JPH0832476B2 - Printer device - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer device capable of processing an external character pattern, and more particularly to a printer device characterized by storing and saving external character pattern data.

[Conventional technology]

In the printer device, normally, a character pattern of a character that is frequently used is always stored in the internal memory. Many of such devices store character patterns of characters that are rarely used in a file in a host device (upper device). Then, if necessary, these character patterns are downloaded from the host device side to the temporary storage memory of the printer device side and used. Characters that are not used frequently and are not prepared in the printer device are called external characters, and the processing related to these characters is called external character processing.

When performing external character processing on the printer device, the external character pattern data received from the host device is stored in a dedicated external character pattern storage area, and management is performed using the external character pattern code and the address of the storage location in this storage area. It was The printer device is provided with a code buffer for storing code information, and the editing unit stores the address of the storage location in the code buffer when editing a code of an external character pattern (hereinafter referred to as an external character code). It was The drawing unit accesses the external character pattern storage area at this address, finds desired pattern data, and develops this into a dot image. During this period, the external character pattern data has always been stored in the external character pattern storage area.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

As described above, in the printer device, the external character pattern data received from the host device is stored in the external character pattern storage area, and based on this, editing, drawing and printing are performed. The external character pattern data needs to be stored in the external character pattern storage area until the printing of the corresponding page of the data is completed, but actually it must be stored until the printing of the page is finally guaranteed. There is. That is, if a jam (paper jam) occurs before the printed paper is ejected from the printer,
This is because the same printing needs to be performed again, and in such a case, it is not efficient to store the external character pattern data again in the external character pattern storage area.

As described above, in the conventional printer device, since the external character pattern data for one page is stored in the external character pattern storage area for a relatively long period of time, if a large amount of external character pattern data for one page is stored in the external character pattern storage area, When the external character processing of the next page is performed, this area may become full, and the editing processing may be interrupted. In order to avoid such a problem and to proceed the external character processing on the next page and thereafter, it is necessary to limit the number of external characters that can be handled in one page. Of course, by clearing the external character pattern data for one page from the external character pattern storage area early, the processing speed for printing is improved, but print guarantee should be performed to ensure recovery from the above-mentioned jams and other failures. There was a problem that it would be difficult.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a printer device which can handle a large amount of external character pattern data and can prevent a delay in editing processing.

[Means for solving the problem]

In the present invention, (a) when an editing means for sequentially editing character data for printing and (b) external character pattern data representing a pattern of characters not prepared in the apparatus is received by the editing means from the host apparatus. , A first external character pattern data storage area for temporarily storing this until the transfer is performed, and (c) external character pattern data temporarily stored in the first character pattern storage area, and The code buffer for temporarily storing the prepared code information about the internal character as the characters until the transfer of these data is performed, and (d) the internal buffer pattern An internal character pattern storage means for storing a character pattern, (e) a bit map memory for storing a dot image, and (f) a dot image for an outer character pattern in this bit map memory. Second external character pattern data which is prepared for expanding the first external character pattern data and has the same storage capacity as the first external character pattern data storage area and opens the area for the next external character pattern data after the dot image is expanded. The storage area and (g) the code information on the code buffer is read, the internal character pattern is read from the internal character pattern storage means for the internal character, and the external character pattern is read from the second external character pattern data storage area for the external character. And a transfer means for (h) extracting external character pattern data from the code buffer for an external character to be processed by the drawing means and transferring it to the second external character pattern data storage area. Prepare.

That is, in the present invention, by transferring the external character pattern data stored in the first external character pattern data storage area to the code buffer, the first external character pattern data storage area can be opened for the next external character pattern data. Also, the external character pattern data stored in the second external character pattern data storage area can be released for the next external character pattern data after the dot image is developed in the bitmap memory. That is, since the external character pattern data is stored in the code buffer, a large amount of the external character pattern data can be handled, and further, the contents of the first or second external character pattern data storage area can be sequentially updated when editing or drawing. It is also possible to prevent a delay in the editing process.

〔Example〕

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

FIG. 1 shows a main part of a printer device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

This printer device includes an editing unit 11 for editing print data and a drawing unit 12 for developing a dot image for printing. The editing unit 11 is connected to an editing external character pattern data area 13 as an external character pattern storage area provided for editing and a code buffer 14. The external character pattern data area for editing 13 stores the external character pattern data received from a host device (not shown). The code buffer 14 stores the external character pattern data together with the code of the internal character pattern. Drawing unit 12
In addition to this editing external character pattern data area 13, is connected to a data transfer mechanism 15, an external character pattern data area for drawing 16 as an external character pattern storage area provided for drawing, and a bit map memory 17. The data transfer mechanism 15 is for transferring the external character pattern data stored in the code buffer 14 to the drawing external character pattern data area 16.

