JPH08314656A - Method and device for printing - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Structure] The dot pattern page editing unit 5 converts the print data received from the external device 1 into the reception buffer 3 into dot pattern data using the font pattern of the font memory 4 or the like. The enlargement editing unit 7 enlarges the dot pattern data by a magnification determined by the density (240 dpi), the print density of the printer 10 (400 dpi), and the expected print magnification. Dot expansion and enlargement processing can be performed for each data type. The enlarged page image generated in the enlarged page buffer 8 is
It is output to the printer 10 by the output unit 9. [Effect] Using a printer that does not have an optical reduction printing mechanism, reduction / enlargement printing is possible without loss of print information or damage to the design. High-definition printer can be used for high-quality reduction / enlargement printing of already created low-density data.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for printing print data such as characters, formats, figures and images, and more particularly to printing data using a printer having a constant print density. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for high quality printing, particularly reduced printing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When performing reduction printing of print data, 2
Two methods are taken.

One is a method of realizing reduced printing by using a printer having an optical reduction printing mechanism and a variable printing density, and optically increasing the printing density on the printer side.

The other is a method of using a printer having a constant print density without an optical reduction printing mechanism, which implements reduction printing by subjecting print data to reduction processing.
As a method of this reduction processing, a method of thinning out data or a method of OR-adding arbitrary bits within a fixed number of bits (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-189558) is generally used.

[0005]

The method using the printer having the above-mentioned optical reduction printing mechanism has a problem that an expensive printer equipped with the optical mechanism is required. Further, the printing density of the printer can be changed only on a page-by-page basis, and it is impossible to print characters, formats, figures, images, etc. on the same page at different scales.

On the other hand, the method based on the above-described print data reduction processing has a problem in terms of print quality. That is, in the method of reducing the print data by thinning out the data, a part of the print information is lost, so that characters and lines are blurred. When the print data is reduced by the OR addition, the proportion of black is larger than that before the reduction, so that the characters are crushed and the design is broken.

A general object of the present invention is to provide a printing method and a printing apparatus that solve the above problems.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for high quality printing, especially reduced printing, using a printer having a constant print density. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for printing with high quality by using a printer having a constant print density and changing the print magnification for each data type such as characters, formats, figures and images in the same page. To provide.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a printing method provided by the present invention has a density higher than that of a dot pattern for printing print data converted into a dot pattern of a certain density. Using a printer having a print density, the print data converted into the dot pattern is printed by the printer after being subjected to magnification processing of a magnification determined by an expected print magnification, the density of the dot pattern, and the print density of the printer. It is characterized by that.

Further, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the printing apparatus provided by the present invention is a printing density of a printer used for printing coded print data such as characters, formats, figures and images. A means for converting the dot pattern to a lower density, and a print density of the printer for the print data converted to the dot pattern by the means, a density of the dot pattern, and an expected print magnification of the print data It is characterized in that it has means for performing enlargement processing of a determined magnification and means for outputting the print data after the enlargement processing to the printer.
Another feature is that the enlarging processing unit selects one or a plurality of types of print data and performs the enlarging processing for each selected print data type.

[0010]

When the coded print data is converted into a dot pattern and is printed out, when the print data is output by a printer having a print density higher than the dot density, [print data density] ÷ [printer density] The print result reduced by the magnification (<1) of the print density] is obtained.

According to the method and apparatus of the present invention, the print data converted into the dot pattern is enlarged and then output to the printer. Therefore, if the magnification of the enlargement process is [print density of printer] / [density of print data] * [expected print magnification], a print result of [expected print magnification] can be obtained.

Then, within the range of the print magnification in which the magnification of the enlargement processing is larger than 1, that is, in the range in which the print data is substantially enlarged by the enlargement processing, dots are interpolated in the original print data by the enlargement processing. The print information is not lost as in the reduction processing by dot thinning, and if the enlargement processing method is appropriate, the characters such as those in the reduction processing by OR addition are crushed. You can avoid damage to the design.

Therefore, according to the method and apparatus of the present invention, a printer having a constant print density without an optical reduction printing mechanism is used, and the print data can be printed without loss of print information or damage to the design. Reduced printing and further enlarged printing are possible. With the recent progress in high-definition printers, printers with extremely high printing density can be used at a relatively low cost, but such high-definition printers have very narrow dot intervals and no visible irregularities such as diagonal lines. High print quality can be expected. Therefore, according to the present invention, a high-definition printer having no optical reduction printing mechanism can be used to realize high-quality reduction printing and enlarged printing of print data.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the overall construction of an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 denotes a linear density conversion printing device according to the present invention, which receives coded print data such as characters, formats, figures, images, etc. from an external device 1 and performs reduction printing or enlargement of this print data. Printing is performed with high quality using an external high-definition printer 10. The printer 10 may have a constant print density without an optical reduction printing mechanism.

