JP2559697B2 - Character processor - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a character processing device, and more particularly to a character processing device capable of developing character patterns of different sizes.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, there is an apparatus of this type in which the lower end and the upper end of a printed character frame are aligned as shown in Figs. 2 (a) to (c). These have stored the position of the baseline of each character for each character set, and output the characters so that the position of this baseline is aligned. The character set means a certain code range (X'20 'to X'7E', such as ASCII code, JIS7, JIS8 and JIS-6226 code).
X'A0 'to X'DE', X'2121 'to X7E7E', where X "indicates that the number is hexadecimal. The same shall apply hereinafter). In these character patterns, the size of the character frame (for example, 16 dots x 24 dots) and the typeface (for example, italic) are set for each character set, and each character pattern within each character set is the size of the character frame. , The typeface is designed to be the same.
The baseline here indicates the reference line 20 in the design of the character pattern, and refers to the position of the "black" dot at the bottom end of the character pattern such as alphabet or kanji.

When the output device body for printing or displaying characters is connected to a plurality of types of host computers, for example, when the output device of company A is connected to the computer of company B or the computer of company C, Company output devices are required to behave in a similar manner to those for company B computers and those for company C computers. However, as compared with the output devices corresponding to the host computers of company B and company C, the character pattern design is different in the printing by the output device of company A, the character set information such as the baseline is different, and the arrangement of characters is different. There may be cases where the feeling of changes.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Accordingly, in this type of output device, particularly in connection with a plurality of types of host computers, a character pattern is prepared in accordance with the host computer, or a program is prepared in accordance with the host computer. Therefore, there is a drawback that it is necessary to prepare a plurality of font patterns and programs in the output device in advance.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and an object of the present invention is to provide a character processing device capable of mixing characters of different sizes and aligning specific positions of the characters according to the mode and outputting.

[Means for Solving Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the character processing device of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, a designating unit that designates either the first mode or the second mode, and a storage unit that stores information for determining a character development position corresponding to the mode designated by the designating unit. And when the first mode is designated by the designating means,
Based on the information stored in the storage means corresponding to the designated first mode, the characters of different sizes are mixed and developed so that the first specific position of each character is lined up, and the designation is performed. When the second mode is designated by the means, the first specific position of each character should not be aligned on the line based on the information stored in the storage means corresponding to the designated second mode. In addition, there is a developing unit that mixes and develops characters of different sizes so that the second specific position of each character is lined up.

[Operation] In the above configuration, information for determining the expansion position of the character is stored in association with the first mode and the second mode, and the first or second mode is designated by the designating means. Then, when the first mode is designated, the first specific position of each character is different so as to be aligned on the line based on the stored information corresponding to the designated first mode. Expand mixed size characters. On the other hand, when the second mode is designated, the first of each character is based on the stored information corresponding to the designated second mode.
The characters of different sizes are mixed and developed so that the specific positions of the characters are not aligned on the line and the second specific positions of the characters are aligned on the line.

[Embodiment] The document processing apparatus of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 has a page buffer 4 of a first memory, a font memory 7 of a pattern memory, a frame memory 6 of a second memory, and characters of a position storage means. Set information section 8 and pattern generation control circuit 5
And a page buffer 4 as a storage unit and a switch unit 11 as a selection unit.

In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the host computer 13
The document information is stored in the page buffer 4. The pattern generation control circuit 5 reads a font pattern corresponding to the code of the page buffer 4 from the font memory 7,
The dot pattern is developed and stored in the frame memory 6. The document information in the page buffer 4 includes a character type, an output start position, and the like. Further, the character set information section 8 stores position information corresponding to the pattern size and the document output format corresponding to each character type, and the position information is selected according to the designation from the switch section 11,
The storage address of the frame memory 6 is obtained for each character, and the pattern expansion of the document information is performed.

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

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

[Description of Document Processing Device (FIG. 1)] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the document processing device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Reference numeral 1 is a control unit of the document processing apparatus which receives document information from various host computers 13, converts it into a dot image, and outputs it to the printer unit 12. Reference numeral 2 is a CPU that controls the control of the control unit 1, and is composed of, for example, a microprocessor. Reference numeral 3 is a program memory for storing control programs for the CPU 2, various tables for printing, and the like, and 4 is a page buffer for storing document information from the host computer 13.