In the printer device having such a configuration, the editing unit 11 writes the address of the area where the character pattern of the code is stored in the code buffer 14 while editing the image data. If an external character code is found during this process, the editing unit 11 receives the external character pattern data from the host device and stores it in the editing external character pattern data area 13. Like the external character pattern data area for drawing 16, the external character pattern data area for editing 13 can store one or a plurality of external character pattern data.

The editing unit 11 uses the external character pattern data area 13 for editing.
The external character pattern data is taken out according to the editing order from
To be stored. Here, the transfer command is the external character pattern data area for drawing, which is read out from the code buffer 14 afterwards by the data transfer mechanism 15.
That is what is used to transfer to 16. A pattern address is attached to the external character pattern data, which consists of an offset and a base. Here, the offset is the address of the external character pattern in the editing external character pattern data area 13, and the base is the address of the first address forming the drawing external character pattern data area 16.

The drawing unit 12 stores the dot image in the bitmap memory 17 while referring to the code buffer 14. At this time, if the character to be processed is an internal character, the corresponding character pattern data is found from the internal character pattern storage means (not shown) that stores the internal character pattern and is expanded into a dot image. When the character to be processed is an external character, the corresponding character pattern data is found from the drawing external character pattern data area 16 and developed into a dot image. However, since the external character pattern data is stored in the code buffer 14, the external character pattern data is stored in the drawing external character pattern data area 16 as follows.

That is, when the drawing unit 12 detects the above-mentioned transfer command while referring to the code buffer 14, the data transfer mechanism 15
It is activated with the command and the data for external character identification. Then, the corresponding external character pattern data is transferred to the drawing external character pattern data area 16 via the data transfer mechanism 15. Then, the drawing unit 12 finds the corresponding external character pattern data stored in the external character pattern data area for drawing 16, develops it into a dot image, and stores it in the bitmap memory 17.

By the way, both the editing external character pattern data area 13 and the drawing external character pattern data area 16 of this embodiment are obtained by appropriately allocating a storage area of a RAM (random access memory) (not shown) of the printer device.
Their storage capacities are set to be the same. This is because setting the storage capacities of both to the same makes it advantageous in terms of the configuration of the device when both are used as ring buffers, for example. That is, although the characters to be handled are different from each other, the editing process by the editing unit 11 and the drawing process by the drawing unit 12 are performed at substantially the same timing in time, which facilitates management. Although the processing time is different, the stored contents of the external character pattern data areas 13 and 16 are the same and the offsets of the storage addresses are the same when the same external character pattern is being processed.

The capacity of the editing external character pattern data area 13 and the drawing external character pattern data area 16 may be at least one pattern, but if these capacities are further increased, it is advantageous when the same external character is used multiple times before and after. There is. That is, it is possible to reduce the number of times the external character pattern data is stored in the editing external character pattern data area 13 and the number of times the external character pattern data is stored in the code buffer 14 in consideration of other factors such as print guarantee. Become.

In the embodiment described above, both the editing external character pattern data area 13 and the drawing external character pattern data area 16 have the same capacity, but it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to this.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the external character pattern data is stored in the code buffer. Therefore, if the code buffer is large to some extent, the number of external characters subject to external character processing is increased to virtually infinite. be able to. Therefore, there is no need to limit the use of external characters, and it is not necessary to wait for the opening of the area for storing external character pattern data even when external characters are concentrated, and the delay in editing processing due to this can be eliminated. In addition, there is an advantage that the data stored in the code buffer may be saved for printing guarantee. Further, according to the present invention, the first external character pattern data storage area and the second external character pattern data storage area have the same storage capacity. Therefore, when both are used as a ring buffer, the processing timing of both and the address It also has the advantage of being easier to manage.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main part of a printer device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 11 …… Editing section, 12 …… Drawing section, 13 …… Editing external character pattern data area, 14 …… Code buffer, 15 …… Data transfer mechanism, 16 …… Drawing external character pattern data area, 17
…… Bitmap memory.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An editing means for sequentially editing character data for printing, and an external character pattern data representing a pattern of a character not prepared in the apparatus, when this editing means receives it from a host apparatus, transfers it. The first external character pattern data storage area to be temporarily stored until is performed, the external character pattern data temporarily stored in the first character pattern storage area, and the internal character as a character prepared in the device. A code buffer for sequentially and temporarily storing code information about characters in accordance with the editing of the editing means until the transfer is performed, and an internal character pattern storage for storing an internal character pattern representing the internal character pattern. Means, Bitmap memory for storing the dot image, and prepared for expanding the dot image of the external character pattern in this bitmap memory A second external character pattern data storage area having the same storage capacity as that of the first external character pattern data storage area and opening the area for the next external character pattern data after the dot image is developed; The code information on the buffer is read, the internal character pattern is read from the internal character pattern storage means for the internal character, and the external character pattern is read from the second external character pattern data storage area for the external character and stored in the bit map memory. A printer device comprising: drawing means for drawing and external means pattern data for external characters to be processed by the drawing means, taken out from the code buffer, and transferred to a second external character pattern data storage area.