JPS62199477A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable printing to be performed in a readily understandable manner in every form size by updating a means to read out documentary information from a storage means in accordance with the vertical and horizontal sizes of paper and recording a printed image divided in plural sections of a form size. CONSTITUTION:When printing data for A size of m lines X n digits is printed on an A4 size form, a character code of a page buffer 1 is read out on instructions of a line counter GCNT and a digit counter KCNT of RAM 7, and is converted at a font memory 2. After this, the converted code is transmitted to a printing section 3, thus performing printing. Next, when a count value of the digit counter KCNT reaches PKSZ, i.e. the number of characters equivalent to a single line, 'return' and 'line feed' operations take place. When a line value of the line counter GCNT reaches PGST and the printing of a single page of A4 size ends, 'feed page' instruction is output. Next, printing of the second page is performed. Thus, a paper of smaller size than a form size for printing data can be printed in readily understandable manner.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a recording device, and particularly to a recording device that eliminates missing or uneven print data even when the amount of print data for one page is larger than the paper size for printing. The present invention relates to a recording device that can record data.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in recording devices and printing devices such as printers, the maximum paper size that can be printed has varied depending on the product, for example, from about A4 size to paper size several meters square. , there is a wide variety. Therefore, these recording devices with different paper sizes coexist in the same office.
When used by the same user, the user needs to use these recording devices properly depending on the paper size to be recorded. In this case, for example, if the user wants to print data corresponding to a large paper size on a small paper size printing device, the user must change the program on the host computer that generates the print data to adapt the print data to the small paper size. It was necessary to perform a complicated process to convert the image into a correct format before printing. If you try to print on a small paper size printer using print data created for a large paper size without performing this step, the print result may be incorrect due to missing print data or data inconsistency. It becomes difficult to see.

FIG. 4 and FIGS. 5(a) and 5(b) are diagrams for explaining examples of printing by such a conventional printing device.

FIG. 4 shows an example of printing when print data created for, for example, paper size A3 is printed on a full sheet of paper using a printer capable of printing on A3 size paper. This print data is generated on the host computer side and sent to this printing device as a character code data string and printed.
FIGS. 5(a) and 5(b) show an example in which printing is performed by sending to a printing device that can print only on paper of the same size.

FIG. 5(a) ignores differences in paper size and shows an example of printing by a normal printing device in which character strings larger than the paper size in each line are not printed. This has the disadvantage that, of the print data shown in FIG. 4, only the character strings corresponding to the left half of the page are printed, and the character strings on the right half are omitted. Furthermore, Fig. 5(b) shows an example of printing by a printing device of the type that prints the print data that protrudes from the paper to be printed, that is, A4 size paper, by automatically returning to the original position, starting a new line or starting a new page, etc. Something,
There is no missing print data as shown in Figure 5(a), but the 4th
The character string for one line in the figure is divided into two lines and printed, and the fourth
Since the character strings in the upper half of the diagram and the character strings in the lower half of the diagram are printed as different pages, there is a drawback that the printed results are difficult to see.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example, and provides a recording device that can print on paper smaller than the paper size of the print data without making it difficult to see due to missing or uneven data. The purpose is to provide

[Means for solving the problem] As a means for solving this problem, for example, the recording apparatus of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 has a page buffer 1 as a storage means,
PKSZ of the printing section 3 of the recording means and the RAM 7 of the storage means
, PGSZ and the row counter GCN of RAM7 of the reading means.
T and a digit counter KCNT.

[Operation] In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, input document information is stored in a page buffer having a capacity for at least one page. The document information of page buffer 1 is stored in RAM 7 of control unit 4.
The dot pattern is sequentially read out in correspondence with the line counter GCNT and digit counter KCNT, is converted into a dot pattern by the font memory 2, is sent to the printing section 3, and is recorded on paper. GCNT and KC instructing to read page buffer 1
NT is updated according to the paper size of the printing unit 3. For example, if the print data is <A3 size as shown in FIG. 4 and the paper size of the printing unit is A4 size, the first line is A4 size.
If you print "M" which corresponds to the width of the size, a line break will be made,
At the same time, GCNT is incremented by 1, and then the second line “abc
, , , etc. In this way, as shown in FIG. 6, the A3 size print data is printed on two pages of A4 size paper in the form of a double-page spread.

