JPS63199647A - Document output device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize a high-speed pattern development of a blank code and to facilitate the correspondence to a different blank code, by setting a code capable of judging a blank code when a font pattern set is registered. CONSTITUTION:Printing data and a control command from a host computer 15 is inputted in a CPU 2, thereafter being successively stored in a page buffer 4 still in the form of code information. The CPU 2 directs a pattern generation control circuit 5 to develop the character codes to font patterns and allocates the circuit a start address of the printing data from the page buffer 4 through a shared memory 9. The pattern generation control circuit 5 reads the character codes in sequence from the printing start address in the page buffer 4 and reads the corresponding font pattern from a font memory 7 to successively conduct the pattern development to a frame memory 6. The CPU 2 directs a printer interface circuit 11 to convert the pattern data from the frame memory 6 to a video signal upon receiving a completion of font pattern development, and the printer interface circuit 11 directs a printer portion 14 to feed a paper.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a document output device, and particularly to a document output device that inputs document information as code information, develops it into a font pattern, and outputs it.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, this type of device uses various code systems (for example, EB
CDI code, JIS code, JIS Kanji code, etc.)
Multiple programs were prepared for each different blank code, and the blank code was developed into a font pattern.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Therefore, there are problems in that program management becomes complicated and output speed cannot be increased. Also, when human data from an external device is output data to a serial printer, the data at the end of the line is indicated by a line feed code or return code, and there is less data input for the part that is not printed (blank part), but it is not necessary to input data to the line printer. When outputting data, data that is not printed at the end of the line is also input as a blank code, so
If each of these blank codes were developed into a font pattern, there was a problem in that the output speed would drop significantly.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and an object of the present invention is to provide a document output device that can speed up the development of blank codes into pattern data and can similarly process blank codes of various code systems.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the document output device of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, it is a document output device that inputs document information as code information, converts it into pattern information, and outputs it, comprising a storage means for storing a group of pattern information corresponding to a plurality of groups of code information having different code systems; a first storage means for reading and storing pattern information corresponding to the information from the storage means; an address means for associating the code information with an address of the pattern information; and means for setting an address for the blank code at a predetermined value. a second storage means for storing the character width and output position of the document information; and a second storage means for storing the character width and output position of the document information; and means for updating the storage address of the memory by referring to the contents of the second storage means without activating the expansion means when the value is a predetermined value.

[Operation] In the above configuration, pattern information corresponding to a code information system is read from the storage means for storing pattern information groups corresponding to a plurality of code information groups having different code systems, and is stored in the first storage means. . At this time, the address means associates the code information with the address of the pattern information, and sets the address for the blank code at a predetermined value.

When document information is developed into pattern information and stored in a memory, when the address associated with the address means is a predetermined value, the character width and output position of the document information are stored without activating the development means. It operates to update the storage address of batonin information in the memory by referring to the contents of the second storage means.

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[Description of Character Output Device (FIG. 1)] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a character output device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a control section of a character output device that receives document information from various host computers 15, converts it into dot images, and outputs it to the printer section 14.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a CPU that controls the control section 1, and is composed of, for example, a microprocessor. 3 is a program memory that stores a control program for the CPU 2, various tables for printing, etc., and 4 is a page buffer that stores document information consisting of code information from the host computer 15.

5 is a pattern generation control circuit that generates font patterns such as character symbols based on the code information stored in the page buffer 4 and stores them in the frame memory 6; It is equipped with a ROM containing programs, data, etc., and a RAM as a work area for the MPU. This RAM is provided with an address pointer ADP that holds the pattern storage address of the frame memory 6 when the pattern is developed into the frame memory 6. 6 is a frame memory for storing a dot pattern corresponding to one page of output paper from the printer unit 14;
The font memory contains font patterns for each character corresponding to the character code.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a code conversion table that makes correspondence between character codes and storage addresses of their font patterns, and is composed of a rewritable memory. Reference numeral 9 denotes a shared memory that can be accessed by both the CPU 2 and the pattern generation control circuit 5.

Reference numeral 10 denotes an interface circuit for signal connection with the host computer 15, and is, for example, an interface circuit such as R5-232C. Reference numeral 11 denotes a printer interface circuit that converts the dot image in the frame memory 6 into, for example, a serial electric signal (for example, a laser on/off signal in a laser beam printer) and outputs print data to the printer section 14. 12 is an external storage unit, for example a floppy disk device, which stores a plurality of font pattern groups corresponding to various code information systems. 1
Reference numeral 3 denotes a floppy disk (FD) interface circuit for transmitting and receiving data between the control section 1 and the floppy disk 12. Reference numeral 14 denotes a printer section that performs printing, such as a laser beam printer. A host computer 15 is a source of print data, and outputs document information as code information to the character output device 1.

In this configuration, print data and control commands from the host computer 15 are taken into the CPU 2 via the interface circuit 10, and are sequentially stored in the purge buffer 4 as code information. After storing one page of print data in the page buffer 4, the CPU 2 instructs the pattern generation control circuit 5 to develop the character code into a font pattern and instructs the start address of the print data in the page buffer 4 via the shared memory 9. I will do it. As a result, the pattern generation control circuit 5 sequentially reads character codes from the print start address of the page buffer 4, reads font patterns corresponding to the codes from the font memory 7, and sequentially develops the patterns in the frame memory 6.

When the print data for one page of the page buffer 4 has been developed as a font pattern to the frame memory 6, the pattern generation control circuit 5 is transferred to the CPU via the shared memory 9.
2 is notified of the completion of font pattern development for one page. When the CPU 2 receives the completion of the font pattern development, it instructs the printer interface circuit 11 to convert the pattern data from the frame memory 6 into a video signal. The printer interface circuit 11 instructs the printer section 14 to feed paper, and also, for example, when the printer section 14 is a laser beam printer, the frame memory 6
Each dot data is sequentially converted into a laser on/off serial signal and output.

Note that when the power is turned on, the CPU 2 transfers the font pattern necessary for printing to the disk 1 via the FD Zeinface circuit 13.
2 and store it in the font memory 7. The 1icPU2 is a font memory 7 that stores the font pattern in a memory area that corresponds one-to-one with a character code that is an external code of the code conversion table 8.
Stores the address of.

At this time, if the font pattern for a certain code does not exist on the disk 12 or if it is determined that it is a blank pattern, the pattern address of the memory leaf in the code conversion table 8 is set to "O".

[Description of Data Format of Page Buffer (FIG. 2)] FIG. 2 shows the data format on the page buffer 4.

The address 20 of the code conversion table 8 corresponding to the character type, the x and y coordinate values 21 representing the position on the paper of the first character pattern of the code string in the record, the number of bytes of the code string in the record 22, and the character code string 23, and a pointer 24 to the next record, which form a record code. Note that when the pointer to the next record is "O", it indicates the end of one page.

[Description of Code Conversion Table (FIG. 3)] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of the code conversion table 8.

The 128-byte information section 30 from the beginning of the code conversion table 8 contains a flag indicating whether the character code of the code string 23 is a 1-byte or 2-byte code, the width and height of the font pattern, and the start and end of the code system. Information such as the start address of the code and undefined code pattern is stored. After the information section 30, addresses of each font pattern are stored in one-to-one correspondence with each character code depending on the code system used. Note that here, XIJ indicates a hexadecimal number, and the same applies hereinafter.

In addition, Fig. 3 shows the case of JIS-6226 kanji code, and the first address 32 of 31 is JIS code X.
This is the address determined based on '2121'.

The start address of the font pattern in the font memory 7 is stored in the pattern address area corresponding to each code.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams showing an example of the pattern addresses in FIG. 3, in which each font pattern address is represented by 32 bits.

For example, code X'2121' in area 31 is a blank code, so its pattern address is x'oo
oooooo', and the code X'3021' in the area 33 is the Kanji character "A", and its pattern address X'00700100' is the start address of the pattern for "A" in the font memory 7.

[Explanation of font pattern registration process (Figure 5)] Figure 5 shows the CPU 2 stored in the program memory 3.
3 is a flowchart showing the process of registering a font pattern from the disk 12 to the font memory 7 according to the above-mentioned method.

First, in step S1, for example, a font pattern for one character corresponding to a character code system designated by the host computer 15 is read out from the floppy disk 12 and stored in the font memory 7. In step S2, it is checked whether the read pattern is a blank pattern. This can be checked by checking whether the pattern data is all 0''.If it is not a blank pattern, step S
3, the pattern data is stored in the font memory 7. Next, in step S4, the start address of the pattern data is stored in the code conversion table 8. In step S5, it is checked whether the pattern data of all the codes of the designated code system have been stored in the font memory 7, and if the storage of all the patterns has not been completed, the process returns to step S1 and the above-described operation is repeated.

On the other hand, if a blank pattern is detected in step S2, the process proceeds to step S6, where the pattern address corresponding to the code in the code conversion table 8 is turned on, and the process proceeds to step S5.

[Description of font pattern development processing (FIG. 6)] FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of font pattern development processing by the MPU stored in the ROM of the pattern generation control circuit 5.
This program starts when you input an instruction to develop the code data into a font pattern.

First, in step S10, the entire frame memory 6 is cleared. In step Sll, the read address of the page buffer 4 is specified and read. In step S12, the table address 20 of the code conversion table 8 is read based on the data shown in FIG. 2 of the page buffer 4. In step 513, the character pattern Indicates the position on the paper (
X.

y) Read the coordinate value 21 and determine the storage address ADP of the font pattern in the frame memory 6. In step S14, the code string byte number 22 is read and the information part 30 is read.
The number of characters in the code string is determined based on the data, and is stored in the RAM counter MJCNT.

In step S15, the code string 23 is read out, and the address of the code conversion table 8 corresponding to the code is determined from the conversion table address 20 and the code.
First, the pattern address stored there is read out. Next, the process advances to step 516, and it is checked whether the pattern address is O". If the pattern address is not O'', the process advances to step 517, and the pattern address read out in step S15 is read out. First, font patterns are read out from the font memory 7 and stored in sequence from the address in the frame memory 6 indicated by the address pointer ADP.

If the pattern address is "O''' in step 316, skip step 517 and proceed to step 318. In step 818, ADP is updated and the next frame memory 6 is stored based on data such as character width in the information section 30. Ask for address. Here, for example, if the character width is ΔX, AD
The column-direction address X of P is updated to X''X+ΔX.

In addition, in the case of a code indicating a line break, the character height or line pitch is 61 minutes, and the address y in the line direction of ADP is y"y + Δy
will be updated. In step S19, the character counter MJC
NT is decremented by 1, and in step Sho it is checked whether the pattern development of all the characters of the code string 23 has been completed by checking MJCNT-0. If it has not been completed, the process returns to step S15 and the above-described operation is repeated.

When the processing of the code string 23 of the record code is completed in step S20, the process advances to step S21 and the pointer 2 of the next record is
Check whether 4 is "0", that is, the end of one page. When one page ends, the process ends, but when one page does not end, the process advances to step S22, and the next record pointer 24 is
Based on the address, the next record is read from the page buffer 4, and the process returns to step S12 to develop the pattern of the next record.

In this embodiment, the case of print output has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and display output on, for example, a display device or the like may be used.

As explained above, according to this embodiment, by setting a code that can identify a blank code at the time of registering a font pattern set, the pattern development of the blank code becomes faster, and different blank codes are created for each code system. This has the effect of making it easier to deal with.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, there is an effect that pattern development of blank codes becomes faster and correspondence to blank codes of each code system becomes easier.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a character output device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the format of record data of a page buffer, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a code conversion table, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a code conversion table. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of font pattern registration processing, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart of pattern expansion processing by the pattern generation control circuit. In the figure, 1... control unit, 2... CPU, 3... program memory, 4... page buffer, 5... pattern generation control circuit, 6... frame memory, 7...
font, +1-f-IJ, 8... code conversion table, 9... shared memory, 10... interface circuit, 11... printer interface circuit,
12... Floppy disk (disk), 13...
・FD interface circuit, 14... printer section, 1
5...Host computer, 20...Code conversion table address, 21...Coordinate value, 22...
Number of bytes, 23...Code string, 24...Next record pointer, 30...Information section. (A) (B) Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] A document output device that inputs document information as code information, converts it into pattern information, and outputs it, comprising: a storage means for storing a group of pattern information corresponding to a plurality of groups of code information having different code systems; a first storage means for reading out and storing corresponding pattern information from the storage means; address means for associating the code information with an address of the pattern information; and means for setting an address for a blank code at a predetermined value; A developing device that develops the document information into pattern information and stores it in a memory, a second storage device that stores the character width and output position of the document information, and an address that is associated with the address by the predetermined value. A document output device characterized by comprising: means for updating the storage address of the memory by referring to the contents of the second storage means without activating the expansion means.