JPS6353038B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a print control device that can print both vertically written documents and horizontally written documents without changing sheets.

Japanese word processors and the like must be able to create both vertically written documents and horizontally written documents without replacing paper in the printer section. However, it is uneconomical to prepare character patterns for both writing styles. Therefore, conventionally, a configuration as shown in FIG. 1 has been adopted.

In FIG. 1, character patterns for vertical writing, for example, are registered in the character pattern generator 2. When creating a vertically written document, the vertically written character pattern selection line 8 is set and the gate 4 is opened. In this state, character codes of characters to be printed are sequentially read out from the print character storage device 1, and character patterns corresponding to the codes are generated by the character pattern generator 2 and sent to a printer (not shown) via gates 4 and 6.

When creating a horizontally written document, the horizontally written character pattern selection line 7 is set and the gate 3 is opened. Then, the character codes are sequentially read from the print character storage device 1, and a character pattern corresponding to the character code (character pattern for vertical writing) is generated by the character pattern generation device 2 and inputted to the pattern conversion device 5. The pattern conversion device 5 converts the input character pattern for vertical writing into a character pattern for horizontal writing, and sends it to the printer via the gate 6. The vertical/horizontal conversion needs to be performed at high speed in parallel with the printing operation.

However, for example, 8×8 as shown in Figure 2 A
To convert a character pattern for vertical writing consisting of dots into a character pattern for horizontal writing consisting of 8 x 8 dots as shown in Figure 2B, the storage device in the pattern conversion device 5 must be accessed 64 times per character. There must be. In other words, the 1st bit of the 1st column of the character pattern for vertical writing is changed to the 8th bit of the 1st row of the character pattern for horizontal writing.
The 1st bit of the 2nd row of the character pattern for vertical writing is set to the 7th bit of the 1st row of the character pattern for horizontal writing. A 64-step operation is required, each assigned to the first bit of the eighth column.

The number of steps in such a conversion operation increases further when converting a character pattern with a complex character structure, such as a Chinese character, vertically and horizontally. For example, when changing the vertical and horizontal directions of a kanji pattern consisting of 24 x 24 dots, each character requires 576 step operations, that is, 576 accesses to the storage device.

In order to perform such vertical/horizontal conversion operations in parallel with printing operations, a fairly high-speed mechanism is required, and conventional Japanese word processors and the like use dedicated processors as pattern conversion devices. This is one of the factors that increases the cost of Japanese word processors and the like.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a print control system that can solve the above-mentioned problems.

Documents processed by a Japanese word processor or the like rarely contain a mixture of vertical and horizontal characters, and each document is usually written in either vertical or horizontal format. In addition, it is overwhelmingly common for documents written in the same style to be processed consecutively. Therefore, when printing a series of documents, it is often sufficient to prepare either a vertical writing character pattern or a horizontal writing character pattern in advance.

In the print control device according to the present invention, for example, only character patterns for vertical writing are stored in an external storage device such as a floppy disk device. When creating a vertically written document, prior to printing, a vertically written character pattern is read from an external storage device and temporarily stored in a temporary storage device within the character pattern generating device. In addition, when creating a horizontal writing document, prior to printing, the character pattern for vertical writing read from an external storage device is converted into a character pattern for horizontal writing through a pattern converter, and then stored in a temporary storage device in the character pattern generator. Memorize temporarily. Thereafter, a character pattern for vertical writing or horizontal writing corresponding to the printing character code is generated from the character pattern generating device and sent to the printer to print the desired document. When it becomes necessary to change the writing style of a document to be printed, the character patterns in the character pattern generator are re-registered.

Next, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 3, 18 is an external storage device such as a floppy disk device, in which character patterns for vertical writing (or horizontal writing) are stored. 19
is a pattern conversion device that converts a character pattern for vertical writing (or horizontal writing) into a character pattern for horizontal writing (or vertical writing) using the method described above. External storage device 18 and pattern conversion device 1
The character pattern output from gate 9 is output from gate 13,
Only one of them is selected by gate 14 and supplied to character pattern generator 12 via gate 20. The character pattern generator 12 has a built-in temporary storage device for temporarily storing character patterns inputted through the gate 20, and its contents are read out as character codes as addresses. 11 is a print character storage device that stores character codes of characters to be printed.