[Examples] Examples of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In this embodiment, for example, A3 size print data as shown in FIG. 4 is printed on two pages of A4 size paper in the form of a double-page spread as shown in FIG. By doing this, it is possible to obtain print output similar to printing on paper of the desired size by pasting the output sheets side by side or binding them in a binder etc. in the form of a double-page spread. It is.

[Block Diagram of Recording Apparatus (FIG. 1)] FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the recording apparatus of this embodiment.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a page buffer that stores at least one page of print data such as character codes sent from host computers such as various host computers via human input signal lines 11.

2 is a font memory which stores dot patterns of all types of characters that may be printed. When the font memory 2 is composed of ROM or RAM, each dot pattern is stored at an address corresponding to each character code. In this way, the font memory 2 outputs a character dot pattern corresponding to the character code data read from the page buffer 1.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a printing unit that mechanically or electrically records the character dot pattern read from the font memory 2 on a recording material and visualizes it. Such printing units include, for example, wire dot printers, which drive wires corresponding to each dot based on the dot pattern read from the font memory 2, and also move the print head and perform paper feeding operations. It has a well-known mechanism for performing printing operations for one page.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a control unit which specifies the address of the character code to be printed in the page buffer 1, sequentially reads out the character code, converts it into a dot pattern in the font memory 2, and sends it to the printing unit 3. The control unit 4 that performs various controls for performing printing operations in this manner includes a CPU 5 that performs logical operations and other controls, a ROM 6 that stores control programs and data for the CPU 5, and various counters that will be described later. R, which also temporarily stores data, etc.
It is equipped with AM7.

Based on the print data in the page buffer 1, the CPU 5
The size of the print data is determined by the number of lines per page and the number of digits of characters, respectively, and the line number memory (BGS) for one page in RAM7.
Z) and stored in the character digit number memory (BKS Z). Further, the paper size of the printing unit 3 is input through the signal line 10 and stored in the paper line size memory (PGSZ) and paper character digit size memory (PKSZ) of the RAM 7, respectively. Furthermore, as counters for reading character codes from page buffer 1, a line number counter (GCNT) and a digit number counter (K
CNT) is provided in the RAM.

[Explanation of Printing Operation (Figs. 2 and 3)] Fig. 3 is a flowchart of the printing operation in which data of a large paper size is divided and printed on multiple small sheets of paper in the control program of the CPU 5 of this embodiment. It is.

In this embodiment, a case will be described in which the print data for A3 size paper shown in FIG. 2 is printed on 20,212 sheets of A4 size paper. As is clear from the figure, the print data created for A3 size is composed of m lines x n digits.

First, before printing, the CPU 5 sets a line counter GCNT to 1 in step S1, and sets a digit counter KCNT to 1 in step S2.

Also, based on the print data of page buffer 1, RAM7
The number of lines m for one page of print data is in BGSZ of BKSZ.
The number of character digits is set to 2n, and from the paper size of the printing unit 3, the number of lines that can be printed on one page is m for PGSZ.
The number n of characters in one line is set in SZ.

In step S3, the character code of the page buffer 1 specified by GCNT and KCNT is read out, converted into a dot pattern by the font memory 2, and sent to the printing section 3 for printing.

In step S4, the digit counter KCNT is incremented by 1. In step S5, the value of KCNT is compared with the value indicated by PKSZ (in this case n), and if the number of characters that can be printed in one line is not reached, the process returns to step S3 again and the above-described operation is repeated.

When the number of characters for one line is reached in step S5, the process advances to step S6, and a return/line feed command (CR/LF) is sent to the printing section 3. In step S7, the row counter GCNT is incremented by 1,
In step S8, the value of GCNT and PGSZ (here m
) to see if the number of lines that can be printed on one page has been reached. If m rows have not been reached, the process returns to step S2 and the above-described operation is repeated.

When printing for one page of A4 size is completed, the process advances to step S9, and a page change command is output to the printing unit 3. This allows the second
This means that the left half 20 of the figure is printed on A4 size paper.

Step SIO and subsequent steps are steps for performing a printing operation on the right half of an A3 size sheet. GC in step S10
NT is set to 1, and KCNT is set to P in step S11.
A number (n+1 in this case) is set by adding 1 to the contents of KSZ. In step S12, the character code of page buffer 1 specified by GCNT and KCNT is read out and printed in the same manner as in step S3.

In step 513, KC is used to specify the next character code.
NT is incremented by 1, and in step S14 it is checked whether KCNT has reached the number of characters for one line of print data. Here, since it is known that the print data is printed within two sheets of paper, KCNT can be compared with the number of characters BKSZ for one line of print data.

If the number of characters in one line has not been reached, the process returns to step S12 and repeats the above-mentioned operation, but if the number of characters in one line has been reached, the process proceeds to step S15, where a return and line feed command (CR/L) is executed.
F) is output to the printing section 3.

In step S16, GCNT is incremented by 1, and in step S17
Check whether the number of lines has reached the number of lines for one page. If the number of lines for one page has not been reached, the process returns to step Sll and repeats the above-mentioned operation. When printing of one page is completed, the process returns to step S1.
The process proceeds to step 8, where a page change command is output to the printing section 3, and the process ends.

In this way, by updating the reading order of the character code data stored in page buffer 1 in accordance with the paper size and print data size, the original print data can be divided into left and right parts and printed over two pages, for example. I can do it.

[Description of other embodiments (Figures 7 to 9)] In this example, print data for a large paper size is divided into print data for a small paper size and printed on multiple pages. However, when printing each divided page, by outputting predetermined code data from an address position in page buffer 1 that is predetermined according to the paper size for printing, the edge of each page can be printed. It is also possible to print desired page numbers on the pages, etc., to facilitate page organization after printing.

FIG. 7 shows an example of the printing. In the figure, 70.71 is a page number.

Furthermore, due to mechanical problems with the printing unit 3, there are many cases in which printing is not possible to the very edge of the paper, resulting in a certain amount of blank space. When two pages divided and outputted by such a device are to be pasted side by side, it is necessary to overlap the paper edges or cut the paper edges and paste them together. For positioning at that time, positioning marks such as those shown at 80 to 83 in FIG. 8 may be printed at predetermined positions.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the case where print data for A3 size is divided into two sheets of A4 size paper and output is explained, but the paper size is not limited to this, and any size can be printed using the same method. The data may be divided by the number of characters and lines that can be printed by the printing unit and printed on a plurality of sheets of paper.

This is shown in Figures 9(a) and (b), and Figure 9(a)
) divides the print data 90 for 6 pages of A4 size into 6 parts,
An example is shown in which printing is performed over six pages as shown in 91 to 96 in FIG. 9(b).

As explained above, according to this embodiment, data loss or data misalignment will not occur even for print data of a paper size larger than the paper size used.
Print data can be easily divided into print paper sizes and printed on multiple sheets.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, there is an effect that it is possible to print in an easy-to-read manner even on paper smaller than the paper size of the print data.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a recording device according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a diagram explaining the printing operation of this embodiment, Fig. 3 is a flowchart of the printing operation, and Fig. 4 is A3 size print data. 5(a) and 5(b) are diagrams for explaining an example of printing by a conventional recording device. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of printing by this embodiment. 8
The figure shows an example of printing according to another embodiment of the invention, and FIGS. 9(a) and 9(b) are diagrams showing an example of divided printing according to another embodiment of the invention. In the figure, 1... page buffer, 2... font memory, 3... printing section, 4... control section, 5... CPU
, 6...ROM, 7...RAM. Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 4 Fig. 6 Fig. 71'

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A storage means for inputting and storing at least one page of document information, a reading means for reading the document information from the storage means, and a record for recording the document information read by the reading means on a sheet of paper. and a storage means for storing the vertical and horizontal sizes of the paper, the reading means is updated in accordance with the vertical and horizontal sizes of the paper, and the recording means stores a plurality of print images of the document information in the paper size. A recording device characterized in that divided images are recorded on the paper. (2) The reading means includes a line specifying means for specifying the read line of the document information, and a character digit specifying means for specifying the character position,
Claim 1, wherein the character digit designation means is initialized when the horizontal size of the paper is reached, and the line designation means is updated corresponding to the initialization of the character digit designation means. recording device. (3) The recording device according to claim 1, wherein the recording device has a code interface section that can be connected to various hosts.