JPS63141447A - Image printer control circuit - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute partial reading and partial print while keeping arrangement and image of characters by outputting a picture data obtained from an image reader to an image printer after storing it in an image memory consecutively. CONSTITUTION:When the image reader 1 enters the reading, at first a line synchronizing signal A taking three read areas of the partial read range as an effective picture area is outputted. A FF 11 generates a pseudo line synchronizing signal A' synchronizing with the line synchronizing signal of the 1st line, a counter 13 is started by the pseudo line synchronizing signal A' and a sample clock from the image reader 1 is counted. On the other hand, the image data B from the image reader 1 is stored in a data register 17 via a gate 12 and a shift register 16. The data is written in a prescribed storage area of the image memory 4 according to an address given by the address register 18. The partial print is realized by the write data.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an image reader/printer that temporarily stores image data read from an image reader in an image memory and then outputs it to an image printer. Related to control of partial reading and partial printing.

(Prior art) Conventionally, image readers and printers of the above type have
Two types of address management methods are known when storing image data read by an image reader in an image memory: a continuous address management method and an X-Y coordinate address management method. In the continuous address management method, each image data is addressed sequentially, whereas
-Y coordinate address management method allows each image data to be
Addressing is done by coordinates.

A conventional image reader/printer using a continuous address management method will be described below.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a conventional image reader/printer using a continuous address management system.

As shown in the figure, the image reader/printer optically scans a form in response to a reading command from a host device (not shown), converts the obtained optical information into an electrical signal, and outputs image data. A reader 1, an image printer control circuit 2 that sequentially addresses and sequentially stores this image data in an internal image memory 4, and then continuously outputs the image data, and an image printer 3 that prints the image data that has been output. It is configured with the following.

Next, normal reading (no partial reading or partial printing) of the image reader/printer configured as described above will be explained with reference to FIG. Here, FIG. 4(a) is an operation timing chart during normal reading, and FIG. 4(b) is a diagram showing the flow of data during normal reading.

Now, as shown in FIG. 4(b), the reading range 5 of the image reader 1 has five lines, and each line has four sections (
Consider the case where the image is composed of frames (one frame is one reading area). In FIG. 3, when a reading command is issued from a higher-level device (not shown), the image reader 1 enters a reading operation, and the line sync A from the image reader 1
The read image data B is output as shown in FIG. 4(a). Line sync A indicates the effective image area for each line. For example, while line sync A indicating the first line of reading range 5 is on, as shown in FIG.
Image data B of four reading areas 0'' to II 3 I+ in the reading range 5 inside is output.

The image printer control circuit 2 determines that it is a valid image area upon arrival of the line sync A, and stores image data B corresponding to the line sync width in the internal image memory 4.

At this time, the image data B is sequentially and continuously stored in the storage area of the image memory 4 (which has an absolute positional relationship with each reading area of the reading range 5). for example,
The four image data B on the first line of reading range 5 are:
1 of the storage area 6 of the image memory 4 shown in FIG. 4(b)
The data is sequentially and continuously stored in the storage areas +10 II to II 3 I+ of the line. Thereafter, similarly, every time line sync A is turned on, image data B is continuously stored in the corresponding storage area of image memory 4. For example, when the line sync A of the second line is on, the second image data "A" from the beginning of the image data B during this period is stored in the storage area "5" of the second line of the image memory 4.

In this way, when all the image data B for 20 frames are stored in the image memory 4, the image printer control circuit 2 reads out the image data from the image memory 4 in the order in which they were continuously stored line by line, and Eject to printer 3. Here, as shown in FIG. 4(b), each printing area of the printing area 7 of the image printer 3 is connected to each storage area of the storage area 6 of the image memory 4 and each reading area of the reading range 5 of the image reader 1. It has an absolute positional relationship. Therefore, for example, image data "A" stored in the storage area "'5" of the image memory 4 is stored in the print area "5" of the print area 7 of the corresponding image printer 3 in response to a print command from the host device. ″
printed on.

In this way, in an image reader/printer using the continuous address management method, the reading range 5 of the image reader 1, the storage area 6 of the image memory 4, and the printing area 7 of the image printer 3 must have an absolute positional relationship. No. For example, image data read in A4 size must have storage area 6 of A4 image memory 4 and print area 7 of A4 image printer 3. Regarding this point, the current situation is that the print area 7 of the image printer 3 physically determines the reading range 5 of the image reader 1.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the conventional continuous address management system, the reading range 5 of the image reader 1 is determined based on the printing area 7 of the image printer 3 as described above regarding partial reading/printing. Therefore, even if the specifications of the image reader 1 are such that partial reading is possible, there is a problem in that partial reading and partial printing cannot be realized.

This problem will be explained below with reference to FIG.

