JPH01209169A - Printing control apparatus for page printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize the printing due to a page printer, by a method wherein one page is divided into several blocks in matching relation to the capacity capable being stored in a partial developing buffer and the bit map development of printing data is performed to the partial developing buffer at every block according to printing code data and bit map data is successively encoded to be stored in a code data buffer and, at the point of time when the code data corresponding to one page are collected, said data are decoded to be transmitted to a printer. CONSTITUTION:A drawing/transmitting means 11 performs drawing/transmission to a partial developing buffer 12 according to printing code data 10 to perform the bit map development of printing data. An encoding means 13 encodes the bit map data developed on the partial developing buffer 12 to transmit the same to a code data buffer 14. A decoding means 15 delivers printing data to an output means 16 while decodes the code data stored in the code data buffer 14 and the output means 16 receives the printing data from the encoding means 15 to output the same to a page printer. Therefore, the printing due to the page printer can be realized with the minimum memory capacity.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print control device for page printers such as word processors and workstations.

BACKGROUND ART 2 - 7 FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a printer control section in a conventional page printer print control device. In Figure 2,
The drawing/transfer means 21 performs drawing/transfer to the page buffer 22 according to the print code data 20, and develops the print data into a bitmap. On the other hand, the output means 23 outputs the data developed in the page buffer 22 to the page printer 24.

Next, the operation of the above conventional example will be explained. The drawing/transfer means prints the information to be printed according to the print code data 20.
A page or one or more pages is expanded into a bitmap in the page buffer 22. When one page or more than one page of data is developed in the page buffer 22, the output means 23 sends the bitmag data to the page printer 24 for printing.

In this way, even in the conventional page printer printing control device described above, page printer printing can be realized by providing a page buffer with a capacity equivalent to one page.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, the conventional printer printing control device described above has the following problems:
There has been a problem in that as the resolution and printing area of printers increases, the capacity required for storage means increases rapidly.

The present invention is intended to solve these conventional problems, and aims to provide an excellent page printer printing control device that can realize page printer printing with a minimum storage capacity.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides means for providing print information such as characters, figures, images, etc. as code data (hereinafter referred to as
(hereinafter referred to as print code data), means for developing the code data into bitmap data (hereinafter referred to as drawing/transfer means), and bitmap data having a storage capacity smaller than the storage capacity corresponding to one page of bitmap data. It is equipped with a storage means (hereinafter referred to as a partial expansion buffer), a means for encoding bitmap data (hereinafter referred to as an encoding means), and a capacity to store encoded data equivalent to at least one page. , means for storing encoded data (hereinafter referred to as encoded data buffer), means for decoding encoded bitmap data (hereinafter referred to as decoding means), and means for outputting decoded bitmap data to a printer. (hereinafter referred to as output means).

Effects The present invention has the following effects due to the above configuration.

The drawing/transfer means divides one page into several blocks according to the capacity that can be stored in the partial expansion buffer, and develops the print data into the partial expansion buffer as a bitmap for each block according to the print code data.

At the same time, the encoding means sequentially encodes the bitmap data and stores it in the encoded data buffer.

When the encoded data for one page is complete, the decoding means decodes it, and the output means transfers the decoded data to the printer, thereby realizing page printer printing.

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a drawing/transfer means 11 performs drawing/transfer to a partial expansion buffer 12 according to print code data 10, and develops the print data into a bitmap. On the other hand, the encoding means 13 transfers the bitmap data expanded in the partial expansion buffer 12 to the encoded data buffer 14 while encoding it. The decoding means 15 decodes the coded data stored in the coded data buffer 14 while outputting the coded data to the outputting means 16.
Pass the print data to. The output means 16 outputs the print data received from the decoding means 15 to the page printer 17.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained. In the above embodiment, the partial expansion buffer 12 does not have the capacity to store one page's worth of bitmap data. Therefore, drawing
The transfer means 11 bitmaps the amount of bitmap data that can be stored in the partial expansion buffer 12 in accordance with the print code data. Encoding means 1
3 encodes the bitmap data stored in the partial expansion buffer 12, and stores the encoded data in the encoded data buffer 14. Next, drawing/transfer means 1
1 newly develops a bitmap into the partial expansion buffer 12 for the part of the print code data 10 that has not been expanded into a bitmap in the same manner as the above procedure, and then outputs the bitmap to the encoding means 13.
Similarly to the above procedure, the bitmap data stored in the partial expansion buffer 12 is encoded and stored in the encoded data buffer. After repeating the above procedure and completing one page of code data on the code data buffer, the decoding means 15
transfers the encoded data to the output means 16 while decoding it. The output means 16 outputs the decoded bitmap data to the printer printer 17 for printing.

In this way, according to the embodiment described above, page printer printing can be realized with a total capacity of the partial expansion buffer capacity and code data buffer capacity that is smaller than the page buffer capacity in the conventional example.

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above embodiments, the present invention can realize page printer printing with a storage capacity smaller than the capacity corresponding to one page's worth of bitmap data. It has the effect that it can be used.

In addition, with the same storage capacity as the conventional example, it is possible to store multiple pages of data in the encoded data buffer, so printing throughput can be increased by processing bitmap expansion and output to the printer in parallel. have an effect.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a page printer print control device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a conventional page printer print control device. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Print code data, 11... Drawing/transfer means, 1, 2... Partial expansion buffer, 13... Encoding means, 14... Code data buffer, 15... Decoding means , 16... Output means, 17... Page printer. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other person No. 1
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Claims (1)

[Claims] means for providing print information such as characters, figures, images, etc. as code data; means for developing the code data into bitmap data; means for storing the bitmap data; and encoding of the stored bitmap data. means for storing the encoded data, having a capacity to store encoded data equivalent to at least one page, and means for decoding the stored encoded data;
A page printer print control device comprising means for outputting decoded bitmap data to a printer.