JPH08130645A - Printer device and printing method of printer device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] (Correction) [Purpose] In a printer that prints a mixture of binary images such as characters and line drawings and multi-valued images such as halftones, separates information about the gradation of each pixel. By storing, the usage efficiency of the memory is improved and the capacity of the memory installed in the printer is reduced. [Structure] The image information sent from a host computer 8 is separated by an image information analysis unit 9 into binary image data such as characters and multi-tone image data such as a halftone image,
The dot data expansion unit 10 expands the dot data of binary image data such as characters, and the multi-gradation image data such as a halftone image is expressed by the resolution setting unit 11 by how many dots each pixel is expressed, that is, 1 Dots are developed by setting the resolution of pixels, the dots are developed in the image information memory 12, and the printing position of each dot at the time of printing and the information of printing or non-printing are stored. The print signal generator 13 controls the print based on the contents stored in the image information memory 12.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer device for printing an image, and more particularly to a printer device for recording an image in which line drawing information such as characters and graphics and multi-tone image information are mixed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-227269, a memory installed in a printer for printing an image in which a binary image and a multi-valued image such as a halftone image are mixed. In order to save the amount of the image, it has been attempted to achieve the above-mentioned object by storing the binary image and the multi-valued image separately, but the information on the printing and non-printing of pixels,
There is a problem that memory is wasted when printing an image of only a binary image or an image with a different resolution because the information on the pixel density is stored collectively and the memory configuration is fixed.

[0003]

In the conventional printer, when printing an image in which pixels having different information amounts per pixel coexist, the resolution is adjusted according to the pixel having the maximum number of gradations, that is, the pixel having a large amount of information. However, as a result, there is a problem that a large amount of image memory for storing the gradation information of pixels is required.

According to the present invention, in a printer which prints a binary image such as a character or a line drawing and a multi-valued image such as a halftone in a mixed manner, information about the gradation of each pixel is stored separately. It is an object of the present invention to improve the use efficiency of a printer and to provide a printer device having a small capacity of a mounted memory.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an efficient printing method for the above apparatus.

[0006]

The above object can be achieved by adopting the following means. (1) In a printer that prints image information including a multi-tone image, a bit map memory for storing print or non-print information of pixels of a print image, and a plurality of types for each pixel in the image And a gradation information memory for storing information about the number of gradations.

(2) In a printer for printing with image information including a multi-tone image, a plurality of blocks of image information memory for storing image information including a multi-tone image,
One memory block of this image information memory is used as a bit map memory for storing the print and non-print of pixels, and the other memory block of the image information memory is used.
A block is a bit when the print image is only a binary image.
As a map memory, when the print image includes a multi-gradation image, an image information control unit that sets a word length according to the number of gradations and uses it as a gradation information memory that stores the number of gradations of pixels. The image information memory includes word length setting means for individually setting the word length of the memory for each of the image information memory blocks.

(3) A plurality of blocks for storing image information represented by a plurality of resolutions including a multi-tone image in a printer device for printing with image information represented by a plurality of resolutions including a multi-tone image Image information memory of
If the print image is only a binary image and includes image data having a resolution higher than the basic resolution, a plurality of blocks of the image information memory are connected to each other to form a single memory bit map of the image corresponding to the resolution of the print image. When data is stored and one of the image information memories is used as a bit map memory when the print image includes a multi-tone image, the other memory blocks of the image information memory are Image information control means for setting a word length in accordance with the number of gradations of an image and using it as a gradation information memory for storing the number of gradations of pixels, each of the image information memories being an image information memory. Memory block size setting means for changing the memory size of one block by setting connection and disconnection of blocks of the image information memory block And a word length setting means for setting the word length of the memory separately for.

(4) In (1) or (2), it has a function of printing a multi-tone image at a plurality of different resolutions according to the number of tones of image information.