Next, the operation will be explained.

When printing a vertically written document, a vertically written character pattern is registered in the character pattern generator 12 before the printing operation starts (of course, if a vertically written character pattern is already registered, this operation is necessary). is not necessary). To register, the vertical character pattern selection line 16 is set by operating a selection switch or by commands from a program. The character patterns for vertical writing are sequentially read out from the external storage device 18, sent to the character pattern generation device 12 through the gates 13 and 20, and sequentially written to predetermined addresses in the built-in storage device. When the registration of this vertical writing character pattern is completed, the vertical writing character pattern selection line 16 is reset.

Thereafter, the character codes to be printed that have been stored in advance in the print character storage device 11 are sequentially read out.
Using this character code as an address, a corresponding vertical writing character pattern is read out from the storage device in the character pattern generating device 12, transferred to a printer (not shown) through the output line 15, and printed.

When printing a horizontally written document, a horizontally written character pattern is registered in the character pattern generation device 12 prior to the printing operation (if it has already been registered, this registration operation is not necessary). That is, the horizontal character pattern selection line 17 is set by operation of the selection switch or command by a program, and the gate 1 is set.
4 will be opened. The character pattern for vertical writing read from the external storage device 18 is converted into a character pattern for horizontal writing by the pattern conversion device 19, and then transferred to the character pattern generation device 12 via the gates 14 and 20, and is transferred to the internal memory. They are sequentially written to predetermined addresses of the device. When this registration is completed, the horizontal writing character selection line 17 is reset.

Thereafter, the character generating device 12 is accessed using the character code read from the print character storage device 11 as an address, and the horizontal writing character pattern corresponding to the character code is transferred to the printer via the output line 15 and printed.

The printing control device according to the present invention is as described above, and the necessary character pattern registration operation in the character pattern generation device 12 is performed outside the printing operation period. Therefore, the pattern conversion device 19 is not required to operate at such a high speed, so it can be constructed at a lower cost than the conventional one, and the cost of the entire device can be significantly reduced, allowing Japanese word processors and the like to be provided at low cost. Further, the external storage device 18 only needs to store character patterns for either vertical writing or horizontal writing.

Incidentally, each time the writing style of a document changes, it is necessary to register a necessary character pattern in the character pattern generation device 12. However, Japanese word processors and the like often process either vertically or horizontally written documents consecutively, and it is rare for vertically written characters and horizontally written characters to coexist in the same document. Therefore, a decrease in the efficiency of document printing processing due to the character pattern registration operation is generally not a problem.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a conventional printing control device, Fig. 2 is a drawing showing an example of a character pattern for vertical writing and a character pattern for horizontal writing, and Fig. 3 shows an embodiment of the printing control device of the present invention. It is a block diagram. 11... Print character storage device, 12... Character pattern generation device, 13, 14, 20... Gate, 1
6...Vertical character pattern selection line, 17...Horizontal character pattern selection line, 18...External storage device,
19...Pattern conversion device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A print character storage device that stores a character code to be printed, and a character pattern generation device that stores a character pattern, and a character that corresponds to the character code stored in the print character storage device. A printing control device that causes the character pattern generation device to generate and print a pattern, comprising: an external storage device that stores either a character pattern for vertical writing or a character pattern for horizontal writing; and a character pattern for one of vertical writing or horizontal writing. a pattern conversion device that converts one character pattern read from the external storage device into the other character pattern by the pattern conversion device and sends the converted character pattern to the character pattern generation device; , a second path that directly sends one of the character patterns read from the external storage device to the character pattern generator, and a gate circuit that switches between the first path and the second path; The first path or the second path is activated by the gate circuit in response to printing a horizontally written document, and the character pattern read from the external storage device is used as it is or converted by the pattern conversion device prior to printing. A printing control device characterized in that a character pattern generated by a character pattern is registered in the character pattern generating device.