JP3116354B2 - Printer data management method - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a data management system in a printer.

(Prior Art) A printer prints a character or graphic document received from a host (such as a host computer). A character generator (controller) in a printer converts character data and the like into a dot image based on character data, graphic data, various commands, and the like received from the host, stores the dot image in a memory, and prints the dot image.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a character generator of a printer has one bitmap memory, and develops one dot image on the bitmap memory based on character data and graphic data received from a host. When the development of one sheet is completed, the dot image data is sent to the printing unit. As a result, there is no problem caused by the difference between the timing of developing the dot image on the dot map memory and the timing of sending data to the printing unit.

In this method, when transferring data to the printing unit, all the image data for one sheet to be output is developed in the bit map memory. Therefore, the transfer of the dot image data to the printing unit is performed at high speed in synchronization with the printer output, and the printing unit performs printing.

In order to output data to the printing unit at a high speed, it is necessary to reduce the time required to process the image to the bitmap memory as much as possible. However, in general, graphic data processing takes a long time to receive data due to a large amount of data. In particular, vector graphic data takes a very long time to analyze a command and develop an image.

Therefore, it is conceivable to increase the speed by using a dedicated LSI for image development, but the cost increases.

On the other hand, when processing is performed by software, high-speed output cannot be achieved if all processing of command analysis and image development is performed in synchronization with output to the printing unit.

Therefore, in order to reduce the load as much as possible when the data received from the host is developed into a bit image, intermediate processing such as editing (converting) the intermediate data once and storing it in an intermediate data holding memory is performed.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As a method of developing image data in a character generator of a printer, n documents (n
Is a positive integer), and data processing may be performed in band units. In this method, 1 / n
A band memory (partial bitmap memory) having a storage capacity of 2 units is provided, and while the dot image is developed in one band memory, the image data already developed in the other band memory is simultaneously output to the printing unit. . If this operation is alternately performed on the two image memories for the n bands, printing of one document is completed.

Also in this method, the dot image development process to the band memory must precede the data output to the printing unit, and thus the data output speed to the printing unit is limited by the dot image development speed to the band memory. Therefore, in order to develop dot images at high speed, it is preferable to edit (convert) data received from the host into intermediate data once. The intermediate data includes information (size, source address, and the like) of character data and graphic data to be developed in the band memory.

In this type of character generator, it is necessary to develop dot images for each band memory at high speed, so it is necessary to create one sheet of intermediate data required for development before printing. It is desirable to access the intermediate data to the band memory as continuously as possible. Therefore, it is necessary to secure a memory area for holding the intermediate data for each band in one document.

However, in the method in which the memory area for holding the intermediate data in the intermediate data holding memory is equally divided for each band, in the case of a document in which the print data exists at an offset position, depending on the memory capacity, the print data may not be stored. While the intermediate data of a band with many print data cannot be held, a situation may occur in which a holding area more than necessary is secured for a band with little or no print data. Also,
Securing an unnecessarily large holding area for a band with a small amount of print data lowers the memory use efficiency. Therefore, for a band with a lot of print data, a method for securing a large holding area each time is necessary for efficient data management. However, in the method of simply increasing the holding area for each data, it takes processing time to search the holding area, which is not preferable.

Also, in the above-described method of printing using a band memory, when printing a plurality of documents on one sheet of paper (double-sided printing) or when recovering from a jam, etc., the time required for printing a plurality of documents is reduced. The time allowed for editing between documents may also be limited. On the other hand, in order to completely cope with this, it is necessary to edit data for a plurality of necessary documents (for example, for two pages in duplex copying) before outputting print data. Therefore, it is necessary to manage intermediate data of a plurality of documents.

A first object of the present invention is to divide a single document into a plurality of bands in a printer and, when editing print data from a host, to convert intermediate data converted from print data for dot image development. An object of the present invention is to provide a printer data management method that efficiently stores data in a memory.

A second object of the present invention is to divide a single document into a plurality of bands and edit print data from a host.
An object of the present invention is to provide a printer data management system that can easily manage intermediate data when a plurality of documents need to be managed.

(Means for Solving the Problems) A printer data management system according to the present invention includes: an image memory that divides one document into a plurality of bands in a sub-scanning direction and has a memory capacity of at least one band; Edit the print data into intermediate data and hold it in the intermediate data holding memory in order to quickly expand the print data from the host as dot image data into the image memory, and store the intermediate data in the intermediate data holding memory and develop the dot image into the image memory and print it to the printing unit When intermediate data is generated for each band in a printer that outputs data for each band in the editing of intermediate data, the intermediate data is first held in the intermediate data holding memory in the basic block of the minimum capacity necessary for data management of that band. Then, if the intermediate data of the band exceeds the capacity of the basic block, An intermediate block that secures an extended block capable of retaining a certain amount of data for the band in the intermediate data retaining memory, retains the intermediate data in the extended block, and associates the block used in the intermediate data retaining memory with the band. It is characterized in that a management table is provided.

