JPS635765B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention provides an output control device in which software for accessing output devices having different input/output control methods is compatible. Regarding.

[Prior art]

There are various types of output devices for computer systems, and depending on their structure and performance, it has been necessary to provide separate software on the processing device side to access them. For example, in the case of a line printer, the processing device sends print data to the line printer, followed by print commands and paper feed commands (line feed,
page breaks, etc.) to the line printer.
It was printing and paper feeding. On the other hand, in a typewriter, the processing device first sends the print data to the typewriter, then there is a control code (CR code) that returns the carriage loaded with type to the left edge, and a control code that moves the paper one line (LF code). ) to the typewriter for printing and paper feeding.
In this way, line printers and typewriters have different control systems, so software created for line printers can be used to drive a typewriter, and conversely, software created for typewriters can be used to drive a line printer. It was impossible to drive the

Also, even if the control method is the same,
The type and number of characters that an output device has may differ depending on the device, and the operation based on the control code that controls the operation may differ depending on the output device. For this reason, for example, if you try to operate typewriter B with software created for typewriter A, the characters printed by typewriter A may not be printed and ignored because they are undefined in typewriter B. , because the control code for changing the print color on typewriter A was the control code for changing the print interval on typewriter B.
The number of characters that can be printed in a line and the printing position will change,
There was a case where typewriter B could no longer print at the printing position of typewriter A.

Regarding printing, in addition to the conventional printing method that continuously repeats printing and one-line feed, there is also a printing method that prints after a specified number of line feeds, as seen in form printing, or for each page of continuous form paper. There are printing methods that have a certain format, such as printing on. Format control for this fixed format is supported by format tape. This format tape has many channel holes. For example, when a line printer receives a page feed or line feed command, the line printer moves this format tape,
The position of the hole on the tape is detected using hardware such as a photo sensor, and a specified number of line breaks and page breaks are performed depending on the content. Therefore, even if the power to the line printer is temporarily cut off, the positions of the holes on the format tape uniquely correspond to the line positions of the paper, so paper will always be fed correctly to the line printer even after power is restored. It is possible to perform operations and print at predetermined line positions on paper, and no special consideration is required for this in software. However, with typewriters that do not have such a means, the printing line position information is lost when the typewriter's power is turned off, and if the typewriter's power is turned off during printing, the specified line of the paper will be lost when the power is restored. It is impossible to maintain continuity of the format by restarting printing from the specified position. For this reason, in order to manage the number of lines to be printed using application software, to manage the specified number of lines, and to print formats such as specified number of line breaks and page breaks, control codes for single line feeds (LF codes) are continuously sent. I had to send it out to a typewriter.

As mentioned above, since output control, character types and numbers, operations using control codes, and format control differ depending on the output device, it is difficult for support software to support applications using a unified macro interface such as Fortran. For format control, output device drivers must be prepared separately for line printers, typewriter A, and typewriter B, and for printing characters, application software It was necessary to selectively select only the necessary characters and output them according to the output device. For this reason, it has been a problem to be compatible with each of the output devices whose development is rapidly progressing, as it requires a huge amount of software corresponding to each device. Also, when considering backup in the event that the power to the output device is cut off or the output device malfunctions, due to the difference in paper feed control methods mentioned above, it is necessary to use the same line printer for backup, or else the driver It was necessary to change the routine itself, and furthermore, when it came to backing up between line printers and typewriters, it was virtually impossible to back up because of the above-mentioned differences in character types and control code processing.

[Purpose of the invention]

An object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and to enable software created for a certain output device to be used with another output device that performs paper feed control method, character type, and control code processing different from that of the output device. An object of the present invention is to provide an output control device that can be used without causing any format disturbance.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, parameters such as the maximum number of printable characters per line and the maximum number of printable lines per page are set in advance in the output control device corresponding to each output device according to the paper used. Keep it
Each output control device has a function to control the corresponding output device by decoding the control information from the processing device, and also removes undefined control codes from the control code of the corresponding output device to prevent format disturbances. It checks the characters in the data sent from the processing device and converts those that cannot be printed into spaces to prevent the printing position from shifting.Furthermore, in the event of a power outage of the output device, the currently printed page, The present invention is characterized in that by providing means for importing the positions of lines and the like into the processing device, continuity of the format can always be ensured when power is restored.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail. FIG. 1 shows an example of the hardware configuration of an output control device when the present invention is implemented using a microcomputer. An output control device 1 surrounded by a dotted line includes a microcomputer 2, a control circuit 3 that generates and receives various control signals such as a system clock and an interrupt signal, and controls the entire output control device and input/output devices. For stored control of programs
ROM 4, a work area for the control ROM 4, and an output data buffer area for sending and receiving data to and from the processing device 5.
It is composed of a RAM 6, an output bus interface 7 that performs output processing with the processing device 5, and an output device interface 11 that exchanges input/output data 9 and control signals 10 with the output device 8,
Each block is connected by a data bus 12 and a control bus 13 for diversion of address signals and control signals, and is connected to the processing device 5 by an output bus 1.
Connected by 4. From the processing device 5, device control information (hereinafter abbreviated as DCW) for controlling the output device 8 and output data D are inputted through the output bus 14, and this is inputted through the output bus interface 7 and the data bus 12. and is taken into RAM6. The control program in the control ROM 4 decodes this DCW and performs processing such as transferring data D to and from the output device 8 according to the decoding result.

As shown in Figure 2A, DCW is generally
It consists of FUNCTION 15 and multiple pieces of additional information 16. FUNCTION 15 specifies data input or output, setting of control parameters, reading of information in the output control device, etc. The detailed information necessary for operation is set in FUNCTION.

All operations of this output control device 1 are for control purposes.
It is managed by the control program in the ROM 4, and as shown in Figure 3, the control program manages the entire hardware and software of the output control device, such as interrupt management, timer management, and program management. an OS (operating system) 18 that performs operations, an input/output bus management 19 that sends and receives data to and from the processing device 5 using an output bus interface 7, a power outage process 20 that sends information to the processing device in the event of a power outage, and output. It is composed of a FUNCTION process 21 that sends and receives data to and from the device. Furthermore, FUNCTION processing 21 is as described above.
Decipher the FUNCTION part of DCW and read each
Let the FUNCTION processing program execute the process
DCW decoding processing 22, data output processing 23, control information setting processing 24, and other 25 FUNCTIONs
It consists of an execution part. The method of the present invention is mainly executed by the data output processing 23, but prior to that, the following parameter settings are performed. In other words, in general, the maximum number of characters that can be printed in one line and the maximum number of lines that can be printed in one page differ depending on the paper used, so in order to accurately control the format such as paper feeding, it is necessary to It is necessary to inform the output control device in advance of parameters such as the maximum number of printed characters in a line and the maximum number of printed lines in one page. This is done by sending the data to the output device 1. at this time
FUNCTION 15 is decoded by the DCW decoding process shown in FIG. 3 and processed by the control information setting program 24.

Figure 4 shows the data output program 23 in Figure 3.
1 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of the method of the present invention. DCW and data D are sent from the processing device 5, and assuming that the DCW is a FUNCTION that instructs the output of data D, this is decoded by the program 22 in FIG. The one shown in the figure is activated. In this case, the additional information 16 used for the DCW output FUNCTION is, for example, paper feed information 17 and other control information 66 for the line printer shown in FIG. 2B. It may also be paper feed information 17 and other control information 66 for a typewriter. The paper feed information 17 in this DCW is decoded in step 26, and a line feed or page feed is performed according to the content of the paper feed information. The specific contents differ depending on the type of output device 8, so a program corresponding to each device is prepared.
A detailed explanation thereof will be given later using FIGS. 5 and 6. Next, in step 27, data code D is taken out from the buffer area in RAM 6, and
In step 28, it is determined whether this data code D is a control code or a print code. If it is a printed code, the own device (output control device)
In step 29, it is determined whether or not the characters can be printed on the output device 8 controlled by No. 1. If the characters cannot be printed, they are converted into space codes in step 31, and then outputted to the output device 8 in step 30. The processing in steps 29 and 31 differs depending on the output device 8, and the details will be described later with reference to FIG. On the other hand, if the data code D is a control code in step 28, this means that the additional information 16 in the DCW is a control code for a line printer (or typewriter), and the processing is performed in step 32. This control code is ignored if the corresponding output device 8 does not have an operation defined by that control code. The details will be described later with reference to FIG.

Continuing the above process, it is determined in step 33 whether or not one line of printing has been completed by referring to the setting parameters described above. If it has not been completed, step 27 is performed.
Repeat the printing process from . If the printing has been completed, it is determined in step 34 whether printing of all data has been completed. At the time of termination, in step 35, error information and print line position information at the time of output are reported to the processing device 5 as termination information. If it is determined in step 34 that printing has not been completed, the process returns to step 26, where line feed or page feed processing is performed based on the paper feed information, and the process is repeated until printing of all data is completed.

The outline of the data output processing is as above,
Since the paper feed control, character type, and control code processing differ depending on the output device 8, as mentioned above, in FIG. 29), the control code processing (step 32) is as follows:
It is necessary to prepare an output control device for each output device to control that device. Examples of processing in a line printer and a typewriter are shown below.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the line feed and page break processing in step 26 for a line printer when paper feed information is input. First, paper feed information 17 is determined in step 36, and paper feed information 17 is If it is a line feed, an n-line line feed command is output to the line printer in step 37, and the print line position is changed to n in step 38.
Increment the value and proceed to the next process. If the paper feed information 17 indicates a vertical tab, a vertical tab command is output to the line printer in step 39, the print line position is updated to the tab setting position in step 40, and the process proceeds to the next step. Furthermore, if the paper feed information 17 indicates a page break, a page break command is output in step 41, and in step 42, the print line position is set to the top position of one page, that is, 1, and the process proceeds to the next process.