Reference numeral 5 is a pattern generation control circuit that generates font patterns such as characters and symbols based on the code information stored in the page buffer 4 and stores them in the frame memory 6, and controls the microprocessor MPU for control and MPU. It has a ROM with built-in programs and data, and a RAM as a work area. 6 is a frame memory for storing a dot image corresponding to one page of output paper of the printer unit 12, 7
Is a font memory containing a font pattern of each character corresponding to the character code.

Reference numeral 8 is a character set information section for storing information such as a baseline and the height and width of the character for each character set, and 9 is an interface circuit for connecting to the host computer 13.
It is an interface circuit such as RS-232C. A printer interface circuit 10 outputs the print data to the printer unit 12 by converting the dot image of the frame memory 6 into, for example, a serial electric signal (for example, a laser on / off signal in a laser beam printer). , 11 are switch sections for instructing the type of the host computer. Reference numeral 12 is a printer unit for performing print output, and 13 is a host computer which is a generation source of print data.

In such a configuration, the print data from the host computer 13 is taken into the CPU 2 via the interface circuit 9 and sequentially stored in the page buffer 4. When the CPU 2 stores the print data for one page in the page buffer 4, it instructs the pattern generation control circuit 5 to develop the character code into a font pattern and specifies the start address of the print data of the page buffer 4. As a result, the pattern generation control circuit 5 sequentially reads the character code from the print start address of the page buffer 4, reads the font pattern corresponding to the code from the font memory 7, and sequentially develops the pattern in the frame memory 6. At this time, the pattern generation control circuit 5 determines which information in the character set information section 8 is used to develop the pattern, based on the information in the switch section 11.

When the print data of one page portion has been expanded into the frame memory 6 as a font pattern, the pattern generation control circuit 5 notifies the CPU 2 of the end of the expansion of the font pattern for one page. When the CPU 2 receives 3 after the development of the font pattern, it instructs the printer interface circuit 10 to convert the data in the frame memory 6 into a video signal.
The printer interface circuit 10 is
When the printer unit 12 is, for example, a laser beam printer, the sheet data is instructed, and each dot data in the frame memory 6 is sequentially converted into a laser on / off serial signal and output.

[Explanation of character set information (FIGS. 2 to 3)] FIGS. 3 (a) to 3 (c) are shown in FIGS.
FIG. 7 shows character set information corresponding to the print example of (c).

FIG. 2 (a) shows an example in which the lower ends of the characters are aligned and printed, and FIG. 3 (a) shows each character information at this time. That is, in the column 30, the dot size of the character set including the character "A", the alignment position 21 (the lower end of the character), the character frame 23
It is indicated by the number of dots from the state of. Similarly, column 31 is 24 ×
The size of the character set containing the 24 dot character "A" and the alignment position 21 are shown by the number of dots from the upper edge of the character frame 24. Column 32 is the size of the character set containing the 32 character "A" character. And the aligned position 21 is indicated by the number of dots from the state of the character frame 25.

FIG. 2 (b) shows the upper ends 22 of the characters aligned and printed, and FIG. 3 (b) shows the respective character information at that time.
Here, since the upper ends are aligned, the number of dots from the upper end indicating the aligned position is zero.

FIG. 2 (c) shows an example in which the character baselines are aligned and printed, and FIG. 3 (c) shows each character information at that time.

[Description of data structure of page buffer (FIGS. 4 to 6
FIG.) FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a data structure of the page buffer 4.

The position information 40 is a coordinate value (x, y) indicating the position of the character string on the paper surface, and this coordinate (x, y) is as shown in FIG.
The paper feed direction is the y-axis, and the direction perpendicular to the paper feed direction is the x-axis.

41 is a character set ID that indicates the type of character set. For example, character set ID = 0 indicates an alphabet character set with a width of 16 dots and a height of 24 dots, and a character set ID = 1 indicates a width of 24 dots and a height of 24 dots. Kanji set and character set ID = 2 represent a Kanji set with a width of 32 dots and a height of 32 dots. 42 is the number of print data indicating how many characters with the same character set ID continue, and 43 is a character code such as ASCII or JIS.
Reference numeral 44 indicates consecutive character string data having the same character set ID. 45 is a pointer indicating the address of the next record,
A value of 0 indicates the end of one page.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example when the code data of the character string as shown in FIGS. 2A to 2C is stored in the page buffer 4.

50 is an alphanumeric character whose character set ID 41 is 0, that is, width 16 dots and height 24 dots. This character set is one character, and its character code is X'41 ', that is, "A". There is. Reference numeral 51 represents a character "A" having a width of 24 dots and height 24 dots, and 52 represents a character having a width of 32 dots and a height of 32 dots. The reference print start position (x0, y0) of these character strings is indicated by 40. The X'FF 'code of the character set ID 41 indicates the end of one record.

