JPS63102955A - Character generator developing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable high-speed printing, by a construction wherein data is stored once per dot line in a buffer memory capable of high-speed development and the character data is developed in the buffer memory. CONSTITUTION:A control part 2 is so constructed as to be provided with a CG26 of an EPROM previously storing various sorts of character data corresponding to character codes and a buffer means (CG buffer) 30 which consists of a higher-speed random access memory compared with the CG26, stores character data read by not line by making access to the CG26, and develops the stored character data by bit. Namely, by a construction wherein the character data read by not line by making access to the CG26 is stored in the buffer means (CG buffer) 30 capable of high-speed development to be developed to the character data by bit in the buffer (CG buffer) 30, a high-speed printing is made possible.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] This is a development method for a character generator included in a printer device, which uses a highly integrated read-only memory (
In order to solve the problem that when directly expanding printed characters with a character generator consisting of EFROM, the characters are expanded at a low speed and the printing process takes a long time, the characters are stored in a buffer memory capable of high-speed expansion in dot line units. By configuring the printer to store data once and develop it into character data in this buffer memory, high-speed printing processing becomes possible.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a character generator development method that develops built-in character data in correspondence with a print head.

As one of the printer devices for data printing in various data processing devices, there is a print head in which a predetermined number of printing pins are arranged in the vertical direction, and a character generator (hereinafter referred to as CG) that contains various character data in advance. Do-no-do printers that print character data dot by dot have been put into practical use and are widely used.

In this dot printer device, it is necessary to access the CG using the character code transferred from the host device and develop character data corresponding to the character code from the CG, and this development time is greatly influenced by the access time of the CG. Become.

On the other hand, the amount of data to be processed has recently become enormous, and higher speed processing has become necessary, making it necessary to further shorten the printing processing time in such printers.

[Prior Art] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a conventional example, and FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a dot data development situation.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an outline of the configuration of the dot printer device 1, which includes a control section 2 for controlling the creation of character data to be printed and the printing processing operation, and a plurality of pins for processing character data in units of dots. , and a print head 3 for printing character data sent from the control section 2.

Further, the control unit 2 of this example includes a microprocessor (hereinafter referred to as MPU) 21 that controls various processing operations of the dot printer device 1 such as character data creation processing operations based on a control program, and a control unit used by the MPU 21. A memory (hereinafter referred to as C3) 22 that stores programs, etc., a code buffer address register 23 that sequentially sends out addresses of a code buffer 24, and characters that are transferred from a host device (not shown) via a common bus (al). A code buffer 24 that stores codes, a CG address register 25 that sends out the address (ADi) of the CG 26 corresponding to the character code, a CG 26 that stores various character data, and a predetermined expansion of printed characters from the CG 26. The print information register 27 is provided with a print information register 27 for reading out the expanded data and storing the expanded data.

The print head 3 has a print pin (b) as shown in FIG. 5(B).
) are arranged in the vertical direction, and printing is performed by driving a predetermined printing pin (b) according to the printed character.

FIG. 5(A) shows the contents of the CG 26 in the case of 16 dots (the kanji for "child" is shown as an example), and the CG address register 25 AD sets the horizontal row addresses (ADI to AD16).
Access is made sequentially from I to AD16.

Note that each of A01 to 8016 is hereinafter referred to as a dot line, and CLI to CL16 in the vertical direction indicate columns, and the data required by the print head 3 is this column information.

In the conventional CC expansion method, when CG26 is read, 1
The dot lines (ADI to AD16) are output, and from this data the print head 3 determines the vertical direction (CLl-CL
16).

That is, to create CLI data, specify ADI and read one dot line, expand the CLI bit from it, then specify AD2 and read one dot line,
By repeating the operation of expanding the bits of CL1 from among them 16 times, 16 bits of CLI data are completed.

Therefore, in order to expand all the data from CLI to CL16, 16×16 (=256 times) data expansion is required, and this expanded data is stored in the print information register 27 every time it is expanded.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

The time required to expand one character using the CC expansion method described above is 16
In the case of Dosoto 1, C is added to the number of expansions (16x16=256 times).
It is the time multiplied by the access time of G26, so C
G26 access time is long (affected).

On the other hand, the CG 26 generally uses a highly integrated ROM (for example, EFROM) to make it an inexpensive printer, and its access time is as slow as 250 to 450 ns.

Therefore, more time is required to expand the data 16×16 (=256 times).

[Means for solving problems]

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram illustrating the invention in detail.