A second printer data management method according to the present invention, in the printer data management method according to claim 1, corresponds to each document to be managed for associating the intermediate data management table with a plurality of documents. A document management table is further provided.

(Operation) A printer that divides one document into a plurality of bands in the sub-scanning direction and has an image memory having a memory capacity of at least one band develops dot images in the image memory in order from the upper band of the document. To print. In order to rapidly develop a dot image in the image memory, print data from the host is developed in the intermediate data holding memory.

In an intermediate data holding memory for storing intermediate data for converting into a dot image, a basic block and an extended block for holding the intermediate data are provided for each band.

Here, the basic block is an area having a minimum capacity (for example, two characters) required for data management, and the extended block is provided with an area capable of holding a certain amount of data (for example, 200 characters). In each band, intermediate data is first held in a basic block, and when the capacity of the basic block is exceeded, an extended block is allocated. As described above, the area (capacity) of the intermediate data holding memory allocated to each band varies depending on the number of intermediate data.
The data of each band in the intermediate data holding memory is managed by the intermediate data management table.

When the intermediate data of a plurality of documents is held, an intermediate data management table and a document management table corresponding to the plurality of documents are further provided to manage the intermediate data for each document.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(A) Overall Configuration of Character Generator of Printer FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a character generator of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. Here, the interface unit 1
Receives data (protocol data) from a host such as a host computer or an image reader;
Transfer to The reception buffer 2 is a buffer memory for storing data received from the host. The protocol analysis unit 3 analyzes the received data, identifies a print unit interface control command, print data, and the like, and sends them to the print interface control unit 4 and the edit control unit 5, respectively. The printing unit interface control unit 4 controls the printing sequence of the printing unit that performs printing in the electrophotographic process and controls the operation panel.
Performs LED display control. The edit control unit 5 calculates the cursor position from the received data, creates packet data (intermediate code) which is information such as characters (size, source address, etc.), and sends it to the packet buffer 6. In this embodiment, the control of printer character generation is performed by the edit control unit 5. The font control unit 7 manages ROM fonts in the font memory 8 and download fonts. The video buffer control unit 9 controls the video buffer 10. Further, an image is developed in the video buffer 10 based on the packet data in the packet buffer 6. The video buffer 10 is a buffer memory that stores dot images and the like.

Protocol data received from the host is divided into character data, graphic data, download data (font), and control commands. The data flow is as shown in FIG.

For the character data, packet data is created based on the storage address of the bitmap data corresponding to the character code and the virtual address on the printing paper corresponding to the printing position, and is written to the packet buffer 6.

The graphic data includes vector graphic data and raster graphic data. The graphic data is written to the video buffer 10 through the video buffer control unit 9. Further, packet data is created based on the written address and the address of the printing position, and is written to the packet buffer 6.

Font download data is written to the video buffer 10 through the video buffer control unit 9. The written font management data is registered in the font management table.

As for the control command, a command for controlling the printing unit is sent to the printing unit, and other commands set the internal parameters.

(B) Conversion to Intermediate Data and Data Management Method In the data management method in this embodiment, up to six documents can be managed. The image data received from the host is first edited (converted) into packet data as intermediate data, as described later, and the packet data is stored in the packet buffer 6. Normally, when packet data of one document is stored, the packet data is converted into bit data and stored in the video buffer 10. The writing and output of the bit data are performed when one document is divided into a plurality of (five in this embodiment) bands in the sub-scanning direction (paper feed direction of printing) as shown in FIG. In order in band units. Video buffer 10 is 1
Instead of a bitmap memory for one sheet, two areas having a capacity of 1/5 are provided, and writing and reading of bit data are alternately performed in these two areas.

Since one sheet is divided into five bands and writing and reading of bit data are performed as described above, printing is performed sequentially from the top of the paper. For this reason, in order to print character data and graphic data, it is usually necessary to edit one sheet of data at a printing position in advance. So 1
The print data for the number of sheets is converted into packet data and stored in the packet buffer 6. Corresponding to the printing performed in band units, packet data is also stored in band units as shown in FIG. Then, in the actual printing process, after the editing of one packet data is completed,
A dot image is sequentially developed alternately in two band buffers using packet data from the first band.

