JPH0263761A - character output device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a character output device that encodes and stores character pattern information in a run-length manner, and performs character pattern generation, printing, and the like.

[Prior Art] In a conventional printing device, etc., a method for developing run-length encoded information in either the vertical direction or the horizontal direction (hereinafter referred to as run-length information) and means for performing normal output processing is used. A configuration is proposed. In this case, the character pattern information is compressed and stored using run-length encoding, in which a black and white binary image is encoded using the continuous length of white or black pixels, so the storage capacity of the character pattern generating means is It has the advantage that it requires less.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, since the conventional device as described above only had run length information in one direction, either the vertical direction or the horizontal direction, it had the following drawbacks.

■It is easy to reduce and expand in the direction of the run length, but it is difficult to reduce and expand in the direction perpendicular to that direction.

■It was difficult to rotate the character pattern by 90" and 270 degrees.

■It was difficult to enlarge or reduce the image in the vertical and horizontal directions at the same time.

The object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, to easily reduce and enlarge both vertically and horizontally, to be able to simultaneously enlarge and reduce vertically and horizontally, and to create character patterns at desired angles. The object of the present invention is to provide a character output device that can also rotate the character.

a pattern storage means having both second run-length encoded information according to the first and second run-length encoded information; The present invention is characterized by comprising a character pattern generating means that develops a character pattern into a dot pattern.

[Function] With the above configuration, the present invention is provided with run length information in both the vertical and horizontal directions as character pattern information, and is developed into a dot pattern based on the run length information in both directions. Enlargement/reduction can be easily performed in only the horizontal direction, only in the horizontal direction, and in both vertical and horizontal directions, and character patterns can be easily rotated by 90°, 180°, and 270°.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides first run length encoded information based on vertical run lengths as character pattern information, and first run length encoded information based on horizontal run lengths [Example 1 Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a circuit configuration of an embodiment of a printing apparatus to which the present invention is applied. In this figure, 1 is a host computer that sends data, and 2 is a printing device consisting of components 3 to 9. 3 is a data receiving section that receives data sent from the host computer 1; 4 is a data analyzing section that analyzes the data received by the data receiving section 3; 5 is a data analyzing section 4
This is a character pattern generation unit that generates a character pattern corresponding to the printed character data (internal character codes 1 to 1) among the data analyzed in the above. Reference numeral 6 denotes a character information section that stores run length information used when the character pattern generation section 5 generates a character pattern.

7 is an instruction execution unit that executes data other than print character data (command data, address data) among the data analyzed by the data analysis unit 4; 8 is generated by the character pattern generation unit 5 and the instruction execution unit 7; An output buffer 9 stores the executed results as an output image. Reference numeral 9 denotes a printing unit that prints the contents of the output buffer 8 on paper. As the printing unit 9, a laser beam printer, an inkjet printer, a thermal transfer printer, or the like capable of printing dot image data is used.

FIG. 2 is an example showing information on one character among the character information in the character information section 6 of FIG. In this figure, lO is a pointer to the address containing the character, 11 is character information (e.g. pitch, kerning value, etc.), 12 is character pattern information expressed in vertical run length, and 13 is horizontal direction information. This is character pattern information expressed in run length.

The flowchart in FIG. 3 shows the control procedure of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. This control procedure is performed by a control unit (CPI) (not shown).
J) is stored in the internal program ROM. First, in step S14, data sent from the host computer 1 is received by the data receiving section 3. The data analysis unit 4 determines whether the data received in step S14 is an end code or not in step S15, and if it is an end code, printing is terminated.

If it is not an end code, it is determined in step 316 whether or not it is print data. If it is print data, the process advances to step 318, and if it is not print data, the next step S17 is executed.゛In step S17, the command execution unit 7 executes the command according to the human data.

If it is determined in step 316 that the data is print data, the character pattern generation section 5 performs pattern generation processing as described below.

That is, in step 318, it is determined whether the character transformation command is to transform only in the vertical direction (enlargement, reduction), and if it is only in the vertical direction, such as double-width, the process proceeds to step S19; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S320. Move to. Step S19
Then, using the character information 11 and the vertical run length information 12 of the character information section 6, a character obtained by multiplying the run length information by a scaling factor is generated and written into the output buffer 8.

In step S20, it is determined whether the deformed portion of the character is deformed only in the horizontal direction. If the deformation is only in the horizontal direction, such as a double-width character, the process proceeds to step 521, and if not, the process proceeds to step S22. In step S21, characters obtained by multiplying the run length information by a scaling factor are generated using the character information 11 and the horizontal run length information 13 of the character information section 6, and are written into the output buffer 8.

In step S22, it is determined whether the character transformation command is to transform the character in both the vertical and horizontal directions. If not, next step S2
Execute 4. In step S23, a character with a specified magnification ratio is generated using all of the character information, vertical run length information, and horizontal run length information 13 among the information in the character information section 6, and is written to the output buffer 8. . For example, for a quad-width character, the data obtained by doubling the vertical run length information of 12 is developed into a dot pattern for every odd number digit, and on top of that the horizontal run length information of 13 is doubled.
If you superimpose the doubled data into a dot pattern for each odd row, and give the average value of the surrounding dots at the intersection point where an even numbered digit and an even numbered row intersect, you can easily double the data in both the vertical and horizontal directions. You will get a quad-width character with a width.

In step S24, the character information 11 and the vertical run length information 12 of the character information section 6, or the character information 11
A character is generated at the same size using either of the information 13 and the horizontal run length information 13, and is written to the output buffer 8. Step S17 described above. S19°S21. S23
．． After executing any of the processes in S24, step S
In step 25, it is determined whether or not to print. If printing is to be performed, the process proceeds to step 326; if printing is not to be performed, the process returns to step S.
Return to 14. In step 326, the contents of the output buffer 8 are sent to the printing unit 9 for printing, and again in step S1
Return to 4.

The above operations facilitate scaling up and down in the vertical and horizontal directions.

When generating a character pattern in the character pattern generation section 5 shown in FIG. If a character pattern is generated using , it is possible to rotate the character pattern by 90 degrees. Similarly, if a character pattern is generated in the order in which the horizontal run length information 13 is read out and the 12 vertical run length information is expanded, the character pattern's 270°
Rotation is possible. Furthermore, it is of course possible to rotate the character pattern by 180 degrees, as in the case of normal run-length information processing.

In this way, just by changing the readout direction, the character 9
Rotation processing of 0°, 180°, and 270° can be performed.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, run length information in both the vertical and horizontal directions is provided as character pattern information, and a dot pattern is developed based on the run length information in both directions. So, only vertical direction, only horizontal direction,
and can be easily enlarged and reduced in both vertical and horizontal directions.
Moreover, there is an effect that the character pattern can be easily rotated by 90°, 180°, and 270°.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a circuit configuration of a printing device embodying the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a method of storing character information in a printing device embodying the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the executed control procedure of the printing device. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Host computer, 5... Character pattern generation part, 6... Character information part, 9... Printing part, 12... Shrinking direction run length information, 13... Horizontal direction run length information .

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) A pattern memory that includes both first run-length encoded information based on vertical run lengths and second run-length encoded information based on horizontal run lengths as character pattern information. and character pattern generating means for developing a dot pattern using both or one of the first and second run-length encoded information in response to a request for scaling the character pattern. A character output device featuring: