JPH07314796A - Printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To change printing form in accordance with contents of a data to be printed, by specifying information to be arranged in an area to be designated by print area designating information from a data designated by space instruction and character string information, and determining the specified information by determination condition designating information. CONSTITUTION:A character string and space designating information in a data are discriminated. As a space in which the space designating information is inserted, for example, a character string of a sales list is information to be printed from a 12th column of a first line, a data is prepared by substituting a part of data at (1) for control information in which 11 spaces are to be provided. Based on the prepared data, it is determined whether or not the character string is present in an area of area designating information 21 of a printing condition file. When the character string is present, it is determined whether or not it satisfies a determining condition of determination condition designating information 22. The character string which satisfies the determining condition is printed in a printing form of printing form designating information 23. When there is no determination condition designating information 22, enhancing printing is performed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, and more particularly, to a printing apparatus which changes its printing form according to the content of received data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the recent progress in semiconductor technology, printing apparatuses capable of printing character information using various printing forms have appeared. For example, only a specific character string can be printed.
A device capable of printing with a font different from the others and a device capable of printing with a different color are known. The change (decoration) of the print form with respect to such a specific character string is performed by inserting control information instructing the change of the print form into the data supplied to the printing apparatus.

Control information is often inserted interactively by a document creation device, but when it is desired to change the printing form of a specific character string in data (text file) created without inserting control information. It was necessary to edit the data again.

Techniques for eliminating the need for such re-editing include techniques disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 62-221561 and 2-25348. These techniques are provided with a means for designating an area to be colored, and based on the information set by the means, printing (coloring) a specific portion in the data not including the information designating the color ( Or is displayed).

[0005]

The conventional technique described above is a technique for designating a color for information displayed or printed in a specific area, and therefore has the following problems.

That is, the change of the print form such as the change of the color is carried out in order to call the reader's attention to the printed matter, and the change of the color of the specific region may be certainly done. However, for example, when printing a table showing numerical information, it may be desired to change the printing color according to the value of the numerical information. In the above-described conventional technique, in such a case, it is necessary to specify an area for changing the print color for each page in accordance with the content of the data to be printed. It took the same amount of work.

In order to solve such a problem, the applicant of the present invention has proposed, in Japanese Patent Application No. 4-23309, a printing apparatus for changing the printing form according to the content of character information to be printed. ing. In this printing device, it is possible to read information on a position designated in advance from the data to be printed, and change the printing form according to the contents.
Therefore, when printing tabular data, for example, it is possible to print negative values in red.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus of higher functionality which can change the printing form according to the content of data to be printed.

[0009]

The invention according to claim 1 is
(B) Print area designation information for designating a print area, judgment condition designation information for designating a judgment condition to be used for information printed in the print area, and a printing form used for information satisfying the judgment condition Storage means for storing print form designation information for designating, and (b) indicating the character string information contained therein based on the received data and an interval provided between the character string information at the time of printing Identification means for identifying the interval instruction information, and (c) identification means for identifying the information to be arranged in the print area designated by the print area designation information stored in the storage means using the identification result of the identification means. And (d) determining means for determining whether or not the information specified by this specifying means satisfies the judgment condition specified by the judgment condition specifying information, and (e) the information is judged by this judging means. Article If it is determined that the information is satisfied, the information is printed in the printing form designated by the printing form designation information, and in other cases, the information is printed in a predetermined printing form. To have.

That is, according to the first aspect of the invention, the specifying means specifies the information to be arranged in the area specified by the print area specifying information, from the data in which the print content is specified by the interval specifying information and the character string information. The determination means specifies the determination information specifying information such as whether or not the information can be regarded as numerical information and whether or not there is information to be arranged. The judgment is made. When the determination unit determines that the determination condition is satisfied, the printing unit prints the information in the print form designated by the print form designation information.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, (a) print area designation information for designating a print area, determination condition designation information for designating a determination condition to be used for information printed in the print area, and the determination thereof. A storage unit that stores print content designation information that designates the print content to be printed instead of the information that satisfies the condition, and (b) the character string information included therein based on the received data and the print When the identification means for identifying the interval instruction information for instructing the interval provided between the character string information,
(C) Identification means for identifying the information to be arranged in the print area designated by the print area designation information stored in the storage means using the identification result of the identification means;
A determining means for determining whether or not the information specified by the specifying means satisfies the judgment condition specified by the judgment condition specifying information; and (e) information for satisfying the judgment condition by this judging means. If it is determined that
A printing unit for printing the print content designated by the print content designation information instead of the information is provided.

