JPS636895B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a graphic data conversion device for drawing a plurality of types of drawing patterns at a plurality of predetermined positions using a raster scanning type drawing mechanism.

Conventionally, a typical example of drawing multiple types of drawing patterns using such a raster scanning type drawing mechanism is as follows.
There are examples of kanji patterns being drawn on electrostatic multi-needle recording, laser printer CRT display devices, etc., but generally each kanji pattern is drawn on 30 dots x 30 per character.
This method divides the characters into pixel patterns such as dots and stores the black parts of the characters as 1 and the white parts as 0. However, patterns called lands, which are the object of the present invention, such as etching of printed circuit boards and masks of LSI, are shapes that are simpler than kanji, and are often symmetrical about horizontal and vertical lines, but on the other hand, the size of the shapes is In addition to being different, the drawing positions are not always arranged neatly on a grid like in general kanji drawing. Therefore, when pixel patterns in the form of dots, such as Kanji patterns, are stored, the memory capacity becomes extremely large. Another typical example is a method of storing data as line segment vectors.
In order to express an arbitrary figure, it is necessary to decompose it into many line vectors and express it as a polygon.
In particular, when there are many circles, it cannot be said that the memory capacity is necessarily small, and the calculation time for conversion to drawing data increases, making high-speed drawing difficult.

The purpose of the present invention is to eliminate these drawbacks, save memory capacity for storing land patterns mainly consisting of circles, facilitate conversion of symmetrical figures, and make conversion time the same even for complex patterns. It is an object of the present invention to provide a graphic data conversion device capable of high-speed drawing. Note that the graphic data conversion device of the present invention has a drawing data memory that stores values corresponding to the reference line position X of the pattern to be drawn and the read address A of the drawing pattern table, and the contour lines and reference lines of the drawing area of various drawing patterns. The data to be drawn is sequentially read out from the drawing pattern table and the drawing data memory, in which the distance between the two horizontal lines (hereinafter referred to as contour line distance) is accumulated for each horizontal line, and the read pattern table address A is used to start reading out the drawing pattern table. a drawing pattern table address generating means that generates a pattern table address as an address and sequentially reads out the distance between the contour line and the reference line from the drawing pattern table in one or several words, and adds the reference line position X and the contour line distance. or a means for outputting conversion data as conversion data consisting of an addition/subtraction circuit that calculates a line data element by subtraction, and a bit pattern development circuit that develops the bits between two pairs of data elements into black; A circuit that rewrites the drawing pattern table address by adding 1 to the final drawing pattern table address for one horizontal line read this time, and subtracting 1 for horizontally symmetrical figures, and its target drawing pattern. and means for reading out the drawing pattern table using a circuit that controls each of the circuits described above depending on whether the drawing pattern table is horizontally or vertically symmetrical.

The operation of each component of the present invention will be explained below with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 shows a part of a printed circuit board etching pattern, which includes rectangular patterns 1, 2, and 3 corresponding to wiring portions, and land patterns 4 and 5 corresponding to component mounting portions. Rectangular patterns 1, 2, and 3 are drawn by a separate rectangular generating circuit used in combination with the present invention, and their explanation will be omitted. The outer shape of the land pattern 4 is asymmetrical with respect to the horizontal and vertical axes, and the inside thereof is hollowed out by a hexagon 6 and a circle 7. On the other hand, the land pattern 5 is a circular pattern and is symmetrical about the horizontal center line and the vertical center line.

Next, the relationship between the shape of the drawing pattern and the drawing pattern table will be explained as an example using FIG.
FIG. 2c shows a part of the structure of the drawing pattern table as an example. From the address a ₁₁₁ of the drawing pattern table, the left and right contour line distances for each horizontal line of the pattern in Figure 2 a are l ₁₁₁ , l ₁₁₂ , l ₁₂₁ , l ₁₂₂ .
are stored sequentially, and in the case of a line i that intersects with a hexagonal hole midway, the contour line distances are sequentially l _1i1 , l _1i2 , l _1i3 , l _1i4
is remembered. Also, a line that intersects both a hexagonal hole and a circular hole midway is stored as 6 words with contour distances l _1j1 to l _1j6 , and the contour distance of line m
l _1n1 and l _1n2 are the words of the last line of this pattern.

