JPH0777812B2 - Output device - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an output device, and more particularly to an output device that generates and outputs a pattern based on information input from the outside.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in a system including a printer that performs color printing with two or more colors, for example, an output color designation control code that designates an output color of a character symbol to be printed is input from a host computer, and According to the output designation control code, the image is printed out in a predetermined output color.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Therefore, if the application program processed on the host computer does not have the function of specifying the color,
There was no other way but to print with a single color (initially set color), and I could not receive the benefit of being a color printer.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an output device capable of outputting a pattern, which is a print target of monochrome data input from the outside, in an intended color. is there.

[Means for Solving Problems] In order to solve this problem, the output device of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, receiving means for receiving character information and character attribute information without color designation from an external device, input means for inputting color designation information for designating an output color of a pattern relating to the character attribute information, and the receiving means for receiving. Output means for outputting a pattern relating to character attribute information without color designation in a color based on the color designation information input by the input means.

[Operation] In such a configuration of the present invention, the receiving unit receives the character information and the character attribute information without color designation from the outside. Further, the input means inputs color designation information for designating an output color of the pattern relating to the character attribute information. Then, the output means outputs the pattern relating to the character attribute information having no color designation received by the receiving means, in a color based on the color designation information input by the input means.

Embodiments Embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It should be noted that the output color types of the printing apparatus in the present embodiment are described as two types of "red" and "black" for the sake of simplicity, but the output color types are three types or more. I don't mind.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a block configuration of a printing apparatus connected to a host computer in this embodiment.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a host computer that outputs print data and various control codes. Reference numeral 2 is a printing apparatus, and a control unit 21 for controlling the entire printing apparatus 2 is provided inside. Further, the control procedure (program) shown in FIG.
And a RAM 21b that includes a work area used during the processing and a buffer area that temporarily stores various data output from the host computer 1 and a RAM 21b.

Reference numeral 22 is an attribute designation switch for setting the printing color in the printing device 2, the details of which will be described later. Reference numeral 23 is a pattern conversion unit that generates a character / symbol pattern for the character / symbol code from the host computer 1. Reference numerals 24 and 25 are buffer memories that store the patterns generated by the pattern conversion unit 23 based on the input data via the control unit 21, and the buffer memory 24 stores the pattern of the printing color "black" and the buffer memory 25. Will store a pattern whose print color is "red". Further, in the present embodiment, the capacity of each of the buffer memories 24 and 25 will be described as having a capacity of one printing sheet. Reference numeral 26 is a dot printer section, which is provided with two color ink ribbons of "red" and "black", inputs the pattern data from the buffer memories 24 and 25, and prints in black or red according to the input buffer memory. .

[Description of Attribute Designating Switch (FIG. 2)] FIG. 2 shows the attribute designating switch 22 in this embodiment.

As shown, the switches sw1 to sw8 are provided for the output character types. When these switches sw1 to sw8 are turned ON, the output color of the character type that has been turned ON is printed out with "red", and when it is turned "OFF", the output color is printed with "black".

For example, in the illustrated case, the switch sw1 is "ON" only for bold characters. Therefore, when the output character attribute code in the control code from the host computer 1 is a bold character designation code, the printing apparatus prints with "red".
The control code from the host computer 1 is generally an escape sequence, except for control codes such as carriage return (0D _H , H is hexadecimal), and this embodiment also follows it. explain. In addition, is this escape sequence ESC (escape, "1
The character type is specified by a 1-byte or 2-byte code that follows "B _H ").

[Explanation of Control Processing (FIG. 3)] FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the processing procedure of the control unit 21 of the present embodiment, and the processing flow will be described below according to this.

