JPH0434505B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a printer control processing device, and particularly to a printer control processing device, which rapidly develops a dot pattern of horizontally written characters to be printed or a dot pattern of vertically written characters to be printed onto a dot pattern memory for printing. The present invention relates to a printer control processing device configured to perform the following operations.

[Problems to be solved by conventional technology and invention]

Conventionally, laser beam printers and the like that can print at high speeds can print, for example, dot patterns of horizontally written characters read out from a character generator or dot patterns of vertically written characters generated by rotating the horizontally written dot patterns by 90 degrees. Desired characters and the like are printed at high speed by storing them in a pattern memory page by page and reading out sequentially from the stored dot pattern memory in a manner suitable for printing. At this time, the dot patterns generally used for printing characters, etc. are, for example, the dot patterns of JIS level 1 kanji, which are printed all at once from the host computer when the laser beam printer is turned on, as shown in the illustrated flowchart in Figure 5. and non-kanji dot patterns were transmitted (downloaded) in advance and stored in CG (Character Generator) memory. At the time of printing, as shown in the illustrated flowchart in FIG. 6, if the characters to be printed based on the print command from the host computer are, for example, horizontally written characters that are the same as the dot pattern stored in the CG memory (FIG. In case of NO in 31 in Figure 6), the dot pattern is developed on the dot pattern memory for printing (33 in Figure 6), while in the case of a different horizontal character (YES in 31 in Figure 6), the dot pattern is Rotate the pattern 90 degrees (32 in Figure 6) and develop it on the dot pattern memory for printing (33 in Figure 6)
I was letting it happen. The process of rotating the dot pattern by 90 degrees during printing involves a first device that conventionally uses a microprogram, a second device that uses a dedicated rotation circuit, and a device that rotates the entire page with the dot pattern to be printed. There is a third device that uses a dedicated circuit for vertical/horizontal conversion. However, the apparatus using the first microprogram had a problem in that the processing speed was slow. In the second and third devices, it is necessary to provide a dedicated circuit, resulting in a problem of increased cost. For this reason, it is desired to obtain an apparatus that can omit the 90 degree rotation process as much as possible during printing.

Furthermore, there has been conventionally known a device that rewrites all characters in the contents of the character generator memory into vertical writing when transitioning from a horizontal writing state to a vertical writing state, for example. In this case, all character patterns are converted to vertical writing, which requires a large amount of processing time, resulting in an excessively long waiting time. Also, traditionally,
For example, there is a known device that sequentially stores characters required for vertical writing in a cache memory and updates the contents of the cache memory as necessary. Processing becomes difficult, and even characters that are determined in advance to be frequently used in vertical writing are converted for the first time when they are used.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention adopts a configuration in which a dot pattern of horizontally written characters or a dot pattern of vertically written characters prepared in advance and/or used previously is used to correspond to desired characters to be printed. The dot pattern of horizontally written characters or the dot pattern of vertically written characters is developed at high speed on a dot pattern memory for printing. Therefore, the printer control processing device of the present invention is a printer control processing device that develops and prints dot patterns on a dot pattern memory, and a character generator memory that stores dot patterns necessary for printing characters in advance. , a dot pattern memory for reading, developing and storing a dot pattern corresponding to the character to be printed from the character generator memory; and a designation of the dot patterns stored in the character generator memory. The frequently used dot pattern is rotated by 90 degrees in an initial state and stored separately in the character generator memory;
If only the dot pattern to be rotated 90 degrees for the character exists in the character generator memory, the dot pattern is
and a dot pattern processing section that rotates the dot pattern by 90 degrees and stores it in the dot pattern memory, and the dot pattern corresponding to the character to be printed is stored in the character/character memory.
The dot pattern is read from the generator memory, and based on the read dot pattern, a dot pattern corresponding to a desired character is rotated or expanded into the dot pattern without rotation and printed. .

〔Example〕

This embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 to 4 are flowcharts for explaining the operation of the configuration of one embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1.

In the figure, 1 is a laser beam printer control unit;
-1 is a control section, 1-2 is a download section, 1-3 is a rotation determination section, 1-4 is a rotation processing/flag setting section, 1-5 is a rotation flag reading section, 1
-6 is a dot pattern memory, 1-7 is a CG (Character Generator) memory, 18 is a rotation flag memory 1-9 is a dot pattern processing section, 2 is a host computer, and 3 is a printing mechanism.

