JPS6339350A - Image direction switching system of printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it unnecessary to increase the capacity of a character pattern ROM and without need for replacement of cassettes by selecting a transfer address of character data from a character pattern ROM to a bit map memory, a start address for reading a bit map memory and a reading direction according to a designated character arrangement direction. CONSTITUTION:If a command for landscape lateral writing or portrait lateral writing is entered from a panel, character patterns which are read from a character pattern ROM, e.g., A, B... are sequentially stored into the addresses of a bit map memory by the function of a memory controller 27. When printing in the landscape lateral writing mode, the character data A, B... stored in the bit map memory 24 are read from a start address to an arrow (a) direction and transferred to a printer. The printer prints the data in the arrow (x) direction with a recording paper 4 transported to a Y direction, thus recording the characters A, B... in a lateral writing style on the recording paper 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an image direction switching method for a printer, and in particular to an image direction switching method for a printer that allows the printed image direction to be switched to a desired direction. It is related to the method.

(Prior Art) A conventional printer using a paper cutter, such as a laser printer, is of the type in which the cut paper is manually fed, and the cutter paper is housed in a cassette, and the cut paper is stored in a cassette. There are types that are attached to the printer to feed paper (cassette built-in type) and types that have both.

In a type of printer that feeds cut sheets manually, you can freely decide the orientation of the cut sheets when inserting them. Therefore, it is easy to change from printing in the width direction of the paper as shown in FIG. 7(a) to printing in the longitudinal direction of the paper as shown in FIG. 7(b). I can do it.

However, when attempting to change the printer I/direction as described above in a printer with a built-in cassette, it is necessary to remove the cassette from the printer and insert another cassette into the printer, which is a hassle for the operator. It was true. Also, you have to check the cassette to see if the paper is set in the desired direction.
It was inconvenient.

Also, cool! - In printers that use paper, an area where image formation is not possible may occur at one end of the recording paper due to the structure of the paper transport mechanism. This will be explained with reference to FIG. This figure shows a developing section of a laser printer.

When the laser beam 1 modulated by character information scans the uniformly charged photosensitive drum 2, the photosensitive drum 2
An electrostatic latent image is formed on top. When the photosensitive drum 2 rotates in the direction of the arrow a and the electrostatic latent image passes through the developing device 3, l·ner corresponding to the electrostatic latent image is deposited on the photosensitive drum 2''.

When the recording paper 4 is fed in the direction of the arrow at a predetermined timing, the toner that has been deposited on the outer periphery of the photosensitive ram 2 is transferred onto the recording paper 4 by the action of the transfer device 5. After the transfer, the recording paper 4 is peeled off from the photosensitive tram 2 by a slipping guide 6 and further sent toward a fixing device (not shown).

1, since the paper transport mechanism is provided with a slipping guide 6, one end of the recording paper 4 that comes into contact with the slipping guide 6 becomes an area where image formation is not possible.

Users of printers of this type have a desire to use the area on the paper where image formation is not possible as a binding margin. When using the area where image formation is not possible as a binding margin, the printing direction is 4 in Fig. 9 (a) to (d).
Species can be considered.

Conventionally, in order to obtain these four types of printing arrangement, 90 characters were required.
Since it is necessary to rotate the character pattern by 90° and 180°, in addition to the character pattern without rotation, the
A character pattern rotated by 180° is also memorized at the same time, and if necessary, a desired print is performed by reading out the rotated character pattern.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) The prior art described in 1 had the following problems.

As mentioned above, with conventional devices, if you try to change the direction in which characters are arranged from the short side of the paper to the long side of the paper, or vice versa, you have to change the cassette, which is a hassle. . Furthermore, if you try to use the area where no image can be formed on the recording paper as a binding margin, in addition to the characters in the normal direction, you must also store rotated characters in the character pattern ROM.
There was a problem that the capacity of the character pattern ROM became extremely large.

An object of the present invention is to provide means for solving the above problems all at once.

(Means and operations for solving the problem) In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention provides an image direction for a printer in which the arrangement direction of characters printed on recording paper can be externally specified. In the switching method, the transfer address of character take from the character pattern ROM to the bitmap memory, the read star I address and the readout direction of the bitmap memory are switched according to the specified character arrangement direction. It has characteristics.

(Example) The present invention will be explained in detail below using examples.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of an example of an image supply device to which the present invention is applied.

In the figure, 21 is an interface unit that receives a code from an external personal computer, for example, according to the R3232C standard, and 22 is a controller unit (CPU, R
23 is a character pattern ROM (character generation memory) that stores character patterns and pixel patterns, 24 is a bit map memory, and 25 is a bit stream with the recording section B. a timing controller 26, a controller section 22;
The image handler receives instructions from the character pattern ROM 23 and generates an image to be written into the bitmap memory 24 while referring to the character pattern ROM 23. Further, 27 is a memory controller that controls the timing of access to the bitmap memory 24.

Next, the functions of the memory controller 27 of the present invention will be specifically explained.

Landscape horizontal writing or portrait Moricon from the panel described below!・By the function of the roller 27, the character pattern R
Character pattern read from OM23, for example A, B
, C, D, . . . are the bitmap memory 24 shown in FIG. 3 (
They are sequentially stored at the addresses shown in a). On the other hand, the character patterns read from the landscape vertical writing or portrait ROM 23 are sequentially stored in the bitmap memory 24 at the addresses shown in FIG. 4(a).

Next, when reading the character pattern take from the bitmap memory 24 and printing it out, the following procedure is performed.

(1) When printing landscape horizontal writing, take character takes A, B, C, D, etc. stored in the bitmap memory 24 in FIG. 3(a) from the star] address shown in ■. Read in the direction of arrow a,
Send to printer. The printer prints in the direction of the arrow X in FIG.
The characters C, D, . . . are recorded.

(2) Portrait is read out from the bit map memory 24 in FIG. 3(a) from the start address shown in (2) in the direction of the arrow A and sent to the printer. At that time, characters are recorded on the recording paper 4 in the arrangement direction shown in FIG. 4(c).

(3) To perform landscape horizontal writing, see Figure 4 (a)
The character data A, B, C, D, . The printer prints in the direction of the arrow X in FIG. 3(b) on the recording paper 4 conveyed in the Y direction, so the recording paper 4 is printed with A, B, C, D, . . . in the illustrated arrangement.・It will be recorded.

(4) When performing vertical writing of baud i rate,
) is read in the direction of arrow d from the start address shown in ■. Then, the same figure (c
) in the array direction shown in A, B, C, D,...
characters are printed.

If the memory controller 27 is provided with the functions described in ``-'', the functions shown in FIGS.
) The area where image formation is not possible (hatched area)
By binding a plurality of recording sheets with a binding margin of 8, it is possible to easily obtain a booklet having a character arrangement that matches the binding margin.

Next, in order to arrange characters in arbitrary directions of the width direction and the length direction of the recording paper 4 without changing the conveyance direction Y of the recording paper 4, the following procedure is performed.

From the character pattern ROM 23 to the bitmap memory 24
As shown in FIG. 5(a), the character data is transferred in the order of A, B, CSD, . . . . This is the same as the transfer in FIG. 3(a).

Next, when the recording paper 4 is being conveyed in the direction of the arrow Y as shown in FIGS. 5(b) and 5(c), the bitmap memory 24 in FIG. Read out in the direction of arrow e as the start address. When the read character data is sent to the printer, the printer prints on the recording paper 4 in the direction of arrow X. For this reason, recording paper 4
As shown in FIG. 5B, printing is performed in a character arrangement parallel to the width direction of the paper.

On the other hand, in order to keep the conveyance direction of the recording paper 4 in the same direction and to arrange the recorded characters parallel to the longitudinal direction of the paper as shown in FIG. 2 of the bit map memory 24 in (a) is read out in the direction of the arrow f using the start address. Then, when the read character data is sent to a printer and printed, a print as shown in FIG. 4(C) is obtained.

Therefore, by providing the memory controller I/roller 27 with the function described in item 1, characters can be written on both the longitudinal and lateral directions of the recording paper without replacing the cassette that stores the recording paper. It is possible to arrange them.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to flowchart 1 in FIG. This flowchart 1. shows the functions of the memory controller 27.

Step S1: It is determined whether there is a command for landscape horizontal writing or portrait horizontal writing. If the answer is yes, proceed to step S2; if the answer is no, proceed to step S2.
Proceed to step 510.

-11= Step S2...Transfer of character data from the character pattern ROM 23 to the bitmap memory 24 as shown in FIG. 3(a)
Do like this.

Step S3: It is determined whether there is a landscape horizontal writing command. If yes, step S
Proceed to step 4, and if the answer is no, proceed to portrait horizontal writing processing. Note that the portrait horizontal writing process is the same as the landscape horizontal writing process, so illustration is omitted.

