JPH0349965A - Halftone printing system of printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a pattern to which a halftone excluding area wherein half tone printing is not performed is provided by a specific width outside a printing part to be printed by a method wherein a prototype dot matrix pattern is used, and it and a halftone pattern are logically operated. CONSTITUTION:A halftone pattern is taken as a pattern B. A pattern A is moved laterally and vertically and vertically by each two dots, and a pattern which is thickened by each two dots by OR operation of each pattern is taken as a pattern C. A pattern obtained by inverting the whole printing area containing a thick character 'N' obtained by the pattern C is taken as a pattern C'. A logical product D=B.C is executed based on the pattern C and the pattern B, and a pattern to be obtained by logical add E=A+D from the pattern A is lastly taken as a pattern E. Thus, a master control part 1 outputs the pattern E wherein a half tone excluding area is provided by a specific width outside this printing part to a data bus 7 and besides, outputs a printing command to printing control part 5 via an address bus 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a halftone printing method for a printer, and particularly to extended control of a printer.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, when this type of printer performs halftone printing, halftones are printed over the entire non-printing area excluding the printing area made up of character patterns from the printing area.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the conventional printer's shading printing method described above, the shading pattern is printed on the entire non-printing group, so if the shading pattern and the character pattern are adjacent to each other, it is difficult for the user to check the character pattern. The disadvantage is that it becomes difficult.

[Means to solve the problem]

In the shading printing method of the printer of the present invention, which has a dot matrix type font structure and performs shading printing under the control of a microprogram, the ROM stores a dot matrix character pattern; The program memory section of the printer stores a microprogram capable of setting a non-shading area of a constant width outside the printing section constituted by the character pattern, and executes the microprogram. is characterized in that the calculation result is temporarily stored during execution of the halftone printing program.

〔Example〕

Next, the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printer for realizing the shading printing method of the printer of the present invention. The embodiment shown in FIG. 1 includes a master control section 1 and a program memory section (program RO
M) 2, a buffer memory section (RAM) 3, a dot matrix pattern memory section (print ROM) 4, and a print control section 5, which are connected via an address bus 6 and a data bus 7. The structure is as follows. The mask control unit 1 has a function of controlling the entire printer device and a function of setting a shading mode, and is a central processing unit (
CPU). and address bus 6
and controls each component via the data bus 7. The program memory unit 2 contains a program for controlling the entire printer device and a shading mode setting program.
It has a function of outputting control data to the data bus 7 based on a command output from the mask control unit 1 via the address bus 6. The buffer memory section 3 has a function of temporarily storing print patterns such as calculation results while the halftone mode setting program is being executed. Further, the dot matrix pattern memory section 4 for printing stores dot matrix print data (normal printing) corresponding to a specified character, and this print data is stored under the control of the mask control section 1. It has a function of outputting to the data bus 7. The print control section 5 has the function of inputting print data via the data bus 7, sending the data to a printing mechanism section (not shown), and performing dot printing.

Next, a method of program control by the mask control section 1 will be described in the case of providing a shade exclusion area of a constant width on the outside of the print area based on normal print data.

Figure 2 (a), Figure 2 (b), Figure 2 (C), Figure 2 (d),
ε (e) and (f) are explanatory views showing the operating principle of FIG. 1, respectively. Now, when data for printing the characters rNJ is input from the host device, the mask control section 1 reads out a control program from the program memory section 2 and executes it. The address for specifying the dot pattern [NJ] based on the print command is output to the dot matrix pattern memory section 4 via the address bus 6, and a read command is output to cause the data bus 7 to output this dot pattern. . Next, the mask control section 1 incorporates this dot pattern based on the control program, and this dot pattern is shown in FIG. 2(a). This pattern is designated as pattern A.

Subsequently, when data for setting the halftone mode for the printing section is input from the host device, the mask control section 1 reads each control program from the program memory section 2 and executes it. Figure 2 shows the net pattern set at this time (
Shown in b). This pattern is called pattern B. Pattern A shown in Fig. 2(a) is moved two dots left and right, up and down, and each pattern is logically summed. Pattern A is thickened by two dots left and right, and up and down, and pattern C is created. This is shown in Figure 2 (C). Regarding the printing area including the bold letters rNJ obtained by pattern C, a pattern in which the entire area is inverted is shown in FIG. 2(d),
Let's call this pattern a pattern. The logical product D=B - C is executed based on the pattern B and the pattern B, and the resulting pattern is shown in FIG. 2(e). This pattern is pattern 11. Finally, the pattern obtained from the logical sum E=A+D from patterns D and A is called pattern E, and is shown in FIG. A pattern E with a shaded exclusion area that is not shaded is output to the data bus 7, and a print command is output to the print control unit 5 via the address bus 6.The print control unit 5 thereby internally prints the execution result pattern E. and print it out.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since the present invention is configured and functions as described above,
According to this, the original dot matrix pattern A (see Fig. 2 (a)) is used, and the dot matrix pattern B (see Fig. 2 (a)) is used.
By performing logical operations on (see Fig. 2 (b)), it is possible to print pattern E (see Fig. 2 (Cf')) in which a shading exclusion area with a constant width is provided on the outside of the printing area. There is.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an ivy diagram for realizing an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 2 (a), (b), (c), (
d) , (e and () are explanatory diagrams showing the operating principle of FIG. 1, respectively. 1... Master control section, 2... Program memory section, 3... ...Buffer memory section, 4...
...Dot matrix pattern memory section for printing, 5...Print control section, 6...Address bus, 7...Data bus.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In the shading printing method of a printer that has a dot matrix font structure and performs shading printing under the control of a microprogram, the ROM stores a dot matrix character pattern, and the program memory section of the printer stores the character pattern in accordance with the character pattern. A microprogram that can set a non-shading area with a constant width outside the configured printing area is stored, and the microprogram is executed, and the buffer memory section is temporarily stored while the shading printing program is being executed. A shading printing method for a printer that is characterized in that calculation results are stored automatically.