JPS6364764A - Output device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable memory efficiency to be increased by providing a means to detect an area in which characters or images are output from entered information, a storage area setting means which corresponds to the former means and a means to store character or image information into a storage area. CONSTITUTION:A scan buffer 110 is of a dual buffer structure, i.e. its one buffer receives image data of a page memory 106 being written by CPU 101, while the other is read by an image signal generator 111. This data which is read in this way is converted to an image signal S02 and output to an output interface circuit 112. The circuit 112 outputs various control signals or image signal to a laser beam printer (LBP) printing mechanism 113. The LBP printing mechanism 113 is started by means of printer starting signal S03 transmitted by CPU 101 to execute a series of printing processes such as paper feed, transfer and fixing of an image on the paper.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an output device, and particularly to an output device that outputs characters and images corresponding to input information. - [Prior Art] Conventionally, in an output device such as a printing device, a memory corresponding to the entire area of an output medium is prepared and output is performed. Therefore, especially in printers with high printing density such as LED printers and laser beam printers, a large amount of memory capacity is required, which is disadvantageous in terms of cost. In addition, since the memory for storing the information to be output is fixedly stored on the storage medium of the output device, even though it has a large amount of memory, it is difficult to use the memory for downloading character fonts, registering macro commands, etc. There were significant limitations due to capacity.

Furthermore, since there is a pairwise correspondence between an area on the output medium and a corresponding area on the storage medium, for example, to unify the paper size, printing is performed on 84 paper, but the actual printing area is A4.
Even when only a small output area is required on a large output medium, such as when the size is sufficient, a memory with a larger capacity than necessary is used, resulting in a lot of waste in terms of memory utilization efficiency.

In addition, printers that operate page by page, such as LED printers and laser beam printers, require image memory for multiple pages in order to perform continuous printing smoothly, and the memory capacity is enormous. .

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, detects the necessary output area on the output medium, and variably reserves only the memory for that area, thereby improving memory efficiency. Provide a raised output device.

[Means for Solving the Problem] As a means for solving this problem, the output device of the present invention includes a detection method that detects an output area on an output medium of characters and images to be output based on input information. means, a setting means for setting a storage area corresponding to the output area detected by the detection means, and a storage means for storing information of the text or image in the storage area set by the setting means. Be prepared.

[Operation] In such a configuration, the storage means stores character and image information in a storage area set corresponding to the output area detected by the detection means.

【Example〕

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 341 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printer control unit 100 of a laser beam printer (hereinafter referred to as LBP) which is an embodiment of the output device of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 101 controls the entire LBP and analyzes input data, and 103 receives data sent from the host computer 102, and
An input interface circuit 104 is a program ROM that stores a printer control program for the CPU 0I shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, which will be described later. This is a font memory that stores character patterns, and is made up of a general ROM. Reference numeral 106 denotes a page memory used for temporarily storing data from the host computer and securing a plurality of pages of image memory, and its usage status is controlled by a memory management table 108, which will be described later. Reference numeral 107 is a page control table for controlling the input/output of the page buffer and image memory on the page memory, and its structure will be explained later with reference to FIG. 1o8 is a memory management table for managing the usage status of the page memory 106 and for securing and releasing memory, the structure of which is shown in FIG. Note that the page memory 106. The page control table 107 and the memory management table 108 are composed of one-time RAM.

109 is, for example, CPU to
This is a timer unit that outputs a timer interrupt signal Sol to i. The timer interrupt signal SOI starts a timer interrupt processing routine of a multi-tasking printer control program built into the CPU 10I to manage tasks. This is a scan buffer made up of static RAM that temporarily stores scanned data. The scan buffer 110 has a double buffer structure, and while the CPU writes image data on the page memory 106 to one side of the scan buffer 110, the image signal generator 111 reads the other buffer. , converts this into an image signal SO2 and outputs it to the output interface circuit 112.

The output interface circuit 112 is the LBP printing mechanism section 1
13 is a circuit that outputs various control signals and image signals,
By the printer activation signal 303 from CPU10I,
The LBP printing mechanism unit 113 is activated, and a series of printing processes such as transferring and fixing the 9 images fed to the paper onto the paper are executed.

