JPH0688433B2 - Printer - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that analyzes input print information and prints a font pattern corresponding to a character code on a landscape or portrait.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in this type of printing apparatus, portrait printing for printing the input document information in a direction opposite to the longitudinal direction of the recording medium and the input document information in parallel to the longitudinal direction of the recording medium are performed. The one configured so that the landscape printing process for printing can be executed has been put into practical use.

When a font pattern to be printed is supplied from an external storage device such as a font cartridge in this type of printing device, a font pattern for portrait printing and a font pattern for landscape printing are provided to the external storage device. Either the font pattern is stored in advance and either one of the font patterns is supplied according to the print control information to perform the printing process, or the font pattern for portrait printing is stored in the printer device from the external storage device during the landscape printing process. The landscape print font is generated through software or hardware such as an expensive developing circuit.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

Therefore, in the former case, a large-capacity storage medium that stores all the font patterns for portrait printing and the font patterns for portrait printing is required, while both can generate a desired font pattern at high speed. There was a problem that the cost of the font cartridge was significantly increased.

On the other hand, in the latter, the font pattern for portrait printing can be stored in the font cartridge, so the cost of the font cartridge can be reduced, while the font pattern for portrait printing is changed to the font pattern for landscape printing. There has been a problem that a considerable amount of time is required for the software processing for conversion, the printing processing efficiency is reduced, and the total throughput in the printer is significantly reduced.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and manages print information having a high print frequency among input print information, and landscape printing for print information having a high print frequency that is managed. It is an object of the present invention to obtain a printing device capable of performing landscape printing processing of input print information at low cost and at high speed by externally storing the font pattern of the updateable.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In the printing apparatus according to the present invention, the external storage means is provided with a frequency information memory for storing the printing frequency information of each portrait font pattern, and the printing frequency information stored in the frequency information memory is updated and managed in parallel with the printing process. Management means, a landscape memory that stores up to a predetermined number of landscape font patterns that the pattern conversion means converts based on the print frequency information that is updated and managed by the management means, and the input print information and print frequency information. While comparing, the printing means is provided with landscape font pattern generation control means for generating the corresponding landscape font pattern preferentially from the landscape memory,
The converted landscape font pattern is developed in the landscape memory at a predetermined timing. Further, the frequency information memory is constituted by a non-volatile memory medium, and the management means manages while updating the printing frequency information of each portrait font pattern in the external storage means.

[Action]

In the present invention, the management means stores the printing frequency information of each portrait font pattern while updating it in the frequency information memory provided in the external storage means, and performs pattern conversion based on the printing frequency information updated and managed by this management means. Write the landscape font pattern converted by the means to the landscape memory at a predetermined timing,
At the time of printing, the landscape font pattern generation control means compares the print information input and the print frequency information, and preferentially generates the corresponding landscape font pattern from the landscape memory.

Further, the frequency information memory is configured by a non-volatile memory medium, and the printing frequency information is retained regardless of the power-on state.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining an example of a printing apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes a character code as print information in a host computer, print control information (landscape print designation, portrait print designation, etc.). Is output to the printer unit 2 serving as a printing unit. 3 is a font cartridge which serves as an external storage means, and a font pattern storage section
31, a non-volatile memory 32, and a font pattern storage unit 31 stores portrait font patterns in one-to-one correspondence with character codes. The non-volatile memory 32 is the frequency information memory of the present invention, and stores the printing frequency information of each portrait font pattern so that it can be updated by the management means described later.

The printer unit 2 includes a control unit 21, a vertical / horizontal conversion unit 22, a font cache 23, a management table 24, a frame buffer 25, a dot printer unit 26, an interface unit 27, etc. The control unit 21 has a CPU 21a and a ROM 21b. The RAM 21c and the like, and the CPU 21a executes print information processing based on a control program (control procedure including a flowchart described later) stored in the ROM 21b.