The data received from the host computer 1 in step S1 is branched according to the data attribute in step S2. At this time, if it is determined that it is a bold character, the process proceeds to step S31. In step S31, it is determined whether the switch sw1 corresponding to the bold character is "ON" or "OFF". If the switch sw1 is determined to be "OFF" by this determination, the process proceeds to step s41, the character symbol pattern corresponding to the input character symbol is stored in the buffer memory 24, and if "ON", the process proceeds to step S51. The character / symbol pattern is stored in the buffer memory 25. When the processing of step S41 or step S51 is completed, the process proceeds to step S61, and it is determined whether or not the storage of the character / symbol pattern for one page in the buffer memories 24 and 25 is completed. As a criterion for this determination, it is determined whether the number of lines of the character / symbol pattern stored is one page or the control code for page break is sent from the host computer 1. Now, if the determination in step S61 is "NO", the process returns to step S1 again.

If it is determined in step S2 that the attribute code is underlined, the process proceeds to step S32, and it is determined whether switch SW2 based on the attribute is "ON" or "OFF".
If it is, step S42, if it is "OFF", step S52
Then, the same processing as steps S41, S51, S61 is performed. Further, in the case of the judgment in step S2, in the case of "shading", the processing of step S33 and thereafter is executed, and in the case of "ruled line", the processing of step S34 is executed.

When one page of the character / symbol pattern is stored in the buffer memories 24 and 25, that is, when the determination in step S61 is "YES", the process proceeds to step S62 and the character / symbol pattern developed in the buffer memory 24 is " In black,
The character / symbol pattern developed in the buffer memory 25 is printed out in "red".

When the attribute designation switch 22 in the above processing is in the state shown in FIG. 2, for example, only the bold characters (bold character patterns are expanded in the buffer memory 25) in the character information sent from the host computer 1 are used. It will be printed in "red", and will be printed with other characters (developed in the buffer memory 24) in "black".

In the above description, bold characters, underlines, halftones, and ruled lines have been described as the output form of characters, but for example, even for italic characters, enlarged or reduced characters, etc., the control code corresponding to the character symbol is sent. If it is one, the output color can be designated. Furthermore, it is also possible to print only katakana or kanji in "red". At this time, the judgment is made based on the size of the input character symbol code (in many cases, JIS standard code). Further, the printing color is not limited to two colors, and three or more colors (in that case, the attribute designation switches are set to three or more levels) and the same processing may be performed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, even if there is no color designation code on the side (the host computer in the case of this embodiment) that outputs the document information consisting of character symbol information, it is possible to obtain an appropriate character type. You can specify the output color.

In this embodiment, the memory capacity of the buffer memories 24 and 25 is one page of printing paper, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the memory capacity of one line may be used.

Further, the printer according to the present embodiment only needs to be able to print out with at least two colors, so the present invention is not limited by the type of printer.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, for example, monochrome data input from a host computer can be printed (underlines, halftone dots, ruled lines, bold characters, italic characters, enlarged characters, reduced characters, etc.). It has an excellent effect that color printing can be performed with a color set arbitrarily.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the block configuration of the printing apparatus of this embodiment, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the attribute designation switch, and FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the processing procedure of the control unit of this embodiment. . In the figure, 1 ... Host computer, 2 ... Printing device, 21
...... Control unit, 22 ...... Attribute designation switch, 23 ...... Pattern conversion unit, 24,25 ...... Buffer memory, 26 ...... Dot printer.

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A receiving means for receiving character information and character attribute information without color designation from an external device, an input means for inputting color designation information for designating an output color of a pattern relating to the character attribute information, and the receiving means. An output device for outputting the pattern relating to the character attribute information having no color designation received in 1. in a color based on the color designation information input by the input means. 2. The output device according to claim 1, wherein the output pattern is an underline. 3. The output device according to claim 1, wherein the output pattern is a halftone pattern. 4. The output device according to claim 1, wherein the output pattern is a ruled line pattern. 5. The output device according to claim 1, wherein the output pattern is a bold character pattern. 6. The first pattern according to claim 1, wherein the output pattern is an italic character pattern.
The output device according to the item. 7. The output device according to claim 1, wherein the output pattern is an enlarged character pattern. 8. The output device according to claim 1, wherein the output pattern is a reduced character pattern. 9. The output device according to claim 1, wherein the output device is a printer. 10. The output device according to claim 1, wherein the color designation information is preset before receiving the character information and the character attribute information.