The conversion of character data and raster graphic data into packet data is usually performed continuously in a certain direction. However, since vector graphic data can exist over a plurality of bands, for example, in the case of a straight line, it may be stored in a plurality of packet areas.
Therefore, expansion of packet data is not always performed in the order of bands. As described later, since graphic data is stored in units of cells, which are small units in a band, in the case of a straight line extending over a plurality of bands, vector graphic data is stored in a packet data corresponding to a plurality of cells of a plurality of bands. And stored in the associated packet area.

Writing of packet data to the packet buffer 6 is performed on packet areas provided for each band. 1
Since the number of characters written in a band is not constant, if the number of capacities of the packet area per band is fixed, the use efficiency of the packet buffer 6 deteriorates. Therefore, an area for registering packet data is initially secured for each band by a minimum capacity necessary for data management (for example, for two characters), and when characters are written beyond this, a large number of characters (to some extent) are newly added. A packet data registration area of, for example, 200 characters) is added, and thereafter, the packet registration area is secured in units of 200 characters. (The reason why the minimum capacity is set to two characters is based on the determination of the presence or absence of data and the possibility of the presence of characters over a plurality of bands.) Therefore, the packet area has several characters as shown in FIG. It is divided into a basic packet area having a capacity of two minutes (in this embodiment, two characters) and an extended packet area having many characters (in this embodiment, two hundred characters). The basic packet areas P ₀ , P ₁ …, P ₄ are provided in advance for all bands, but the extended packet areas P ₅ , P ₆ ,… are necessary when there is data after the third character in each band. It is additionally allocated according to.

One packet is composed of four words as shown in FIG. Here, the source address is the head address of the data to be written to the video buffer 10, the video buffer address is the head address (offset) of the video buffer 10 to be written, the cell width is the width of the data to be written, The cell height is the height of the data to be written,
The flag 1 is a control flag (source relation) of the video buffer control unit 9.

The amount of data managed by one packet is, for example, one character in character data and an area (referred to as a cell) of 160 × 160 dots square in raster graphic data.

Graphic data is stored in the video buffer 10 in cell units.
Is stored in the graphic holding area. Here, as shown in FIG. 7, one cell is obtained by dividing a paper size designated by the host into m × n (4 × 7 in this embodiment) areas of a specific size. A serial number is added to the cell.

As shown in the memory map of the video buffer 10 in FIG.
It is provided on the same video buffer 10, and the capacity varies depending on the paper size and data. Therefore, the memory is managed by a management table described later.

The graphic holding area starts from the last address on the video buffer 10 (GR_RASD_NAD), and every time a registered area is secured, the holding area end pointer (GR_RASD
_BOT) and the end holding area of the corresponding document in the B table described later are updated.

FIG. 9 shows an address table for registering a rear address on a graphic holding area for a cell divided into a specific size. There is a one-to-one correspondence with each cell on the cell map, and "00" is entered in a cell for which a registration area is not secured on the holding area.

Now, in the cell map shown in FIG. 7, when the corresponding cell number is 3 at first based on the absolute coordinate position in one piece of graphic data, as shown in FIG. The registration area in cell "3" is secured and data is written, and the holding area end pointer (GR_RAS_BOT) is updated. On the other hand, in the address table shown in FIG. In order to overwrite the registered cell, an address value corresponding to the number is obtained to obtain an address value to be written on the video memory.

When a graphic holding area is secured in the video buffer 10, a packet is created for cell data registered in the video buffer 10. That is, the packet data of the graphic data is processed on a cell basis. When graphic data is expanded to a band memory by creating a packet, the same processing as character data is performed.

Three tables are used in the edit control unit 5 to manage the document, the packet data, and the graphic holding area.

The A table shown in FIG. 10 is a document management table for the number of images required to be held in the printer. For each document, a start point and an end point of a B table, which will be described later, which manages basic packet numbers corresponding to bands from band 0 to a bottom margin, and a start point and an end point of a graphic holding area used for the document. Register

FIG. 11 shows the packet buffer 6 for six documents.
6 is a table for managing packet data stored in (see FIG. 5). It consists of a basic packet management table for managing basic packet areas for six documents, and an extended packet management table for managing extended packet areas added as needed.

The configuration of each packet management table is as shown in FIG. For each band, the currently used divided packet number (used only for the basic packet), the next used divided packet number, the number of patterns currently stored, the character specification of each band, the start address of the packet, The segment and the next used address and the segment of the packet are sequentially stored. Here, the currently used fragmented packet No.
When there are no more usable divided packets, an end code is written. Next use divided packet No.
Is the end of band data in that packet,
“0” is written. The end of the currently used fragmented packet is detected by comparing and matching 1w and 2w. In the printing process, when the packet data is output to the video buffer control unit 9, packets are transferred according to the above-mentioned next use divided packet number. The detection of the final data of each band is performed by counting the number of 1w patterns in the printing process.