From address a ₂₁ of the next drawing pattern table
The right contour line distances l ₂₁ , l ₂₂ , l ₂₃ . . . l _2k , l _2o for each horizontal line of the semicircle with diameter φ ₁ in _FIG .

Each of these words has a bit _e1 indicating that it is the last word of each line and a bit _e2 indicating that it is the last word of the last line of the corresponding drawing pattern, and at the same time as each contour distance l. Read out. Here drawing pattern table a ₁₁₁ ~
Assuming that the words a _1n2 and a ₂₁ to _{a 2o} are the contour line distances for each line of land pattern 4 and land pattern 5 in FIG. 1, the drawing principle will be explained below by returning to FIG. 1.

It is assumed that the drawing mechanism sequentially draws a graphic pattern in horizontal lines from top to bottom. During the drawing operation of land patterns 4 and 5 drawn on lines 22 to 24 in Fig. 1, the drawing data memory is sequentially read out as "...4, 5..." from the beginning to the end, and the same goes for the drawing operation of the next line. "...4,5..." is read out. Now, assume that the next line to be drawn is line 20 including the top point 10 of land pattern 4. When developing the bit pattern of this line, reference line 1 of land pattern 4 is extracted from the drawing data memory.
The X coordinate address (hereinafter referred to as reference line position) X ₄ indicating the position of line 1, the drawing pattern table address (a ₁₁₁ , c in FIG. 2), and the drawing mode designations b ₁ , b ₂ , b ₃ are read out. The drawing mode specification means that if _b1 is 1, it is symmetrical to the reference line, if _b2 is 1, it is horizontally symmetrical to the figure drawn up to the last word of each drawing pattern, and _b3 is the initial value 0, This means that when b ₂ is 1, b ₃ is set to 1 only when the final word of the drawing pattern is drawn, and thereafter the drawing pattern table address is read in the direction of decreasing count. At this time, the drawing mode specifications b ₁ , b ₂ , and b ₃ for land 4 are all 0. Note that if there are a plurality of top points of land patterns on the same line, any reading order such as raster progression order or Lydom order may be used. At this point, a code indicating the shape and size of the drawing pattern is read from the drawing data memory, and is converted to the drawing pattern table address a ₁₁₁ in another conversion table inside the device.
Needless to say, it is essentially the same even if converted to . Access the word of the drawing pattern table using the drawing pattern table address a ₁₁₁ read from the drawing data memory, and calculate the contour line distance l ₁₁₁
and read bits e ₁ and e ₂ . Both bits e ₁ and e ₂ are 0
Therefore, the word at the next address a ₁₁₂ is accessed and the contour distance l ₁₁₂ and bits e ₁ and e ₂ are read out. At this time, bit _e1 is 1, so the drawing pattern table address in the drawing data memory
Rewrite a ₁₁₁ to the next address a ₁₂₁ . On the other hand, the contour line distances l ₁₁₁ and l ₁₁₂ read from the drawing pattern table are added together with the reference line position X ₄ read from the drawing data memory, respectively, and
Data elements X ₄ +l ₁₁₁ and X ₄ +l ₁₁₂ are obtained, respectively.
This is sent to the bit pattern expansion circuit, and the bit pattern during this period is set to 1. The subsequent drawing data is sequentially read from the drawing data memory and similarly developed into a bit pattern. When the bit pattern development of all the patterns to be drawn on the target line 20 is completed and the bit patterns are transferred to the drawing mechanism, the part of the pattern to be drawn in the target line 20 is drawn in black (or a preset color).

When developing the drawing pattern for the next line 21, the reference line position X ₄ of the land pattern 4 is read again from the drawing data memory, the drawing mode designation indicating symmetry b ₁ =0,
b ₂ = 0, b ₃ = 0 and the drawing pattern table address are read, but since the drawing pattern table address has been rewritten to a ₁₂₁ , the words with the contour line distances l ₁₂₁ and l ₁₂₂ are read this time. and calculate data elements X ₄ +l ₁₂₁ and X ₄ +l ₁₂₂ , respectively.
In the same way, this value is sent to the bit pattern development circuit and drawing is performed so that the area in between is black.

In the same way, each line is drawn in sequence, and when developing the bit pattern of line 22 including the top point 13 of land pattern 5, reference line position X ₄ of land pattern 4 and drawing mode designation b ₁ =0, b ₂ =0,
b ₃ =0 and the drawing pattern table address a ₁₂₁ are read out, and in addition, the reference line 14 is read out as the figure data of the land pattern 5 from the drawing data memory.
Reference line position which is the coordinate address indicating the position of ₅
The drawing pattern table address a ₂₁ and drawing mode designations b ₁ =0, b ₂ =0, and b ₃ =0 are read out. Land pattern 5 drawing mode specification b ₁ , b ₂
is 1, meaning that it is symmetrical to the vertical line of the reference line and to the horizontal center line. Contour line distance by this drawing pattern table address _A21
Read the word l ₂₁ and perform addition and subtraction with the reference line position X ₅ to obtain data elements X ₅ −l ₂₁ , X ₅ +l ₂₁
get. At this time, bit _e1 is 1, so the drawing pattern table address corresponding to land pattern 5 in the drawing data memory is rewritten to _a22 . _Similarly , at line 23 in the middle, _the reference line position of land pattern ₄ read from the drawing data memory is
b ₃ = 0, the drawing pattern table address is a _1i1 , the contour line distances are l _1i1 , l _1i2 , l _1i3 , l _1i4 are read out sequentially, and the data elements X ₄ +l _1i1 , X ₄ +l _1i2 and X ₄ +l _1i3 , X ₄ +l _1i4 are created, and the bit pattern between those two pairs of data elements is drawn in black. Next, the reference line position of the land pattern 5 read from the drawing data memory is X ₅ , the drawing mode specification is b ₁ = 1, b ₂ = 1, b ₃ = 0, the drawing pattern table address is a _2k , and the contour line distance is l _2k
is read, and the data elements X ₅ −l _2k , X ₅ +
l _2k is made. Further, if you proceed to line 24,
The reference line position corresponding to land pattern 5 is X ₅ ,
The drawing mode designation is b ₁ =1, b ₂ =1, b ₃ =0, the drawing pattern address is a _2o , the contour line distance l _2o is read out, and at the same time the bit e ₂ =1 is read out.
Here, the drawing mode specification read from the drawing data memory is symmetrical to the horizontal line, so b ₂ = 1, that is, it is symmetrical to the horizontal line, so
For the first time, writing the drawing mode designation b ₃ =1 to the data of land pattern 5 in the drawing data memory,
Marks that the address of the subsequent drawing pattern table will be read in the decrementing direction. Therefore, in the subsequent lines, all reference positions are X ₅ , drawing mode specifications b ₁ , b ₂ , and b ₃ are all 1, and the addresses of the drawing pattern table that are sequentially read out are...a _2k
...a ₂₃ , a ₂₂ , a ₂₁ are addressed in order in the decreasing count direction, and then when a _1n2 is addressed, the bit of e ₂ = 1 is detected, and it becomes clear that this land pattern 5 drawing has been completed. Therefore, either the data corresponding to land pattern 5 in the drawing data memory is deleted or some kind of end mark is attached, and this land pattern 5 is no longer used as a drawing target. Similarly, when drawing line 25, when accessing drawing pattern table address a _1n2 of land pattern 4
Since the bit of e ₂ = 1 is detected, the land pattern is 4.
Also erase.

A specific embodiment of the graphic data conversion device of the present invention will be described using FIG. A read-only memory is sufficient for the drawing pattern table 101 in which the distance between the contour line and the reference line is stored sequentially for each horizontal line, but a rewritable memory or the like is used to pass the line 102 in advance to an external computer or magnet. It may also be loaded from a storage device. The drawing data memory 103 stores drawing pattern data b ₁ b ₂ b ₃ , A, X for the number of patterns to be drawn in the current line.
is sent from the line 104 and stored in advance, and has the necessary area on at least one line. Generally, this drawing target data is sent from the next line just before it becomes the drawing target.
If the target figure is erased when drawing is completed, the memory capacity can be reduced. When drawing a certain line, data to be drawn from the drawing data memory 103 is sequentially read out by the drawing memory addresser 121. Drawing memory addresser 1
21 is 1 so as to read data from the first address to the last address of the drawing data memory 103.
It increases by address. The reference line position X of certain drawing target data is determined from the line 105 by the adder 106,
107. The drawing pattern table address A is set in the addresser 109 from the line 108, and a drawing pattern address is generated. A certain word of the drawing pattern table 101, for example _l11 , is read out from a line 110 by the address of the addresser 109 and sent to adders 106 and 107 via gates 111 and 112. At this time, if the drawing mode designation _b1 read from the drawing data memory 103 to the line 113 is 0, that is, it is asymmetric, the flip-flop circuit 114 sequentially and alternately adds the contour line distance l read from the drawing pattern table 101 to the adder 106. , 107 are controlled. Also,
If the drawing mode designation b1 is ₁ , that is, the figure is symmetrical, both outputs of the flip-flop 114 are set to 1 so that both gates 111 and 112 are open, and the output is added to the addition/subtraction switching terminal of the adder 106, and the outline distance l is set to the reference line. Pulled from position X. Note that the adders 106 and 107 calculate the sign (positive, negative) of the contour line distance l.
It is assumed that calculations can be performed including the following. In general, when the reference line distance of a certain pattern is X, and the contour line distances in the case of bilateral symmetry are l ₁₁ and l ₁₂ , the output line 115 of the adder 106 eventually outputs the drawing specification mode b ₁ ,
0 and 1, respectively, X+l ₁₁ and X-l ₁₁ are output from the output line 116 of the adder 107 to the drawing specification mode.
In response to b ₁ , 0, and 1, X+l ₁₂ and X+l ₁₁ are output, respectively, and sent to the bit pattern expansion circuit 117. A detailed explanation of the bit pattern expansion circuit 117 is omitted as it is not the essence of the present invention, but for example, after setting the counter to the value of the line 115, it is sequentially incremented by 1 by a clock pulse,
A circuit that compares the value of the counter with the value of line 116 stops the counter from increasing when the contents of the counter and the value of line 116 become equal. One conceivable method would be to use the contents of this counter as an address and sequentially write 1's into the bit pattern buffer memory, and after the bit pattern for one line is completed, transfer it to the drawing mechanism. Next, the explanation will return to the addresser 109 that controls the drawing pattern table 101. Addresser 109 may generally be an up-down counter, or may be an adder capable of adding 1 at a time. When the drawing pattern table address A is set in the addresser 109 and a predetermined word of the drawing pattern table is read out, bits e ₁ and e ₂ stored in a part of the word are read out. As mentioned before, bit e ₁ means that the word is the last word of each line of the target drawing pattern, and bit e ₂ means that the word is also the last line of the target drawing pattern. If the read e ₁ is 0, predetermined words of the drawing pattern table are sequentially read out until e ₁ =1. The above is the main operation, but after that, preparations for the next line are made.

When one word is read from the drawing pattern table 101 according to the value of the addresser 109, the signal line 12
If bit _e1 output on line 120 is 0, then line 120
The contents of the addresser 109 are incremented by 1 by the gate 128 at the timing from 1 to 1, and the next word is read out. However, if bit _e1 is 1, the next word is not read out. However, at this time, the drawing pattern table address A previously read out from the drawing data memory is rewritten to a new value by the drawing data memory addresser 121 and gate 122 with the contents of the addresser 109 incremented by one. When this rewriting is completed, the value of the drawing data memory addresser 121 is increased by e ₁ =1 from the line 129, and the reference line position X, drawing pattern table address A, and drawing mode of the next pattern to be drawn are stored in the drawing data memory 103. The designation b ₁ b ₂ . Expanded into a bit pattern. When the development of all the bit patterns of the pattern to be drawn on one line is completed and the pattern is transferred to the drawing mechanism, the bit development of the pattern to be drawn on the next line is started.
At this time, the pattern to be drawn developed into a bit pattern in the previous line is read out again from the drawing data memory 103. At this time, the contents of the reference line position X and drawing mode specification _b1 are the same, but the drawing pattern table address _A has been rewritten during the processing of the previous line. Then, the previous line reads up to l ₁₁₂ ,
The drawing pattern table address is _a121 , and the contour distance read out for the current line is _l121 . Therefore, a bit pattern with a different outline position from that of the previous line is developed on the current line. Similarly, when each line is sent to the drawing mechanism, a predetermined drawing pattern is sequentially drawn at a predetermined position. In this way, when the contents of the drawing data memory 103 are read out for each line and the drawing pattern table is accessed, from the line 123, a word whose bit e ₂ is 1, for example, the drawing pattern table address a _1n2 , is used to write the outline. line distance
l When _1n2 is read, it means that that word is the final word of the target drawing pattern, so the target drawing data that has just been read out is erased by operating the gate 124 and the drawing data memory addresser 121. do.

However, if the drawing mode specification _b2 is 1, that is, a figure that is symmetrical with respect to the horizontal line is specified, the line when the word for which this bit _e2 is 1 is read is the target drawing. Corresponds to the horizontal line of symmetry of the pattern. Therefore, this b ₂ =1,
When the special condition of e ₂ =1 is satisfied, the AND condition of the gate 125 is satisfied and the drawing specification mode b ₃ is set to 1. In each subsequent line, if the drawing designation mode _b3 of the data read from the drawing data memory is 1, the addresser 109 moves to decrement the count according to the line 126, and then again reads bit _e2 = from the drawing pattern table. Gate 1 when 1 is read
27 and the operation of the drawing data memory addresser 121, the target drawing data symmetrical to the horizontal line read at that time is erased.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described above, but instead, the drawing pattern table address to be rewritten and stored in the drawing data memory is a code uniquely determined depending on the shape and size of the drawing pattern, and a drawing pattern table address that is rewritten and stored in the drawing data memory. This is the number of words from the start word of each land pattern. It is also possible to calculate the starting point address of the drawing pattern table using a separate conversion table from this code and adding the number of words to this to obtain the drawing pattern table address. be.

In addition, if the land pattern 4 in Figure 1 is composed of multiple figures, the part corresponding to the outline of each line is drawn in black, while the hexagons and circles inside are drawn. It is also possible to draw separately in white based on the contour line distance accumulated in another area of the pattern table, or to draw by sequentially performing exclusive-or (black and white inversion).

As described above, in a device that draws a plurality of types of drawing patterns at predetermined positions using a raster scanning type drawing mechanism, the graphic data conversion device of the present invention requires less memory capacity for storing pattern data, and can be easily speeded up, and the effect is significant.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing a part of a printed circuit board that is effective by implementing the figure conversion device of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a drawing pattern table using examples of two types of land patterns used in the printed circuit board of Fig. 1. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between each word stored in the memory and the address, and FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a circuit specifically implementing the present invention. In the figure, 101 is a drawing pattern table;
103 is a drawing data memory, 106 is an adder/subtractor,
107 is an adder, 109 is an addresser, 111,
112 is a gate circuit, 114 is a flip-flop, 117 is a bit pattern expansion circuit, 121 is a drawing data memory addresser, and 128 is a gate circuit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. When drawing a plurality of types of drawing patterns at predetermined positions using a raster scanning type drawing mechanism, the reference line position of the drawing target pattern is maintained at least while the drawing target pattern is being drawn in the current raster. and a drawing data memory that stores the drawing pattern table address A used in the current raster, and a drawing pattern that sequentially stores the distance between at least the left and right contour lines and the reference line for each horizontal line in each of the drawing areas of various drawing patterns. The data to be drawn in raster this time is read out sequentially from the table and the drawing data memory, and a pattern table address is generated using the read pattern table address A as the drawing pattern table reading start address, and one or several words are sequentially read out from the drawing data memory. a drawing pattern table address generation means for reading out the distance between the contour line and the reference line from the drawing pattern table; adding or subtracting the read distance and the reference line position X, respectively, to calculate a line data element; and converting data. 1, which read out the drawing pattern table address of the drawing data memory this time.
A graphic data conversion device comprising means for rewriting the final drawing pattern table address for a horizontal line so as to obtain a value added by 1. 2. As a drawing pattern table address generation means, after reading the distance between the contour line and the reference line to the final horizontal line of each target drawing pattern in the drawing pattern table, a means for writing the distance into the drawing pattern memory; The drawing pattern table address in the drawing data memory was read this time1
2. The graphic data conversion device according to claim 1, further comprising means for rewriting the final drawing pattern address for a horizontal line so as to obtain a value subtracted by 1, thereby obtaining a horizontally symmetrical graphic.