Now, as shown in Figure 5(b), Image Frida 1
Consider a case where image data in a partial reading range 8 of the reading range 5 is partially printed. As shown in FIG. 4(a), the image reader 1 reads the first line reading area of the partial reading range 8.
A line sync A is output so as to designate the image data a1 + az r a3 of A71 as a valid image area. Upon receiving this, the image printer control circuit 2 stores the storage area of the image memory 4 +1 Q IT , II I
Control is performed to sequentially store image data a11 a2 + J in II and II 2 II, respectively. Next, the second line reading area ゛I CII, I
“D”, “E” image data a3 + a
The image printer control circuit 2 receives 4 r a5 as a valid image area and stores it in the storage area '2' of the image memory 4.
Storage areas following ``'' u 3 II, u 4 ++
Sequential image data fL5, a4 # to 1151+
A5 is controlled to be stored. Similarly, the image data a61 a71 a8 of the third line are respectively stored in the storage areas ゛+6II, I of the image memory 4.
I 7 II , stored in It 817. In this way, image data a are sequentially output from the image reader 1. -a8 is stored in consecutive storage areas "O" to "Pa1'" of the image memory 4.Next,
Image printer system a circuit 2 stores image data a in image memory 4 as described above. -a8 is continuously supplied to the image printer 3 to cause the image printer 3 to perform a printing operation. The area indicated by reference number 9 in FIG. 5(b) indicates a partial printing range. As can be seen from FIG. 5(b), image data a of partial reading range 8. -a
8 is actually printed as in the partial printing range 9, and a different arrangement of characters or a different image than in the partial reading range 8 is printed. This is due to the fact that the image data B is continuously stored in the image memory 4, as is clear from the above description.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems and to enable partial reading and partial printing to be performed while preserving character arrangement and images, even though a continuous address management method is used. .

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention relates to an image printer control circuit that continuously stores image data obtained from an image reader in an image memory and then outputs the data to an image printer.

In this image printer control circuit, the present invention includes a first circuit that foots image data using a line sync signal that indicates an effective image area of an image reader, and a first circuit that foots image data using a line sync signal that indicates an effective image area of an image reader; A second circuit for generating a line sync signal is provided, and the output of the first circuit is continuously stored in the image memory in accordance with the pseudo line sync signal.

(Operation) For example, assume that the image reader's reading range for one line is four sections (frames), and the partial reading range that the image reader should read is three sections from the first to the third section of the line. . In this case, the line sync signal is turned on (valid) only for the first three sections. Therefore,
Image data within these three sections is output from the first circuit.

On the other hand, based on this line sync signal, the second circuit outputs a pseudo line sync signal. In the case of the above example, since the reading range of one line consists of four sections, correspondingly, the print area of the image printer and therefore the storage area of the image memory also have four sections per line. Therefore, the second circuit outputs pseudo line sync signals for four sections. The image memory stores the data while this pseudo line sync signal is on, so the image data that passed through the first circuit while the line sync signal was on and the image data that passed through the first circuit while the line sync signal was on and the image data that passed through the first circuit after the line sync signal was on are stored in the image memory. One section of data (dummy data) II OII thus obtained is stored in the image memory. In the printing operation, data is read from the image memory in the order in which it was stored. Therefore, in the case of the above example, three sections of image data and one section of dummy data IIO# that follows are read out and printed by the image printer. As a result, the dummy data is not printed, so it is possible to print the image data in the partial reading range while maintaining the arrangement. (Example) Examples of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. .

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

The image printer control circuit 1o according to this embodiment is provided between the image reader 1 and the image printer 3. The image printer control circuit 10 is configured as follows. Line sync A from image reader 1
is applied to a set input of a flip-flop (hereinafter abbreviated as FF) 11 for pseudo line sync generation and one input of a gate 12 for image data gate. on the other hand,
Image data B from image reader 1 is sent to gate 1
2 to the other input. The output of the FF 10 is used to start the counting operation of the counter 13. The counter 13 is activated upon receiving the output of the FFI O, counts in synchronization with the sample clock from the image reader 1, and generates a pulse when a predetermined number is counted. This pulse is a flip-flop (hereinafter abbreviated as FF')
14 cents input. The output of the FF 14 is given as a memory request to a memory control unit 15 that controls the image memory 4. A memory access end signal from the memory control unit 15 is applied to the reset input of the FF 14. The output of gate 12 is applied to the input of shift register 16. The output of shift register 16 is applied to the input of data register 17 which receives the output of counter 13 and loads the contents of shift register 16. Also,
The output of the counter 13 is given to the reset input of the FFI 1. Address register 18 outputs the address on image memory 4 of the data from data register 17.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG. Here, FIG. 2(a) is an operation timing diagram of this embodiment, and FIG. 2(b) is a diagram showing a data flow according to this embodiment. The following explanation of the operation is for the same partial reading/printing case as in FIG. 5(b) described above.

In FIG. 1, when a reading command is issued from a host device (not shown), the image reader 1 starts a reading operation. Accordingly, the image reader 1 first reads It 8 of the first line of the partial reading range 8, as shown in FIG.
A line scan Ih whose effective image area is the three reading areas II, IIgN, and IIAIT is output. FF10 is set in synchronization with the rising edge of the pulse of line sync A on the first line, and generates a pseudo line sync A' as shown in FIG. 2(a). This pseudo line sync A' activates the counter 13, whereby the counter 13 performs a counting operation in synchronization with the sample clock from the image reader 1. On the other hand, image data B read from the image reader 1 is supplied to the shift register 16 through the gate 12 while the line sync A is on. Image data a of the first line of partial reading range 8. r al r a2 is sequentially applied to the shift register 16. When the counter 13 counts the sample clock related to image data a2,
Pulses are output as shown in FIG. 2(b). This i9
The pulse is given to FF11 and F'F14. FFII
and FFI 4 is the output i? of the counter 13. They are reset and set, respectively, in synchronization with the falling edge of the signal. FF
When II is reset, pseudo line sync A' is turned off again. As a result, for line sync A for 3 characters,
The pseudo line sync A' corresponds to four characters. The output of the counter 13 is also given to the data 17. Therefore, data register 17 loads the data stored in shift register 16. The shift register 16 contains image data a, a, a and dummy data d of "0". is stored. This dummy data d
. is the data output by 12 when the line sync in the first row is turned from on to off.

Therefore, the image data aO is stored in the data register 17.
+ al r a2 and the following dummy data d. is stored. On the other hand, the memory control unit 15 activated by the setting of the FF 14 causes the data stored in the data register 17 to be written into the image memory 4 according to the address given by the address register 18. At this time, the address register 18 generates an address indicating the storage area II OII to 113 II of the first line of the storage area 6 of the image memory 4, as shown in FIG. 2(b). As a result, image data a in the data register 17. .

al, a2 are the storage areas "IQ 17, 1+1 II, "°2" of the storage area of the image memory 4, respectively.
, and dummy data d. is the storage area
3". When this operation is completed, the memory control unit 15 gives the memory access end to the reset input of the FF 14. Therefore, the FF 14 is reset. The image data of the second and third lines are stored in the image memory 4.

Next, when reading image data from the image memory 4 and outputting it to the image printer 3, the memory control unit 15
reads the image data from the image memory 4 line by line in the order in which they were stored, and outputs it to the image printer 3. As described above, the print area 7 of the image printer 3 has an absolute positional relationship with the storage area 6 of the image memory 4. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2(b),
Image data a of the first line in the storage area 6 of the image memory 4. +a1+a2 and dummy data d. is assigned to the area corresponding to the first line of the print area 7 of the image printer 3. Similarly, image memory 4
2nd line image data a3+a of storage area 6
41 a5 and demi-data d1 are image printer 3
The image data a61 a71 a8 of the third line is allocated to the area corresponding to the second line of the print area 7 of
and dummy data d2 are allocated to the corresponding area of the third line of the print area 7 of the image printer 3. Then, when a print command is issued from the host device, the above data is printed. In this case, dummy data d. , dl,
Since d2 is all 0'', the corresponding print area It
3 II.

Nothing is printed on TI 7 # and N'B II. Therefore, partial printing is finally realized in the partial printing range 19 corresponding to the partial reading range 8 while maintaining the arrangement of the image data.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the present invention, when image data from an image reader is stored in an image memory, dummy data is stored in an area other than the area on the image memory where the image data is stored. However, since the structure is configured to maintain the absolute positional relationship between the image reader's reading range and the image memory's storage area (therefore, the image printer's print area), even if consecutive addresses are given to the image memory, the characters will not be printed. It is possible to perform partial reading and partial printing while preserving the array and image.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a circuit diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 (,) is an operation timing diagram of this embodiment, Fig. 2 (b) is a diagram showing the data flow according to this embodiment, and Fig. 3 is a block diagram of an image reader/printer using a conventional image printer control circuit, FIG. 4(a) is an operation timing diagram during normal reading according to the conventional example, and FIG. 4(b) is a diagram of the operation timing diagram of FIG. 4(a). FIG. 5(a) is a diagram showing the flow of data in the case of a conventional example, and FIG.
b) is a diagram showing the data flow in the case of FIG. 5(a). DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Image reader, 2... Image printer control circuit, 3... Image printer, 4... Image memory, 5... Reading area of image reader 1, 6...
- Storage area of image memory 4, 7... Printing area of image printer 3, 8... Partial reading range, 9... Partial printing range, 10... Image printer control circuit, 1
1...Flip-flop (FF), 12...K-
13... Counter, 14... Flip-flop (FF), 15... Memory control unit, 16... Shift register, 17... Data register, 18... Address register, 19... - Partial printing range.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an image printer control circuit that continuously stores image data obtained from an image reader in an image memory and then outputs the image data to an image printer, the image data is processed by a line sync signal that indicates the effective image area of the image reader. a first circuit that gates data; and a second circuit that generates a pseudo line sync signal corresponding to a print area of the image printer based on the line sync signal.
A control circuit for an image printer, comprising: a circuit, and continuously stores the output of the first circuit in an image memory according to the pseudo line sync signal.