JPS63259680A - Character font management - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Technical Field of the Invention) The present invention relates to a character font management method when characters are generated by a printing device such as a phototypesetting device or a laser typesetting device.

(Technical background and problems to be solved) In conventional general printing devices, the character information to be printed is stored in a storage medium such as a paper tape or magnetic disk, and character codes and print control codes (printing position, printing size, font). FIG. 7 shows an example of the configuration of a printing system when the floppy disk 2 is used as a storage medium, and FIG. 8 shows an example of the content of information stored in the floppy disk 2. Also,
The internal configuration of the printing device 3 is as shown in FIG. That is, in the printing device 3, character font data for generating characters is stored in an external storage device 8 such as a fixed magnetic disk, and some frequently used character font data is stored in advance on a semiconductor memory or the like. The information is read from the external storage device 8 and stored in the high-speed storage device 9.

Here, when printing characters with the printing device 3, the CPU 6 of the printing device 3 stores the character code and print control code on the storage medium 7.
If the read data is a character code, if the character font data corresponding to the character code is stored in the high-speed storage device 9 in advance, it is read from this high-speed storage device 9, otherwise it is read from the external Storage device 8
and transmits the character font data to the character font buffer lO attached to the character generator & 11 in the printing device 3, and generates a predetermined character by starting the character generator 11, This method is used to print sequentially.

By the way, when the printing device 3 generates characters corresponding to character codes by sequential reading, the external storage device 8 for storing character font data is a storage device with a large capacity but slow reading speed, such as a fixed magnetic disk. I am using it. However, in the 4-J, which is a low-speed storage device, even if an attempt is made to generate characters at high speed in order to increase the printing speed, it takes more time to read the character font data than to generate the characters. As a countermeasure for this, even if the number of character font puffers attached to the character generator 11 is increased, the ratio of the character generator 11 operating will decrease, and the speed of character generation will be reduced without reading the character font data. There is a drawback that it is uniquely determined by .

In order to solve these drawbacks, a high-speed storage device such as a semiconductor memory capable of high-speed reading is provided, and a portion of the character font data is stored in the high-speed storage device. However, with this method, if the proportion of character font data corresponding to the character code to be generated does not exist in the high-speed storage device, that is, the proportion of character font data that has not been read out and stored in the high-speed storage device from the external storage device in advance, increases; This has the disadvantage that the character generation speed becomes lower, the printing speed decreases, and the management of character fonts becomes complicated.

(Object of the invention) This invention was made under the above circumstances,
An object of the present invention is to improve the printing speed by adding information about the frequency of appearance to the code of the character to be printed in a printing device, and to make it possible to search for character fonts at extremely high speed. Our goal is to provide the following.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention relates to a character font management method in a printing device, and the above object of the present invention is to externally manage character fonts of characters to be printed consisting of character codes, control codes and font codes. Store it in a storage device and high-speed storage device,
In the method of managing the character font when reading the character font at the time of printing and printing the character to be printed, a font management table is provided for each of the font codes in order of frequency of appearance, and the font management table includes: This is achieved by storing address information of the character font or font management table data of the next rank, and managing the character font based on the address information of the font management table for the font code of the character to be printed. .

(Operation of the invention) This invention takes into account information regarding the frequency of character code appearance and frequently used fonts, and reads character font data that is always used from the external storage device in the printing device into the high-speed storage device. In addition, the control unit has a font management table that stores character font address information by typeface code in order of frequency of occurrence, so you can easily and easily search the font management table for each typeface. It realizes quick management of character fonts.

(Embodiment of the Invention) An example of an apparatus configuration to which the method of the invention can be applied is shown in FIG.
Here, a magnetic storage device 2 such as a floppy disk
1, in addition to the character code and print control code data shown in FIG. 8, data in the order of appearance frequency of character codes that appear during printing is searched in advance and added. FIG. 4 shows an example of the content of character code appearance frequency data. In this example, character codes with high appearance frequency ("0102") start from the beginning of the memory area (30, 31, 32, . . . ).

"0342", "2637", ...) are arranged in order.

The appearance frequency data of these character codes can be easily created as follows. With the system configuration shown in FIG. 7, a document is created with a document creation device 1 such as a word processor or typesetting machine, and the character code and print control code data shown in FIG. 3, the printing device 3 reads it as a data format coded by the document production device 1, but it does not necessarily match the printable coded data format shown in FIG. When attempting to print a document created using the printing device 3, it is necessary to convert the format of the encoded data. In this format conversion, all character codes that appear are checked.

In this case, it is possible to easily create character code appearance frequency data by counting the appearance frequency of character codes at the same time as checking the character codes, for example, by creating a histogram and sorting using the number of appearance frequencies as a key. can. To explain the method of generating characters based on this character appearance frequency data, first, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 (Δ), the CPO 20 reads character code opening degree data from the magnetic storage device 21. Character codes are sequentially read from this character code frequency data (step S2). Then, character font data corresponding to the character code is read from the fixed magnetic disk device 22 and written into the nAM 23, which is a semiconductor memory (step 53).

At the same time, the written character font data is
In order to indicate which address in M23 is written, a value is set in the font management table shown in FIG. 2.

Moreover, CP02G of this invention has a font management table 100.110.120.130°1 as shown in FIG.
40, 150. ..., and a font management table ioo, 110, 120.130, and 140.
．． 150, each has a different font code, and the appearance frequency of the font is based on the font management table 100→
It decreases in the order of 110.120.130 → 140.150. And the mouth ΔM that memorizes the character font
23 in this example, in order to reduce the address space, the bank [lK1. 2 to n. The character fonts stored in the nAM 23 can be read out by specifying the bank number and the address data (offset). Therefore, each font management table stores a font number, as well as a bank number and offset, and if there is no character font in the font management table, the next font management table number is stored. Contains the table offset for specification. Note that the ground in the drawing indicates a terminator. Further, the offset area +01 of the font management table 100 indicates a data area for external characters, and the character fonts in this area are managed in the font management tables 130 and 150 in this example.