The vertical / horizontal conversion unit 22 converts the vertical / horizontal direction of the portrait font pattern corresponding to each character code transmitted / received from the interface unit 27 to generate a landscape pattern.
The font cache 23 constitutes the landscape memory of the present invention, and stores a predetermined number of landscape font patterns converted by the vertical / horizontal conversion unit 22 on the basis of print frequency information updated and managed by the CPU 21a which is the management means. To do. The CPU 21a updates and manages the print frequency information stored in the non-volatile memory 32 in parallel with the print processing, temporarily stores the print frequency information in the management table 24 when the power is turned on, and thereafter manages the print frequency information during execution of the print processing. The table 24 is updated and managed, and the contents of the management table 24 are stored in the non-volatile memory 32 each time the print process is executed, for example, every time a predetermined page print process is completed or a predetermined time elapses.

The frame buffer 25 stores the dot pattern output from the control unit 21, for example, for one page, and the dot printer unit 26
The dot pattern of the developed portrait or landscape dot pattern is synchronized with the dot printer section 26.
And print it.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an example of print data input from the host computer 1 shown in FIG.
Is print data, and the carriage return code CR and line feed code LF, which are print control commands, are added to each print data L1 to L4, and in particular, the form feed code FF is added to the print data L4. .

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining the configuration of the font cache 23 shown in FIG. 1, and C31 to C35 are code areas,
The code area C31 stores the character code “244E _H ” corresponding to the landscape font pattern of the character “NO” stored in the font area P31. The code area C32 contains the character code "4240" corresponding to the landscape font pattern of the character "thick" stored in the font area P32.
_H "is stored.

The code area C33 stores the character code “4F3A _H ” corresponding to the landscape font pattern of the character “ro” stored in the font area P33.

Character code corresponding to the landscape font pattern of the character "flower" stored in the font area P34 "3256 _H" is stored in the code area C34.

Character code corresponding to the landscape font patterns of characters "child" stored in the font area P35 "3B52 _H" is stored in the code area C35.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining the data structure of the management table 24 and the non-volatile memory 32 shown in FIG. 1, 41 is a character code, and each portrait font pattern stored in the font pattern storage unit 31. Corresponding to this character code
Reference numeral 41 indicates a state in which the printing frequency information 42 corresponding to one to one is stored and managed by, for example, 2 bits. Especially character code 41
The portrait font pattern with "P244E" corresponds to the character "no", and the printing frequency is 3, that is, "1" in binary.
The case of "1" is shown. As can be seen from this figure, when the print data L1 to L4 shown in FIG. 2 are processed, the print frequency information 42 corresponding to each character code is sequentially updated, and the area of the area corresponding to the character code 41 not used for printing is changed. The printing frequency information 42 is set to "00". Especially each print data L1 to L4
Since there are three characters "no" in the print frequency information 42
1 ”.

Next, the landscape font pattern print processing operation according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart for explaining an example of the printing frequency information loading processing procedure according to the present invention. In addition, (1) ~
(3) shows each step. Further, this processing is executed when the power is turned on or when the dot printer unit 26 is in the idle state.

First, the CPU 21a accesses the non-volatile memory 32 and prints the print frequency information 42 corresponding to each portrait font pattern.
Is loaded into the management table 24 (1).

Next, the printing frequency information 42 of the characters in the management table 24 is checked, and the character code 41 of the upper 5 characters with the highest frequency ranking is checked.
Select and compare the five characters registered in the font cache 23 to determine whether their contents match (2). If YES, end the process, and if NO, do not match. The portrait font pattern corresponding to the code 41 is read from the font pattern storage unit 31, the landscape / horizontal conversion unit 22 is used to generate a landscape pattern corresponding to the mismatched character code 41, and the font cache 23 is generated together with the character code 41. Update (update process) registered in (3) is performed, and the process ends.

In particular, since "NULL" is set in the font cache 23 when the power is turned on, all the landscape patterns of the upper 5 characters are stored.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart for explaining an example of the landscape printing processing procedure according to the present invention. In addition, (1) ~
(5) shows each step.

First, the CPU 21a receives print data from the host computer 1 (1), determines whether the received character code exists in the code area C31 to C35 of the font cache 23 (2), and if NO, the received character code. The portrait font pattern corresponding to is read from the photo pattern storage unit 31, a landscape font pattern is generated via the vertical / horizontal conversion unit 22, and developed in the frame buffer 25 (3). Then, the printing frequency information 42 of the management table 24 is updated (4), and the process is ended.