The principle block diagram of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 shows a part of the configuration of a control unit 1 of a printer device, which is composed of an EFROM, which stores various character data in advance in accordance with character codes. CG26 and CG26
Consists of faster random access memory', CG
2B is accessed to store character data read out in units of drag lines, and a buffer means (CG buffer) 30 for expanding the stored character data in units of bits.

[Effect]

Buffer means (CG buffer) capable of high-speed development 30
By accessing the CG 26 and storing character data read out in units of dot lines, the buffer means (CG buffer) 30 is configured to develop character data in units of bits, thereby enabling high-speed printing processing. .

〔Example〕

The gist of the present invention will be specifically explained below with reference to embodiments shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 5.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram explaining the present invention in detail, and FIG. 3 is a diagram explaining the data development situation in an embodiment of the present invention. Note that the same reference numerals refer to the same objects throughout the plan.

The embodiment diagram shown in FIG. 2 shows the control section 2 of the dot printer device 10 having the same function as that explained in FIG.
A CG buffer 30 is installed between the CG 26 and the print information register 27. The CG buffer 30 is constituted by, for example, a bipolar random access memory (hereinafter referred to as RAM) whose access time is fast (usually 45 to 60 ns).

The CG buffer 30, like the CG 26, has a capacity of 16×16 dots as shown in FIG. 5(A), and is accessed in the order of ADI to At)16.

For example, 1 dot line in CG26 (from ADI to 8D1)
When the data is read out, the data is transferred to the CG buffer 3.
0 and stored. Below, C in this example
The G expansion method will be explained based on FIG. Note that reference numerals 100 to 109 shown in FIG. 3 indicate processing steps in the MPU 21.

(Steps 100-101): C in MPU21
The G expansion routine is started, and first the code buffer address register 23 is initialized.

(Step 102): Character code information transferred from the host device (not shown) and stored in the code buffer 24 is set in the CG address register 25.

(Step 103): At the address (ADI to AD16) of the CG 26 to be ordered from the cc address register 25,
By reading out the character data of the corresponding dot line and developing it, bit data corresponding to each of CLI to CL16 can be obtained.

(Steps 104-105): Print information register 27
Now, the expanded bit data of each CLI-CL16 is sampled and stored. When the processing of one dot line is completed, the CG address register 25 is generated (1:G
26 addresses (ADI to AD16) are incremented by 1.

(Steps 106-107): AD the above expansion operation.
16 is repeated 16 times, and when AD17 is reached, it is determined that one column data (that is, one of CLI to CL16) has been expanded, and the character data stored in the print information register 27 is printed. Transfer to card 3.

(Steps 108-109): Steps 103-
Step 107 is repeated until CL16, and when completed, CG development and transfer are completed.

When CG development is performed as described above, the development time is reduced to just under 175. That is, in the case of 16 dots, if character data is directly extracted from CG26 (assuming the access time in this case is 300 ns), it will be processed 256 times x 300 times.
ns = 76.800ns = 76.8μs, 24
In the case of dots, 576 concave x 300 ns - 172,800 ns = 17
It becomes 2.8 μs.

On the other hand, in the case of this example, the CG development of 16 dots is (C
It is obtained in the development time of (reading from G26 to the CG buffer 30) + (development to each column in the CG buffer 30). That is, 16 times x 300ns + 256 times x 45ns =
16.32 μs CC expansion of 24 dots is: 24 times x 300 ns + 576 times x 45 ns -
33 and 12 μs, respectively, which enables CG development in this embodiment to be performed at a rate slightly less than 5 times faster.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention as described above, since CG development is significantly reduced, there is an effect that faster printing processing can be performed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram explaining the present invention in detail, FIG. 2 is a block diagram explaining the present invention in detail, FIG. 3 is a diagram explaining the data expansion situation in an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 5 shows a block diagram explaining a conventional example, and FIG. 5 shows a diagram explaining a dot data development situation. In the figure, l is a dot printer device,

Claims (1)

[Claims] A character generator (26) consisting of a non-volatile memory in which various character data are stored in advance, and a print head (3) in which a predetermined number of print pins are arranged in the vertical direction.
), the character generator (26) is accessed using the character code transferred from the host device, and the character data stored in the character generator (26) is expanded into bits at a predetermined speed; The print head (
3) in the printer device that prints the character data expanded corresponding to the printing pin, buffer means (30) accesses the character generator (26) and stores the character data read out in units of dot lines; ) is provided, and character data corresponding to the character code transferred from the host device is sent to the character generator (26).
The buffer means (30
), and the data stored in the buffer means (30) is expanded bit by bit and sent out as the character data.