(5) In a printer for printing with image information including a multi-gradation image, a bit map memory for storing printing or non-printing information of pixels of a printing image and each pixel in the image A gradation information memory for storing information about a plurality of kinds of gradations, a laser irradiation means for forming an electrostatic latent image on a photoconductor based on image information, and a pulse width or pulse of this laser irradiation means. And an irradiation condition control means for changing the number.

(6) 2 according to the image information including the multi-tone image
A bit map memory for storing information of printing or non-printing of pixels of a printed image in a printer device for printing using a color-developing medium of different colors or more, and a plurality of gradations for each pixel in the image. A gradation information memory for storing information about numbers and having a random accessible high speed memory and a storage device slower than the high speed memory is provided.

(7) 2 according to the image information including the multi-tone image
In a printer device that prints using different color media of different colors, a plurality of blocks of image information memory for storing image information including a multi-tone image and one memory block of the image information memory are It is used as a bit map memory for storing printing and non-printing of pixels, and another memory block of the image information memory is used as a bit map memory when the printing image is only a binary image. When the image includes a multi-gradation image, it has an image information control means for setting a word length according to the number of gradations and using it as a gradation information memory for storing the number of gradations of the pixel. The memory comprises word length setting means for individually setting the word length of the memory for each of the image information memory blocks.

(8) In (5), a means for counting the number of pixels to be printed out of all the pixels in the printed image and a function for controlling the toner supply amount according to the ratio of the printed pixels in all the pixels are provided. Have.

Further, the above-mentioned other object is achieved by taking the following means.

(9) In a printing method of a printer device for printing with image information including a multi-tone image, the printer device is provided with a plurality of blocks of image information memory, and the image information memory is one of the image information memories. When the word length of the memory is set as a bit map memory for storing the print or non-print of pixels in the memory block, and the other memory block of the image information memory has a print image of only a binary image. Is a bit map memory,
When the print image includes a multi-gradation image, the word length is set according to the number of gradations and used as a gradation information memory for storing the number of gradations of pixels.

(10) In a printing method of a printer device for printing with image information represented by a plurality of resolutions including a multi-tone image, the printer device is provided with a plurality of blocks of image information memory, and the printed image is a binary image. If it contains image data that is only higher than the basic resolution,
A plurality of image information memory blocks are connected to each other to store bit map data of an image corresponding to the resolution of a print image as one memory, and when the print image includes a multi-gradation image, the image information memory One of the memory blocks is used as a bit map memory, and the other memory block of the image information memory sets the data word length of the memory according to the number of gradations of the image, It is used as a gradation information memory that stores the number of tones.

(11) In (9), the printer device is provided with a laser irradiation means for forming an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor based on the image information, and the laser irradiation means is one pixel of the image information. By changing the number of pulses of a laser beam having a constant pulse width for forming the image, line drawing information including characters and multi-gradation image information are printed with different resolutions.

(12) In (9), the printer device is provided with a laser irradiation means for forming an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor based on the image information, and the laser irradiation means is one pixel of the image information. By varying the pulse width of a constant number of laser beams for forming the image, line drawing information including characters and multi-gradation image information are printed with different resolutions.

[0019]

[Function] A memory having a variable data word length is provided as a bit map memory or a gradation information memory for storing an address of a memory and a printing position of a pixel in association with each other. By storing the gradation information memory in the gradation information memory, it is sufficient to prepare the gradation information memory in accordance with the maximum value of the ratio of the multi-gradation image in the print image, so that the memory capacity required for the printer is reduced. It becomes possible.

First, an image in which the capacity of each block is equivalent to one page of an image of the reference resolution, and the image memory divided into a plurality of blocks is composed of pixels that take only two values at the reference resolution. Is input, the image memory is configured to store a plurality of pages of bit map data.

Further, when an image having a high resolution and composed of pixels that take only binary values is input, the image memory is connected over a plurality of blocks so that the input image data can be stored in one page. High-resolution image data of a minute or more is stored. When printing images with different resolutions by this, by storing a large-capacity memory necessary for storing high-resolution images, and by storing image data for a plurality of pages when storing images with standard resolution, It can be used effectively.

Further, when the input image is a four-color image and is a mixed image of a binary image and a multivalued halftone image, one block of the image memory is a bit map which is information regarding printing and non-printing of pixels. The data word length of the memory is set so that one page of data is stored and the remaining memory blocks store the gradation information of the pixels of the halftone image. The memory blocks for storing gradation information are connected so as to have a capacity for storing gradation information for one page for one color,
If the size of the halftone image in the input image of one page is 1/4 page or less, the gradation information for four colors is stored. In this case, the storage position of the gradation information and the storage position of the bit map data do not have a one-to-one correspondence, and among all the pixels forming the image for one page, the gradation level of the halftone pixel is Only the tones are stored in the tone information memory. When the size of the halftone image is 1/4 page or more, only the gradation information for one color is stored, and the gradation information for another color is stored each time the printer engine finishes printing for one color. Remember to print.

As a result, the memory required for printing the halftone image is reduced, and when the size of the halftone image is small, the entire image data is stored in the image memory and printing is performed at high speed. If it is large, only the image data for one color is stored in the image memory, and the data of other colors are sequentially transferred, stored and printed. Further, in a laser beam printer having an image memory having the above-mentioned configuration, by changing the pulse number or pulse width of a laser beam for printing one pixel according to the density of the pixel, Can be printed.

Further, by providing a means for measuring the number of printing dots in the bit map memory and the gradation information memory,
Estimate the required amount of toner from the total number of printing dots obtained,
If the toner does not run short in the normal printing processing procedure, printing is performed as it is, and if it runs short, the printer engine is instructed to select another processing procedure for additional supply. As a result, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of print density unevenness due to the shortage of the toner amount without adding information regarding the required toner amount to the image data on the side of creating the image data.

[0025]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. This embodiment uses a single color or two colors.
The present invention relates to a printer device that efficiently uses an image information memory when printing images having different resolutions as value images.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a color laser beam printer according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a printer control unit, which receives a print command from a host computer 8 outside the printer and controls the print by the printer. The laser beam irradiation system 2 is the printer control unit 1.
In accordance with the control from 1), the number of pulses is varied with a constant pulse width or the laser beam is varied with a constant number of pulses according to the density of the pixel to be printed on the charged photosensitive drum 3. Form an electrostatic latent image. Development unit 4
In a, 4b, 4c and 4d, yellow (hereinafter referred to as Y), magenta (hereinafter referred to as M), cyan (hereinafter referred to as C) and black (hereinafter referred to as C) with respect to the photosensitive drum 3 on which the electrostatic latent image is formed. The four color toners (hereinafter referred to as K) are attached by the developing units 4a, 4b, 4c and 4d corresponding to the respective colors, and then the toners attached to the electrostatic latent image are transferred to the transfer drum 5, and A toner image corresponding to the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 3 is formed by being transferred onto the recording paper 6. The toner is finally pressurized and heated by the fixing device 7 and fixed on the recording paper 6.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the printer control unit 1 shown in FIG. 1. As shown in the figure, the printer control unit analyzes the image data sent from the host computer 8 to convert the image data into characters, An image information analysis unit 9 for separating a binary image such as a line drawing and a multivalued image such as a halftone image
And a dot data expansion unit 10 that expands dots of binary image data of the image data, and how many dots represent one pixel in the multivalued image of the image data, that is, the resolution of one pixel is set. Resolution setting unit 11 for performing dot expansion by dot, dot data expansion unit 10 and resolution setting unit 11
The dot expansion is performed by, and the printing position is controlled based on the printing position of each dot at the time of printing, the image information memory 12 composed of an IC memory for storing the printing or non-printing information, and the stored contents of the image information memory. It is composed of a print signal generator 13 for performing.