On the other hand, if the result of the determination in step (2) is YES, the converted landscape font pattern is read, developed in the frame buffer 25 (5), and the process ends.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing an example of the printing frequency information update processing procedure according to the present invention. Note that (1) to (4)
Indicates each step.

First, the CPU calculates the storage position of the management table 24 corresponding to the character code 41 received by 21a (1). Next, the printing frequency information 42 corresponding to the calculated character code 41 is set to "1.
It is judged whether it is "1 _B " (2), and if NO, "1" is added to the current print frequency information 42 (3), and the process is ended.

On the other hand, if the result of the determination in step (2) is YES, the printing frequency information 42 corresponding to the corresponding character code 41 is left as it is, "1" is subtracted from the other printing frequency information 42 (4), and the processing is executed. finish. When the other print frequency information 42 is "00 _B ", the subtraction is not executed.

The timing of storing the contents of the management table 24 in the non-volatile memory 32 is not particularly mentioned, but if it is executed every time a certain period of time elapses or every time a certain number of sheets have been printed, the landscape according to the latest print frequency information 42 is always displayed. It is possible to efficiently execute font printing processing.

In the above embodiment, the case of processing a font pattern such as converting a portrait font pattern into a landscape pattern according to the print frequency information 42 has been described, but the present invention is also applied to a printing process such as converting a vector font into a dot font. it can.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the printing apparatus that prints Japanese as a language has been described as an example, but the present invention can be applied to a Chinese printer that supports a large number of character sets other than Japanese.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the external storage means is provided with the frequency information memory for storing the printing frequency information of each portrait font pattern, and the printing frequency information stored in the frequency information memory is updated and managed in parallel with the printing process. Management means, a landscape memory that stores up to a predetermined number of landscape font patterns that can be updated by the pattern conversion means based on the print frequency information that is updated and managed by the management means, input print information, and print frequency information. Since the printing means is provided with the landscape font pattern generation control means that preferentially generates the corresponding landscape font pattern from the landscape memory while comparing the above, the landscape font pattern of the font pattern with high printing frequency is always expanded. Frequent because it is remembered You can omit the landscape pattern generation process of high font patterns, capable of generating a landscape font pattern desired. Therefore, landscape printing processing can be efficiently executed at low cost.

Further, since the print frequency information is constantly updated and managed at a predetermined timing, the landscape print processing corresponding to the latest print frequency information can be executed.

Further, since the frequency information memory is composed of a non-volatile memory medium, the landscape printing process according to the past printing frequency information history can be restarted after the power is turned on, and the landscape printing process according to the best printing frequency information can always be executed. Produce the effect of.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of print data input from the host computer illustrated in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining the structure of the font cache shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining the data structure of the management table and non-volatile memory shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a printing frequency information loading processing procedure according to the invention, FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a landscape printing processing procedure according to the invention, and FIG. 7 is an example of a printing frequency information updating processing procedure according to the invention. It is a flowchart. In the figure, 1 is a host computer, 2 is a printer unit, 3 is a font cartridge, 21 is a control unit, 21a is a CPU, and 22b is R.
OM, 22c is RAM, 22 is a vertical / horizontal conversion unit, 23 is a font cache, 24 is a management table, 25 is a frame buffer, and 26 is a dot printer unit.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An interface means for transferring a portrait font pattern supplied from an external storage means to a printing means, and a portrait font pattern received through the interface means on the basis of input print control information for a landscape font pattern. In a printing apparatus for executing portrait printing processing and landscape printing processing, the external storage means is provided with a frequency information memory for storing printing frequency information of each portrait font pattern, and printing is performed. A management unit that updates and manages the printing frequency information stored in the frequency information memory in parallel with the processing, and a landscape font pattern that is converted by the pattern converting unit based on the printing frequency information that is updated and managed by the management unit is predetermined. Number of runs that can be updated The printing means is provided with a landscape memory and landscape font pattern generation control means for generating the corresponding landscape font pattern with priority from the landscape memory while comparing the input print information and print frequency information. Characteristic printing device. 2. The pattern converting means develops the converted landscape font pattern in a landscape memory at a predetermined timing.
The printing device described. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the frequency information memory comprises a non-volatile memory medium.