In FIG. 1, a laser beam printer control section 1 develops a dot pattern corresponding to a print command from a host computer 2 in a dot pattern memory 1-6, and stores the dot pattern in the dot pattern memory 1-6.
This is for reading out information in a form suitable for printing from -6 and notifying it to the printing mechanism 3. In the figure, the dot pattern processing unit 1-9 includes the download 1-2,
Rotation determination unit 1-3, rotation processing/flag setting unit 1-
4 and a rotation flag reading section 1-5, etc., and is used to perform various processes related to dot patterns. For example, when the laser beam printer control unit 1 is powered on, the download unit 1-2 in the figure receives the dot pattern of, for example, JIS 1st level and non-kanji characters, and downloads the CG in the figure. (Character Generator) In addition to storing information in the memory 1-7, it also receives information such as characters that appear frequently in the horizontally written dot pattern and vertically written dot pattern notified from the host computer 2, and Rotate the characters with high 90 degrees in advance and transfer them to the corresponding CG memory 1-
Stored separately in 7.

The rotation determining section 1-3 in the figure is for determining whether or not a character or the like to be expanded into the dot pattern memory 1-6 is a character that needs to be rotated.

In the figure, the rotation processing/flag setting section 1-4 is the first
Second, it is used to read dot patterns corresponding to characters, etc. to be printed from the CG memory 1-7. Second, the rotation flag reading unit 1-5 reads out the dot pattern based on the flag read from the table in the rotation flag memory 1-8.
If it is determined that the dot pattern needs to be rotated by 90 degrees, the dot pattern is rotated by 90 degrees and stored in the dot pattern memory 1-6, the dot pattern is stored in the CG memory 1-7, and the dot pattern is stored in the rotation flag memory. 1
This is to set a flag to that effect in the table in -8. On the other hand, if it is determined that there is no need to rotate the dot pattern by 90 degrees, the dot pattern is simply stored at a predetermined position in the dot pattern memory 1-6. The operation of the configuration shown in FIG. 1 will be explained in detail below using the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 2 to 4.

Figure 2 shows the procedure for storing dot patterns of JIS level 1 kanji and non-kanji characters notified from the host computer 2 when the power is turned on in the CG memory 1-7, and the frequent occurrence of horizontal and vertical characters. CG memory 1-7 generates in advance a dot pattern for horizontally written characters and a dot pattern for vertically written characters for the same character based on the notification about the object.
Here are the steps to store it inside.

1 in the figure shows the state in which one CG character is downloaded. This means that the host computer 2, for example, uses JIS
The download unit 1-2, which constitutes the laser beam printer control unit 1 in FIG.
means to send to.

2 in the figure shows the state in which the data is stored in the CG memory 1-7. This means that the dot pattern received by the download section 1-2 at 1 in the figure is stored in the CG memory 1-7.

3 in the figure shows a state in which it is determined whether the CG should be rotated 90 degrees or not. This means that it is determined whether or not the character should be prepared by preparing a dot pattern for a horizontally written character and a dot pattern for a vertically written character rotated 90 degrees from the host computer 2 in advance. If YES, execute step 4 in the figure for the object to be rotated 90 degrees. If NO, execute step 6 in the figure.

4 in the figure indicates a state of rotation of 90 degrees.

5 in the figure shows a state in which a dot pattern rotated by 90 degrees is stored in a predetermined area in the CG memory 1-7. This creates a 90 degree rotated dot pattern.
Both with the dot pattern that is not rotated 90 degrees
This means that they are stored in the CG memories 1-7 when the power is turned on, respectively. When printing, the dot pattern of horizontally written characters or the dot pattern of vertically written characters can be read out at high speed without having to be rotated by 90 degrees as necessary. In general, when processing Japanese using JIS level 1 kanji and non-kanji, non-kanji (hiragana, katakana, alphanumeric symbols) account for the majority, and by using the top 200 frequently occurring kanji characters, printing It is said that it is possible to print about 50% of all the kanji contained in the document you are trying to print. Therefore, if the dot patterns of horizontally written characters and the dot patterns of vertically written characters of kanji that are frequently used are prepared in advance when the power is turned on as in the present invention, the rate of 90 degree rotation during printing will be reduced, resulting in faster printing. It becomes possible to develop the dot pattern to be printed on the dot pattern memory 1-6.

6 in the figure indicates a state in which it is determined whether or not the download has been completed. If YES, terminate. NO.
In this case, repeat steps 1 and below in the figure.

Figure 3 shows that when the power is turned on as shown in Figure 2, the dot patterns of characters to be printed are stored in the dot pattern memory 1-6 in Figure 1 using the dot patterns previously stored in the CG memory 1-7. The following describes the procedure for deploying to .

