JPH07302191A - Microprocessor and data conversion method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To provide a microprocessor capable of performing shift conversion processing between row and column direction data such as font data and image data at high speed. [Composition] A microprocessor used in a printer for processing and printing font data or image data representing characters and figures, including a bus interface, an instruction decoder, a control unit, an arithmetic unit, a register and a program counter. It is configured. As this register, general-purpose registers 0 to 7 (51) that can be freely used are provided, and a carry register 52 that stores the information of the overflow bit simultaneously generated from the most significant bit of the general-purpose register 51 is built-in. The information in the general-purpose register 51 is simultaneously subjected to shift conversion processing once by a plurality of general-purpose register simultaneous left shift instructions, and the overflow register information generated at this time is simultaneously stored in the carry register 52.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a microprocessor, and more particularly to a printer, a display, etc. which expresses a target character or figure based on "1" or "0" information in a memory, font data, image data, etc. The present invention relates to a microprocessor that is capable of speeding up shift conversion processing between row and column array data and a technique effectively applied to the data conversion method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, printer font data,
For example, the dot font data of the character "R" uses memory data having a data area of 8-bit data length from address 100 to address 107 as shown in FIG. , "0", the target "R" font pattern is composed of 8 × 8 bits as shown in FIG. 4 (b).

By the way, in a printer, the font of the memory data may be rotated 90 ° and printed in a horizontal direction. In that case, it is necessary to convert the font data by 90 °. For example, conversion by a microprocessor is performed by eight general-purpose registers 0 to 8 having the same 8-bit length as the memory.
The procedure is as shown in FIG. 5 using the No. 7, and the conversion procedure will be described below in order.

(1). First, in the step of
Data at addresses 0 to 107 are loaded into general purpose registers 0 to 7 in the microprocessor.

In step (2)., The left shift instruction shifts the data in the general-purpose register 0 to the left by 1 bit, for example. As a result, the overflow bit (carry) generated from the most significant bit of the general register 0 is stored in the carry flag (in the figure, the shift operation of the fifth stage of the general register 7 is shown).

(3) In the step (3), the contents of the general-purpose register 8 are shifted to the right by 1 bit by the instruction. At that time, the contents of the carry flag are simultaneously stored in the most significant bit of the general register 8.

(4). Similarly, for general-purpose registers 1 to 7, the steps of are repeated.

(5) Then, in step, the byte data of the general-purpose register 8 is stored in the memory by an instruction.
As a result, the most significant bit data of each of the general-purpose registers 0 to 7 is stored in the address 100 of the memory.

(6) Similarly, the steps from the second and subsequent bits to the least significant bit are repeated to load the font data loaded in the general-purpose registers 0 to 7, that is, the most significant bit to the least significant bit. Continue until all data is stored in memory via the carry flag.

By performing the above series of processing, the dot font data of the character of "R" in the correct direction according to the information of "1" and "0" on the memory is rotated by 90 ° and rotated.
A horizontal conversion can be realized.

[0011]

However, in the above-mentioned technique, like the example of 90 ° conversion of font data using a microprocessor, the steps (1) to (3), in particular, the same step is repeated. As a result, high speed conversion processing by the microprocessor is hindered.

Therefore, the present inventor considers the factors that must be iteratively processed, and solves the following two problems to realize a high speed shift conversion process such as 90 ° rotation of font data. I found out that.

That is, first, even if a plurality of general-purpose registers are built-in, the conventional shift instruction can execute the instruction only to a single general-purpose register at the same time.
In addition, it is necessary to solve the problem that the carry flag for storing the carry from the general-purpose register is built in for only one bit.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above two problems, and to provide a simultaneous shift operation function for a plurality of general-purpose registers by a single instruction and a carry register for overflow bits in this simultaneous shift operation. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a microprocessor and a data conversion method thereof that can perform shift conversion processing between row and column array data such as font data and image data at high speed.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[0016]

Among the inventions disclosed in the present application, a brief description will be given to the outline of typical ones.
It is as follows.

That is, the microprocessor of the present invention is a microprocessor which incorporates at least a plurality of general-purpose registers, an arithmetic unit and a control unit, decodes an instruction, and executes an arithmetic operation and a control operation. It has a single instruction capable of simultaneously shifting register information.

In this case, a carry register for simultaneously storing information of overflow bits simultaneously generated from the most significant bit or the least significant bit of the plurality of general purpose registers is incorporated.

In particular, the microprocessor may be used in a microcomputer for processing font data or image data representing characters or figures, or for a printer or display for processing or printing font data or image data. It is the one.

Further, according to the data conversion method of the microprocessor of the present invention, after the memory data is loaded into the plurality of general-purpose registers, the data of the plurality of general-purpose registers are simultaneously shifted by a single instruction, and the overflow caused as a result is caused. Bit data is simultaneously stored in a carry register, and then the carry register data is stored in a memory and converted into a row array or a column array.

[0021]

According to the above-described microprocessor and data conversion method thereof, a carry register having a single instruction capable of simultaneously shifting the information of a plurality of general-purpose registers and further storing information of overflow bits is built-in. As a result, the information of a plurality of general-purpose registers can be simultaneously shifted through the carry register with this single instruction.

That is, a function of simultaneously shifting a plurality of general-purpose registers incorporated in the microprocessor by a single instruction is realized, and further, a function of simultaneously storing the carry generated from each general-purpose register by the shift operation is provided. It is achieved by realizing.

Thus, the processing speed can be increased by the simultaneous shift operation of a plurality of general-purpose registers by a single instruction, and the shift instruction of the general-purpose registers need not be repeated, so that the load on the software can be reduced. It is possible to obtain a microprocessor capable of

In particular, by using this microprocessor in a microcomputer, font data or image data can be mutually converted into a row arrangement or a column arrangement by a shift operation by a single instruction in a short time.

Alternatively, when used for a printer or a display, the font data or the image data is rotated 90 ° in a short time by a shift operation by a single command, and is printed or displayed at a high speed in the horizontal or vertical direction. You can

[0026]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a microprocessor according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a general-purpose register in the microprocessor of this embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a font by the microprocessor of this embodiment. 90 of the data
It is explanatory drawing which shows the (degree) conversion processing procedure.

First, the configuration of the microprocessor of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

The microprocessor of this embodiment is used in a printer for processing and printing font data representing, for example, characters and figures, and has a bus interface 1 for input / output with the outside and an instruction decoder for decoding instructions. 2, a control unit 3 that performs overall control, an arithmetic unit (ALU: Arithmetic Logic Unit) 4 that performs arithmetic operations, a register 5 that temporarily stores data, a program counter 6 that counts address values, and the like. It is configured and integrated in, for example, one LSI.

In the bus interface 1, instructions are fetched and data is fetched / written out from / to the external memory 7. The functions of the fetched instructions are decoded by the instruction decoder 2 and the control section 3 receives them. Sent.

In the control section 3, appropriate timing is created based on the decoded result, necessary signals are sent to each section of the microprocessor, and a part of this signal is sent to the calculation section 4 for calculation. The data such as the calculation result is temporarily stored in the register 5.

In this series of operations, an instruction is fetched from the address indicated by the counter in the external memory 7, and the program is executed after decoding and execution in the microprocessor.
The value of the counter 6 is updated, and the instruction is fetched again to be repeatedly executed.

Further, in the present embodiment, there is provided a general-purpose register which can be freely used as the register 5. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, from the general-purpose registers 0 to 7 (51) and the most significant bit of the general-purpose register 51, Carry register 5 that simultaneously stores the information of overflow bits that occurred at the same time
And 2 are built into the microprocessor.

Then, using the general-purpose register 51 and the carry register 52, the information of the general-purpose register 51 is simultaneously subjected to shift conversion processing once by a single instruction, for example, a plurality of general-purpose register simultaneous left shift instructions by a combination of shift instructions. Information of the overflow bit generated at any time is simultaneously stored in the carry register 52.

Next, with respect to the operation of this embodiment, the processing procedure of the shift conversion processing by the microprocessor will be described with reference to FIG.

(1). First, in the step of 1,
The data at addresses 00 to 107 are loaded into general purpose registers 0 to 7 (51) in the microprocessor.

(2) Further, in the step of (1), a general-purpose register simultaneous left shift instruction is executed, and general-purpose registers 0 to 7
The data of (51) is simultaneously shifted to the left by 1 bit.
As a result, the overflow bit (carry) generated from the most significant bit of the general-purpose registers 0 to 7 (51) is stored in the carry register 52 in one processing (in the figure, the shift operation of the fifth stage bit). Is shown).

In step (3)., The byte data in the carry register 52 is stored in the memory 7 by an instruction. As a result, the data of the most significant bit of each of the general-purpose registers 0 to 7 (51) is stored in the address 100 of the memory 7 (in the figure, the bit 104 of the fifth stage is 104).
Shows the storage in the address).

(4) Similarly, the steps from the second and subsequent bits to the least significant bit are repeated to load the font data loaded in the general-purpose registers 0 to 7 (51), that is, the most significant bit to the least significant bit. It continues until all the data up to the bit is stored in the memory 7 via the carry register 52.

By performing the above series of processing, the memory 7
Shift the dot font data of the character "R" in the correct direction based on the information of "1" and "0" above by 90 degrees and realize the conversion to the character in the horizontal direction on the memory 7 at high speed after the conversion is completed. Can be made.

Therefore, according to the microprocessor of this embodiment, the carry register 52 for storing the information of the overflow bit from the general register 51 is built in, and a plurality of general register simultaneous left shift instructions are executed via the carry register 52. Since the information in the general-purpose register 51 can be simultaneously shifted by the shift operation, it is not necessary to repeat the conventional shift instruction of the general-purpose register 51. Therefore, the shift operation can be processed at high speed. In this case, the load on the software can be reduced.