Step S4...Character data is read from the bitmap memory in the direction of arrow a, with ▪ in FIG. 3(a) as the start address.

Step S5: It is determined whether reading of character data for one page has been completed. When it is determined that the process has ended, the process advances to step S6.

Step S6... It is determined whether the next page is to be printed, and if it is determined that there is to be printed, the process returns to step Sl. On the other hand, when it is determined that there is no printing, the process ends.

Step SIO: It is determined whether there is a command for landscape vertical writing or portrait vertical writing, and if yes, the process advances to step S11. On the other hand, if no, the process returns to step S1.

Step Sll: Character data is transferred from the character pattern ROM to the bitmap memory as shown in FIG. 4(a).

Step S12: It is determined whether the command is for landscape vertical writing, and if YES, the process proceeds to step S13.

On the other hand, if the answer is no, the process proceeds to vertical portrait writing. This process is not shown or omitted.

Step S13...Character data is read from the bitmap memory in the direction of arrow C, with ▪ in FIG. 4(a) as the start address.

Step S14: It is determined whether reading of character data for one page has been completed, and if the result is YES, the process proceeds to step S6.

As described above, according to the image direction switching method of the printer of this embodiment, it is possible to easily perform four types of printing: landscape horizontal and vertical writing, and portrait horizontal and vertical writing.

FIG. 6 shows a plan view of an example of a panel provided in the printer of this embodiment. In the figure, 31 is a test print key, 32 is an online/offline key, 33 is a stop/clear key, 34a and 34b are print number/code setting keys, and 35 and 36 are 7-segment LEDs.
, 37 is a display section. Note that 34a is a setting key for the ones place (1 key), and 34b is a key for the tens place (10 key).

On this panel, when the operator or normal mode presses the online/offline key 32 to go offline and presses the step key 33, the following values will be displayed on the LEDs 35 and 36 while the key 33 is pressed. . This value corresponds to the mode in Table 1.

Table 1 Next, each time the operator presses the panel 2 1 key 34a, the display changes cyclically from 01 to 04, and the printer switches to the mote corresponding to the display. Therefore, the operator can easily select between Portrait 1, horizontal and vertical writing modes, and Run i-Scape, horizontal and vertical writing modes.

The setting of whether the print direction should be along the long side or short side of the recording paper can be set, for example, in Table 15 above.
= By setting the corresponding mode to 05 as the short side direction and 06 as the long side direction, the long side direction and the short side direction of the recording paper can be easily selected.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the direction in which characters are printed on recording paper can be arbitrarily selected by the operator simply by operating the keys on the panel.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the following effects are achieved.

(1) The arrangement direction of characters to be printed can be set in a direction that matches the area where no image can be formed on the recording paper. Therefore, the operator can easily create a beautiful booklet by simply arranging the printed sheets and binding the areas where images cannot be formed.

(2) The arrangement direction of printed characters can be changed arbitrarily, so there is no need to change the conveyance direction of the recording paper.
Any character arrangement in the lateral or longitudinal direction can be achieved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of an image direction switching system of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of an image supply device of a printer to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 3 is a landscape horizontal writing, port Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of rate horizontal writing, Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of landscape vertical writing, portrait I/vertical writing, and Figure 5 is an explanatory diagram of obtaining a character arrangement parallel to the short side or long side direction of the recording paper. , FIG. 6 is a plan view showing an example of a mounting panel to which the present invention is applied;
Fig. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the character arrangement printed parallel to the short side or long side of the recording paper, Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the developing section of the printer, and Fig. 9 is an explanatory diagram of the boat rate. show. = 18 - 4...Recording paper, 24...Bitmap memory agent Patent attorney Michito Hiraki and 1 other person Hiroki Z4 Figure 4 Figure 5

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) An image direction switching method for a printer that allows external designation of the arrangement direction of characters printed on recording paper, including the transfer address of character data from character pattern ROM to bitmap memory and the corresponding bits. An image direction switching method for a printer, characterized in that a read start address and a read direction of a map memory are switched according to a specified character arrangement direction. (2) The image direction of the printer according to claim 1, wherein the character arrangement direction specified from the outside is at least one of landscape portrait, horizontal writing, portrait portrait, and horizontal writing. Switching method. (3) Image direction switching of the printer according to claim 1, wherein the character arrangement direction specified from the outside is parallel to the width direction or the length direction of the recording paper. method.