adding flags is performed and the data is re-stored in the line buffer.

Next, an embodiment of the method of the present invention will be described based on the drawings. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the structure of a dot printer for implementing the method of the present invention. 1 is a work memo, which includes an enlargement mode flag 2 that stores whether or not enlargement is specified, a character code counter 3 that counts and stores the number of received characters, and a count and stores the actual line width after expansion. a buffer size counter 4 that counts and stores the number of large characters to which enlargement processing cannot be applied, a line buffer 6 that stores the contents of the received character code, and the size of the character for each character code, that is, the enlarged character. A sub-buffer 7 for flags is provided to store a flag for identifying whether the characters are large characters, large characters, or standard characters.

Information received from an external device such as a computer is written into the working memory 1 via an interface circuit 8. Reference numeral 9 denotes an arithmetic processing unit that performs processing such as counter operation in the working memory 1, writing to a line buffer, and editing. 10 is a processing program memory in which a series of processing procedures is stored. 11 is a printer control circuit, and work memory 1
Based on the information read from the printer, the line feed motor 11, space motor 13, and print head 14 are driven to perform printing.

In this apparatus, the information received and once written into the working memory 1 is edited as shown in FIG. 4 before being output to the printer control section 11. A in this figure is the character code received from the outside.
This is edited as shown in FIG. 2 according to the method explained in FIG. 2 and stored in the line buffer 6 again.

C is a sub-buffer for flags having a flag storage section corresponding to each address of the line buffer B, the first bit indicated by 15 is an enlarged character flag, and the second bit indicated by 16 is a large character flag. In other words, the first bit 15 is “1” and 2
If the 1st bit 16 is "0", it indicates an enlarged character, and if the 1st bit 15 is "0" and the 2nd bit 16 is "1", it indicates a large-sized character. Furthermore, if both the 1st and 2nd bits are "0", it indicates a standard character, but since the enlargement operation is performed line by line, enlarged characters and standard characters will not coexist in one line. . In the edited state as shown in (b) and (c), the line buffer 6' and flag sub-buffer 7 are read out, patterned by a character generator, and printed.

Next, the editing operation based on the received information will be explained in the order of FIGS. 5, 6, and 7. First of all, the fifth
As shown in the figure, the received information is sent to the input buffer 17.
The information is stored in each part of the working memory 1 through the operation of the arithmetic processing device 9. That is, the contents of the character information are sequentially written into the line buffer 6. Each time one character is received at the same time, the character number counter 3 is incremented by 1, and the number of received characters is calculated and the address of the line buffer 6 into which each character code is written is designated. The buffer size counter 4 has
For standard characters, +1 is added, and for enlarged and large characters, +2 is added, and the actual size of the line buffer is specified and managed, taking into account enlarged and large characters. The large-sized character counter 5 adds up the number of large-sized characters in the input information, and provides the added value for processing when an enlargement designation code is received.

Character enlargement is performed line by line, but the enlargement designation code may be received in the middle of one line or at the end. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, when the enlargement designation code is received and the enlargement mode flag 2 is set to "1", the value of the large character counter 5 (C) is changed from the value of the buffer size counter 4 (C). After changing the buffer size to the actual size (C') through the arithmetic processing of subtracting m) and doubling it, the buffer size counter 4
Rewrite. That is, as shown in Fig. 4A, there are n character codes in the line buffer 6, and m
If the number of large characters is included, the print width will be (n+m) digits because the large character requires the width of two standard characters. To enlarge this according to the enlargement mode and perform enlarged printing as shown in Figure 1 (c), since enlargement is not applied to large characters, the width of the print line, that is, the width of the line buffer, C', is C' = {( n + m) - 2 x m} x 2 + 2 x m = 2 (n + m) - 4 m + 2 m = 2 (C - m) Here, C = n + m: Print width before enlargement Therefore, the enlarge mode flag is set to "1" first. If set, buffer size counter 4
is incremented by +2 each time one character code is received, and if the expansion mode flag is set to "1" in the middle, the buffer size is changed as described above, and from then on each time one character code is received, the buffer size is increased by +2. +2
are added in increments. As a result, the actual final address of the line buffer 6 after expansion processing can be determined from the value of the buffer size counter 4.

In this way, writing to the working memory 1 and counter operations are performed in parallel with the reception of information, and print command signals such as carriage return and line feed (paper feed) signals are received, and information for one line is received. Once completed, the line buffer is edited in the dot printer as described in FIG.
FIG. 7 shows details of the editing operation, where 6 is the line buffer before editing, and 6' is the line buffer after editing. Now, assuming that the value of the character number counter 3 indicates the a position of the line buffer 6 and the buffer size counter 4 indicates the b position, in order to make the width of the line buffer correspond to the width of the actual printed line, From position b of the final address indicated by the buffer size counter 4 toward the address on the left side of the figure, the contents of the line buffer 6 are transferred to the line buffer 6' and rewritten. At this time, since the enlargement mode flag 2 is set, the same character code is transferred twice, and the addresses of the line buffer 6' after editing are made to correspond one-to-one with the actual printed lines. Also, at this point, the flag sub-buffer 7 stores a flag in the first bit 15 for enlarged characters and in the second bit 16 for large characters, according to the result of reading and decoding the line buffer 6 by the arithmetic processing unit 9. Set.
As mentioned above, when editing the line buffer,
If you transfer from the final address b position in the direction of arrow 17, you can sequentially rewrite from the empty address, but if you rewrite from the left end of the figure, 2
After the digit, the old information before editing will be lost. Therefore, by rewriting from a vacant address, the same memory can be rewritten and one memory can be used for both purposes, thereby saving memory capacity.

As described above, according to the present invention, unlike the conventional method of editing according to the enlargement designation code while receiving information, one line of information is received and written to the line buffer, and the reception of one line is completed. A method is adopted in which the line buffer is edited in the printer so that the actual address after expansion of the line buffer corresponds to the printing position, and then the edited line buffer is read out and printed. This improves the information transfer efficiency when receiving information from outside, especially when the expansion designation code is in the middle.
Alternatively, when it comes to the end of one line, the efficiency is remarkable compared to the conventional method, which performs complicated editing processing during reception.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing characters in various modes printed by a dot printer, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the relationship between character code addresses in the line buffer and actual enlarged character printing positions, and Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the relationship between the character code address in the line buffer and the actual enlarged character printing position. Block diagram showing a dot printer for implementation, No. 4
5 is a diagram showing a line buffer editing method according to the present invention, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an information receiving operation, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a buffer size changing process, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a line buffer editing method. In the figure, 1 is a working memory, 8 is an interface circuit, 9 is an arithmetic processing unit, 10 is a processing program memory, and 11 is a printer control circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a dot printer that has a line buffer for storing character codes and prints the received and stored character codes sequentially from the line buffer, when information is received, all characters are written in the line buffer as characters of the same size, and one line's worth of characters is written. A method for receiving and printing information in a dot printer, characterized in that, after receiving the information, the character code in the line buffer is edited and rewritten so that each address in the line buffer corresponds to the actual printing position based on the enlargement designation code. .