JPH0481516B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an apparatus for printing dot image information. In particular, the present invention relates to a device that can print external characters. Here, ``external characters'' refer to characters that are not prepared by the printer or main processing unit and are defined by the user and created as dot images for use.

〔overview〕

The present invention simplifies the printing process in a printing device that can print external characters created by the user as dot images by treating information about the dot images and associated printing interval information as a single piece of information. It is something that becomes.

[Conventional technology]

To define a custom character as a dot image, a character or mark may be defined as the size of one standard character, or a single character or mark may be defined as a series of multiple characters. Normally, custom characters designed in standard character size require spaces to correct the spacing after printing the custom characters due to the difference in printing spacing from alphanumeric and kana (ANK) characters. Furthermore, when one character or mark is defined by multiple characters, a blank space after printing is not required.

Conventionally, in order to control these printing intervals,
The control code was sent directly to the printer from the application program.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In the conventional printing method described above, (1) the printing interval control by the application program is complicated, and (2) when printing the contents of the data file, the contents (values) of the character code are analyzed and the printing (3) Although it is possible to configure the blank area with dot image information, the amount of information in the dot image increases, and the dot image cannot be changed. It has drawbacks such as the need to store and manage it in long format.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a printing control device that solves the above-mentioned drawbacks and allows easy printing interval control.

[Means for solving problems]

The printing device of the present invention includes a storage means for storing a pair of dot image information regarding a dot image created by a user and printing interval information indicating an interval between characters following the dot image, and a storage means for storing dot image information regarding a dot image created by a user and printing interval information indicating an interval between characters following the dot image. means for specifying one of the pairs of dot image information and print interval information by character code; means for printing the dot image information specified by the specifying means; and print interval information specified by the specifying means. and a means for printing a blank corresponding to the blank.

[Effect]

The printing apparatus of the present invention handles dot image information and printing interval information as one piece of information. This makes it easy to set the spacing between the external characters and the subsequent characters after printing, the process for printing is simplified, and the quality of the print finish does not deteriorate.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The storage means 1 is connected to a character code designation means 2, a dot image printing means 3, and a blank printing means 4. The storage means 1 is constituted by a memory element or a magnetic file, and stores dot image information and printing interval information in pairs. The character code designation means 2 reads dot image information and printing interval information from the storage means 1 in accordance with the character code designated by the application program, and sends the dot image information to the dot image printing means 3 as the printing interval information. are output to the blank printing means 4, respectively. The dot image printing means 3 prints the received dot image information as a dot image by controlling a printer. The blank printing means 4 controls the printer according to the received printing interval information, and prints blanks for a designated interval following printing of the dot image.

FIG. 2 is an example in which a dot image with a print interval specification is printed, and then the character "A" is printed. From the application program, the character code corresponding to the dot image and the character code corresponding to "a" can be specified.

FIG. 3 shows an example in which two characters of dot images with printing interval information of 0 are printed. From the application program, the character code corresponding to each dot image can be specified.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the printing device of the present invention stores dot image information and printing interval information in pairs, and can print dot image information and a blank space following it by simply specifying a character code from an application program. . Therefore, there is no need for complicated printing interval control using an application program, and an increase in the amount of dot image information can be prevented.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a printing example with a blank space corresponding to a specified printing interval. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a printing example when the specified printing interval is 0. 1...Storage means, 2...Character code designation means,
3... Dot image printing means, 4... Blank printing means.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A storage means for storing dot image information regarding a dot image created by a user and printing interval information indicating an interval between characters following this dot image as a pair; means for specifying one of the pairs of dot image information and print interval information using a character code; means for printing the dot image information specified by the specifying means; and print interval information specified by the specifying means. and a means for printing a blank corresponding to the blank space.