The linear density conversion printing device 2 uses a reception buffer 3 for storing print data received from the external device 1, a font memory 4 for storing a font pattern of characters, and a reception buffer using a dot pattern of the font memory 4. The dot pattern page editing unit 5 for expanding the print data of No. 3 into a dot pattern, the page buffer 6 for storing the print data dot expanded to the page image by the dot pattern page editing unit 5, and the enlargement processing of the data in the page buffer 6 are performed. Enlarging / editing unit 7 to perform
The enlarged page buffer 8 stores the data after being enlarged by, and the output unit 9 that outputs the data in the enlarged page buffer 8 to the printer 10.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of the linear density conversion printing device 2. The operation of the linear density conversion printing device 2 will be described with reference to this flowchart. Here, it is assumed that the print density of the printer 10 is 400 dpi, the encoded print data of 240 dpi is received, and the print data is printed at each print magnification of 100%, 90%, 75%, and 120%. However, the print magnification is the same for each data type such as characters, formats, figures, and images.

The linear density conversion printer 2 receives the encoded print data of 240 dpi characters, formats, figures, etc. in page units from the external device 1 and stores it in the reception buffer 3 (step 21). Dot pattern page editor 5
Decodes the character code in the receive buffer 3, reads the corresponding dot pattern from the font memory 4 for characters, converts the print data into a dot pattern having a density of 240 dpi, and prints the page image of the print data in the page buffer 6. Is dot-developed (steps 22 and 23). The dot pattern of 240 dpi is stored in the font memory 4.

The enlargement editing section 7 performs a process of vertically and horizontally enlarging the print data dot-expanded in the page buffer 6, and stores the enlarged page image in the enlarged page buffer 8 (steps 24 and 25). The magnification E of this enlargement processing is A (= 240 dpi) for the density of the dot pattern developed in the page buffer 6, B (= 400 dpi) for the print density of the printer 10, and C (= 100%, for the expected print magnification). 90%, 75%, 120%) based on the following equation.

E = B ÷ A × C (1) Practically, the number of dots to be the enlargement processing unit of the original dot data is determined, and enlargement is performed so that the enlargement ratio is close to the enlargement ratio according to the above formula (1). The number of rear dots is calculated, and dot interpolation is performed to create enlarged dot data.

For example, consider a case where the number of dots in the enlargement processing unit is 32 dots. In this case, the printing magnification is 100%
In the case of, since 240: 400 = 32: x, x (the number of dots after enlargement) = 53.3. Therefore, enlargement processing for generating dot data extended to 53 dots from the original 32 dot data is performed. Do. The number of dots after enlargement for other printing magnifications is the x value of 100% printing, 5
It can be calculated based on 3.3. For example, when the printing magnification is 90%, 53.3 × 0.9 = 48, and therefore 32 dots of the original data are expanded to 48 dots. When the printing magnification is 75%, 53.3 × 0.75 =
Since it is 40, 32 dots of the original data are expanded to 40 dots.

To give a concrete example of dot interpolation, if the printing magnification is 100%, for example, as shown in FIG.
Dot interpolation operation for expanding dots to 53 dots is performed in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction. In FIG. 3, the square symbol is one dot, the upper row shows the original dot data, and the lower row is the enlarged dot data. The white square symbols at the bottom are interpolated dots. The circled numbers attached to each dot are numbers added to clarify the correspondence between the dots before and after the enlargement. The interpolation dot in the enlarged dot data is a dot of the same color as the dot of the corresponding number in the original dot data.

When the printing magnification is 90%, for example, a dot interpolation operation for expanding the original 32 dots shown in the upper part of FIG. 4 to 48 dots shown in the lower part is performed in the vertical and horizontal directions. The meanings of the square symbols and circled numbers in FIG. 4 are the same as in FIG.

When the print magnification is 75%, for example, the original 32 dots shown in the upper part of FIG. 5 are expanded horizontally to 40 dots shown in the middle part, and are expanded to 40 dots shown in the lower part. Dot interpolation operation in the vertical direction. The meanings of square symbols and circled numbers are the same as in FIG.

When the printing magnification is 120%, the dot interpolation operation for expanding the original 1 dot to 2 dots is performed in the vertical and horizontal directions.

The enlargement processing is not limited to the method exemplified above. FIG. 6 shows another example of the enlargement process when the print magnification is 100%. In this example, for the 32 × 3 dots of the original dot data (upper row), the first 3
The 2 dots and the next 32 dots are expanded to 53 dots shown in the middle and lower rows, and the same operation is repeated.

FIG. 7 shows another example of the enlargement process when the print magnification is 90%. In this example, for the 32 × 3 dots of the original dot data (upper row), the first 32 dots and the next 32 dots are shown in the middle row and the lower row, respectively.
Expand to dots and repeat the same operation.

FIG. 8 shows another example of the enlargement process when the print magnification is 75%. In this example, for the 32 × 4 dots of the original dot data (upper row), the first 32 dots are expanded to 40 dots shown in the second row, and the next 32 dots are expanded to 40 dots shown in the third row, 4 next 32 dots
It is expanded to 40 dots shown in the first row, the next 32 dots are expanded to 40 dots shown in the lower row, and the same operation is repeated thereafter.

The enlarging method shown in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 is advantageous over the enlarging methods shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 in that smoother lines and curved lines can be expected. .

When the enlarged page image of the print data for one page is obtained in the enlarged page buffer 8 as described above, the output unit 9 outputs the enlarged page image to the printer 10 (step 27).

Now, the linear density conversion printing apparatus 2 of this embodiment
Can print out by changing the print magnification for each data type in one page. For example, the printing magnification of characters and formats is 100% (1: 1 printing), and the printing magnification of graphics is 90%.
(Reduced print), image print magnification is 120% (Enlarged print)
Suppose you want to print as. In this way, when the print magnification differs depending on the data type, dot pattern conversion and enlargement processing are repeated for each data type having the same print magnification to create an enlarged page image of one page.

That is, in this example, when print data is stored in the reception buffer 3 in page units (step 2
1) The dot pattern page editing unit 5 converts the character data and the format data in the print data into a dot pattern and stores it in the page buffer 6 (steps 22 and 2).
3) Then, the enlargement / editing unit 7 enlarges this data at a magnification required for 100% printing, and stores the enlarged data in the enlarged page buffer 8 (steps 24 and 25). next,
The dot pattern conversion of the graphic data in the print data and the enlargement processing of the magnification necessary for the 90% reduction printing are performed (steps 22 to 25). Next, the dot pattern conversion of the image data in the print data and its 120%
Enlargement processing of the magnification required for enlarged printing is performed (step 2).
2 to step 25). In this way, when the enlarged page image for one page is completed, this is output to the printer 10 and printed (step 27).

The print data converted into a dot pattern can be received from the external device 1. In this case, the dot pattern page editing unit 5 can store the print data stored in the reception buffer 3 in the page buffer 6 as it is. Therefore, the process of step 22 shown in the flowchart of FIG. 2 is not performed. According to this operation mode, the high-definition printer 10 can perform high-quality printing of page images that have already been created at low density.

However, when a page image in which all data types such as characters, formats, and figures in a page are dot-developed directly is received, the print magnification is changed for each data type in the page as described above. It is not possible to print out.

[0035]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a printer having no optical reduction printing mechanism does not cause loss of print information or damage to the design,
High quality reduction / enlargement printing can be realized. It is possible to perform reduction / enlargement printing with different magnifications for each data type within one page. Using a high-definition printer, high-quality reduction / enlargement printing of already-created low-density print data can be achieved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the linear density conversion printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an example of enlargement processing for equal-size printing.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an example of enlargement processing for 90% reduction printing.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an example of enlargement processing for 75% reduction printing.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of another example of enlargement processing for equal-size printing.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of another example of enlargement processing for 90% reduction printing.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of another example of enlargement processing for 75% reduction printing.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 External Device 2 Linear Density Conversion Printing Device 3 Reception Buffer 4 Font Memory 5 Dot Pattern Page Editing Section 6 Page Buffer 7 Enlargement Editing Section 8 Enlargement Page Buffer 9 Output Section 10 Printer

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A printer having a print density higher than the density of the dot pattern is used for printing the print data converted to a dot pattern of a certain density, and the print data converted to the dot pattern is expected. A printing method, comprising: enlarging a magnification determined by a printing magnification, a density of the dot pattern, and a printing density of the printer, and then printing with the printer. 2. A means for converting print data, such as coded characters, formats, figures, images, etc., into a dot pattern having a density lower than the printing density of a printer for printing, and the means for converting to a dot pattern. Means for enlarging the enlarged print data with a magnification determined by the print density of the printer, the density of the dot pattern, and the expected print magnification of the print data; and the print data after the enlargement processing. A printing device comprising means for outputting to a printer. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the enlarging processing unit selects one or a plurality of types of print data and performs the enlarging processing for each selected print data type. .