The structure of the image information memory 12 is shown in FIGS. As shown in FIG. 3, in the initial state, the image information memory is composed of four memory blocks 12a to 12d each having a memory size of 1,085 KByte. This memory size has a pixel density of 1 page of A4 size image.
This corresponds to the storage capacity required for the bit map memory when printing at 300 dpi (dot per inch).

On the other hand, when image data composed of only binary data of 300 dpi and of single color is transmitted from the host computer 8, the data word length of each block of the image information memory is changed as shown in FIG. 1 bit, addresses are set to be arranged in order from 1st address to 1,085,000th address, and it is configured to store bit map data which is setting information of printing dot or non-printing dot, and each of the memory blocks 12a to 12d is configured. The A4 image is used as a storage area for the bit map data of the first to fourth pages. Further, when the print image is a color binary image of four colors (Y, M, C, K), the memory blocks 12a to 12d.
Are used as bit map memories corresponding to images of four colors of Y, M, C, and K, respectively.

Next, when the image data transmitted from the host computer 8 is a monochromatic binary image of 600 dpi vertically and horizontally, four memory blocks having a data word length of 1 bit are set as shown in FIG. By concatenating, the addresses of the memory blocks are made into a single bit map memory so that the addresses from 1 to 4,340,000 are arranged in order, and the image data of A4 and one page of the monochrome binary image data with a pixel density of 600 dpi is 600 dpi. It is configured to be used as a storage area. The image data thus transmitted from the host computer 8 is stored in the image information memory 12, and then the printing process is executed. In the printing process, the data of the portion designated by the address counter 14 in the image information memory is sent to the printing signal generation unit 13, and the address counter 14 sequentially reads the data from the memory block every time the data is read from the memory block. Move the specified read address.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, by changing the configuration of the image information memory according to the image data transmitted from the host computer 8, it is possible to print the high-definition image data with a pixel density of 600 dpi. The memory device provided for this purpose can be used to store image data for multiple pages or for four colors of a color image when image data with a coarse pixel density of 300 dpi is transmitted. Has an effect that can be effectively used.

Next, the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
And FIG. 7. The present embodiment relates to a printer device for efficiently using a memory when a print image includes a monochromatic or color binary image and also a monochromatic or color halftone image.

In this embodiment, the printer control unit 1
FIG. 6 shows the flow of processing when image information is input from the host computer 8. After the image information is input to the printer control unit 1 (step 100), the image information analysis unit 9 separates it into binary information such as characters and line drawings and image information of a multi-tone image such as a halftone image (step 101). ),letter,
For the line drawing information, the dot data expansion unit 10 determines whether or not to print each pixel in the printing screen (step 104), and sets 1 or 0 in the bit map memory corresponding to each pixel in the image memory 12. To do. Of these, in the case of line drawing information,
It is divided into line drawing information and character information (step 102). In the case of character information, according to the shape data stored in advance in a memory such as a ROM or a magnetic disk in the printer control unit,
Vector data is generated according to the shape of the character corresponding to the symbol described in the image information (step 103), and the image information memory 12 is combined with the vector data of the line drawing information.
The bit map memory corresponding to each pixel is set (step 104). In the case of a halftone image, the coordinate data of the area of the image is stored in the gradation area setting memory (step 105).

The gradation information of each pixel, that is, the density data, is held in the gradation information memory as described above (step 106). In the case of a multi-tone image, it is assumed that the print position of each pixel is described in the image information input to the printer control unit, and the bit map memory is set according to the description of the image information in the case of a binary image. Similarly, setting is performed by the dot data expansion unit 10 (step 107).

This embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that
The image information memory is composed of memory blocks 12a to 12d having a memory size of 1,085 KBytes, and in addition to the gradation area setting memory 15. First, when printing a monochrome image with a pixel density of 300 dpi, each memory block 12a to 12d has a word length of 1bi as in the first embodiment.
It is used as a bit map memory for 4 pages of print image, which has a structure of t and address from 1 to 1,085,000.

