JP4432473B2 - Printing apparatus, printer controller, and printing position movement control method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to control of a print start position in a printer.

  In a printing system including a printer host and a printer, the printer prints an image based on print data sent from the printer host on printing paper. At this time, the print start position is usually adjusted so that the entire image is almost in the center of the printing paper.

  By the way, there is a case where a command for moving the print start position of the image in the vertical direction (paper feed direction) is sent from the printer host according to a user instruction or the like. The printer adjusts the print start position of the image based on this command. Print. The command to move the print start position is instructed by, for example, a paper feed direction or a movement amount opposite to the paper feed direction.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a typical control method of the conventional print start position. FIG. 7A shows the case of a normal print start position where printing is performed so that the entire image fits approximately in the center of the printing paper.

  When the image data transmitted from the printer host is stored for a predetermined amount, for example, one page, the control unit of the printer sends an engine start signal to the print engine to start the print engine. When the print engine is started, it sends a horizontal synchronization signal corresponding to one line in the horizontal direction (main scanning direction) to the control unit, and sends a vertical synchronization signal for starting page printing processing to the control unit after T time from the engine start. .

  Then, after receiving a predetermined number (default offset value) of the horizontal synchronization signal, the control unit sends the video data to the print engine in synchronization with the horizontal synchronization signal. The default offset value is determined so that the leading portion of the sent printing paper is the print start position. Then, the printing engine performs printing based on the video data, so that printing is performed so that the entire image fits almost in the center of the printing paper.

  On the other hand, when printing is performed by moving an image in the paper feed direction in accordance with a user instruction or the like, the print start position is set to a value less than the default value as shown in FIG. It should be positioned in front of the incoming printing paper.

  However, with this control method, the image cannot be moved ahead of the print start position when the offset value is zero. That is, there is a problem that the degree of freedom in controlling the print start position is low because the print start position cannot be set as shown in FIG. This problem becomes more prominent because the time at which the head of the paper is sent from the generation of the vertical synchronization signal is shortened by increasing the processing speed of the printer.

  To deal with this problem, in Patent Document 1, when the print start position is moved in the direction opposite to the paper feed direction, the core unit that controls processing on the video signal generates a timing signal and moves in the paper feed direction. In this case, a technique is disclosed in which a printer unit that performs printing processing arbitrarily adjusts a printing start position by generating a timing signal.

JP-A-6-149975

  However, in this technique, not only the control unit but also the printer unit is provided with a function for controlling the printing position, so that the circuit scale increases and the control becomes complicated.

  An object of the present invention is to increase the degree of freedom of print start position control with a simple configuration.

In order to solve the above problem, according to the first aspect of the present invention,
Means for receiving movement amount information relating to the movement amount of the image data and the printing position of the image from the print control device;
Print execution means for executing printing based on image data;
Based on the received movement amount information, image data removing means for removing the leading portion of the received image data;
There is provided a printing apparatus comprising image data output means for outputting image data from which the head portion has been removed to the print execution means.

  Since the image data corresponding to the amount of movement is discarded and printing is performed, the degree of freedom in controlling the print start position can be increased with a simple configuration.

In order to solve the above problem, according to the second aspect of the present invention,
A printer controller that receives image data and outputs image data to the print engine in synchronization with a vertical synchronization signal and a horizontal synchronization signal from the print engine,
Means for receiving information about the amount of movement of the image;
Based on the received movement amount information, image data removing means for removing the leading portion of the received image data;
There is provided a printer controller comprising image data output means for outputting image data from which the head portion has been removed to the print engine.

  That is, the degree of freedom of the print start position control is increased without providing a special function for the print start position control on the print engine side.

Furthermore, in order to solve the above problem, according to the third aspect of the present invention,
A method for controlling movement of an image printing position in a printing apparatus,
There is provided a printing position movement control method characterized in that, from the head of image data to be printed, a data amount determined based on the movement amount is discarded from the beginning, and printing is performed using the remaining image data.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a printing system including a printer controller to which the present invention is applied. As shown in the figure, the printing system includes a printer host 30 that functions as a printing control apparatus and a printer 10 that functions as a printing apparatus.