In the figure, 7 indicates a state in which it is determined whether or not it is necessary to rotate 90 degrees. This means that it is determined whether or not the characters, etc. that are developed in the form of a dot pattern in the dot pattern memory 1-6 and are to be printed need to be rotated by 90 degrees. This is executed by the rotation determining section 1-3. If YES, execute step 8 in the figure. If NO, execute step 10 in the figure.

8 in the figure is a CG dot pattern rotated 90 degrees.
This shows a state in which it is determined whether or not the data is stored in the memory 1-7. If YES, execute step 9 in the figure. If NO, execute step 11 in the figure.

9 in the figure shows a state in which a dot pattern corresponding to a character or the like is selected (read) from the CG memory 1-7 which stores dot patterns rotated by 90 degrees. As a result, a desired dot pattern of horizontally written characters or a desired dot pattern of vertically written characters can be obtained by simply reading without performing 90 degree rotation processing.

In the figure, numeral 10 indicates the state in which the dot pattern is developed in the memory. This means that the desired dot pattern of horizontally written characters or dot pattern of vertically written characters obtained at 9 or 11 in the figure is developed in the dot pattern memory 1-6 for printing. Then, the signal read out from the dot pattern memory 1-6 in the optimum form for printing is notified to the printing mechanism 3, and characters, etc. are printed page by page.

In the figure, 11 indicates a state in which the CG is rotated by 90 degrees. This is because the dot pattern rotated 90 degrees is not stored in the CG memory 1-7 in Figure 1.
This means rotating the image by 90 degrees.

For example, using the procedure shown in Figure 2, the CG in Figure 1 is
Consisting of 32 dots x 32 dots in memory 1-7
When JIS level 1 kanji and non-kanji are stored, the memory capacity required for the CG memory 1-7 is approximately 428 KB. If 512 sets of dot patterns rotated by 90 degrees are prepared, the required memory capacity will be an additional 64KB. now,
For example, it takes 3ms to rotate the dot pattern of one character by 90 degrees using a microprogram.
If a text consisting of 2,000 characters is rotated 90 degrees and developed into a dot pattern of horizontal or vertical characters and printed, conventionally the time required to rotate the dot pattern 90 degrees is T.
is T=0.003×2000=6 (seconds)...(1). On the other hand, according to the present invention, if the hit rate is 80%, the time t required to rotate 90 degrees is t = 0.003 x 2000 x (1 - 0.8) = 1.2 (seconds) ... (2) Become. Therefore, the memory capacity of CG memory 1-7 increases from 428KB to 429KB, which is an increase of about 15%.
The time required for 90 degree rotation processing is reduced to 1/5 from 6 seconds to 1.2 seconds, allowing for faster processing.

Figure 4 shows the procedure for reading out the previously used horizontal character dot pattern or vertical character dot pattern stored in the CG memory 1-7, developing it in the dot pattern memory 1-6, and printing it. shows.

In the figure, 12 indicates a state in which it is determined whether or not a 90 degree rotation is necessary. This means that when developing the dot pattern of characters to be printed in the dot pattern memory 1-6, it is determined whether or not it is necessary to rotate the dot pattern by 90 degrees.

In the figure, 13 indicates a state in which it is determined whether or not the rotation has been completed by 90 degrees. This is determined by whether or not the flag read from the rotation flag memory 1-8 in FIG. 1 is ON (1). If YES (if the flag is ON), it has already been rotated 90 degrees and there is no need to rotate it anymore, so step 17 in the figure is executed. If NO, it is necessary to rotate 90 degrees, so execute steps 14 to 16 in the figure.

In the figure, 14 indicates a state in which the dot pattern is rotated by 90 degrees.

15 in the figure shows a state in which the original dot pattern in the CG memory 1-7 is rewritten with the dot pattern rotated by 90 degrees. Therefore, the dot pattern stored in the CG memory 1-7 is
Instead of the previously stored dot pattern (for example, for horizontal writing), a dot pattern for horizontal characters or a dot for vertical characters corresponding to a dot pattern rotated by 90 degrees (for example, a dot pattern returned for vertical writing) will be displayed. This means that the pattern is stored. For this reason, since horizontal or vertical characters tend to appear consecutively in general documents, there is no need to perform 90 degree rotation processing from the second time, and the dot pattern corresponding to the horizontal or vertical characters to be printed is removed. It becomes possible to develop the image into the dot pattern memory 1-6 at high speed.

In the figure, 16 indicates a state in which the 90 degree rotation flag is turned on. This is done by storing "1" in the corresponding position in the table provided in the rotation flag memory 1-8 in FIG.