On the other hand, when printing an image in which a monochromatic binary image and a halftone image are mixed, the memory block 1
2a has a word length of 1 bit and addresses are numbered from 1 to 1,085,000 to store bit map data, whereas memory blocks 12a to 12d are concatenated to have a data word length of 3 bits and an address of 1 From number 1,08
A single gradation information memory of up to 5,000 addresses is used. This gradation information memory has a storage capacity of gradation data for one page of an A4 image having a pixel density of 300 dpi. In this case, since the data word length is 3 bits, one pixel has 5 density levels from 0 to 4. It is possible to express the gradation of values.

Next, in the case where the print image has four colors and the binary image and the halftone image are mixed and the ratio of the size of the halftone image in one page is 25% or less, FIG. Memory blocks 12a-12d as shown
Are Y, M, C, as gradation information memories divided into areas from addresses 1 to 271,250.
The gradation data of each color K is stored.

In this case, the address of the bit map memory and the address of the gradation information memory do not have a one-to-one correspondence. During the printing process, the pixel corresponding to the address indicated by the address counter 14a of the bit map memory is a binary image based on the position information of the halftone pixel stored in the gradation area setting memory. In some cases, a signal corresponding to the print signal generator 13 is sent, and in the case of halftone pixels, the grayscale information of the address designated by the address counter 14b of the grayscale information memory is read out, and the print signal is output. Concentration data is sent to the generator.

Only when the gradation information is read in this way, the designated address of the address counter 14b moves to the next address in the gradation information memory. In the above example, the gradation of the halftone is described only in the case of 5 values, but it is possible to correspond to the gradation number of 9 values or more by setting the data word gradation of the gradation information memory to 4 bits. .

In the laser beam type printer such as the printer device according to the present embodiment, the dot, which is the minimum unit of printing, basically has only two states as shown in FIG. I can't take it. Therefore, when printing halftone pixels, it is necessary to configure one pixel with a plurality of dots.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10, a matrix of 2 × 2 dots printed at a pixel density of 600 dpi constitutes one pixel having a pixel density of 300 dpi, and printing out of four dots is carried out. A method of expressing densities in five levels from 0 to 4 depending on the number of dots is adopted. The relationship between the number of gradations in the image information memory, the density data, and the printing pixels is as shown in FIG.

When the number of gradations is nine, the print dot density is 1200 dpi, and one pixel is composed of a matrix of 4 × 2 dots (pixel density is 300 dpi). In this embodiment, 2
A4 size image (2480 with both value image and halftone image)
When printing pixels (in one row) × 3500 rows: pixel density 300 dpi, the bit map memory corresponding to one row is continuously scanned twice. This is one of the pixels
This is because one row corresponds to two rows of dots, and development from pixel data to dot data is performed as shown in FIG.

According to the present embodiment, the pixel density of 2 is 300 dpi.
For the value image, the image data for 4 pages is stored in the memory and printing is performed at high speed. For the image in which the binary image of 300 dpi and the halftone image are mixed, the image data for 1 page is output for the single color image. It becomes possible to store it in the memory and print it. For color images, the density of halftone pixels,
By storing the halftone pixel position information and bit map data separately, if the size of the halftone image is within 25% of one page, the halftone image is stored in the memory and printed. It becomes possible.

A third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. While the image information memory of the second embodiment is composed of four memory blocks of 1,085 KByte each, in the present embodiment, it is 1,085 Kbytes.
It consists of 13 Byte memory blocks.

As a result, when printing a binary image having a single color and a pixel density of 300 dpi, it is possible to store 13 pages of an A4 size image in the memory and print the image. When printing an A4 size image including a halftone image of 5 levels, it is possible to store up to 4 pages of images in which the size of the halftone image is one page in the memory and print. Furthermore, when printing an A4 size image that includes a halftone image with a color density of 300 dpi and a density of 5 steps in color, the image data in which the size of the halftone image occupies one page is stored in memory for one page. It becomes possible to memorize.

According to this embodiment, since the gradation information of the color halftone image can be stored in the memory for one page, the address of the bit map memory and
Addresses of the gradation information memory can be made to correspond one-to-one, so that it is not necessary to secure an extra memory as the gradation area setting memory.

A fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, four colors are used and the pixel density is 30.
This is an example of printing an A4 size image including a halftone image having a density of 5 steps at 0 dpi. In contrast to the second embodiment described above, the memory blocks 12b to 12d are connected and the data word length is 3 bits. The difference is that it is used as a gradation information memory corresponding to one color as a single memory block.

The gradation information for the remaining three colors is stored in the magnetic disk 16 having a storage capacity of 10 MBytes, and transferred to the memory blocks 12b to 12d when the printing for one color is completed. The laser beam printer needs to transfer the image data for one color and one page at high speed to the laser beam irradiation system of the printer engine, but insert a delay time before moving to the next color printing. Memory block 1 from the magnetic disk during this delay time.
It becomes possible to transfer the gradation information to 2b to 12d.

Thus, it is not necessary to prepare an expensive and high-speed IC memory element for storing all the bit map information and the gradation information, and the gradation information, that is, the gradation information, that is, even if the all-mark screen is a halftone image. It is possible to store 3/4 of the density information of 3 bits per pixel in a low speed storage device such as a magnetic disk or magneto-optical disk whose unit price per bit is relatively low for a high speed memory element.

Further, in the present embodiment, since the address of the bit map memory and the address of the gradation information memory can be made to correspond to each other one by one, it is not necessary to secure an extra memory as the gradation area setting memory.

The fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The present embodiment is different from the second embodiment in that the gradation information is stored in a variable length, and when printing an image in which a color binary image and a halftone image are mixed, Even if there is not enough storage capacity of the gradation information memory to accommodate a halftone image of one page of A4 size image, it is possible to store the gradation information without the gradation area setting memory.

In this embodiment, the memory block 12a has a data word length of 1 bit and is used as a bit map memory, and the memory blocks 12b to 12d have a data word length of 8 bits. One memory block is connected and used as a single gradation information memory, and in the case of a color image, it is used as a gradation information memory corresponding to Y, M, C and K, respectively. Gradation information memory 12b-12
The data stored in d is a set of data that has the same number of gradations (binary or halftone (five values)) and is described with consecutive pixels as one unit.

The format of the data is as shown in FIG.
First, there is a data word length of 8 bits, and there is a header part that indicates the number of pixels, then 1 bit (0: 2 value, 1: halftone (5 values)) gradation number specification part, and finally 3 bits per pixel. , The density data portion for the number of pixels designated by the header portion is arranged. However, if a binary image is specified in the gradation number specification section,
There is no concentration data section.

In this embodiment, since the data word length is 8 bits, if the number of consecutive identical pixels exceeds 255, 2
The data word length of the header part can be changed by a command from the host computer 8. In this case, the data word length can be changed according to the nature of the print image. It is possible to select whether or not 256 or more continuous halftone pixels can be collectively described as 9 bits or more or the data word length is shortened to reduce the storage capacity required in the header part.

According to the present embodiment, when an image including a color halftone image is printed, if the size of the halftone image does not exceed 1/4 at the maximum, the image is not particularly provided without providing the gradation area setting memory. Data can be stored in the image information memory.

The sixth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The present embodiment is different from the second embodiment in that a density counter 17 and a dot counter 18 for counting the ratio of print dots in one image page are provided. In the laser beam printer, if the area occupied by the printing area in the image becomes large, the printing density becomes low with the amount of toner supplied by the normal processing procedure, and therefore when receiving image data from the host computer in advance. In many cases, the data of the number of printing dots in one page of an image is also received together.

In the present embodiment, the number of printing dots can be calculated inside the printer controller by counting the number of printing pixels in the bit map memory and the density data in the gradation information memory. This has the effect of shortening the processing time for the host computer to calculate the printing dots by software.

In FIG. 18, when the above embodiments are applied, the amount of memory required in a color printer for printing on A4 size recording paper at a pixel density of 300 dpi in the vertical and horizontal directions is set to a multi-valued gradation. The value is shown according to the maximum percentage of the total print screen. The required memory amount when the printing screen product is 100% corresponds to the case where the above-described embodiments are not applied. As described above, according to each embodiment, in a printer that prints a binary image such as a character and a line drawing and a multi-tone image, the ratio of the multi-tone image to the entire print screen is If it is small, the required memory capacity can be reduced. Also,
Even if the memory has to be equipped in accordance with the case where the halftone image occupies the whole print screen, the memory is not wasted.

[0059]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a printer device that prints by using image information described in a form capable of distinguishing a character and a line drawing input from the outside and a multi-gradation image, When the area occupies in the entire printing screen is always less than a certain value, the bitmap data and the grayscale data are stored separately so that the memory capacity of the printer can be reduced. Have an effect. Further, by changing the data word length of the gradation information memory, when printing an image that does not include a halftone image, the gradation information memory is set to a bit map of multiple pages.
By using it for storing data or storing a high-definition binary image, it is possible to prevent waste of memory.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a laser beam according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
It is a block diagram of a printer.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a printer control unit in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an image information memory according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of an image information memory according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of an image information memory according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a process flow chart according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of an image information memory according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of an image information memory according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of pixel density expression by a dot pattern according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of expression of pixel density by a dot pattern according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is an expansion explanatory diagram of pixel data into dot data according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram of an image information memory according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a configuration diagram of an image information memory according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a configuration diagram of an image information memory according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a configuration diagram of an image information memory according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a format of data stored in the image information memory according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image information memory according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention and another configuration related to the memory.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a required memory capacity according to the maximum size of multi-grayscale data, which illustrates the effect of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Printer control unit, 2 ... Laser beam irradiation system, 3 ...
Photoreceptor drums 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d ... Developing section, 5 ...
Transfer drum, 6 ... Recording paper, 7 ... Fixing device, 8 ... Host computer, 9 ... Image information analysis unit, 10 ... Pixel data development unit, 11 ... Resolution setting unit, 12 ... Image information memory, 13
... Print signal generator, 144 ... Address counter, 15
... gradation area setting memory, 16 ... magnetic disk, 17 ... density counter, 18 ... dot counter.

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A printer for printing with image information including a multi-tone image, a bit map memory for storing information of printing or non-printing of pixels of a printing image, and a plurality of bit map memories for each pixel in the image. A printer apparatus, comprising: a gradation information memory for storing information about the number of gradations of a type. 2. A printer device for printing with image information including a multi-tone image, comprising a plurality of blocks of image information memory for storing image information including a multi-tone image, and one of the image information memories. The memory block is used as a bit map memory for storing printing and non-printing of pixels, and another memory block of the image information memory is a bit map memory when the printing image is only a binary image. When the print image includes a multi-gradation image, the memory has an image information control unit that sets a word length according to the number of gradations and is used as a gradation information memory that stores the number of gradations of pixels. The image information memory comprises a word length setting means for individually setting the word length of the memory for each of the image information memory blocks. 3. A printer device for printing with image information represented by a plurality of resolutions including a multi-tone image, comprising a plurality of blocks for storing image information represented by a plurality of resolutions including a multi-tone image. In the case where the image information memory and the print image include only binary images and image data having a resolution higher than the basic resolution, a plurality of blocks of the image information memory are connected to correspond to the resolution of the print image as one memory. Bit map data of an image is stored, and when a print image includes a multi-tone image, one memory block of the image information memory is used as a bit map memory, and The memory block has an image information control unit that sets a word length according to the number of gradations of an image and is used as a gradation information memory that stores the number of gradations of pixels. The image information memory, memory block size setting means for setting connection and disconnection of each block of the image information memory to change the memory size of one block, and each of the image information memory blocks And a word length setting means for individually setting the word length of the memory. 4. The printer device according to claim 1, wherein the printer device has a function of printing a multi-tone image at a plurality of different resolutions according to the number of tones of image information. 5. A printer device for printing with image information including a multi-gradation image, a bit map memory for storing printing or non-printing information of pixels of a printing image, and a plurality of pixels for each pixel in the image. A gradation information memory for storing information about the number of kinds of gradations, a laser irradiation means for forming an electrostatic latent image on a photoconductor based on image information, and a pulse width or pulse number of the laser irradiation means. And a irradiation condition control unit for changing the printer. 6. A bit map for storing information of printing or non-printing of pixels of a printing image in a printer device for printing using two or more different color forming media according to image information including a multi-gradation image. A gradation having a memory, a high-speed memory for storing information about a plurality of kinds of gradations for each pixel in an image and capable of random access, and a storage device slower than the high-speed memory A printer device comprising an information memory. 7. A plurality of blocks of image information memory for storing image information including a multi-tone image in a printer apparatus for printing using two or more different color forming media according to image information including a multi-tone image. And, one of the memory blocks in this image information memory is used as a bit map memory for storing printing and non-printing of pixels,
The other memory block of the image information memory is a bit map memory when the print image is only a binary image, and the word length is set according to the number of gradations when the print image includes a multi-gradation image. Image information control means for use as a gradation information memory for storing the number of gradations of pixels, and the image information memory sets the word length of the memory individually for each of the image information memory blocks. A printer device comprising: a word length setting unit for 8. The printer device according to claim 5,
A printer device having a unit for counting the number of pixels to be printed out of all pixels in a printed image and a function for controlling the toner supply amount according to the ratio of the printed pixels to all pixels. 9. A printing method for a printer apparatus for printing with image information including a multi-gradation image, wherein the printer apparatus is provided with a plurality of blocks of image information memory, and the image information memory is one of the image information memories. When the word length of the memory is set as a bit map memory for storing the printing or non-printing of pixels in the block, and the other memory block of the image information memory is such that the printing image is only a binary image. As a bit map memory,
A printing method for a printer, wherein when a printed image includes a multi-gradation image, the word length is set according to the number of gradations and used as a gradation information memory for storing the number of gradations of pixels. 10. A printing method of a printer device for printing with image information represented by a plurality of resolutions including a multi-gradation image, wherein the printer device is provided with a plurality of blocks of image information memory, and the print image is only a binary image. And including image data having a resolution higher than the basic resolution, a plurality of image information memory blocks are concatenated to form a bit map of an image corresponding to the resolution of the printed image as one memory.
When data is stored, and when the print image includes a multi-tone image, one memory block of the image information memory is used as a bit map memory, and another memory block of the image information memory is used. Is a printing method for a printer, wherein the data word length of the memory is set according to the number of gradations of an image and is used as a gradation information memory for storing the number of gradations of pixels. 11. The printing method for a printer device according to claim 9, wherein the printer device comprises a laser irradiation means for forming an electrostatic latent image on a photoconductor based on image information. Is characterized in that line drawing information including characters and multi-gradation image information are printed with different resolutions by varying the number of pulses of a laser beam having a constant pulse width for forming one pixel of image information. A printing method for a printer device. 12. The printing method for a printer device according to claim 9, wherein the printer device comprises a laser irradiation means for forming an electrostatic latent image on a photoconductor based on image information. Is characterized in that line drawing information including characters and multi-gradation image information are printed with different resolutions by varying the pulse width of a laser beam having a constant number of pulses for forming one pixel of image information. A printing method for a printer device.