  The printer 10 is a page printer that receives print data transmitted from the printer host 30 and prints the data in units of pages, and includes a printer controller 100 and a print engine 200.

  The printer controller 100 receives the print data from the printer host 30 through bidirectional communication with the printer host 30, performs necessary processing, and performs a series of processing to be passed to the print engine 200 as an interface circuit 110 and a DMA controller 120. A data decompression circuit 130 and a video controller 140 are provided. These processing circuits can be configured by a dedicated hardware logic circuit such as an ASIC, for example.

  The printer controller 100 also includes a CPU 150 that controls various processes in the printer 10, a DRAM 160 that is mainly used as a reception buffer, a ROM 170 that stores programs, and the like, and are connected so as to be able to exchange data.

  That is, print data sent from the printer host 30 is received by the interface circuit 110, and image data included in the print data is DMA-transferred to the DRAM 160 by the DMA controller 120 and stored. Since the image data is generally sent in a compressed state, the data decompression circuit 130 decompresses the compressed image data DMA-transferred from the DRAM 160 by the DMA controller 120 into video data. Then, the video controller 140 transmits video data to the print engine 200 in synchronization with the vertical synchronization signal and horizontal synchronization signal from the print engine 200. The print engine 200 executes printing based on the video data, whereby an image is formed on the printing paper. A series of these processes is controlled by the CPU 150 according to a program recorded in the ROM 170.

  When the CPU 150 receives a print request from the printer host 30, the CPU 150 determines whether the printer 10 is ready to accept the request. When the CPU 150 determines that the request is accepted, the CPU 150 starts controlling the series of processes.

  The print data sent from the printer host 30 includes a command related to print processing. The CPU 150 refers to the command to acquire information such as the print resolution and the print start position, and the video controller 140 and the like. Take control.

  In this embodiment, the adjustment of the print start position is performed by a video data read-out process in addition to the conventional offset adjustment of the horizontal synchronizing signal. The video data discarding process is performed as necessary, that is, when the amount of movement of the print start position is large and cannot be satisfied by the conventional adjustment of the offset of the horizontal synchronization signal (hereinafter also simply referred to as “offset”). can do. Further, the video data discarding process is performed by the video controller 140 based on an instruction from the CPU 150.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the video controller 140. As shown in the figure, the video controller 140 includes a buffer 141 for storing video data, a read discard circuit 142 for controlling reading of the decompressed video data from the data decompression circuit 130 and writing to the buffer 141, and a buffer 141. A parallel-serial conversion circuit 143 that serially converts the video data stored in the print engine 200 to pass to the print engine 200, and an offset circuit 144 that receives the synchronization signal from the print engine 200 and adjusts the offset of the horizontal synchronization signal. .

  When receiving the video data read-out amount from the CPU 150, the read-out circuit 142 discards the head portion of the video data output from the data decompression circuit 130 by the received read-out amount, and stores the subsequent video data in the buffer 141. As a result, an image from which the image corresponding to the read-out amount is omitted is printed on the paper, and the same print result as that when the print start position is shifted in the paper feeding direction can be obtained.

  Next, the print start position control process of the printer controller 100 in the present embodiment will be described. Here, a case where the print start position is moved in the paper feed direction will be described. This is because when the print start position is moved in the direction opposite to the paper feed direction, the offset value can be adjusted.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of the print start position control process. As shown in the figure, the print start position control process is started when the printer controller 100 receives print data, and is roughly divided into a parameter setting process (S102) and a data transfer process (S103).

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the contents of the parameter setting process (S102). The parameter setting process is a process for setting a data discarding amount and an offset value, and is mainly performed by the CPU 150.