In the figure, numeral 17 shows the state in which the dot pattern is developed in the dot pattern memory 1-6.

In the figure, reference numeral 18 indicates a state in which it is determined whether or not the rotation has been completed by 90 degrees. This determination is made when a flag corresponding to a predetermined character is found in the table in the rotation flag memory 1-8.
It is determined whether it is ON (1) or not.
If YES, it is necessary to reversely rotate the dot pattern stored in the CG memory 1-7 by 90 degrees, so steps 19 to 21 in the figure are executed. If NO, the dot pattern stored in CG memory 1-7 is transferred to dot pattern memory 1 as is.
-6, so execute step 17 in the figure.

In the figure, 19 indicates a state of 90 degree reverse rotation. This means that since it is determined at 18 in the figure that it has been rotated 90 degrees, it is reversely rotated 90 degrees to return to its original state.

20 in the figure means that the dot pattern reversely rotated by 90 degrees in 19 in the figure is stored in the original position in the CG memory 1-7 and rewritten.

In the figure, 21 indicates a state in which the 90 degree rotation flag is turned off (0). This means that the returned state is stored in memory since it was reversely rotated by 90 degrees at 20 in the figure to return to its original state.

By using the procedure shown in FIG. 4 explained above, the CG memory 1-7 always stores the immediately previous dot pattern of horizontally written characters or the dot pattern of vertically written characters, and the rotation flag memory 1-7 always stores the dot pattern of horizontally written characters or vertically written characters in the immediately previous state. By referring to the flags stored in the table in 8, it is possible to easily determine which dot pattern is stored. When printing, the dot pattern to be printed can be developed into the dot pattern memory 1-6 at high speed.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, since a configuration is adopted that uses a dot pattern of horizontally written characters or a dot pattern of vertically written characters prepared in advance and/or used previously, the dot pattern of horizontally written characters or the dot pattern of vertically written characters is dot patterns can be developed at high speed on a dot pattern memory for printing.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 to 4 are flowcharts explaining the operation of the configuration of one embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, and FIGS.
The figure shows a flowchart explaining the operation of a conventional printer control processing device. In the figure, 1 is a laser beam printer control unit;
-1 is a control section, 1-2 is a download section, 1-3 is a rotation determination section, 1-4 is a rotation processing/flag setting section, 1-5 is a rotation flag reading section, 1
-6 is a dot pattern memory, 1-7 is a CG (Character Generator) memory, 1-8 is a rotation flag memory, 1-9 is a dot pattern processing section, 2 is a host computer, and 3 is a printing mechanism.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A printer control processing device that develops and prints dot patterns on a dot pattern memory, comprising a character generator memory that stores in advance dot patterns necessary for printing characters, and a character generator memory that stores dot patterns necessary for printing characters; A dot pattern memory for reading, developing and storing dot patterns corresponding to characters to be printed from the generator memory, and a specified frequency of use among the dot patterns stored in the character generator memory. A dot pattern with a high dot pattern is rotated 90 degrees in advance in an initial state and stored separately in the character generator memory, and only the dot pattern to be rotated 90 degrees with respect to the character exists in the character generator memory. and a dot pattern processing unit that rotates the dot pattern by 90 degrees and stores it in the dot pattern memory when the character is to be printed. A printer control processing device characterized in that the dot pattern corresponding to a desired character is rotated or expanded in the dot pattern memory without rotation based on the read dot pattern and printed. 2. In a printer control processing device that develops and prints dot patterns on a dot pattern memory, there is a character generator memory that stores in advance the dot patterns necessary for printing characters, and a character generator memory that prints from the character generator memory. A dot pattern memory for reading out, developing and storing dot patterns corresponding to the characters to be written, and initializing a specified frequently used dot pattern among the dot patterns stored in the character generator memory. If the character is rotated 90 degrees in advance and stored separately in the character generator memory in the state, and only the dot pattern that was previously rotated 90 degrees with respect to the character exists in the character generator memory, the character Rotate the dot pattern by 90 degrees, return to the original dot pattern without rotating it by 90 degrees, and store it in the dot pattern memory.
Characterize the dot pattern without rotating 90 degrees.
It is equipped with a dot pattern processing section that rewrites and stores the dot pattern on the generator memory, reads out the dot pattern corresponding to the character to be printed from the character generator memory, and corresponds to the desired character based on the read dot pattern. 1. A printer control processing device, characterized in that said dot pattern is rotated or expanded into said dot pattern memory and printed without being rotated.