JPH03184881A - printing 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 printing device, and more particularly to a printing device that prints out characters in various forms.

[Prior Art] There are various means for printing characters in various forms, such as printing in different colors and adding an underline to specific characters (or character strings).

In any case, when printing including characters in different printing formats, the host computer or the like outputs a command to the printer to print in that format.

Now, consider a printing device capable of printing in two colors, red and black.

In this case, each time the print color (format) is changed, a print color change command is received, analyzed, and then printed. Then, for a character code received after receiving one print color change command, a process is performed in which the character code is printed in the previously received print color until a new print color change command is received.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, even if the printed contents are different, the analysis of the above-mentioned commands is also necessary when printing in which the red and black characters are printed at the same position on each page. There was a problem that processing such as execution had to be performed, and the processing took time.

The present invention has been made in view of this problem, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a printing device that makes it possible to efficiently perform printing processing when areas with different printing formats are located at a common position on each page. be.

[Means and operations for solving the problem] A printing apparatus of the present invention that solves this problem has the configuration shown below. That is, a printing device that receives print data and prints out page by page is provided with an area specifying means for specifying a desired area and a holding means for storing and holding information specifying the specified area, so that the received print When printing based on data,
The printing form of the group of characters included in the area held by the holding means is changed to a predetermined form and then printed out.

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the embodiment, a printing device capable of printing in two colors, red and black, will be described as an example.

<Description of Apparatus Configuration (FIG. 1)> FIG. 1 shows a block configuration diagram of a printing apparatus in an embodiment.

In the figure, 100 is the printing apparatus of this embodiment, and 101 is a host computer that outputs print data.

The printing device 100 includes a CPtJl that controls the entire device.
There are the following configuration units, including:

2 is a ROM that stores character font patterns and programs related to the operation of the CPU 1 (the flowchart in FIG. 3, which will be described later); and 3 is a RAM used as a work area for CPtJl. 4 is a host computer 101
This is an input buffer that temporarily stores received data (character codes and control codes). Reference numeral 5 denotes a print color change range storage section comprised of a RAM or the like, the details of which will be described later.

6 is a basic color output page buffer that can develop one page of image data to be printed in the basic color (black), and 7 is a basic color output page buffer that can develop one page of image data to be printed in the second color (red). This is a page buffer for possible different color output. 8 prints the image data from the page buffers 6 and 7 to the print unit 9.
This is a printer interface unit that outputs to the printer.

It is assumed that the printing section 9 employs a laser beam method, for example. Briefly, the data in the basic color output page buffer 6 and the different color output page buffer 7 are outputted via the printer interface section 8 according to their respective printing timings. Based on the video signals corresponding to each color, the photosensitive drum is exposed to laser light, and processes such as development, transfer, and fixing are performed using toner of each color to perform two-color printing.

Description of Outline of Processing (FIG. 2)> An outline of the operation of the printing apparatus of the embodiment with the above-described configuration will be described below.

Normally, when printing a calendar or the like using a printing device capable of two-color printing, the numbers printed in the "°Sunday°°" column are printed in red, and the numbers for other days of the week are printed in black.

For example, when trying to print a calendar as shown in FIG.
Immediately before the character code (column) that specifies a character (column) such as ``...'', insert a print color change command (or red print designation command) for the basic color (black), and ) was printed, and in order to return the print color to the basic color again, the print data was sent with a print color change command (or black print designation command) inserted immediately after that character code.In other words, the CPU on the printing device side must parse the print color change command every time the print color is changed.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 2(B), similar processing must be performed when printing the next month's calendar, which inevitably reduces processing efficiency.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the print color designation is not added to the character code, but is designated as an area.

Specifically, point A in FIG. 2(A).

It is possible to receive the coordinate data of each point B, C, and D and a print color change command (in this case, a red print designation command) for the area specified by the four points. Note that since these commands themselves can follow, for example, an escape sequence, an explanation of their command formats will be omitted.

In any case, point A from the host computer.

When receiving the coordinates of points B, C, and D and a print color change command for the area specified by the coordinates,
The data is stored in the print color change range storage section 5.

Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the character pattern corresponding to the character code sent from the host computer 101 falls within the area where the development coordinate position (print position) in the page buffer is stored. If it is determined that the character pattern will fit, the character pattern is expanded to the corresponding position in the page buffer 7 for different color output, and if it is determined that it is not included, it is expanded to the corresponding position in the page buffer 6 for basic color output. .

<Explanation of Processing Procedure (FIG. 3)> The operational processing procedure in the above-described embodiment will be explained according to the flowchart of FIG. 3. In the following explanation, it is assumed that print data is already stored in the input buffer 4.

Now, when this apparatus is powered on, the CPU first initializes the page buffer 6.7, print color change range storage section 5, etc. in step Sl. Next, step S
Proceeding to step 2, the coordinate points of the print color change range are stored in the print color change range storage section 5. Next, in step S3,
A process of reading print data from the input buffer 4 is performed, and if it is determined that there is no more data to be read (print data has ended), the process advances to step S10, and if it is determined that the print data has not ended, the process advances to step S5. Note that the processing from step S5 onwards will be explained here.

Now, in step S5, it is determined whether the development position (print position) of the character pattern for the read data (character code) falls within the area previously stored in the print color change range storage section 5.

If it is determined that the character pattern falls within that range, the character pattern is expanded to the page buffer 7 for different color output (step S6
), and if it is determined that it is outside the range, it is expanded to the basic color output page buffer 6 (step S7).

In any case, when the expansion to the page buffer 6 or 7 is completed, the process proceeds to step S8, and it is determined whether or not the expansion of one page's worth of print data to either page buffer has been completed. Then, the process from step 83 described above is repeated until it is determined that the data development for one page has been completed or that the data development for the received portion has been completed.

If it is determined that data development for one page has been completed, in step S9, the data in the basic color output page buffer 6 is combined in black, and the data developed in the different color output page buffer 7 is combined in red. Print.

Further, if it is determined that the print data is finished while the received print data is being developed in the page buffer 6.7, the process proceeds from step S10 to step S9, and print processing is performed.

The process explained above is performed for each page, but unless a new print color change range coordinate point (or a command to cancel the print color change range) arrives when printing the next page, the print color has already been changed. The printing process is performed with reference to the data stored in the change range storage section 5. Therefore, when printing the calendar of FIG. 2(B) following the calendar of FIG. 2(A),
No color change command is required in the output data for printing.

As explained above, according to this embodiment, the print color is managed in units of areas, and the area is retained until it is newly set, so the host computer There is no need to insert a command to that effect immediately before each code. Therefore, this method is especially effective when printing a document in which the position at which the print color is changed is determined for each page.

In the embodiment, a printing device capable of printing in two colors has been described as an example, but the present invention may be applied to a printing device capable of printing in three or more colors. In this case, the print color change range storage section 5 has the following information:
Not only the coordinate data indicating the range to be changed, but also information indicating in which color each range is to be printed may be stored in association with each other. Furthermore, the printing method is not limited to only color, as it can also be applied to cases in which special characters (underlined characters, shadowed characters, etc.) are printed in a fixed position on each page.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, efficient printing can be performed when areas with different printing forms are located at a common position on each page.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the printing apparatus of the embodiment, and Fig. 2 (
A) and (B) are diagrams for explaining the outline of the operation of the printing process in the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation processing procedure of the printing apparatus of the embodiment. In the figure, 1...CPU, 2...ROM, 3...RA
M. 4... Power buffer, 5... Print color change range storage unit, 6... Page buffer for basic color output, 7... Page buffer for different color output, 8... Printer interface unit, 9...・Printing department, 100...Printing device, 101
...This is host conbuque.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A printing device that receives print data and prints out page by page, comprising: area specifying means for specifying a desired area; and retaining means for storing information specifying the specified area. . A printing apparatus, wherein when printing based on the received print data, the print form of a group of characters included in the area held by the holding means is changed to a predetermined form and then printed out.