That is, according to the second aspect of the present invention, the specifying means specifies the information arranged in the area specified by the print area specifying information, from the data in which the print content is specified by the interval specifying information and the character string information. The determination means designates the specified information with the determination condition designation information such as whether or not the information can be regarded as numerical information and whether or not there is information to be arranged. The determined judgment is performed. When the determination unit determines that the determination condition is satisfied, the printing unit executes printing of the print content designated by the print content designation information, for example, a different character string, instead of the information.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, (a) print area designation information for designating a print area, determination condition designation information for designating a determination condition used for information printed in the print area, and the determination thereof. Storage means for storing print form designation information for designating a print form to be used for information that satisfies the condition, and (b) print data in which received data is treated as a print condition file or print contents are instructed. (C) registration means for registering the received data in the storage means as a print condition file when (c) it is instructed to handle as a print condition file; ) When it is instructed to handle as print data by the designating means, between the character string information contained in the received data and the character string information at the time of printing, Identification means for identifying the interval instruction information for instructing the interval to be provided, and (e) a print area specified by the print area specification information set in the print condition file in the storage means using the identification result of the identification means. Specifying means for specifying information to be arranged in the inside, and (f) judging means for judging whether or not the information specified by this specifying means satisfies the judgment condition specified by the judgment condition specifying information. (G) If the determination means determines that the information satisfies the determination condition, the information is printed in the print form designated by the print form designation information, and in other cases, the information is printed. And a printing unit that prints in a predetermined printing form.

That is, according to the third aspect of the invention, the printing device is provided with a designation means for designating whether the received data should be treated as the print condition file or the print data whose print content is instructed. Allows registration of print condition files. The designation means may be, for example, a button switch provided on the printing device and designated by pressing the button switch. Further, when the special control information is received, the designation according to the content of the code is performed. It may be something like.

[0015]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to examples.

FIG. 1 shows an outline of the configuration of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The printing device 11 is a so-called laser beam printer, and has a central processing unit (CPU) 1
2, a read only memory (ROM) 13, a random access memory (RAM) 14, an operation panel 15, a printing unit 16, a magnetic disk device 17, and an interface 18.

The CPU 12 is a circuit for performing overall control of the printing apparatus, and a program for instructing its operating procedure is stored in the ROM 13. RAM14 is C
A memory used by the PU 12 as a work area. The operation panel 15 is an input device for inputting a specific instruction to the CPU 12, and is composed of a liquid crystal display and several kinds of buttons.

The printing unit 16 is a unit for performing printing by forming an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor with a laser beam. In the printing apparatus of the embodiment, a printing unit capable of two-color printing is used. I am using. A fixed magnetic disk device is provided as the magnetic disk device 17, and is used for storing a print condition file referred to during printing processing, a font data set used by the printing unit 16, and the like.

The interface 18 is a circuit that controls the transfer timing at the time of data transfer with an external device such as a computer. The printing device 11 of the embodiment prints a print result according to the content of the data received through the interface 18. Is output.

FIG. 2 schematically shows an example of printable data in the printing apparatus of the embodiment. □ in the figure schematically shows 2-byte information, and the characters printed by the 2-byte information are shown in □. In addition, the 2-byte information in which the symbol "*" is displayed,
The control information that specifies the interval provided when printing is entered, and the contents of the information that is actually set in each "*" part is
It depends on the spacing (number of spaces) provided in that portion. Actually, at the end of each line, information indicating that the data on the line has ended and information indicating that a line feed is to be executed are added, but the display of these information is omitted.

For example, when the data shown in FIG. 2 is for obtaining the print result shown in FIG. 3, the character string "sales list" is printed from the 12th column of the first line. Since it is information, the "*" part of the data of
Information indicating that 11 spaces are provided will be set. Also, in the data marked with, the first "*" contains the interval instruction information for instructing to provide 10 spaces, and the second "*" contains 9 spaces. Interval instruction information for instructing to provide is set. Information indicating the number of spaces required to be provided up to the next character string is also set in the other interval instruction information.

This printing device is a device for outputting a printing result in which the printing form is changed according to the contents based on the data obtained by replacing the space portion with the control information.
At the time of the print processing, the content of the print condition file is referred to.

FIG. 4 shows an outline of the print condition file. The print condition file is a file in which one or more sets of area designating information 21, determination condition designating information 22, and print form designating information 23 are set, and the area designating information 21 includes print position units (row and column units). The information that specifies the area is set. The judgment condition specification information 22 is set with a judgment condition to be used for a character string printed in the area specified by the area specification information 21, and a print mode to be used for the character string satisfying the judgment condition. (Or print content) is set in the print form designation information 23.

As shown in the figure, the judgment condition instruction information is a set operator-like reserved word such as "NOT", "and", "or", and a reservation used when judging whether or not it is numerical information. It is configured to use information that combines words and reserved words that are used to determine the magnitude relationship, and the print form specification information specifies the print form such as highlighted print and underlined print, and a certain area. You can specify that you want to print specific contents.

In the printing apparatus of the embodiment, such a printing condition file is created by using an external device, and the printing condition file is registered through the interface. Whether the data input into the printing device is a printing condition file or data to be printed is determined by whether or not special control information (registration instruction information) exists at the beginning of the data, or This is performed depending on whether or not the print condition file registration mode is set by the operation panel.

FIG. 5 shows an outline of a document file to be created when the creation condition file shown in FIG. 4 is registered in the printing apparatus. In this way, the "print condition name" is set at the beginning of the document file, and thereafter, the required number of information groups starting with "start line" and ending with "print form" are set.

When the operation mode is set to the print condition file registration mode, or when the registration instruction information is present at the beginning of the received data, the CPU displays the "print condition" at the beginning of each data line. It is determined whether or not there is a character string such as "name" or "starting line", and processing is performed according to the content of the character string existing therein. For example,
If the character string "print condition name" exists, the character string beginning with ":" is determined as the file name for identifying the print condition file, and the print condition file "list print condition" Is created.

If the character string "start line" exists, the data after ":" in that line is used to create the area designation information in the print condition file, and the other data lines are used. The same process is performed for. The data line for specifying the "judgment condition" is not indispensable. If there is no line for which the "judgment condition" is specified, the judgment condition specification information will not be set and will be specified by the area specification information. The print form specified by the print form specification information is printed on all the character strings arranged in the area.

In the printing apparatus of the embodiment, since the code that cannot be set by keyboard input is used as the registration instruction information, normal printing data will not be erroneously determined as the printing condition file. In addition, since the operation mode can be changed by the operation panel, the registration instruction information cannot be output.For example, an external device such as a word processor can create and register the print condition file. it can.

Similarly to the registration, the selection of the print condition file to be used for printing, prior to the input of the data to be printed, includes the information including the predetermined control information for instructing the selection of the print condition file and the print condition file name. It is performed by inputting or specifying the print condition file name displayed on the liquid crystal display in the operation panel by operating the button.

FIG. 6 shows a flow of the printing operation using the printing condition file. In the following description, it is assumed that the print condition file used for printing is specified, and that the data to be printed is input via the interface and stored in the RAM. .

The CPU selects the first (or the next) one line of data from the print data temporarily stored in the RAM as the processing target (step S101), and the data means the end of the data. After confirming that this is not the case (step S102; N), the character string information and the interval designating information included in the data are discriminated, and the space where the interval designating information is inserted is the number of spaces designated by the interval designating information By replacing with, the data that does not include the interval designation information is created (step S103).

Next, based on the created data, it is judged whether or not there is a character string to be printed in the designated area. If there is a character string in the area, Then, it is determined whether or not the character string satisfies the specified determination condition (step S104). Then, if there is a character string that satisfies the determination condition (step S105; Y), for example, control information is inserted before and after the character string so that the character string is printed in the designated print mode ( Then, the process returns to step S101 to perform the process for the next row.

The control information inserted in front of the character string in step S106 is information for instructing to change the print mode of the subsequent character string to the specified print mode. The control information inserted later is information for instructing to return the print form of the subsequent character string to the standard print form. Further, as described above, the print form instruction information also includes information for instructing to change the print content. When such information is designated, the CPU specifies the print content in which the corresponding character string portion is designated. Is replaced with information that will be printed.

After the processing of the series of data is completed in this way (step S102; N), the CPU supplies the processed data to the printing section to cause the printing section to execute printing (step S107). ).

For example, when the printing of the data shown in FIG. 2 is executed using the printing condition file shown in FIG. 4, the character string "sales list" instructed to be printed by the data on the first line The print position is from the 12th column to the 17th column of the first line, and is included in the area specified by the print condition file. Therefore, the “sales list” is judged according to the contents of the judgment condition designation information. As shown in FIG. 4, since the judgment condition designation information is not set for this area, the CPU judges that the judgment condition is satisfied, and the character string “sales list” is displayed before the character string. , Control information for instructing printing in the "highlight printing" mode is inserted, and control information for canceling the "highlight printing" mode is inserted after that.

The character string "-700" for which printing is instructed by the data on the fourth line in FIG. 2 is placed in the area (4th row, 17th column to the last row, 27th column) designated by the area designation information. Since it is included, it is judged whether or not the judgment condition “numerical value and 500 or less” is satisfied. Since "-700" is the information that satisfies the determination condition, "printing in the second color" is performed.

After all, as shown schematically in FIG.
All the character strings printed in 5 _A (1 line 1 column to 2 line 27 columns) are "emphasized", and the area 25 _B (4
"-70 that satisfies" numerical value and 500 or less "among the character strings printed in line 17 column to last line 27 column)
0 "," -13,000 "," 500 "," -11,7 "
The four character strings "00" will be "printed in the second color". In the figure, the character strings to be printed in different printing modes are displayed using a different font. There is.

As described above, since the printing apparatus of the embodiment can change the printing form according to the content of the character string information in the data to be printed, the printing apparatus is used to check the content of the data. You can also

For example, printing in the form shown in FIG.
Data to be printed using the printing condition file shown in FIG.
Consider the case of printing. As shown in FIG.
Area 26 in the file_A("4th line, 7th column ~ last line
The content printed in 10 columns ") is suitable as a postal code.
If the information is not correct, print it in "second color" and leave blank
If it is, you are instructed to perform “face painting”
There is. In addition, the area 26 _BFor, the part is blank
If it is, it is possible to print underlined in the second color.
Indicated, area 26_CIf is blank
Are instructed to paint. By the way, mail
Actually, it is a numerical value within 3 digits to determine whether it is a number
And delimiters such as hyphens and numbers within 2 digits
It is done by letting you judge whether or not it is.

The print form instruction information "painting with the second color" shown in FIG. 8 is one type of information for instructing execution of the above-described data replacement, and the CPU has given this instruction. In this case, the content of the data is rewritten so that the corresponding portion is printed in the second color. This instruction information is
Even if the space is instructed to be printed in the second color, that portion is not printed in the second color, so that it is provided.

As other instruction information for replacing data, information for instructing replacement with a character string is prepared. When this instruction information is used, for example, "fill in blank areas" You can also print a character string such as "Please."

FIG. 10 schematically shows a printing result when the above-mentioned printing is executed. As described above, according to the printing apparatus of the embodiment, for example, a portion in which an erroneous input is made, such as “339-AB” in the area 26 _A , is changed to the second color (the font is changed in the figure). It is possible to print, fill the non-filled area with a predetermined color, add an underline, or the like to print those portions in a format that can be easily visually recognized. Therefore, if this printing apparatus is used, it is possible to easily check the input contents of tabular data.

Although the printing apparatus of the embodiment is configured to receive the printing condition file from the external device, the printing condition file may be input from the operation panel, and the printing apparatus may be provided with a keyboard or a keyboard. CRT (Cathod-Ra
y Tube) A display or the like may be provided so that the print condition file can be created interactively. In addition, it goes without saying that the external device may be provided with a document processing function capable of interactively creating a print condition file.

Further, in the printing apparatus of the embodiment, when shifting to the mode for registering the printing condition file, it is determined whether or not there is special control information that cannot be input by the keyboard, but it is specified in the input data. It may be configured to shift to the registration mode when the character string of is detected. Similarly, when a specific character string is detected at the beginning of the data to be printed, the print condition file may be selected according to the content.

Further, in the printing apparatus of the embodiment, after the character string for changing the printing form is specified, the data in which the control information for changing the printing form is inserted before and after the character string is created, and the data is stored. I am using it to execute printing,
When the character string whose print form is to be changed is specified, the character string may be directly expanded into a bit pattern according to the print form used. Further, the present invention does not need to be configured as a laser beam printer, and may be configured as a printer that performs printing using an ink ribbon or an inkjet printer.

[0047]

According to the first to third aspects of the invention, based on the data whose print content is designated by the interval instruction information and the character string information, the print mode of the specific information in the data is changed. You can print it. Since the data whose print content is specified by the interval instruction information and the character string information is used, the time required to receive the print data can be shortened, and, for example, data that has been erroneously input can be changed. Since it can be printed with a font and underline, it becomes possible to make them stand out. Therefore, it is possible to easily check the input data using the printing apparatus of the present invention.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, for example, in data, an arbitrary character is printed on a portion where a space should be printed (that is, a portion where nothing is printed), or the portion is specified. Since it is possible to paint with the color of, it is possible to further emphasize the information that satisfies the predetermined condition and print it.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the printing condition file can be registered from the external device, it is possible to easily perform printing in which the printing form of a specific portion is changed. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of printing data that can be handled by the printing apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an outline of a print result of the print data shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of a print condition file that the printing apparatus according to the embodiment refers to during a printing operation.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of a document file used when registering a printing condition file in the printing apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of a printing process for changing a printing form of a specific portion in the printing apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a plan view schematically showing a printing result when the printing condition file shown in FIG. 4 is used.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of print data for explaining the operation of the printing apparatus according to the embodiment.

9 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of a print condition file used for the print data shown in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a plan view schematically showing a printing result when the printing condition file shown in FIG. 9 is used.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... Control information storage mechanism, 12 ... Central processing unit (CP
U), 13 ... ROM, 14 ... RAM, 15 ... Operation panel, 17 ... Magnetic disk device, 18 ... Interface, 21 ... Area designation information, 22 ... Judgment condition designation information, 2
3 ... Printing form designation information, 25, 26 ... Area

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A print area specifying information for specifying a print area, a judgment condition specifying information for specifying a judgment condition to be used for information printed in the print area, and information for satisfying the judgment condition. Storage means for storing print form designation information for designating a print form, character string information contained therein based on the received data, and an interval for designating an interval provided between the character string information at the time of printing An identifying means for identifying the instruction information, and an identifying means for identifying the information to be arranged in the print area designated by the print area designating information stored in the storage means using the identification result of the identifying means, Determining means for determining whether or not the information specified by the specifying means satisfies the judgment condition specified by the judgment condition specifying information; and the character string information by the judging means. Printing in which when it is determined that the determination conditions are satisfied, the information is printed in the printing form designated by the printing form designation information, and in other cases, the information is printed in a predetermined printing form. And a printing device. 2. Printing instead of printing area designation information for designating a printing area, determination condition designation information for designating a determination condition to be used for information printed in the printing area, and information satisfying the determination condition. Storage means for storing print content designation information for designating print content, character string information contained therein based on the received data, and an interval provided between the character string information at the time of printing Identification means for identifying the interval instruction information, and identification means for identifying information to be arranged in the print area specified by the print area specification information stored in the storage means using the identification result of the identification means A determining unit that determines whether or not the information identified by the identifying unit satisfies the determination condition specified by the determination condition specifying information; If it is determined to be a constant condition is satisfied, the printing apparatus characterized by comprising a printing means for printing print contents said designated by the print content designation information instead of the information. 3. A print area specifying information for specifying a print area, a judgment condition specifying information for specifying a judgment condition used for information printed in the print area, and information for satisfying the judgment condition. A storage unit for storing print form designation information for designating a print form, a designation unit for designating whether the received data should be treated as a print condition file or print data whose print content is designated, and A registration means for registering the received data as a print condition file in the storage means when the means has been instructed to handle it as a print condition file, and a case where the designation means has instructed to handle it as print data. , Based on the received data, the character string information contained in it and the interval instruction information for instructing the interval provided between the character string information at the time of printing Identification means for identifying, and identification for identifying information to be arranged in the print area designated by the print area designation information set in the print condition file in the storage means using the identification result of the identification means Means for determining whether or not the information specified by the specifying means satisfies the judgment condition specified by the judgment condition specifying information, and the judgment information for the information satisfies the judgment condition. And a printing means for printing the information in a printing form designated by the printing form designation information when it is determined that the information is printed, and for printing the information in a predetermined printing form in other cases. A printing device characterized by: