JPH0444867A - Data control device for page printer - 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 data control device for a page printer that controls data stored in a printer buffer of a page printer.

〔overview〕

A page printer can perform so-called portrait printing, in which an image is printed on vertically long paper, and so-called landscape printing, in which the image is printed on horizontally long paper. However, when performing landscape printing of characters, it may be necessary to rotate the character font data by 90 degrees. In this case, the character font data must be rotated by 90 degrees and stored in the printer buffer to create print data. Must. According to the present invention, character font data is stored in a dual port memory to perform portrait printing and landscape printing.

This eliminates the need to rotate character font data by 90 degrees when landscape printing of characters is performed.

[Prior Art] FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of a conventional data control device for a page printer. In the CGROM 51, character font data in which the top, bottom, left, and right of the characters are normally arranged is stored in advance. When selectively performing portrait printing on portrait paper 53 and landscape printing on landscape paper 54 using character font data, the character font data is read from CGROM 51 and temporarily stored in printer buffer 52. It is then output to the printer mechanism.

Conventionally, when performing portrait printing, this type of page printer data control device reads character font data from the CGROM 51 as is and stores it in the printer buffer 5.
On the other hand, when landscape printing is performed with a landscape paper 54 set vertically, character font data in a CGROM 51 is rotated by 90 degrees and pasted to be stored in a printer buffer 52.

Therefore, when landscape printing is performed, if the landscape paper 54 is set vertically, the printer buffer 52
The character font data with the arrangement stored in is printed.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional page printer data control device described above, when landscape printing is performed with the horizontally long paper 54 set vertically, the font in the CGROM 51 is
Since the image is rotated by 0 degrees and pasted to be stored in the printer buffer 52, there are problems in that the circuit configuration such as the write address generation circuit becomes complicated and the writing speed becomes slow.

The cause of this is that the font is always rotated 90 degrees before pasting.

When doing landscape printing, CGR
If the OM51 font could be realized without 90 degree rotation, the circuit configuration would be simplified and the writing speed could be improved.

An object of the present invention is to enable landscape printing without having to rotate the font by 90 degrees.

[Means to solve the problem]

The means of the present invention are as follows.

A dual port memory 1 (see the block diagram in FIG. 1, the same applies hereinafter) stores character font data.

The address generating means 2 generates an address for sequentially reading out the character font data of each line stored in the dual port memory 1 from left to right, and an address for sequentially reading out the character font data of each column stored in the dual port memory 1 from top to bottom. Selectively generate addresses for sequential reading.

[For production] The operation of the means of the invention is as follows.

Now, in the case of so-called portrait printing in which an image is printed on portrait paper, the address generation means 2 is the dual port memory 1.
Generates an address for sequentially reading out the character font data of each line stored in from left to right. On the other hand, when performing so-called landscape printing in which horizontally long paper is set vertically and printed, the address generating means 2 generates an address for sequentially reading out character font data of each column stored in the dual port memory 1 from top to bottom. Occur.

Therefore, landscape printing can be performed without rotating the font by 90 degrees.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a data control device for a page printer.

In FIG. 2, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11 outputs a switching signal between so-called portrait printing, in which an image is printed on portrait paper, and so-called landscape printing, in which the image is printed on landscape paper, to a switching circuit 12. The read address of is output to the address bus 25.

Character font data in which each character consists of one byte is stored in advance in the CGROMI 3, and this character font data is read out to the data bus 21 according to the printing position by the address on the address bus 25, and is sent to the printer buffer. 15.

The switching circuit 12 stores the mode commanded by the CPU II, and the address control circuit 14 converts the data sending address 24 from the address generation circuit 16 according to the mode stored in the switching circuit 12, and converts the data sending address 24 from the address bus 2
3 to the printer buffer 5. Note that the address generation circuit 16 generates addresses from the beginning to the end of each line of print data.

