JPS63221420A - Printer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform a printing job without deteriorating the print data to be compressed by using a storing means that can store the print data on plural pages and a compression/conversion means which gives the compression/ conversion to said print data in a prescribed ratio. CONSTITUTION:A user processing program 16 produces the print data and gives an output request to an input/output control program 17 for print. The program 17 edits the print data into a prescribed form and delivers the print data to a printer control program 18. This program 18 contains a printer buffer 19 which can store the print data equivalent to two pages and stores the print data received from the program 17 into said buffer 19. At the same time, the program 18 compresses and assembles the stored print data and then starts a printer to carry out a printing job. Furthermore the compression of 2 pages is also possible as long as a storing means is prepared for storage of the print data equivalent to the desired number of pages.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a serial printer, and in particular, print data for m pages to n pages (m and n are natural numbers).

The present invention relates to a printing process in which printing is performed by compressing m > n).

(Prior Art) FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the flow of print data in a serial printer. In the figure, user processing program 1. The input/output control processing program 2° and the printer control program 3 are stored, for example, in a storage unit in a computer system equipped with a printer, and each of these programs is executed by a central processing unit (hereinafter abbreviated as CPU) provided in the system. ) is executed by

The user processing program 1 creates print data,
An output request is issued to the input/output control processing program 2. The input/output control processing program 2 receives an output request from a user processing program.

Print data is output to the printer control program 3. The printer control program 3 receives print data and causes actual printing to be performed.

A conventional compression printing method using such a printing method is shown in FIG. In the figure, "normal printing" means that the user processing program issues an output request for printing on a line-by-line basis without being aware of compressed printing. On the other hand, in "compression printing", the user processing program processes (compresses) two lines of print data in one line, and requests the output of the two lines as one cart.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, the compression printing method described above has the following problems.

In order to perform compression printing, the user processing program needs to be aware of compression printing, that is, it needs to have a configuration that can be implemented.

Furthermore, even in a user processing program that takes compression printing into consideration, two lines of print data are processed (compressed) into one line, resulting in an insufficient number of characters to be printed per line.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a printer that can appropriately compress and print m pages of print data onto n pages.

(Means for Solving the Problems) According to the present invention, in order to solve the problems of the prior art,
Print data of n pages (n is a natural number greater than 1)
A printer device that compresses and prints on a page is configured with the following means.

The above printer device comprises: 1) a storage means capable of storing print data of pages; and compressing and converting the print data at a predetermined ratio in order to print the n pages of print data stored in the storage means on one page; and compression conversion means.

Printing is performed based on the print data compressed by the compression conversion means.

(Function) According to the present invention, since the printer device is configured as described above, each technical means functions as follows.

In the printer device according to the present invention, for example, when compressing two pages into one page and printing, first, the storage means stores two pages.
Stores print data for one page. The compression conversion means is
These print data are compressed and converted so that the stored print data for two pages can be printed on one page. In this case, for example, the print data to be compressed and converted is halved.
This can be achieved by reducing the size by a factor of two. As described above, according to the present invention, good compression printing can be performed without damaging data to be compressed and converted. Therefore, the problems of the prior art can be solved.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a printer device according to this embodiment. In the figure, 10 is an operating system, a central processing unit (C
11 is a main memory in which the operating system, user processing programs, data areas, etc. are stored; 12 is an adapter that realizes direct memory access between the main memory and the input/output device; 13 is a printer's main memory; 14 is a printer that performs printing on printing paper; 15 is a font device in which character pattern data is stored; l-'-B U S and D-B;
US are a program bus and a direct memory access bus, respectively.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of each program stored in the main storage device 11 shown in FIG. 1. In the same figure, the user processing program 16 creates print data in the same manner as in the past (FIG. 7), and issues an output request for printing to the input/output control processing program 17. The input/output control processing program 17 is
The print data is edited into a predetermined format, and the print data is output to the printer control program 18. The printer control program 18 has a printer buffer (editing buffer) 19 that can store print data for two pages, and stores the print data received from the input/output control processing program 17 in the printer buffer 19. It stores, compresses and assembles the stored print data.

Note that the printer buffer 19 is not limited to being provided within the program, but may be provided as an external storage device such as a floppy disk.

Next, the compression printing operation in the printer shown in FIG. 1 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3, 4, and 5. Figure 3 is a block diagram showing the detailed functions of each program shown in Figure 2, Figure 4 is a flowchart showing the outline processing between each block in Figure 3, and Figure 5 is a diagram of the printer buffer. It is a figure explaining capacity and its usage method.

