Facsimile and static presentation processing – Static presentation processing – Attribute control
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-15
2001-08-28
Mancuso, Joseph (Department: 2624)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Static presentation processing
Attribute control
C358S524000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06281985
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a print control apparatus, print control method, and memory medium for performing a band process.
2. Related Background Art
The processing operation of a conventional printing apparatus will now be described with reference to the a flowchart shown in FIG.
8
.
FIG. 8
is a flowchart showing an example of a data processing procedure of a conventional printing apparatus. Reference numerals (
1
) to (
9
) denote processing steps.
First, in step (
1
), a check is made to see if a bit map developing process of one band is finished. If YES, the processing routine is finished. If NO, a CPU analyzes character code data for every character (
2
) and first discriminates whether a font of the relevant character has been registered in a compressed font cache memory (
3
). If it is decided that the font has been registered, its compressed font is decompressed by a decompressor (
8
) and developed into a band memory (
9
).
If it is decided in step (
3
) that the font is not registered, a check is made to see if it has been registered in the compressed font in the font ROM (
4
). If YES, the compressed font is decompressed by a decompressor (
8
) and is developed in the band memory (
9
).
If it is determined in step (
4
) that the font is not registered, a scalable font corresponding to the character is read out from a scalable font in the font ROM and is scaled by the CPU (
5
). The scaled font is developed into the band memory (
5
-
1
). A bit map font of the character is compressed by a compressor (
6
) and is registered into a compressed font cache memory (
7
). The processing routine is then returned to step (
1
).
As mentioned above, in the foregoing conventional printing apparatus, even in a case where a certain character lies across a plurality of bands, the same character font is decompressed every band by the decompressor and the corresponding portion is read out and developed into the band memory. There is consequently a problem that band processing efficiency deteriorates.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is made to solve the above problem and it is an object of the invention to provide a print control apparatus and a print control method, in which when printable bit map font data is decompressed from a compressed font, with respect to a character which lies across a plurality of bands, by caching the character in a state of a bit map font, it is directly developed into a band memory from a bit map font cache memory at the time of a developing process of the band, a processing burden upon band development is reduced, and a development processing time is reduced, and also to provide a computer-readable memory medium encoded with a program.
According to the invention, there is provided a print control apparatus comprising: a band memory for storing data to be outputted from a printer engine on a predetermined band unit basis; decompressing means for decompressing compressed font data into bit map font data; discriminating means for discriminating whether or not the bit map font data decompressed by the decompressing means is developed across a plurality of bands which are set in the band memory and a cache memory for caching the bit map font data decompressed by the decompressing means in the case where the discriminating means determines that the decompressed bit map font data is developed across a plurality of bands.
According to the invention, there is provided a print control method of developing data to be outputted from a printer engine into a band memory on a predetermined band unit basis, comprising: a decompressing step of decompressing compressed font data to bit map font data; a discriminating step of discriminating whether or not the decompressed bit map font data is developed across a plurality of bands which are set in the band memory and a caching step of caching the decompressed bit map font data into a cache memory in the case where it is determined by the discriminating step that the decompressed bit map font data is developed across a plurality of bands.
According to the invention, there is also provided a computer-readable memory medium encoded with a program for controlling development of data to be outputted from a printer engine into a band memory on a predetermined band unit basis, wherein the memory medium stores a program comprising: a decompressing step of decompressing compressed font data to bit map font data; a discriminating step of discriminating whether or not the decompressed bit map font data is developed across a plurality of bands which are set in the band memory; and a caching step of caching the decompressed bit map font data into a cache memory when it is determined by the discriminating step that the decompressed bit map font data is developed across a plurality of bands.
According to the invention, there is provided a print control apparatus comprising: discriminating means for discriminating whether a character lies across bands or not; and generating means for generating data so that it can be read out and developed in a non-compressed state when it is developed in a band memory in the case where it is determined by the discriminating means that the character lies across the bands.
According to the invention, there is provided a print control method comprising: a discriminating step of discriminating whether a character lies across bands; and a generating step of generating data so that it can be read out and developed in a non-compressed state when it is developed in a band memory in the case where it is determined by the discriminating step that the character lies across the bands.
According to the invention, there is provided a memory medium for storing a program comprising: a discriminating step of discriminating whether or not a character lies across bands and a generating step of generating data so that it can be read out and developed in a non-compressed state when it is developed in a band memory in the case where it is determined by the discriminating step that the character lies across the bands.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4235167 (1980-11-01), Staugaard
patent: 5483622 (1996-01-01), Zimmerman et al.
patent: 5732202 (1998-03-01), Okamoto
patent: 5768486 (1998-06-01), Sugaya
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Mancuso Joseph
Tran Douglas
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