JPH0463781B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a print pattern generation circuit for a dot matrix printer.

Dot matrix printers that print characters consisting of 8 vertical dots of printing font use eight or more pins with a spacing of 1/72 inch or 1/60 inch between each printing pin, and horizontal dot pitch. is mainly 1/80 inch or 1/120 inch.
In addition, dot matrix printers that print characters consisting of a 16-dot vertical printing font use 16 or more pins with a spacing of 1/120 inch between each printing pin, and the dot pitch in the horizontal direction is mainly It is 1/120 inch. Furthermore, in dot matrix printers that print characters composed of 22 or 24 vertical dots,
Spacing between each printing pin is 1/160 inch or 1/180 inch
inch pins are used, and the lateral dot pitch is 1/160 inch or 1/180 inch.

In order to print characters of 16 dots, 22 dots or 24 dots vertically using a conventional 8-pin printer with a spacing between pins of 1/72 or 1/60 inch, and to print characters of the same size. Conventionally, printing is performed using a multi-pass printing method, and the printing process takes a lot of time. In addition, there are character fonts consisting of 16 dots spaced at 1/120-inch intervals, and 1/16-inch
22 dots at 0 inch or 1/180 inch intervals or
The disadvantage of using a character font consisting of 24 dots is that the character shapes are distorted.

Another drawback is that if characters are printed in a font consisting of 22 or 24 dots spaced vertically at 1/120 inch intervals, the characters will become larger.

Additionally, the spacing between pins is 1/160 inch or 1/1
When printing 8-dot characters at 1/72 or 1/60 inch vertical intervals using a conventional 80-inch printer, the disadvantage is that the characters become small.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the invention is to provide a circuit in which the above-mentioned drawbacks can be eliminated.

The circuit of the present invention is used in a dot matrix printer to which column data of m (positive integer) bits for printing in a print font of m dots vertically x n dots horizontally is sequentially provided, and a table having a plurality of predetermined conversion data. a storage means storing the m
dividing supply means for dividing bit column data into a plurality of first bit groups and supplying the divided first bit groups to the storage means; A logical operation means is provided for performing a predetermined logical operation using the obtained plurality of second bit groups and outputting i (>m) bit column data.

Next, the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 6, one embodiment of the present invention has a fixed storage unit 3 that stores a conversion data table, and inputs m-bit column data for printing in a printing font of m dots vertically by n dots horizontally. A division supply unit 2 which divides the m-bit column data given through the port 1 into a plurality of first bit groups and supplies each first bit group to the storage unit 3 as reference data.
and a logical operation unit 4 that performs a predetermined logical operation using a plurality of second bit groups respectively obtained from the storage unit 3 based on the first bit groups 11 to 14 and outputs i-bit column data. , a driver section 6 for driving printing pins using i-bit parallel data from the arithmetic section 4, and a timing control section 5 for controlling the timing at which column data is output from the driver section. If it is desired to print with a printing font of m dots x n dots, m-bit column data can be directly supplied to the driver section 6 via the first and second selection sections 7 and 8.

Next, the operation when performing enlarged printing will be explained. Assume that m, n=8, i=24, and the conversion data table shown in FIG. 3a is stored in the storage unit 3. Note that the data in the table is displayed in hexadecimal. When 8-bit column data 10 as shown in FIG. Divide into four first bit groups 11 to 14, refer to the table in the storage unit 3 using each first bit group,
Second bit group 21-24 for each first bit group
get. Next, in the calculation unit 4, the second bit group 2
2, 23, and 24 are rotated to the right by 2 bits, 4 bits, and 6 bits, respectively, to form third bit groups 22a, 23a, and 24a, and then a logical operation (second bit group 21∨(third bit Group 22a∧OF)) ((Third bit group 22a∧FO)
∨(third bit group 23a∨OF)) and ((third bit group 23a∨FO)∧third bit group 2
4a) (where symbols ∨ and ∧ indicate disjunction and disjunction operators respectively, OF and FO are 16
) to generate the fourth bit group 31 to 33 of 8 bits each, which are combined and sent to the driver unit 6 via the second selection unit 8 as 24-bit column data 30. supply The driver section 6 is controlled by the timing control section 5 so as to drive the printing pin twice for one column data 30. FIG. 4a shows 8 dots when 8-bit column data 10 is directly supplied to the driver section 6.
8-dot printing font is shown, and FIG. This shows the 24 dot x 16 dot printing font.

Next, a case will be described in which m, n=16, i=24, and the conversion data table shown in FIG. 3b is stored in the storage unit 3. When 16-bit column data 40 as shown in FIG. 1B is supplied to the division supply section 2 through the input port 1, the division supply section divides this column data 40 into four first bit groups of 4 bits each. 41 to 44, and refer to the table in the storage unit 3 using each first bit group.
A second bit group 21 to 24 is obtained for each bit group. Next, in the calculation unit 4, the second bit group 22,
23 and 24 are rotated to the right by 2 bits, 4 bits, and 6 bits, respectively, to form third bit groups 22a, 23a, and 24a, and then a logical operation (second bit group 21∨(third bit group 22
a∨OF)), ((third bit group 22a∧FO)∨
(Third bit group 23a∧OF)) and ((Third bit group 23a∨FO)∧Third bit group 24a)
The fourth bit group 3 of 8 bits each is executed.
1 to 33 are generated, combined, and supplied to the driver unit 6 as 24-bit column data 30.
After driving the printing pin twice for a certain column data 30, the driver section 6 drives it once for the next column data, and then drives it twice for the next column data.
The timing control unit 5 controls the timing control unit 5 to repeat the operation of driving twice. FIG. 5a shows a 16-dot x 16-dot printing font when 16-bit column data 10 is directly supplied to the driver section 6.
FIG. 1B shows a 24-dot×24-dot printing font when 24-bit column data 30 is generated from 16-bit column data 40 and this column data 30 is supplied to the driver section 6.

As described above, the present invention has the advantage that the font can be easily changed by changing the data in the conversion data table, thereby improving printing quality.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 5 are diagrams for explaining an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1...input port, 2...divided supply section, 3...storage section, 4...calculation section, 5...print timing control section, 6...driver section.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a print pattern generation circuit of a dot matrix printer to which column data of m (positive integer) bits for printing in a print font of m dots vertically by n dots horizontally is sequentially provided, a plurality of predetermined dots are used. storage means storing a table having conversion data of m bits; dividing supply means for dividing the m-bit column data into a plurality of first bit groups and supplying the m-bit column data to the storage means; logical operation means for performing a predetermined logical operation using a plurality of second bit groups each obtained by referring to the table in the storage means, and outputting column data of i (>m) bits; A printing pattern generation circuit for a dot matrix printer, characterized by comprising: 2. Claim 1, wherein the second bit group is obtained by supplying the first bit group to the storage means as address information.
The print pattern generation circuit for the dot matrix printer described in .