JPS6142629B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a printer control method, and particularly to a printer control method suitable for a Kanji printer that prints characters continuously.

In a kanji printer system, the printer usually receives a message in a predetermined format from a central computer (hereinafter referred to as COM) and converts it into one
A desired character pattern is generated for each line from a character generator according to the character code stored in the page code memory, and this is stored in the line pattern memory. . The printer then scans the pattern stored in this line pattern memory at a predetermined speed, for example by turning the laser beam on and off,
Records are taken electrostatically.

By the way, in such a kanji printer system, due to cost and printing speed considerations, a high-speed character generator consisting of an IC memory and a low-speed large-capacity character generator consisting of a disk are used together as pattern generators. The disk stores 1000 to 2000 frequently used character patterns, and the disk stores a large number of less frequently used character patterns.

Now, the pattern reading speed from the IC memory is about 5000 characters/second, while the pattern reading speed from the disk is about 80 characters/second. Therefore, the time required to read out one line of patterns from the pattern generator to the line pattern memory varies depending on the number of characters of one line of character code whose pattern is read out from the disk. In extreme cases, if all the character patterns corresponding to one line of character code are stored on the disk and when they are stored in the IC memory, the readout speed will be M/80 seconds (M is 1 line). (number of characters to be recorded in ),
In the latter case, the readout time is M/5000 seconds, and the readout time is significantly different.

By the way, in a printer that records continuously, that is, a printer that records while continuously moving the recording medium, a character pattern for one line is stored in the line pattern memory from a pattern generator within the time it takes for the recording medium to move between lines. Must be read out. Therefore, the feeding speed of the recording medium, that is, the recording speed, is limited by the maximum time it takes for a pattern to be read from the pattern generator into the line pattern memory.

Therefore, if the recording medium feed speed is determined without considering the maximum time required for reading,
For example, if the line-to-line movement time of the medium is made shorter than the maximum time, the print line spacing on the recording medium will shift, resulting in poor recording conditions. In particular, when recording must be performed in accordance with a predetermined format, a situation arises in which the data exceeds the frame of the format.

Thus, in the past, even if the printer itself was capable of high-speed recording, the recording speed was limited by the maximum time due to the above-mentioned reasons, and high-speed recording was impossible.
In addition, as a means of compensating for the above-mentioned deviation in print line spacing, a method of changing the speed of the recording medium according to the pattern readout speed may be considered, but it is difficult to control the speed of the medium to be changed finely, and the speed of response is limited due to the delay of the servo system. The drawback is that good speed control cannot be achieved, and good results cannot be obtained. Particularly in Kanji printers that perform the steps of forming a latent image on a photosensitive drum, developing it, and transferring it to recording paper, the rotational speed of the photosensitive drum must be limited, but the speed can be controlled without time lag due to the inertia of the photosensitive drum. I can't.

On the other hand, in order to read the character patterns from the character generator in time with the recording speed, it is conceivable to provide a plurality of line pattern memories and switch between them as appropriate, but this method has the drawback of increasing costs.

However, an object of the present invention is to eliminate such conventional drawbacks and provide a printer control method capable of high-speed recording. In a printer that selectively reads and prints a character pattern using a command character code from a second character generator, which has a slower reading speed, the command character code is expressed in hexadecimal in the first character generator. When the number of command character codes for which character patterns need to be read out from the second character generator among the command character codes constituting one line of print information is greater than or equal to a predetermined number, , the command character code is transmitted by the first character generator.
This is achieved by a printer control method that converts it into a hexadecimal pattern and prints the pattern at a predetermined position on recording paper.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a kanji printer system to which the present invention can be applied, where MC is a main control circuit;
PGBUF is a page code buffer that stores one page of messages sent from the central computer COM.
PG is a pattern generator, ICCG is a high-speed character generator consisting of an IC memory that stores 1000 to 2000 characters of frequently used character patterns, and DCG is a large-capacity low-speed character generator consisting of a disk that stores character patterns that are less frequently used. character generator,
LPM is a line pattern memory that stores one line of character patterns generated by pattern generating section PG, and KPR is a printer that records by deflecting a laser beam according to a printing pattern, for example.
Note that the printer KPR may be of any format. Further, since this recording section is not a feature of the present invention, detailed explanation thereof will be omitted.

Figure 2 is an example of the format of the message sent from COM, where STX is the code indicating the beginning of the message on page 1, NL is the code indicating the new line,
ETX is a code that indicates the end of one page of message.

Figure 3 shows an example of a character code. FG1 is a flag bit that specifies whether the pattern is stored in IC memory or disk depending on its contents, and FG2 is obtained by converting the address part into hexadecimal. A flag bit indicating that the pattern is to be read from the IC memory, AD is the address part, which is converted by a converter (not shown) to the first address where the character pattern is stored.
Note that the above character code is just an example, and is not limited to this.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of printer control according to the present invention when a microcomputer is used as the main control circuit, where μ-CPU is a microprocessor, MEM is a memory that stores character codes and other data for one page, INF is an interface circuit that controls data transfer between COM and the printer side.
CPRG is a control program memory that stores a group of instructions for controlling the microprocessor and performing the processing described below, ADP is an adapter, RD is a laser beam deflection system, and PRC is on/off control of the carrier wave signal applied to the beam deflection element and paper. A printer control circuit, PRT, which controls feed control, etc. is a printer section, and other symbols correspond to the same symbols in FIG.

Figure 5 shows the line spacing of the recording medium when it is recorded by a printer.
is the line spacing, L is the spacing between the last line of one page and the first line of another page, 1 is the recording medium, and 2 is the print line.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a control program for controlling the printer according to the present invention, and the printer control method according to the present invention will be explained below with reference to this flowchart and the block diagram of FIG. 4.

When a message request signal is sent to the COM from the printer side, the control program is activated and a message for one page is sent from the COM to the printer.

Under the control of the control program, the microprocessor μ-CPU determines whether the input code is NL code or
It is determined whether it is an ETX code, and if it is neither a NL code nor an ETX code, the input code is determined to be a character code. Next, it is determined whether the input code, that is, the pattern corresponding to the character code, is stored on the disk or in the IC memory based on the presence or absence of the FRAKBIT FG1, and if it is stored in the IC memory, it is immediately stored in the specified character code memory MEM. Store in address.

On the other hand, if the character code is on the disk
A calculation of Ni+1 (the initial value of Ni is zero) is performed, and it is determined whether the result is equal to a predetermined constant value K or not. Note that this constant value K is determined depending on the printing speed of the printer and the character pattern generation speed from the character generator.

That is, if the recording speed (characters/minute) is determined, the time required for the recording medium to move through the line spacing l shown in FIG. 5 is determined, and once this time is determined, the pattern is read out from the pattern generator into the line pattern memory LPM. The maximum time is determined. This determines the maximum number K of disk patterns that can be included in one row. If Ni is smaller than K, store the character code
If Ni is K or more, "1" is written to the second flag bit FG2 of the character code, and this is stored in the memory MEM.

Thereafter, similar operations are performed until the NL code or ETX code is detected. If the input code is NL, Ni is set to zero, the NL code is stored in the memory MEM, and the input code of the next row is received.

In the end, the ETX code is finally received and the reception of one page worth of message from COM is completed. When the reception of one page's worth of input codes is completed, the printing operation by the printer starts. That is, first, a character pattern for one line is sent to the character generator ICCG or character generator ICCG according to the character code stored in the memory MEM.
Read from DCG, line pattern memory LPM
is memorized.

Now, the pattern is read out from the character generator as follows.

If the content of flag bit FG1 is “1”
A character pattern is read from the IC memory ICCG and stored at a predetermined address in the line pattern memory.

If the content of the flag bit FG1 of the character code is "0" and the content of the flag bit FG2 is "0", the character pattern is read from the disk memory DCG and stored in the line pattern memory.

If the content of flag bit FG1 of a character code is "0" and the content of flag bit FG2 is "1", the character pattern of the character code is stored in the disk memory, but the character pattern cannot be retrieved from the disk memory. If it is read, it will not be possible to follow the printer's recording as described above. Therefore, the address part of the character code expressed in hexadecimal is read out from the IC memory and stored in the line pattern memory. for example,
The address part of the character code is 0010 0001 0101
If it is 1100, each pattern of 48A3 4, 8, A,
3 are read out from the IC memory, combined and stored in the line pattern memory.

By the way, character patterns are usually 32x32
Disk memory and IC are decomposed into individual dots.
These patterns are stored in memory and printed on recording paper by a printer.

However, in the present invention, in order to perform the above-mentioned processing, 0, 1, 2...
...16 character patterns of 9, A, B, C, D, E, and F are stored in a predetermined location in the IC memory. In the above case, patterns 4, 8, A, and 3 are read out from the IC memory, combined as shown in Figure 7 (hereinafter, the combined pattern is referred to as a hexadecimal pattern), and stored in the marginal address of the line pattern memory. be done. Note that the "outside address" here refers to the following addresses.

That is, in the present invention, if the maximum number of characters to be printed in one line is M, the line pattern memory has addresses of at least 32×M+32×n (n is a positive number), and the first digit is the number of characters to be printed. The character pattern to be printed is in addresses 1 to 32, the character pattern to be printed in the second digit is in addresses 33 to 64, ...the character pattern to be printed in the M digit is 32・(M-1)+1
It is stored at address ~32・M.

Furthermore, in the present invention, the flag bits FG1 and FG2 of the character code to be printed in the mth digit are "0" and "0", respectively.
When “1”, the address of the line pattern memory where the m-th character pattern is stored.
Leave addresses 32・(m−1)+1 to 32・m blank,
The hexadecimal pattern is stored at addresses 32.M+1 to 32.(M+1). That is, 32・M+1
Addresses after the street address are called marginal addresses.

In this way, once a character pattern for one line is stored in the line pattern memory through the above sequence, the character pattern is read out from the line pattern memory under the control of the printer control circuit PRC, and is read out using a known method. It will be recorded as shown in FIG.

Thereafter, the character pattern is similarly read out to the line pattern memory line by line, and finally the recording of one page is completed.

After the recording is completed, the specified characters are printed in the blank position (dotted line circle) in the margin in Figure 7.
Translate the hexadecimal pattern using a dictionary and write it.

As described above, according to the present invention, the high-speed printing characteristics of the printer can be recorded without being impaired by the slow character pattern generation speed, and the effect is significant. In the above description, a case has been described in which a line pattern memory is provided, but it is also possible to record directly or via a one-character buffer based on a pattern read from a character generator without having such a memory. Further, although the flag bit FG2 is provided, a separate register may be provided and this register may be used to fulfill the role of the flag bit FG2. Furthermore, two or more hexadecimal patterns can be recorded in the margin.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a kanji printer system to which the present invention can be applied, Fig. 2 is an example of a message format, Fig. 3 is an example of a character code, and Fig. 4 is a block diagram of a kanji printer system of the present invention using a microcomputer as a control section. Example, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the recording state on the recording medium,
FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the printer control method of the present invention, FIG. 7 is an example of a hexadecimal pattern, and FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of recording according to the present invention. In the figure, PGBUF is a page code buffer, PG is a pattern generator, ICCG is a high-speed character generator, DCG is a low-speed character generator, and KPR
is a kanji printer, LPM is a line pattern memory, PRT is a printing section, μ-CPU is a microprocessor, CPRG is a control program memory, and MEM is a memory.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A printer that selectively reads and prints character patterns from a first character generator capable of high-speed reading and a second character generator whose reading speed is slower, using a command character code. In this case, the first character generator stores a pattern representing the command character code in hexadecimal, and the second character generator stores the pattern representing the command character code in hexadecimal. When the number of command character codes required to read out a character pattern is greater than or equal to a predetermined number, the command character codes are read out by the first character generator.
A printing control method for a printer, characterized in that the pattern is converted into a base number pattern and the pattern is printed at a predetermined position on recording paper. 2. Printing by the printer according to claim 1, characterized in that the pattern obtained by converting the command character code into hexadecimal is printed outside the margin of the recording paper, and the printing position corresponding to the character code is left blank. Method.