The C table shown in FIG. 13 is an overall management table of the document, the packet, and the holding area, and manages the document number at which the processing such as the ejection is detected and the document number during the editing process (during packet creation). It is composed of a page pointer, a start pointer and an end pointer for managing a used extended packet number, and a start pointer and an end pointer for managing a used holding area address. Accordingly, the number of the document being managed, the extended packet area used by the document being managed, and the graphic data holding area used by the document being managed are managed.

(C) Editing Control Flow FIG. 14 shows a schematic main flow of the CPU constituting the editing control unit 5. In this flow, when power on, CP
Initialize the U and peripheral circuits (# 201), clear the work area, packet buffer 6, and video buffer 10 (# 202), and initialize according to dip switches and default settings (page counter PG = 0). Is performed (# 203). Next, an enable (A, B, C) for managing a packet is initialized (# 204).

As the initial setting of each document, first, the maximum number of managed documents determined by the basic performance of the printer (6 in this embodiment)
It is determined whether there is enough room for the limit (# 20).
5) If not possible (NO), wait until the processing of the document already managed by then ends. If data editing from the host can be started (YES), the current page pointer (C table) is updated (# 206), and the parameters of the corresponding document number of table A (start B table, end B table, start hold) Set the area) (# 20
7). Next, it is determined whether or not there is an unused extended packet area in the packet buffer 6 at that time (# 208). If not (NO), the process waits until an empty packet area is created.

As shown in FIG. 15, the data received from the host is asynchronously received by the interface unit 1 (# 101) and output to the reception buffer 2 (# 102).

Returning to FIG. 14, the explanation is continued. The reception data held in the reception buffer 2 is read and analyzed (# 209).
If it is print data (YES in # 210), each packet creation process is performed depending on whether it is graphic data (vector and raster) or character data (# 211) (# 212, # 21).
3).

If the received data is a control command (N in # 210
O), the corresponding process is performed (# 214). Next, it is determined whether or not a paper ejection request is made (# 215).
Return to 09 and continue analyzing received data.

If the data to be processed is a paper ejection request (YES in # 215),
The page counter PG is incremented (# 216), and it is determined whether or not it is equal to a continuous processing determination condition (for example, 2 for duplex copying) (# 217). If not, the process returns to # 205 to process the data of the next document.

When the continuous processing determination condition is reached, the printing unit is activated and also performs a print control process of developing dot image data in the band buffer and outputting data (# 218), and resets the page counter PG. (# 219). Then, returning to step # 205, the data of the next document is processed.

FIG. 16 shows a flow of the timer interrupt processing. This process is performed every specific time, and the parameters determined in # 205 and # 208 in the flow of FIG. 14 are updated here. First, reading of various flags such as occurrence of an error (# 251), and if the end of the document is detected therein (# 252)
YES), the graphic data held in the video buffer 10 is cleared (# 253), the extended packet pointer (C table) is updated (# 254), and the corresponding document part of the B table is deleted (# 255). ), And update the end page pointer (C table) (# 256).

FIG. 17 shows the flow of the graphic packet creation process (FIG. 14, # 212). The character generator according to the present embodiment divides one sheet by a specific number n of lines in the sub-scanning direction, has two bitmap memories (band buffers) for the n lines, and prints each band. The packet data obtained by temporarily editing the data is held in the packet buffer 6.
The packet configuration is the same as the character packet (6th
Figure). Graphic data includes vector graphic data and raster graphic data. Vector graphic data is in the form of <drawing instruction command> {straight line, circle, etc.} + <Parameter> {coordinate, size, etc.}, and raster graphic data is, for example, <Command> + <
Data length> + <1 line raster data> transmitted from the host.

Therefore, first, the command analysis processing is performed (# 30
1). As a result, the absolute coordinate position of each dot on a single document when the figure is expanded into dots is calculated (# 30).
2) A cell corresponding to the coordinate position is searched from the cell map (# 303), and a registration area for the corresponding cell is stored in the same area as the band buffer on the same memory 10 (the eighth area).
(See # 304) (YES in # 304), the relative address in the corresponding cell is calculated (# 305), and the data is written (306). If there is no registration area (NO in # 304), search is made for the presence / absence of an empty packet (memory available in the basic packet area and the already allocated extended packet area) (# 308) and presence / absence of the extended packet area (# 309). If there is no free space, error processing (# 314, 1st
9) and wait until an empty area is created. If the extended packet area can be secured (# 309
YES), the B and C tables are updated, and the extended packet area is allocated.