  In the parameter setting process, a command related to the amount of movement of the image is extracted from the received print data, and the amount of movement of the image is acquired. It is assumed that the moving amount of the image is indicated by a moving distance such as millimeters. If no command relating to the amount of movement of the image is included, only the normal offset value is set without setting the read-out amount.

  Then, it is determined whether or not the designated movement amount is a distance that cannot be covered by the offset adjustment (S202). This determination can be made as follows, for example.

  That is, the movement amount represented by the distance is converted into the number of lines based on the print resolution indicated by the print data. When the number of lines is larger than the number of lines (offset limit amount) deviating from the normal printing start position when the offset value is 0, it can be determined that the offset adjustment cannot be satisfied.

  As a result, when the offset adjustment can be provided (S202: N), the offset value corresponding to the movement amount is set as usual without setting the discarding amount (S204). Of course, even when offset adjustment can be provided, the print start position may be adjusted by using the following adjustment of the amount of read-out.

  On the other hand, if the amount of movement is large and cannot be covered by the offset adjustment (S202: Y), the amount of discarding is set (S203). The setting of the discarding amount can be performed as follows, for example.

  In other words, after converting the amount of movement to the number of lines based on the print resolution as described above, the data amount of the area having the line width corresponding to the amount of movement is further calculated based on the horizontal resolution, paper size, etc. And set it as the amount to be discarded.

  Then, the offset value is set to 0 (S204), and the process ends. Note that the offset value may be a normal value or the like, and the amount of read-out may be calculated in consideration of the offset value.

  The offset value set by the above processing is notified to the offset circuit 144 of the video controller 140, and the read discard amount is notified to the read discard circuit 142.

  Next, the data transfer process (S103) will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This process is mainly performed by the video controller 140.

  When the discarding amount is set (S301: Y), the discarding circuit 142 of the video controller 140 discards the amount of data set from the beginning of the video data output by the data decompression circuit 130, and thereafter The video data is stored in the buffer 141 (S302).

  On the other hand, when the amount of discarding is not set (S301: N), the data decompression circuit 130 stores the output video data in the buffer 141 without discarding it.

  Then, an engine start command is notified to the print engine 200 at a predetermined timing. This timing is determined so that when the data is discarded, the vertical synchronization signal is not sent from the print engine 200 during the data discard process.

  In other words, when the print engine 200 receives the engine start command, it performs a preparation process for paper feeding and the like, and after a predetermined time T has elapsed, transmits a vertical synchronization signal to the video controller 140 to start paper feeding. At this point, at least the beginning of the video data to be printed must be sent to the print engine 200. Therefore, the video controller 140 determines the timing of the engine start instruction in consideration of the time t for data discarding in addition to the conventional time T, the time for data expansion, the transfer time, and the like. Note that the time t for discarding data can be changed according to the amount of discarding data.

  Thereafter, the process waits for a vertical synchronization signal from the print engine 200 (S304). When the vertical synchronization signal is received, the offset circuit 144 performs an offset adjustment corresponding to the set offset value (the offset value is 0) in synchronization with the horizontal synchronization signal. After that, the video data is output to the print engine 200 (S306).

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print result when discarding is performed. As shown in the figure, as a result of discarding the video data at the head of the image, control of the print start position with respect to the movement amount that cannot be handled by offset adjustment is realized.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a network printing system according to a first embodiment. The block diagram which shows the structure of a video controller. The flowchart which shows the flow of a printing start position control process. The flowchart for demonstrating the content of a parameter setting process. The flowchart for demonstrating the content of a data transfer process. The figure which shows the example of the printing result at the time of performing discarding. The figure explaining the typical control method of the conventional printing start position.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Printer, 30 ... Printer host, 100 ... Printer controller, 110 ... Interface circuit, 120 ... DMA controller, 130 ... Data decompression circuit, 140 ... Video controller, 141 ... Buffer, 142 ... Read-through circuit, 143 ... Parallel serial conversion circuit 144: Offset circuit 200: Print engine