In particular, when the microprocessor is used in the printer as in this embodiment, the font data is rotated by 90 ° in a short time by the simultaneous left shift command of a plurality of general-purpose registers, and then rotated from the horizontal direction to the vertical direction or the vertical direction. Printing can be performed at high speed by converting from the horizontal direction to the horizontal direction.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Needless to say.

For example, in the microprocessor of this embodiment, a general register 51, a carry register 52,
Although the memory 7 has been described as having a data length of 8 bits, the present invention is not limited to the data length of 8 bits as in the above embodiment, and other bit lengths such as 16 bits and 32 bits are possible. Is also widely applicable.

In the present embodiment, 8 × 8 bit font data has been described as an example, but if it is data representing a target character or figure by “1” or “0” such as image data, for example. Needless to say, it is applicable to other data.

Furthermore, the overflow bit of the general-purpose register 51 is not limited to the most significant bit, but it can be generated from the least significant bit. In this case as well, the overflow bit generated simultaneously from the least significant bit. Bit information is simultaneously stored in the carry register.

In the above description, the case where the invention mainly made by the present inventor is applied to a microprocessor used in a printer which is a field of application of the invention has been described. However, the invention is not limited to this. The present invention is also widely applicable to the case of using in other devices such as a microcomputer that processes font data or image data to be expressed, and a display that processes and displays font data or image data.

For example, when the microprocessor is used in a microcomputer, RAM, ROM memory and input / output device are integrated in one LSI in addition to the microprocessor, and row scan data is converted into column scan data. As in the case, the font data or the image data can be mutually converted into a row array or a column array in a short time by a shift operation by a single instruction.

[0049]

The effects obtained by the typical ones of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be briefly described as follows.
It is as follows.

(1). Having a single instruction capable of simultaneously shifting the information of a plurality of general-purpose registers, and when the information of a plurality of general-purpose registers is simultaneously shifted by this single instruction, By incorporating a carry register that simultaneously stores the information of overflow bits generated simultaneously from the most significant bit or the least significant bit, the information of multiple general-purpose registers can be simultaneously shifted through the carry register with this single instruction. Therefore, the processing speed can be increased.

(2) According to the above (1), since a plurality of general-purpose registers and carries are targeted by a single instruction, the repetitive processing by the shift instruction of the general-purpose register can be reduced, and the load on the software is reduced. be able to.

(3) In the above (1), in particular, by using the microprocessor for the microcomputer, the font data or the image data can be converted into the row array or the column array in a short time by the shift operation by a single instruction. It will be possible.

(4) In the above (1), since the microprocessor can be used for the printer or the display, the font data or the image data can be rotated 90 ° in a short time by the shift operation by a single command. It is possible to speed up printing or display in the horizontal direction or the vertical direction.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a microprocessor that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a general-purpose register in the microprocessor of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a 90 ° conversion processing procedure of font data by the microprocessor of the present embodiment.

4A and 4B are explanatory views showing memory data of a font generally used in a microprocessor which is an example of a conventional technique and a font pattern thereof.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a 90 ° conversion processing procedure of font data by a microprocessor which is an example of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Bus Interface 2 Instruction Decoder 3 Control Unit 4 Operation Unit 5 Register 6 Program Counter 7 Memory 51 General-purpose Register 52 Carry Register

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Uraichi 5-22-1 Kamimizuhoncho, Kodaira-shi, Tokyo Inside Hitachi Microcomputer System Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kikuo Otsuka 5-chome, Mizumizuhoncho, Kodaira-shi, Tokyo No. 22-1 Hitachi Ltd. Microcomputer system

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A microprocessor that includes at least a plurality of general-purpose registers, an arithmetic unit and a control unit, decodes an instruction to execute an arithmetic operation and a control operation, and simultaneously shifts information of the plurality of general-purpose registers. A microprocessor having an operable single instruction, wherein the information of the plurality of general-purpose registers is simultaneously shifted by the single instruction. 2. The microprocessor according to claim 1, further comprising a carry register for simultaneously storing information of overflow bits simultaneously generated from the most significant bit or the least significant bit of the plurality of general-purpose registers. 3. The microprocessor is used in a microcomputer for processing font data or image data representing characters or graphics, and the font data or image data is arranged in a row array or a column array by a shift operation by the single instruction. 3. The microprocessor according to claim 1, wherein the microprocessors convert each other. 4. The microprocessor is used in a printer or display that processes and prints or displays font data or image data representing characters or graphics, and shifts the font data or image data by the single command. 3. The microprocessor according to claim 1, wherein the microprocessor is rotated by 90 DEG for printing or displaying in the horizontal or vertical direction. 5. The data conversion method for a microprocessor according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, wherein after loading memory data into a plurality of general-purpose registers, the data of the plurality of general-purpose registers is processed by a single instruction. Data of a microprocessor characterized by shifting at the same time and simultaneously storing the data of overflow bits generated as a result in a carry register, and then storing the data of the carry register in a memory and converting it into a row array or a column array. How to convert.