Next, in FIG. 2, the memory management table 108 of FIG.
A method of managing page memory 106 using . The page memory 106 is logically divided into memory segments of 256 bytes, each of which is associated with 1 bit of the RAM constituting the memory management table. The memory management table 108 is composed of a general RAM that is accessed in byte (8 bit) units.
The yte mbit is from the beginning of the page memory 106 (
Since it corresponds to the 8x Cl-1)+m)th memory segment, its RAM address can be easily calculated. Further, for each bit on the memory management table 108, if it is 1°, it indicates that the corresponding memory segment is in use, and if it is 0°, it indicates that it is unused.
This allows Cputot to keep track of memory usage and, in particular, to reserve empty memory segments.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the internal structure of the page control table 107. Reference numeral 301 denotes a page buffer control unit, which includes a page buffer address area 303 that stores the start address of the page buffer 307 secured on the page memory 106, and a data capacity area 302 that stores the data capacity that can be stored on the page buffer 307. The page buffer 307 is the memory management table 10
Check the free space in step 8 to secure the necessary amount, and input the manually input data via the input interface circuit 103 to step 1.
Temporarily holds one page.

In addition to the page buffer 307, the page memory 106 has one
The output image for one page is generated in the form of a dot pattern, and a plurality of image memories 308 to 310 etc. can be secured to hold it, and the data for one page is input to the page buffer 307. Each time, an output image is generated in the image memory in sequence. In order to control the input/output of the image memory for a plurality of pages, the page control table 107 includes an image page control table 306 consisting of page control units #1 to #5, 401a to 401e.

The page control units 401a to 401e on the image page control table 306 are accessed by the output space pointer 304 and the input space pointer 305.

The output space pointer 304 is a pointer that points to the page control unit 401a to 401e corresponding to the image memory of the page being printed or the image memory to be output next, and the input space pointer 304 is a pointer that points to the page control unit 401a to 401e corresponding to the image memory of the page being printed out, or the image memory to be output next. This is a pointer that points to the page control unit 401a Ne corresponding to the page image memory in which the image pattern of is to be written, or to the page control units 401a to 401e to which the image will be written next.

FIG. 4 shows the above page control unit 401a.
The print area on the paper corresponding to the internal structure of Ne is shown.

The page control units 401a to 401e store various management information regarding the output image of one page. First, a status flag 402 indicating the state of the page control unit 401aNe is stored. Status flag 402 is “vacant”, “input”, “waiting for output”
, or "outputting" status. "
The "vacant" status is page control unit 40
Indicates that 1a to 1e are unused. A status of "input" indicates that the page control unit 4018Ne is in the process of writing input data via the page buffer 307 into the corresponding image memory as an image pattern. A status of "input" indicates that the page control unit 401axe is waiting to start printing, and a status of "outputting" indicates that a printing operation is being executed for the image data corresponding to the page control units 401a to 401e. .

403 and 404 indicate the actual position on the paper of the output image for one page generated on the image memory, and the coordinates (Xi) of the upper left corner of the image area.

yl) is stored. Also, 405°406 is the size in the X direction of the output image for one corresponding page
This is an area in which s'/force direction magnitude Yl is stored.

409 shows the position and size of the output image on the paper 408. Note that the coordinates are expressed with the top left corner of the paper as the origin.
Also, the coordinates of the upper left corner of the output image area (x+, ym)
and the size x,, y, is a page buffer 30 that transfers one page of human data to the page buffer 30 via the human interface circuit 103.
7, check and calculate the effective printing area used by human data.

When generating an image pattern on the image memory from the input data on the page buffer 307, the required memory capacity is calculated from the size X, 405, and the size Y, 406, and the required capacity of image memory is secured on the page memory 106. 40
7 is an image memory address pointer that stores the first address of the secured image memory.

Note that the page buffer 307 and the image memory 308 .
Addresses 309 and 310 are secured in order from the lowest address by checking the memory management table 108, and are released upon completion of output.

The following describes the mechanism for checking the actual effective area of the printing area in the LBP with the above configuration, securing image memory for multiple pages, and controlling input/output control.
This will be explained using the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 stored in the program ROM 104.

This printer control program adopts a multitasking method and uses the timer interrupt signal SO from the timer unit 109.
Timer management is performed by I.

The main tasks are input tasks and output tasks.
Input processing for creating an output image for one page and output processing for printing the created output image are processed in parallel.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of the input task, and the input processing will be explained in detail.

First, in step 5501, various variables are initialized.

The main variables used in the input task are:

The coordinates (x, y
), and (x, y) are expressed in coordinates with the origin (0, 0) at the upper left corner of the paper. Also, as variables to be saved as the minimum and maximum values of x and y in one page, the minimum value of X + m
ln, the maximum value of X, □, the minimum value of ymlns the maximum value of yI1. ．． Prepare l. Therefore, the characters of the character pattern stored in the font memory 105 are
If the character height is h, the coordinates (Xm1n + yain −
h), (X mln + ywrax), (X @
@ z + w + ymln −h ), (x ,,,
The area surrounded by the four points +w, y□x) is the effective print area of that page, that is, the area that requires image memory.

The printing position (x, y) is the position corresponding to the lower left corner of the character pattern, and for each character, X advances to the W branch,
When starting a new line, y moves down by h minutes.

When the initialization of variables is completed in step 5501, the process advances to step 5502, where the memory management table 108 is checked, the page buffer 307 is secured, and the memory management table 108 is updated.

Next, in step 5503, the page buffer control unit 301 is updated by first clearing the data capacity area 302 and then clearing the page buffer address area 303.
, the page buffer 307 secured in step 5501
0 Next, step 5504
In step 55, the input data from the host computer 102 is taken out through the character interface circuit 103 path.
Check the input data in step 05. If the input data is a character code, character processing is performed in steps 3506 to 5140. First, in steps 3506 to 511, the current print position (x, y) and
, Compare 7□8 and find <X.

If y) exceeds the respective minimum and maximum values, then (
x, y) as the new minimum and maximum values, X +min,
X Ill 1.3' + mln, update the corresponding variable in ymix.

Next, in step 5512, the input data (character code) is stored in the page buffer 307, and in step 5513, the print position (x, y) is updated to the next position. Then, in step 5514, the page buffer control unit 301
When the processing of the 0 or more and 1 character codes for which the upper data capacity area 302 is incremented by 1 is completed, the process returns to step 5504 and proceeds to the processing of the next input data.

If the input data is an FF (form feed) code indicating the end of one page in the manual data check in step 5505, page end processing is performed in steps 5515 to 522.

Here, as an example, if the current input space pointer 305 points to the #3 page control unit 401c, then the #3 page control unit 401c
Check the page status 402 of c and wait for it to become empty, that is, available. Next, in step 5516, the input page status 402 is set to "Inputting", and the page control unit 401C of #3 is set to 0, which indicates that the input task is in use.Next, in step 551
7, X +aln, X wax, 'j sin,
"Page control unit 40 by J man
The management information 403 to 406 of 1C is updated as follows.

xI ” Xm1n + y l ” yml
n −h+XI=x, 11. +w-X, ln.

Yl=yaax-()'5iTh-h) Then, in step 8518, xt calculated in step 5517,
Y, is used to calculate the capacity of the image memory, check the memory management table 108, and secure the image memory 310 on the page memory 106. Then step 551
9, 1 stored in the page buffer 307
A character code for one page is taken out, a corresponding character pattern is read from the font memory 105, and written to the image memory 310 to generate a pressure image for one page. When the output image for one page is completed, step 552
0, the memory management table 10B is updated and the area of the page buffer 307 is released. and step 552
Step 1 sets the page status 402 to "waiting for output" and informs the output task that output preparation is complete.0 Next, step 5
At step 522, the input space pointer 305 is moved to the next page control unit 401d, and the page end processing is completed.

When the page end process is completed, the process returns to step 5501 and enters the input process for the next page.

Next, FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of the output task, and the completed output image output processing will be described in detail.

First, in step 5601, the output bass pointer 304
Checks the page status 402 of #1 page control unit 401a indicated by and waits until it becomes "output ready", that is, until an output image is prepared, and in step 5602, printer start signal SO3 is activated.
is output, and the LBP printing mechanism section is activated.