Claims (6)

A printer controller that receives image data and outputs image data to the print engine in synchronization with a vertical synchronization signal and a horizontal synchronization signal from the print engine,
Means for receiving information relating to the amount of movement of the printing start position relative to the printing paper of the image;
The amount of movement of the print start position of said received image is a moving amount determining means for determining whether more than a predetermined amount of movement,
If the amount of movement of the print start position of the image exceeds a predetermined amount of movement, on the basis of the movement amount exceeding the predetermined amount of movement of the moving amount of the print start position of the image, first image data received Image data removing means for removing the part;
Based on a horizontal synchronization signal of a value corresponding to the amount of movement of the print start position of the image or the amount of movement of the print start position of the image when the amount of movement exceeds the predetermined amount of movement, Timing adjustment means for adjusting the timing of outputting the received image data or image data with the head portion removed to the print engine;
Image data output means for outputting the received image data or image data with the head portion removed to the print engine;
A printer controller comprising: The printer controller according to claim 1.
A print engine start instruction means for instructing the print engine to start;
The print engine starting means instructs the print engine to start at a time when the image data removing means can receive a vertical synchronization signal from the print engine after removing the head portion of the image data. And printer controller. A printing apparatus comprising: a print engine that executes printing based on image data; and a printer controller that outputs image data to the print engine in synchronization with a vertical synchronization signal and a horizontal synchronization signal from the print engine,
Means for receiving image data and information on the amount of movement of the print start position of the image with respect to the print paper from the print control device;
Moving amount of the print start position of said received image is a moving amount determining means for determining whether more than a predetermined amount of movement,
If the amount of movement of the print start position of the image exceeds a predetermined amount of movement, on the basis of the movement amount exceeding the predetermined amount of movement of the moving amount of the print start position of the image, first image data received Image data removing means for removing the part;
Based on a horizontal synchronization signal of a value corresponding to the amount of movement of the print start position of the image or the amount of movement of the print start position of the image when the amount of movement exceeds the predetermined amount of movement, Timing adjustment means for adjusting the timing of outputting the received image data or image data with the head portion removed to the print engine;
Image data output means for outputting the received image data or image data with the head portion removed to the print engine;
A printing apparatus comprising: The printing apparatus according to claim 3.
A print engine start instruction means for instructing the print engine to start;
The print engine starting means instructs the print engine to start at a time when the image data removing means can receive a vertical synchronization signal from the print engine after removing the head portion of the image data. A printing device. An image printing position in a printing apparatus comprising: a print engine that executes printing based on image data; and a printer controller that outputs image data to the print engine in synchronization with a vertical synchronization signal and a horizontal synchronization signal from the print engine The movement control method of
The printing apparatus includes:
Receiving the image data and information on the amount of movement of the print start position of the image with respect to the print paper from the print control device;
The amount of movement of the print start position of said received image is a moving amount determination step of determining whether more than a predetermined amount of movement,
If the amount of movement of the print start position of the image exceeds a predetermined amount of movement, on the basis of the movement amount exceeding the predetermined amount of movement of the moving amount of the print start position of the image, first image data received An image data removal step to remove the part;
Based on a horizontal synchronization signal of a value corresponding to the amount of movement of the print start position of the image or the amount of movement of the print start position of the image when the amount of movement exceeds the predetermined amount of movement, A timing adjustment step of adjusting the timing of outputting the received image data or image data with the head portion removed to the print engine;
An image data output step of outputting the received image data or image data with the head portion removed to the print engine;
The print position movement control method is characterized in that In the movement control method of the printing position according to claim 5,
The printing apparatus includes:
Further executing a print engine start instruction step for instructing the print engine to start;
The print engine activation step instructs the print engine to activate at a time when the image data removal step can receive a vertical synchronization signal from the print engine after removing the head portion of the image data. The printing position movement control method.

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