When the mode stored in the switching circuit 12 is the portrait printing mode, the address control circuit 14 adds a vertical address to the address from the address generation circuit 16 or switches the address lines. generates a read address for portrait printing,
On the other hand, if the mode stored in the switching circuit 12 is the landscape printing mode, the address generation circuit 16
A read address for landscape printing is generated by adding an adder circuit to the address line from , or by replacing the address line.

The printer buffer 15 is composed of a dual port RAM (random access memory), and as shown in FIG. 3
As shown in Figure (b), character font data 15a for each column
can be sequentially output to the serial data bus 22 from top to bottom.

In addition, when the character font data 15a of each column is outputted sequentially from top to bottom, it is once transferred to the internal serial memory in units of row (column) addresses.

When performing portrait printing, printer buffer 1
The font data stored in address control circuit 1
4 is read out to the data bus 21 by the address from
The signal is converted into a serial signal by a parallel-serial (P→S) converter 17, and output to the printer as print data.

On the other hand, when landscape printing is performed, the font data stored in the printer buffer 15 is transferred to the serial data bus 22 according to the address from the address control circuit 13.
The data is read out and output to the printer via the bit selector 18.

Note that the timing control circuit 19 includes an oscillator (O20) 20
The timing signal is sent to the printer buffer 15, address generation circuit 16, and P4 using the clock from the printer, the horizontal synchronization signal for printing, the vertical synchronization signal, and the video clock for one dot.
It is output to the S converter 17.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained.

First, as shown in the upper part of FIG. 4, when performing portrait printing on portrait paper 21, character font data is read from CGROML3 and stored in printer buffer 15 so that the layout is the same as that of portrait printing. Make me remember.

Next, the address control circuit 14 controls the address generation circuit 1
One read address for portrait printing is generated every eight video clocks by adding the vertical address to the address from 6 or by replacing the address lines.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3(a), character font data 15a of each line stored in the printer buffer 5 is
is sequentially read out to the parallel data bus 21 from left to right one byte at a time by the video clock, and the P-)S converter 1
7 to perform serial conversion, and portrait printing as shown in the upper part of FIG. 4 is performed.

Here, one printer buffer is added every 8 video clocks.
5, the width of the parallel data bus 21 may be increased.

On the other hand, as shown in the lower part of FIG. 4, when landscape printing is performed by setting the landscape paper 22 vertically, character font data is read out from the CC; ROM 13 so that the layout is the same as that of landscape printing. It is stored in the printer buffer 15. Therefore, in this case as well, the character font data 15a stored in the printer buffer 15 is arranged in a non-rotated manner, and the writing address and writing speed are the same as in the case of portrait printing.

Next, the address control circuit 14 controls the address generation circuit 1
By adding an adder circuit to the address lines from 6 or by replacing the address lines, one read address for landscape printing is generated every 8 video clocks.

Therefore, the character font data 15a of each column is sequentially transferred from top to bottom to the internal serial memory, sequentially read byte by byte to the serial data bus 22 by the video clock, and the bit selector 18 selects the data currently being printed. The line bits are selected, and landscape printing as shown in the lower part of FIG. 4 is performed.

Therefore, according to the above embodiment, unlike the conventional example, CG
Since the font of the ROMI 3 is not rotated by 90 degrees and pasted to be stored in the printer buffer 15, the circuit configuration is simplified and the writing speed can be improved.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to this invention, when performing landscape printing,
Since the character font data in the CGROM is not rotated by 90 degrees, the circuit configuration is simplified and the writing speed can be improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a data control device for a page printer, and Figs. 3 (a) and (b) show the read operation of the printer buffer in Fig. 2. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the page printer data control device shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the conventional page printer data control device. 1...Dual port memory, 2...Address generation means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A dual port memory that stores character font data, an address for sequentially reading out character font data of each row stored in the dual port memory from left to right, and each column stored in the dual port memory. and address generating means for selectively generating addresses for sequentially reading out character font data from top to bottom.