FIG. 6 shows an example of line feed and page feed processing in step 26 for a typewriter when paper feed information for a line printer is input, as in FIG. If the paper feed information 17 indicates n line feeds, the specified number of line feeds is set to n in step 46, a single line feed code is output to the typewriter in step 47, and the print line position is increased by one in step 48. Step 49
Then, in step 46, it is determined whether the specified number of line feeds have been completed, and if the line feed has not been completed, proceed to step 4.
Repeat the single-line line feed code output process in step 7 until the specified number of line feeds are completed. When the specified number of line feeds have been completed in this way, the process moves to the next step. If the paper feed information 17 is a vertical tab, the number of line feeds from the current print line position to the next tab setting line position is calculated in step 50, this is set as the specified number of line feeds in step 51, and then step Performs line feed processing for the specified number of line feeds starting from 47. Even if the paper feed information 17 indicates a page break, the number of line feeds from the current print line position to the first line of the next page is calculated in step 52, and this is set as the specified number of line feeds in step 53. Perform line feed processing for the specified number of line feeds in the same way as in the case. In this way, even if the paper feed information is suitable for a line printer, it can be interpreted for a typewriter and output to the typewriter.

Next, FIG. 7 shows an example of the printability determination process 29 shown in FIG. 4, and FIG. 8 shows an outline of the determination table 60 therefor. In FIG. 7, data D retrieved from the data buffer in RAM 6 in step 54 is temporarily stored in a working area in RAM 6 or in a register in microcomputer 2, and then in step 55, data D is retrieved from the data buffer in RAM 6. The address of the determination data corresponding to the data D is calculated by calculating the sum of the first address TOP of the determination table 60 and each character of the data D, which is regarded as a numerical value. Here, the code determination table 60 shown in FIG. 8 has a size of 2 ⁸ = 256 bytes as shown in the figure when the print data is represented by 8 bits, and when the print data is represented by 7 bits. has a size of 2 ⁷ = 128 bytes. Based on the bit pattern of 0 and 1 written in this determination table 60, it is possible to determine whether or not the character can be printed. Because of the difference in character types used by the input/output devices 8, this determination table 60 is unique to each input/output device, and is preset by the processing device 5 in the same way as setting the maximum number of characters to be printed in one line. Set it. Therefore, returning to FIG. 7, the determination data is retrieved from the determination table 60 in step 56 using the address calculated in step 55.
At step 57, it is determined whether printing is possible. If printing is possible, data D saved in step 54 is retrieved in step 58, and
It is output in step 30 of FIG. If the character cannot be printed, the character is converted into a space code in step 59, and the process moves to output processing 30 in FIG.

FIG. 9 shows a detailed flow of the control code processing 32 shown in FIG. 4, which is a process performed when a typewriter control code is received in the DCW. This control code instructs almost the same operation as the paper feed information 17 processed in step 26 of FIG. 4, and in this embodiment, it is assumed to be unified regardless of the type of output device in principle. . However, since a unique control code may be required depending on the output device, such a unique control code can also be used. Therefore, in Figure 9,
First, in step 43, the input control code is
Determine whether the corresponding output device is undefined. This determination method is the same as the determination of printability in step 29 of Figure 4 (see Figures 7 and 8).
The determination table for this differs depending on the type of input/output device. If it is undefined, this control code is ignored and nothing is done in order to avoid disturbing the printing format, and if it is defined, a paper with the same control content as the control code is printed in step 45. The feed information 17 is created here, and the processing shown in FIG. 5 is performed in the case of a line printer, and in FIG. 6 in the case of a typewriter. Through the process shown in FIG. 9, by inputting a control code for a typewriter, it is possible to control various types of line printers and typewriters without causing format disturbances.