Next, when generating characters, the process is performed according to the 1-flow shown in FIG. 3 ([l), but the CI't 120 sequentially reads out the data shown in FIG. If it is print control data, set the print control variable inside CI'[I20, and if it is a character code, perform the following operation (step 510), that is, the existence of the character font management table shown in Figure 2. Examine the flag (
In step 5ll), if the bank number and offset corresponding to the character code are entered, it means that character font data corresponding to character code 35 has been read into the RAM 23, so the character font data is transferred from the RAM 23. In the read step 512), the data is written to either the two series character font buffer 24 or 25 provided upstream of the character generator 27. RAM2:l
The reading of character fonts from the fixed magnetic disk device 22 will be described later. The character font buffers 24 and 25 are configured to be alternately switched between a write mode and a read mode by a control circuit (not shown).

On the other hand, if the bank number and offset are not entered in the character font management table, since there is no character font data corresponding to the character code 35 in the mouth ΔM 23, the character font data is read from the fixed magnetic disk device 22, Write to either the character font buffer 24 or 25 (step 513); in this example, all character font data that appears in the printout is written to the M23.
However, some character font data may be stored in the fixed magnetic disk device 22 depending on the capacity of the RAM 23. Further, the character font data read from the RAM 23 (or the fixed magnetic disk device 22) is input into the character font buffer 24 or 25 alternately. That is, two character font buffers 24 and 25 are provided in the manual section of the character generator 27, and the buffer switching circuit 26 allows the character generator 27 to switch character font buffers from which character fin 1 to data should be read when a character is generated. It is possible to do so. As a result, while the character generator 27 is generating characters, the next generated character font data is written to the other character font buffer, and when the character generator 27 finishes generating characters, the buffer switching circuit 26 is switched on. It is possible to switch and continuously move to the next character generation. Therefore, the character font buffer 24 or 25 for writing is connected to the buffer switching circuit 26.
Accordingly, the one that is not currently connected to the character generator 27 is selected by CP[I20.

Subsequently, the CPt 120 confirms that the character generator 27 completes its current operation (ends character generation) or is not currently in operation, and switches the character font buffer for writing and also switches the buffer switching circuit 26. is switched, control information to be printed is written from print control variables in the CPU 20 to a control register (not shown) of the character generator 27, and the character generator 27 is activated to generate the f character. Such character generation is performed for all human-generated fonts (step 514), and when all character generation is completed, the flag is turned off and the process ends (step 515).

Next, referring to FIG. 2, a method for searching and reading character fonts stored in the RAM 23 (or fixed magnetic disk drive 8122) will be described. First, font management table 10, which has a font code with a high frequency of -g.
0 is searched first, and if the font number to be obtained matches the font number held at the beginning of the font management table 100, the bank number and offset corresponding to the character code are addressed as shown in flow A. , if they do not match, go to the next stage font management table 110 as in flow B, and if the font numbers match here, address the RAM 23 as in flow 0. If the font numbers do not match in this font management table 110, the next stage font management table 14
0 and address RAM2:l as in flow E with the bank number and offset stored here. In addition, when external characters are specified in the font management table 100, the font management table 1
30, and if the font numbers match, address 23 to the flow like L<rl8, and if they do not match, go to the font management table 150 in flow M, and address the bank number and the bank number stored there. Address IIAM 23 as in flow N with offset.

In the above embodiment, as the appearance frequency data of character codes,
All character codes that appear in order of appearance frequency and their corresponding frequency data are added, but because the capacity of high-speed storage devices is limited, character fonts that correspond to all character codes that appear are added. It may not be possible to write data to the high speed storage IIAM 23.

Therefore, the same effect can be obtained even when the number of character code appearance frequency data is limited to the number of character font data that can be written in the high speed storage device and the order is not arranged in order of appearance frequency. Furthermore, in the above description, the bank number and offset are used for addressing the rlAM 23 or the fixed magnetic disk device 22 to reduce the address space.
If the address space is made larger, addressing can be performed using only address data.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the character font management method of the present invention, the storage address of font data can be searched for character fonts of frequently used typefaces by just reading the font management table once. . In the case of a character font that is used infrequently, the font management table will have to be searched more than once, but in a typical document, the main text occupies more than 90x of the entire text, and the font has a different font, such as heading characters. The ratio of text fonts is low. Therefore, according to the present invention, a high-speed search is possible using the table area of walking distance.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a device to which the method of this invention can be applied, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the management method of this invention, and FIG. 3 (^). ([l) is a flowchart showing an example of the printing operation, FIGS. 4 and 5 are diagrams showing the contents of the memory, FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the conventional example, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are the conventional examples. It is a figure for explaining a method. 1... document creation device, 2... floppy disk,
3...Printing device, 6,20...CPU, 7...Memory forest, 11.27...Character generator, 100,11
0,120,130°140.150... Font management table. Part 1 (B) $3 Flat leather 4 Figure 5 Sheep 6 Box Figure B

Claims (1)

[Claims] In the case where a character font of a character to be printed consisting of a character code, a control code, and a font code is stored in an external storage device and a high-speed storage device, and the character font is read at the time of printing and the character to be printed is printed. In the method for managing character fonts, a font management table is provided for each of the font codes in order of frequency of appearance, and address information of the character font or font management table data of the next rank is stored in the font management table. . A character font management method, characterized in that the character font is managed based on address information in the font management table for the typeface code of the character to be printed.