Next, the process advances to step 5603, and the interval from the top edge of the paper to the start of the actual print image, that is, the y coordinate is O""
In the section yr, blank data is sent to the scan buffer 110 to create a blank section on the paper. Note that yI is the yI coordinate 404 on the page control unit 401a.

Next, in step 5604, the image data prepared on the image memory 308 is transferred to the scan buffer 110. At this time, in order to obtain a blank space in the writing section in the X direction, the writing start position to the scan buffer 110 is set to Xif, the amount of data to be transferred is set to A predetermined image can be printed on. Note that xl l Xl + Yl are the Xi coordinates 40 of the page control unit 401a, respectively.
3. Size X 405. The size is Y1406.

When the output of image data is completed, the process advances to step 5605, updates the memory management table 108, and updates the image memory 30.
Open area 8. Then, in step 5606, the output page status 402 of the page control unit 401a is set to "empty", and in step 5607, the output page status pointer 304 is set to the next page control unit 401.
Go to B and end the output processing for one page. When the output processing for one page is completed, the process returns to step 5601 and starts the output processing for the next page.

Although this embodiment is an example of application of the present invention to a laser beam printer, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to thermal transfer printers and L
It can be applied to various printing devices such as ED printers. Furthermore, the technical idea of the present invention can be applied not only to printing devices but also to other output devices such as displays.

Further, in this embodiment, only character data is handled as input data, but the present invention is not limited to this, and can easily be applied to graphic data such as vector graphics and image data.

In addition, in this embodiment, in order to check the input data area, the input data is temporarily saved in the page buffer.
As another example, if the rule is to send 21 consecutive copies of the same page data from the host computer, the first time the actual printing is checked and the image memory is secured, and the second
Actual printing may be performed a second time.

In addition, in this embodiment, the objects for which memory is dynamically allocated are limited to the page buffer and image memory, but in addition to this, the objects for which memory is dynamically allocated are limited to the page buffer and image memory. Memory efficiency is further increased by using the working stack area, which is required to preserve border areas and boundaries when filling in figures, as target memory areas.

As explained above, by checking the print position of input print information when receiving it, the printing device can know the position and size of the effective print area on the recording material, and dynamically allocate image memory based on this information. This makes it possible to significantly improve memory efficiency.

In particular, when the maximum recording size that can be handled is large, but the size of the recording material normally used is less than half the maximum size,
Although memory is required for the maximum size, during normal use, the memory can be dynamically divided to store multiple pages of image memory, improving throughput.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, a necessary output area on an output medium can be detected,
By variably securing only the memory for that area,
It is possible to provide an eight-key device with improved memory efficiency.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printer control unit of the laser beam printer of this embodiment, Figure 2 is a table structure diagram of the memory management table on the printer control unit, and Figure 3 is a page control diagram on the printer control unit. Table structure diagram; Figure 4 is a configuration diagram of the page control unit on the page control table; Figure 5 is a flowchart of input tasks in the printer control program; Figure 6 is a flowchart of output tasks in the printer control program. be. In the figure, 100...printer control unit, 101...
・CPU, 102...Host computer, 103
...Input interface circuit, 104...Program ROM, 105...Font memory, 106...
Page memory, 107... Page control table, 108... Memory management table, 109... Timer unit, 11o... Scan buffer, 111
Image signal generator, 112... Output interface circuit, 113... LBP printing mechanism section, 301... Page buffer control unit, 304... Output space pointer, 305... Input space pointer, 401
aNe: Page control unit. Patent applicant Canon Co., Ltd. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 51! ! Figure 6

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In an output device that outputs characters or images corresponding to input information, a detection means detects an output area on an output medium of output characters or images based on the input information; An output device comprising: a setting means for setting a storage area corresponding to the output area set by the setting means; and a storage means for storing information on the characters and images in the storage area set by the setting means. (2) The output device according to claim 1, wherein the output area is rectangular and is represented by a start position, a length, and a width. (3) The output device according to claim 2, wherein the storage means stores information about characters and images within the output area.