JPH0470650B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a word processor, and more particularly to a control circuit for a printer for a word processor.

[Conventional technology]

Looking at word processors and printers, conventional devices of this type include systems in which the printer control section is built into the main body control section, and methods in which the main body control section and the printer control section are separated, and both control sections are connected to each other by means of communication. It can be roughly divided into two types depending on the connection method.

Note that related devices of this type include, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 41784/1984 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-41784.
Publication No. 49350 can be mentioned.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, among the above-mentioned conventional word processors, the former has the disadvantage that it is large in size and does not take into account changes in printer models, and the latter has the following problems:
Although consideration has been given to adapting to changes in printer models, there was a problem in that it required a communication control circuit, communication procedure control, etc., making the device complex.

The present invention was made as a result of reviewing word processor printers, and its purpose is to allow printer models to be changed without requiring special means such as communication control circuits or communication procedure control. , can be easily performed with a simple configuration,
Furthermore, the present invention aims to provide an improved word processor that is equipped with a printer control circuit capable of increasing processing speed and is inexpensive to produce.

[Means for solving the problem] The above purpose is to develop a word processor in which the main body control unit that creates, edits, and proofreads documents and the printer control unit that generates print data are configured in separate housings. In this method, the printer control section does not have a built-in program, and the main body control section and the printer control section are connected via other communication means as a means for transferring the print control program and data from the main body control section side to the printer control section. This is achieved by directly connecting the bus line of the microcomputer located within the main body control section.

[Effect]

As described above, the present invention does not incorporate a program in the printer control section, and uses the main body control section and the printer control section as means for transferring the print control program and data from the main body control section side to the printer control section. By adopting a configuration in which the main unit is directly connected to the main unit via the bus line of the microcomputer located within the main unit control unit without going through any other communication means, the main unit control unit can access its own internal parts using the same method. Therefore, data can be easily transferred to the printer control section.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on an embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram showing the overall configuration of a word processor.

In Figure 1, 1 is the housing of the main control unit, 2 is the microcomputer (MPU), and A, B, and C are the
The address bus line, data bus line, and control bus line are each controlled by MPU 2; 3 is a memory circuit (IPLROM) storing a program for the program loader; 4 is a memory circuit for character generator (CGROM); 5 is a memory circuit for storing a program loader program (IPLROM); A direct memory access control circuit (DMAC) performs data transfer without going through the MPU 2, and 6 indicates a main memory, a readable/writable storage circuit used for a system program area, work area, etc. 7 is a keyboard (K/B) for inputting character codes and control codes, 8 is a control circuit (K/BCE) that controls K/B7, 9 is a CRT display device (CRT), and 10 is a control that controls CRT9. 11 is a floppy disk drive device (FDD), and 12 is a floppy control circuit (FDDCE) for controlling the FDD 11.

21 is the housing of the printer control unit, 22 is the MPU,
a, b, and c are address bus lines, data bus lines, and control bus lines each controlled by the MPU 22; 23 is a character generator memory circuit (CGROM); and 24 is a readable/writable memory circuit for storing printed dot information. A storage circuit frame memory, 25 a direct memory access control circuit (DMAC) that performs data transfer without going through the MPU 22, and 26 a readable/writable storage circuit main memory used for a program area, a work area, etc. 27 is the above MPU2
28 is a printing device that performs printing; 29 is a printer 28;
This is a control circuit (PRTCE) that controls the

Therefore, in the present invention, the main body control section casing 1 and the printer control section casing 21 are connected by a signal cable that connects the bus lines A, B, and C of the MPU 2 in the main body control section. The printer 28 and the printer control case 21 are connected by a cable 30.

The present invention has the above configuration. Next, the operating system of the word processor shown in FIG. 1 will be explained based on FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the operation inside the main body control section side casing shown in FIG. 1, and FIG.

Now, when the power (not shown) is turned on, the program in the IPLROM shown by reference numeral 3 in FIG. (described below as a document system program for Setusa) is loaded into the main memory 6 from the FDD 11 by the operation of the DMAC 5 under the control of the FDDCE 12 [flowchart block (hereinafter referred to as FB) 10 in FIG.
1].

After loading the system program,
Control is transferred to the program loaded in the main memory 6, and the system starts operating as a Japanese word processor document system (FB1
02), input control codes, character codes, etc. from K/B7 to create and edit documents (FB1
03). The character code input from K/B7 is
The dot pattern is converted by CGROM4,
Under the control of the CRTCE 10, the characters input using the K/B 7 are sequentially displayed on the CRT 9, and the operator can edit the text while looking at the text displayed on the CRT 9.
Proofread and create documents.

The sentences created as described above are sequentially stored in the main memory 6 in the form of code information (FB
104), if you want to print the document here (FB10
5) Print control program housing 1 that controls printing
Loading from FDD11 (FB106),
It is transferred to the main memory 26 located in the printer control unit side housing 21 via the switching circuit 27 via the bus lines A, B, and C (FB10
7). After the print control program is transferred, the MPU 22 is activated and starts executing the print control program transferred to the main memory 26 (FB108). Furthermore, the code information of documents created in case 1 is also
Similarly to the above, the FB10
9). Therefore, both of the above transfers are executed under the control of the MPU 2 in the same way as when the MPU 2 accesses the circuit inside the housing 1, and since there is no program built into the housing 21, etc. Applicable housing 2
In case 1, after transferring the program from case 1,
Start the MPU 22 and execute the transferred program.

