JPH08267865A - Print control method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] When performing superimposition printing of image data and ruled lines, by combining the image data and ruled lines in the same line with the host device, the superimposition printing of image data and ruled lines can be performed at high speed. To do. A printer control program 120 receives image data as print data 110 by a data input unit 121, and a data processing unit 122 receives the ruled line information table 13.
The ruled line data is created by referring to 0 and is combined with the received image data. The combined image data is sent to the printer 102 via the data output unit 123.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to overlay printing of image data and ruled lines in a printer having no ruled line printing function, and relates to a print control method suitable for high-speed printing without degrading print quality. .

[0002]

[Prior art]

(1) As a technique for optimizing image data, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-294724, a method of reducing the amount of image data by replacing a blank portion of the image data with print position change information is used. It was

(2) As for the ruled line optimization technique, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-245528, a method of reducing the amount of ruled line information by converting the ruled line information into a printer character code has been used.

[0004]

The above-mentioned prior art is an optimization technique for image data or ruled lines separately. When image data and ruled lines are superposed and printed, the image data and ruled lines must be printed separately. Therefore, there is a problem in that the printing speed is reduced.

Further, the method of converting ruled line information into a printer character code is not effective for a printer having no ruled line printing function.

An object of the present invention is to perform control so that superimposition printing of image data and ruled lines can be performed at high speed even in a printer having no ruled line printing function.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a host device optimizes data to be sent to a printer by synthesizing image data and ruled lines in the same row.

[0008]

[Function] To print a ruled line on a printer that does not have a ruled line printing function, the host device must convert the ruled line into raster image data and send it to the printer. When printing with the image data superimposed, two lines are printed on the same line. The image data of will be printed. Further, even in a printer having a ruled line printing function, the ruled lines must be printed separately from the image data, which increases the number of printing operations per line.
Therefore, by combining the ruled lines with the image data to form one image data, the amount of data sent to the printer and the number of printing operations per line are reduced, and the printing speed is improved.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The printer control program 120 is provided in the host device 101 and comprises a data input section 121, a data processing section 122, and a data output section 123. Print data 11
0 is received by the data input unit 121, and the data processing unit 1
After undergoing necessary processing at 22, the data is sent to the printer 102 via the data output unit 123.

In the printer according to the conventional method, the print head has 24 pins and does not have a ruled line printing function, as shown in FIG. 2, the third line of the form 200 consisting of ruled lines 210 and image data 220 having a height of 30 dots. The case of printing is described.

First, the printer control program 120
The data input unit 121 receives 24 dots in height from the upper portion of the image data 220, and the data processing unit 122 performs processing such as adding a print position designation code and a revision code (CR), and then outputs the data. It is sent to the printer 102 via the unit 123 (301). Next, the data processing unit 122 refers to the ruled line information table 130 and creates ruled line data for the third line. This ruled line data is image data having a height of 24 dots, and after adding a 24-dot line feed code, it is sent from the data output unit 123 to the printer 102 (302). Next, the data input unit 121 receives the remaining 6 dots of the height of the image data 220,
After the data processing unit 122 performs processing such as adding a print position designation code and a revision code (CR), it is sent from the data output unit 123 to the printer 102 (30
3). Next, the data processing unit 122 refers to the ruled line information table 130 and creates the inter-line ruled line data for the third line.
In the case of a line feed pitch of 6 LPI, this line-to-line ruled line data is image data having a height of 6 dots, and after adding a 6-dot line feed code, the printer 102
(304). As described above, conventionally, when the image data and the ruled line are on the same line, it is necessary to print the image data four times in total to print one line.

Therefore, focusing on the image and the ruled line, both the line image and the ruled line are image data having a height of 24 dots, and the line spacing image and the line spacing are both image data having a height of 6 dots. , A line image and a line ruled line, and a line space image and a line space ruled line can be combined into one line image and line space image, respectively. Therefore, when the printer control program 120 receives the image data 220, the data processing unit 122 refers to the ruled line information table 130, and the image data 2
The height of 24 dots (row image) at the top of 20 and the line ruled line data (24 dots in height) of the third row are combined on the memory to make one image data (401), and a 24 dot line feed code is added. After that, if it is sent to the printer 102 via the data output unit 123, the line image of the third line and the line ruled line can be printed at the same time. Similarly, the remaining height of the image data 220 of 6 dots (line spacing image) and 3
The ruled line data between lines (height 6 dots) is combined (40
2) If the 6-dot line feed code is added and sent to the printer 102, the image data for one line and the ruled line can be superimposed and printed by printing the image data twice in total, which is very effective in improving the printing performance. There is.

[0014]

According to the present invention, when the image data and the ruled line are superposed and printed, the image data and the ruled line on the same line are not separately printed, and the printing speed is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an apparatus using the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an example of a form including image data and ruled lines.

FIG. 3 is an example of printer transmission data according to a conventional method.

FIG. 4 is an example of printer transmission data according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 ... Upper device, 102 ... Printer, 110
... print data, 120 ... printer control program,
121 ... Data input unit, 122 ... Data processing unit, 123 ... Data output unit, 130 ... Ruled line information table, 200 ... Form, 210 ... Ruled line, 2
20 ... Image data, 301-304 ... Printer sending data according to conventional method, 401-402 ... Printer sending data according to the present invention.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. When performing superimposition printing of image data and ruled lines, the image data and ruled lines are combined by a higher-level device to optimize output to a printer and improve printing speed. Print control method.