First, the user processing program 16 executes c.
When the print data is created, a print request command is issued to the input/output control processing program 17. This command is carried out until there is no more next print data (step 100 in FIG. 4). The input/output control processing program 17 is functionally classified into a logical input/output control section 20 and a physical input/output control section 21, as shown in FIG. When the logical input/output control unit 20 receives print data from the user processing program 16, it edits the print data into a printable format, controls the page corresponding to the print data, and then sends the print data to the physical input/output control unit 21. An output request is issued to (step 110). After the physical input/output control unit 21 schedules the input devices (in this case, the printer controller 13 and the font device 15), it activates the input/output devices and enters a waiting state waiting for operation completion (step 120).

Note that this activation is performed via the CPU 10 or the adapter 12.

The printer control program 18 has an attached section 22. Buffer editing section 23. Output data assembly section 24
．． Output request processing unit 25. Font development section 26. and a head control section 27.

As mentioned above, the input/output request amount section 22 checks the parameters of the input/output request of the device started by the physical input/output control section 21, and if the request is appropriate, sends the request to the buffer editing section 23. issue a buffer edit request. Additionally, an operation completion notification is returned to the physical input/output control unit 2I (step 130). Buffer editing department 23
takes out the print data created by the logical input/output control section 20 and stores it in the printer buffer 19.

This storage is executed sequentially in the direction of arrow A shown in FIG. A print data assembly request is issued to 24 (step 140). As shown in FIG. 5, the output data assembling unit 24 extracts the print data from the printer buffer in the vertical direction (perpendicular to the storage direction A), assembles the print data for one line, that is, performs compression conversion. is stored in the output buffer 25. Further, the assembling unit 24 issues an output request to the output request processing unit 26. This request is.

The process continues until printing data for two pages stored in the printer buffer is completed (step 150).
. Incidentally, the output buffer 25 is connected to the printer control program 1.
8, or a storage device such as a floppy disk device may be used.

The output request processing unit 26 includes the CPU 10. The printer 14 is activated via the program bus and the printer controller 13, and the phono! - Issue a print start instruction to the developing section (step 160). The font expansion unit 27 extracts print data character by character from the output buffer 25,
Based on the character pattern data obtained from the font device 15 via the data bus and adapter 12, the print data is developed into font pattern data. After creating the print pattern data, the print pattern data is transferred to the head control unit 28 (step 170).

The head control unit 28 transfers the print pattern data to the printer controller 13 via the data bus, and the printer controller 13 controls the print head 2 of the printer 14.
9 (step 180). When printing is completed, an operation completion notification is issued to the font expansion unit 27, and the font expansion unit 27 also issues an operation completion notification to the output request processing unit 26, and the next line of printing is performed. to go into.

FIGS. 6(a) and 6(b) are examples of printing obtained by the compression printing described above. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, printing of 132 characters per line is achieved by printing horizontally on one page of paper (11 horizontal lines, 132 characters). That is, in the case of this embodiment, since two pages of print data are compressed into one page and printed, the process shown in FIG.
Printing (Al) as shown in b).

(A2) is compressed and converted to 1/2 each (4th
Step 150 in the figure; output data assembly section).

Therefore, even when compressed printing is performed, it is possible to print 132 characters per line as in normal printing.

As described above, according to this embodiment, compressed printing can be performed without changing the user processing program.

In this embodiment, an example has been described in which two pages of printing are compressed and printing is simultaneously displayed on one page, but the compression is not limited to two pages, and more than two pages may be compressed.

In this case, it is sufficient to provide a storage means for storing print data for the number of pages to be compressed.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above in detail, according to the present invention, printed data can be printed without damaging the print data to be compressed. Therefore, it is possible to obtain printing that meets the needs of the purpose of use and the like. For example, the storage space for a printed list of programs can be reduced, and it is also easier to carry. As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a printer device having an excellent printing function.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a printer system according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of each program stored in the main storage device, and FIG. 3 is a detailed function of each program in FIG. 2. Block diagram, Figure 4 is a flowchart showing the outline processing between each block in Figure 3, Figure 5 is an explanatory diagram of the printer buffer capacity and how to use it, Figure 6 is an example of printing by compression printing, FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the flow of print data and its program structure in a serial printer, and FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a conventional compression printing method. 10...CPU, 11...Main storage device. 12... Adapter, 13... Printer controller, 14... Printer, 15... Font device, 16... User processing program, 17... Input/output control program, 18... Printer control program .

Claims (1)

[Claims] Print data of n pages (n is a natural number greater than 1) is
In a printer device that compresses and prints data into pages, there is a storage means capable of storing n pages of print data, and a predetermined amount of the print data in order to print the n pages of print data stored in the storage means on one page. 1. A printer apparatus comprising: compression conversion means for performing compression conversion at a ratio of .