If the packet area to be registered can be secured, the remaining amount of the empty video buffer 10 is checked (# 311). If there is an empty area (YES), the registration area is secured (# 31).
2) The head address, width, height, and address at the time of development of the cell are calculated, a packet is created and registered, and the B table is updated (# 313). If the registration area cannot be secured (NO in # 311), error processing is performed (# 309).

The above processing (# 302 to # 314) is repeated for unprocessed target data (in the case of YES in # 307). The held packet data is used during the print control process (# 14 in FIG. 14).
218), each band is developed into a band buffer through the video buffer control unit 9 (FIG. 3).

FIG. 18 shows the flow of the character packet creation process (# 212 in FIG. 14). The character generator according to the present embodiment divides one sheet by the specific number n of lines in the sub-scanning direction, and has two bitmap memories (band buffers) for the n lines.
Packet data obtained by temporarily editing data to be printed for each band is held in the packet buffer 6. If there is a vacancy in the packet area of the band corresponding to the cursor position (YES in # 401), the font address and the linear address to be developed in the video buffer 10 are calculated, the packet data is created, and registered in the packet area. Then, the B table, which is the management table, is updated (# 402). If there is no empty packet, if there is an unused extended packet area (YES in # 403), the B and C tables are updated, and the extended packet area is allocated to the target band (#
404). As in the case of the graphic packet, if there is no empty packet and there is no empty extended packet area, error processing (see FIG. 19) is performed (# 405), and the processing is terminated.

FIG. 19 shows the extended packet area and video buffer 10
Processing when editing is insufficient during the editing process (Fig. 17 #
314, FIG. 18, # 405). For example, when the printer prints a plurality of documents on one sheet of paper, the number of sheets is initially set as a continuous processing determination condition (FIG. 14, # 20).
Set in 3). The continuity determination condition is determined by conditions such as the structure of the printer. For example, it is 2 for double-sided printing. If the difference between the currently edited document number in which the error occurred in the C table and the processed document number is equal to or less than the continuous processing determination condition (YES in # 1101), the memory for editing a plurality of documents for the paper is absolutely required. It means that there is a shortage, and an error is displayed for waiting (# 1103). If the difference is larger than the continuous processing determination condition, the paper is discharged, and the end of the processing is updated to wait for the emptying of the extended packet buffer and the video buffer 10 (# 1104, # 1105). When the memory becomes available, the error display is turned off (# 1106).

(Effect of the Invention) In the first printer data management method according to the present invention, 1
For a band with a lot of print data in a single document, the data holding area of the intermediate data for that band increases according to the data amount. Can be used efficiently.

In the second printer data management method according to the present invention, the management of intermediate data of a plurality of documents can be easily performed with almost no change in the management of one document.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a character generator of a printer. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data flow. FIG. 3 is a diagram in which one document is divided into five bands. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the development of character and graphic data into bit images. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an area configuration of the packet buffer. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of packet data. FIG. 7 is a diagram of a cell map. FIG. 8 is a diagram of a video memory map. FIG. 9 is a diagram of an address table. FIG. 10 is a diagram of the document management table A. FIG. 11 is a diagram of the packet management table B. FIG. 12 is a diagram of each packet management data in the packet management table shown in FIG. FIG. 13 is a diagram of the overall management table C. FIG. 14 is a flowchart of the control of the editing control unit. FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a data reception process. FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a timer interrupt. FIG. 17 is a flowchart of the graphic packet creation processing. FIG. 18 is a flowchart of the character packet creation process. FIG. 19 is a flowchart of error processing. 5: Edit control unit, 6: Packet buffer, 10: Video buffer.

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-81071 (JP, A) JP-A-60-126730 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 5/30

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A single document is divided into a plurality of bands in the sub-scanning direction, an image memory having a memory capacity of at least one band is provided, and print data from a host is quickly transferred to the image memory as dot image data. Edit the print data into intermediate data to expand it, store it in the intermediate data holding memory, and expand the dot data to the image memory of the intermediate data and output the data to the printing unit for each band. When the intermediate data is generated for each band in the editing of the band, the intermediate data is first stored in the basic block of the minimum capacity necessary for data management of the band in the intermediate data holding memory, and the intermediate data of the band exceeds the capacity of the basic block. When data is generated, an expansion block that can hold a certain amount of data A printer data management method for securing the band in the data holding memory, holding the intermediate data in the extended block, and providing an intermediate data management table for associating the block used in the intermediate data holding memory with the band. . 2. The printer data management method according to claim 1, further comprising a document management table corresponding to each document to be managed, for associating the intermediate data management table with a plurality of documents. Printer data management system.