The pattern generation control circuit 5 determines the value of the position information (x, y) on the record, the information of the character set ID, and the lower end of the character, for example, as shown in FIGS. The position of the upper left end of the character frame is obtained based on the information of the switch unit 11 indicating whether the lines are aligned, the tops are aligned, or the baselines are aligned. Frame memory 6 based on its position
Find the address above and expand the font pattern of the character code to that address. When the processing for one character is completed, the width of the font pattern is added to the coordinates of the x axis to obtain the position of the upper left end of the next character frame. The pattern of the next character is developed based on this position. In this way, the character processing is performed on each record, and the pointer 45 is 0, that is, the character processing for one page is executed up to the last record of one page.

[Explanation of Character Set Information Section (FIGS. 7 and 8)] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure for one character in the character set information section 8.

In 70, the start address of the character pattern in the font memory 7 is stored. 71 is the number of dots in the width of the character pattern, 72 is the number of dots in the height direction of the character pattern, 73 is the character code 1 byte or 2 bytes, 0 is 1 byte, 1 is 2 byte code Is shown. 74 is a column for storing the number of dots from the upper end shown in FIGS. 3A to 3C when three types of printing are possible as shown in FIGS. 2A to 2C. Here, 75 is the number of dots from the upper end when aligning the lower ends, and 76 is the number of dots from the upper end when aligning the upper ends, which should normally be zero. 77 is the number of dots from the top when the baseline is aligned.

FIG. 8 shows the relationship between the character set information of the character "A" and the font memory.

In 70, the start address of the font pattern of the character "A" in the font memory 7 is set. As shown in Fig. 2 (a), the width of the letter "A" is 16 dots, and the height is
Since it is 24 dots, the hexadecimal numbers are set in 71 and 72, respectively. The numeral 73 indicates that the code of the character "A" is 1 byte, and the numeral 75 indicates from the column 30 in Fig. 3 (a) that the number of dots from the upper end when aligning the lower ends of the characters is 23 (X'17 ').
Is set, the number of dots is zero for 76, and the number of dots 20 (X'14 ') from the upper end at the time of baseline alignment in FIG. 3 (c) is set for 77. .

[Explanation of the operation of the pattern generation control circuit (see FIGS. 1, 4 and
(FIGS. 9 and 10)] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a configuration of the RAM of the pattern generation control circuit 5, and FIG. 10 shows an operation flow chart of the MPU stored in the ROM of the pattern generation control circuit 5. It is a thing.

First, in step S1, the print data is read from the page buffer 4, so the read start address of the page buffer 4 is set in the page address pointer PGADR. In step S2, the x and y coordinate values 40 are stored in the x coordinate memory XAXS,
Set to y coordinate memory YAXS. In step S3, the character set ID 41 is set in the ID memory MJID. In Step S4
Check whether the ID is X'FF ', that is, the end of one record. When one record has ended, the process proceeds to step S5, the value of the pointer 45 is checked, and it is determined whether it is 0, that is, whether one page has ended. When one page is finished, the process proceeds to step S6 to notify the CPU 2 that one page of the dot image has been developed in the frame memory 6, and the process is finished. If one page has not ended, the address pointed to by the pointer 45 is set in PGADR in step S7, and the process returns to step S2 to check the next record.

If one record does not end in step S4, step S8
Then, based on the character set ID 41 and the character code 43, the character width of the character set information section 8 is set in the character width memory MJWD. In step S9, the same character set is set in the pointer MJPT.
The head address of the character code string in the ID is set, and the number of prints 42 is set in the counter CNT.

In step S10, it is checked whether all character code strings with the same character set ID have been completed. If completed, the process returns to step S3 to read the next character set ID 41, but if the current character set ID is being processed, step In step S11, the switch state of the switch unit 11 is read, and it is determined whether the output form corresponds to, for example, upper end alignment, lower end alignment, or baseline alignment. Based on the switch of this switch unit 11,
Any one of the dot numbers 74 from the upper end of the character set information section 8 is read, and the actual y coordinate YY is obtained by subtracting the dot number from the upper end from the y coordinate YAXS in step S12.

In step S13, the font pattern is expanded from the address of the frame memory 6 corresponding to the address indicated by the above-mentioned XAXS and YY. In step S14, the character width MJWD is added to the x coordinate to obtain the x coordinate XAXS of the next character,
In step S15, the print number counter CNT is decremented by one, and the process returns to step S10 to repeat the above operation until CNT becomes 0.

The outline of the above operation will be described by taking the case of FIGS. 2 to 5 as an example. Now, by setting the switch unit 11, the font pattern is printed with the baseline alignment as shown in FIG. 2C. I shall. The values of x0 and y0 in Fig. 5 are X'1 respectively.
Assuming that 00 'and X'100', the pattern generation control circuit 5 sets the y coordinate YAXS at the upper left end of the character "A" to y coordinate = y coordinate (X'10
0 ')-Dot number 20 (X'14') from the upper end.
Since X'100'-X'14 '= X'EC', (X'10
The address on the frame memory 6 corresponding to 0 ', X'EC') and the address of the font pattern in the font memory 7 of the character "A" are obtained, and the font pattern of the character "A" is expanded in the frame memory 6.

Next, the position of 24 dots wide and 24 dots high for the Chinese character "A" is the width of the font pattern for "A" plus in the x-axis direction. Therefore, X'100 '+ X'1
0 '= X'110' becomes x coordinate XAXS, and y coordinate YAXS is X '
From 100'-X'16 '(22), connect to X'EA'(X'1
From the address of the frame memory 6 corresponding to 10 ', X'EA'), a "dot" font pattern having a width of 24 dots and a height of 24 dots is developed. Similarly, width 32 dots, height 32
From the frame memory address corresponding to (X'128 ', X'E4') at the upper left end of the dot "A", a font pattern of "A" with a width of 32 dots and a height of 32 dots is developed.

It should be noted that although the print output by the video signal is described in the present embodiment, the output of the frame memory is not limited to the print, and it is needless to say that the output of the frame memory can also be used for the screen output of a display device.

In the present embodiment, one page of dot image is generated on the frame memory. However, when a printer that sequentially outputs characters such as an impact printer is used, the current typeface (implementation) is performed. Character set ID in the example
(Corresponding to) is printed, and then printing is performed by returning the printing head or the paper surface based on the information in the character set information section. Further, the document information of this embodiment may be graphic information.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, by having a plurality of character set information such as the baseline position in addition to the font pattern, it is possible to output a document according to various devices. This has the effect of facilitating connection.

[Effect of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, there is an effect that characters of different sizes can be mixed and the specific positions of the characters can be aligned and output depending on the mode.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the document processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, FIGS. 2 (a) to 2 (c) are diagrams showing an example of a document output format, and FIGS. 3 (a) to 3 (c) are shown in FIG. The figure which shows the character information of the output example of a)-(c), the figure 4 which shows the constitution of the page buffer, the figure 5 which shows the concrete example of the page buffer, and the figure 6 which shows the coordinate system of the document. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the configuration of the character set information section, FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the relationship between a concrete example of the character set information section and the font memory, and FIG. 9 is a RAM configuration diagram of the pattern generation control section. FIG. 10 is an operation flow chart of the pattern generation control unit. In the figure, 1 ... Control unit, 2 ... CPU, 3 ... Program memory, 4 ... Page buffer, 5 ... Pattern generation control circuit, 6 ... Frame memory, 7 ... Font memory,
8 ... Character set information section, 9 ... Interface circuit, 10 ... Printer interface circuit, 11 ... Switch section, 12 ... Printer section, 13 ... Host computer, 41 ... Character set ID, 45 ... … A pointer.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Office reference number FI Technical display location G09G 5/32 9288-5L G06F 15/20 562C 9288-5L 596A

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A designation means for designating one of a first mode and a second mode, and information for deciding a development position of a character in correspondence with the mode designated by the designation means. And a first specific position of each character based on the information stored in the storage means corresponding to the designated first mode when the first mode is designated by the designation means. When characters of different sizes are mixed and developed so as to line up on a line, and the second mode is designated by the designating means, the information stored in the storage means corresponding to the designated second mode. Based on, the expansion means for expanding the characters of different sizes in a mixed manner so that the first specific positions of the characters are not aligned on the line and the second specific positions of the characters are aligned on the line. Characterized by Character processing apparatus. 2. The character processing according to claim 1, wherein the first specific position is an upper end position of a character, and the second specific position is a baseline position of the character. apparatus. 3. The character processing according to claim 1, wherein the first specific position is a lower end position of a character, and the second specific position is a baseline position of the character. apparatus. 4. The character processing device according to claim 1, wherein the first specific position is an upper end position of a character, and the second specific position is a lower end position of the character. .