Note that the document code information described above can be transferred after the print control program or after starting the print control program.
The data may be transferred by handshaking with 22.

On the other hand, the MPU 22 in the casing 21 executes the print control program transferred from the casing 1 (FB 121 in FIG. 3), and when the document code information is transferred from the casing 1, Accordingly, the dot pattern information of the characters is read from the CGROM 23, and dot patterns of figures etc. are generated by calculation processing (FB122), and the dot patterns are developed and stored in the frame memory 24 according to the print format (FB123). The dot pattern information stored on the frame memory 24 is stored in the DMAC 25.
The image information is then sent to the printer 28 as image information via the PRTCE 29 (FB 124). The printer 28 prints according to the control signal from the PRTCE 29 and the image information (FBs 125 and 126).

Then, on the MPU 1 side, after the document code information in the main memory 6 is transferred to the main memory 26 for printing, when registering the document (FB
110) and record this on FDD11 (FB11
1) Execute the next document creation (FB112).

The present invention consists of the above information, and in the Honyo name, the main body control unit that creates, edits, and proofreads documents, and the printer control unit that generates print data are housed in separate housings 1 and 21, respectively. In a word processor that has a structure in which the main body control section and the printer control section are separated, (1) programs and data on the main body control section side are transferred to the bus line A of the MPU 2 on the main body control section side; B,
Since the data is transferred to the printer control section via C, changing the printer model can be easily done without requiring any special means such as a communication control circuit or communication procedure control between the main body control section and the printer control section. This can be easily done with a simple configuration.

(2) Since the casing 1 side and the casing 21 side operate independently, parallel processing can be performed to increase the processing speed. Especially in the embodiment shown in FIG. is equipped with a CGROM 23 on the side of the housing 21, which is the printer control unit.
There is no need to load a CG (Character Generator), contributing to even faster processing speeds.

As mentioned above, if the program is not built into the casing 21, which is the printer control section, all changes and revisions to the program will be made in the casing 21, which is the main body control section.
Maintenance is easy as only the side program needs to be changed or revised.

In addition, in FIG. 1, by increasing the capacity of the frame memory 24 on the side of the casing 21, which is the printer control unit, the printer 28 can be used as a high-speed page printer such as a laser beam printer. By changing the CGROM 23, it is possible to print characters of any size and shape, regardless of the casing 1 side.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the invention. That is, FIG. 4 is an overall block circuit diagram of a word processor showing another embodiment of the present invention.
The same reference numerals as in the figure indicate the same parts.

A feature of the embodiment shown in FIG. 4 is that the CGROM 23 and frame memory 24 shown in the embodiment of FIG. 1 are omitted. When transferring document information to the housing 21 side,
The contents of the CGROM 4 are also transferred to the main memory 26 at the same time, and the print image is developed in the main memory 26.
This is done using the contents of the CGROM 4 transferred to the main memory 26, and a part of the main memory 26 is used as the memory for developing the print image.
According to the embodiment shown in the figure, the structure of the casing 21 side, which is the printer control section, can be further simplified than in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, resulting in further cost reduction of this type of product. Contribute.

Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 55-20570 discloses a technology for directly connecting a main body control section and a printer control section through a bus line, and more specifically, a technique for providing a dedicated bus line between a kanji pattern memory and multiple devices. A technique has been disclosed for transferring data in a kanji pattern memory at high speed to a device connected to a dedicated bus line.

However, in the bus control method described in the same publication, a new dedicated bus line is added between the kanji pattern memory and multiple devices in addition to the microcomputer bus line, and the configuration is different. Although the present invention can be simplified, it cannot be denied that the addition of a dedicated bus line complicates the configuration.

[Effects of the Invention] The present invention is as described above, and as is clear from the explanation of the illustrated embodiments, according to the present invention, the bus line of the microcomputer located in the main body control section is shared. By specifying the printer control unit as the object of sharing, it is possible to change printer models with a simple configuration without the need for special means such as communication control circuits or communication procedure control. An improved word processor with a lower product cost and a printer control circuit that can easily solve printer-specific problems and increase processing speed. Obtainable.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 3 show one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram showing the overall configuration of a word processor, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the operation inside the printer control unit side housing indicated by the reference numeral 21 in FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a block circuit diagram of the entire word processor showing another embodiment of the present invention. It is. 1... Main body control section side casing, 2... Microcomputer, A... Address bus line, B... Data bus line, C... Control bus line, 6... Main memory, 21... Printer control section side Housing, 22...Microcomputer, a...
...Address bus line, b...Data bus line, c...Control bus line, 26...Main memory, 27...Switching circuit, 28...Printer.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A main body control unit that creates, edits, and proofreads documents, and a printer control unit that generates print data,
In word processors that are configured in separate housings, the main body control unit and the printer are used as a means to transfer the print control program and data from the main body control unit to the printer control unit without incorporating a program in the printer control unit. A word processor characterized in that a control section is directly connected to a microcomputer bus line located within the main body control section without using any other communication means.