JPS6312290B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Technical Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing device that uses an area of a memory as a print data buffer, and in particular, by using an area of the memory as a circular memory.
The present invention relates to a print data buffering method for a printing device that achieves efficient printing operations.

(b) Prior Art and Problems A printing device that uses an area of memory as a print data buffer stores print data from the first address of the memory area allocated for use as the print data area, and the control side of the printing device Printing control was performed by extracting print data from the first address of the memory area. Therefore, since the memory area is occupied by one print process, it is not possible to proceed to the next process until the print process is completed. In other words, until all the print data stored in the memory area is printed, even though most of the memory area has finished printing and is ready to store the next print data, it is relatively During the time-consuming printing operation,
Since the storage of the next data has to be waited for, the processing efficiency of the printing operation is poor, and the memory area is not always used in its entirety, resulting in poor usage efficiency.

(c) Object of the invention In order to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, the object of the present invention is to provide a control register and use the print data storage area of the memory as a circular memory so that printing of the data can be completed after storing the print data. To provide a print data buffering system for a printing device that stores the next print data without waiting for the next print data, uses the memory area to its full capacity, and improves print processing efficiency and memory use efficiency.

(d) Structure of the Invention The structure of the present invention is that, in a printing device that uses an area of memory as a print data buffer, an address pointer for storing print data (register or counter for specifying an address) and an address pointer for retrieving print data are used. A register for counting the number of print data is provided, and one area of the memory is used as a circular memory.

(e) Embodiment of the invention The figure is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the invention. 1 is a print data area of memory. 2 is an address pointer for storing print data, 3 is an address pointer for retrieving print data, and 4 is a print data count register. Initial settings are to set the start address of print data area 1 to print data storage address pointer 2, print data retrieval address pointer 3, and print data number count register 4.
Make it zero.

Next, to store the print data, store the print data from the address indicated by print data storage address pointer 2, and set the address next to the address where data was last stored to print data storage address pointer 2. . If the storage address reaches the final address of the print data area 1 while printing data is being stored, the process returns to the start address of the print data area 1 and continues storing the data. After the storage is completed, the number of data stored in the print data count register 4 is added. If the number of data to be stored in print data area 1 is N, the capacity of print data area 1 is M, and the value of the print data number count register is D, if the relational expression M≧D+N does not hold, then Since there is no free space in the print data area 1, the process waits for the print data area 1 to become free through processing by the control section of the printing device.

If D is zero, there is no data in print data area 1, so the control section of the printing device waits for print data to be stored. When D indicates a number greater than or equal to 1, indicating that print data is present, the control section retrieves the print data from the address indicated by the print data retrieval address pointer 3 and starts printing.
The address next to the address from which data was last extracted is set in the print data extraction address pointer 3. When the final address of print data area 1 is reached during print data extraction, the process returns to the first address of print data area 1 and continues data extraction. After the data has been taken out, the number of data taken out is subtracted from the value D of the print data count register 4.

By continuing the above operations, it is possible to use print data area 1 as a circular memory.

(f) Effects of the Invention As explained above, the present invention uses the print data storage area of the memory as a circular memory, so that after storing print data, the next print data can be stored without waiting for the printing of the previous data to finish. , it is possible to use the memory area to its full capacity to increase the efficiency of printing processing and the efficiency of memory usage, which has great effects.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figure is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a print data area, 2 is an address pointer for storing print data, 3 is an address pointer for extracting print data, and 4 is a print data count register.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a printing device that uses an area of memory as a print data buffer, the address of the print data buffer area is sequentially incremented from the first address of the print data buffer area in accordance with the amount of data to be written; When the final address of the print data buffer area is reached, the address pointer for storing print data returns to the first address and sequentially increments the address of the print data buffer area, and the address pointer corresponds to the amount of read data from the first address of the print data buffer area. and sequentially increments the address of the print data buffer area, and when the final address of the print data buffer area is reached, returns to the first address and sequentially increments the address of the print data buffer area. , a print data number count register that is added by the write data amount and subtracted by the read data amount, where the write data amount is N, the capacity of the print data buffer area is M, and the value of the print data count register is D. When M≧D+N holds true, data is written from the address indicated by the print data storage address pointer, and the address next to the last written address is set in the print data storage address pointer, Add the written data amount to the value D of the print data number count register, and if M≧D+N does not hold,
Wait for the data to be written, and if the value D of the print data number count register is zero, wait for the data to be read, and if the value D of the print data number count register is 1.
If the above value is indicated, data is read from the address indicated by the print data retrieval address pointer, the address next to the address of the last read data is set in the print data retrieval address pointer, and the print data is A printing data buffering method for a printing device, characterized in that the amount of data read is subtracted from the value D of a number count register.