The above is an explanation of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 4 to 9, but FIG. I will explain. In the case of a power outage while no output processing is being performed, the print line position, etc. will be displayed at step 35 in Figure 4 as a report of the completion of the output executed before that time.
Since the information is reported to the processing device 5 in
It is sent to the output device 1 by the FUNCTION command, and then the output processing shown in FIG. 4 is performed. On the other hand, in the case of a power outage during output processing, unless the printing line position immediately before the power outage is reported to the processing device, the continuity of the format cannot be maintained after the power is restored. Therefore, when a power outage occurs, the processing program shown in FIG. 10 is activated by the power outage detection circuit in the control circuit 3 shown in FIG.
First, it is determined in step 62 whether the output FUNCTION is being executed. If it is being executed, control information such as the print line position is fetched in step 63, and step 64 is executed.
The information is then taken into the processing device 5 as end information along with other information such as output errors. This intake is
This is done by specifying information import from the output device 1 using the DCW FUNCTION. Also, if it is not running, the process ends without doing anything.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above embodiments, the present invention provides an output device that performs paper feed control using print commands and paper feed commands like a line printer, and an output device that performs paper feed control using a control code like a typewriter. For output devices that have different paper feed control methods such as output devices, it is possible to operate any output device using software created for either device. It becomes possible to create software without being aware of whether it is a writer or a line printer. Furthermore, even if the number and type of characters that can be printed differ depending on the output device, control can be performed using the same software without causing any format disturbance.
Furthermore, it is possible to unify control codes to make various output devices perform the same operation, and to prevent formatting errors caused by control codes other than the common control code. Even in the event of a failure of the device, it is possible to perform backup using another output device without changing the software. Furthermore, even at the end of output processing and in the event of a power outage of the output control device, there is also the effect that format continuity can be maintained when output control is resumed due to power restoration or the like.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram of an output control device for implementing the present invention, and FIGS. 2A and 2B are
An explanatory diagram of DCW, Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the entire program configuration of the output control device, Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an outline of a flowchart showing an embodiment of the output processing of the present invention, and Fig. 5 is a paper for line printer. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of paper feed control processing for a typewriter; FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of print code conversion processing; FIG. 8 9 is a flow chart showing an example of control code processing, and FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing an example of power outage processing. 1... Output control device, 2... Microcomputer, 3... Control circuit, 4... Control ROM, 5
...Processing device, 6...RAM, 8...Output device,
9...Output data, 15...FUNCTION, 16
... Additional information, 17 ... Paper feeding information, 20 ... Power failure processing section, 21 ... FUNCTION processing section, 22 ...
...DCW decoding processing section, 23...Data output section, 2
4... Control information setting processing section, 60... Code determination data table.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In an output control device that is provided between an output device having printed paper and a processing device and controls the output device based on instructions from the processing device, an output control device for controlling the output device from the processing device a first means for decoding paper feed information and sending a paper feed command to the output device; and a second means for determining whether data sent from the processing device during printing is a print code or a control code. , a third means for determining whether or not printing is possible with the output device when determining the print code; outputting the print code to the output device for printing when determining whether printing is possible; converting it into a space code when determining that printing is not possible; a fourth means for outputting to the output device as a space print; when determining a control code, determining whether or not it has been defined as a control code for the output device; and when determining that it is undefined, ignoring the control code; a fifth means for converting the control code into paper feed information for the output device and sending it to the first means in place of the paper feed information from the processing device when making a defined determination; and Output control device consisting of. 2. In an output control device that is provided between an output device having printed paper and a processing device and controls the output device based on instructions from the processing device, control information for the output device that is a parameter from the output device a buffer for capturing and storing paper feed information for the output device from the processing device and sending a paper feed command to the output device by decoding paper feed information for the output device from the processing device; a second means for determining whether the data is a print code or a control code; a third means for determining whether the data can be printed on the output device when determining the print code; and a third means for determining whether the data can be printed on the output device when determining whether the data can be printed; A fourth means outputs the code for printing, and when it is determined that printing is not possible, converts it to a space code and outputs it to the above output device as a space print, and controls the number of outputs and determines whether printing is completed by comparing with the above control information. a determination reporting means for determining whether or not the control code has been defined as a control code for the output device; A first means that ignores the control code and converts the control code into paper feed information for the output device at the time of a defined determination and sends it to the first means in place of the paper feed information from the processing device. 5. An output control device comprising: 3. The output control device according to claim 2, wherein the control information includes a maximum number of characters to be printed in one line and a maximum number of lines to be printed in one page, which are determined based on the size of the number of prints used in the output device. 4. In an output control device that is installed between an output device that has printed paper and a processing device, and that controls the output device based on instructions from the processing device, deciphers paper feed information for the output device from the processing device. a first means for sending a paper feed command to the output device; a second means for determining whether the data sent from the processing device during printing is a print code or a control code; A third means for determining whether or not printing is possible with the output device, and when determining whether printing is possible, outputting a printing code to the above output device for printing, and when determining that printing is not possible, converting it into a space code and printing a space on the above output device. a fourth means for outputting a control code for the output device; when determining a control code, it is determined whether or not the control code has been defined for the output device; when determining that the control code is undefined, the control code is ignored; and when determining that it is defined, the control code is ignored; a fifth means for converting a control code into paper feed information for the output device and sending it to the first means in place of the paper feed information from the processing device; and detecting a power outage. a sixth means for determining whether or not output processing is in progress when the power-off is detected; and a seventh means for capturing control information and reporting it to the processing device as completion information when it is determined that output processing is in progress; Output control device consisting of: