Output method and apparatus
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorMasaaki Shimizu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An output apparatus such as a printer comprises: a presumed time calculator to calculate a time which is needed to develop code data into output data corresponding to each segment among a plurality of segments constructing one and a determining circuit to determine whether the output data of the segment should previously be developed into a bit map image and stored or not on the basis of the presumed time and a time required to generate one page irrespective of the output data. The time required to generate one page relates to the paper feed speed.
Claims36
An output apparatus comprising:
- means for presuming a time required to convert code data corresponding to each of a plurality of partial regions constructing one page into bit map data;
- determining means for determining whether or not the code data of each region should previously be converted into bit map data and stored based on the presumed time obtained by said presuming means and based on an inherent printing speed of a printer engine;
- means for storing the bit map data of a region, which has been determined by the determining means to be a region which should previously be converted into bit map data, prior to printing;
- and
- transfer means for transferring bit map data by a partial region unit in sequence of one page to the printer engine upon printing one page, wherein, in the case the code data of a region is previously converted into bit map data and stored in said storing means, said transfer means transfers the stored bit map data to the printer engine and, in the case the code data of that region is not previously converted into bit map data, said transfer means converts that code data into bit map data and transfers the converted bit map data to the printer engine.
An output method comprising the steps of:
- presuming a time required to convert code data corresponding to each of a plurality of partial regions constructing one page into bit map data;
- determining whether or not the code data of each region should previously be converted into bit map data and stored based on the presumed time and based on an inherent printing speed of a printer engine for printing the bit map data;
- storing, the bit map data of a region, which has been determined in the determining step to be an area which should previously be converted into bit map data, prior to printing;
- and
- transferring bit map data by a partial region unit in sequence of one page to the printer engine upon printing one page, wherein, in the case the code data of a region is previously converted into bit map data and stored in said storing step, the stored bit map data is transferred in the transfer step to the printer engine and, in the case the code data of that region is not previously converted into bit map data, the code data is converted into bit map data and the converted bit map data is transferred to the printer engine in the transfer step.
An output apparatus which applies a generation process to first information input from an information processing apparatus in order to generate second information therefrom and which outputs the generated second information, said output apparatus comprising:
- dividing means for dividing the first information input from the information processing apparatus into a plurality of segments;
- discriminating means for discriminating between a first group of the plurality of segments to which the generation process can be applied within a prescribed time, and a second group of the plurality of segments to which the generation process cannot be applied within the prescribed time;
- and
- control means for controlling said output apparatus to store in a memory the input first information for the first group without applying the generation process, and for controlling said output apparatus to apply the generation process to the input first information for the second group so as to generate the second information and to store the generated second information in the memory.
An output method carried out in an output apparatus which applies a generation process to first information input from an information processing apparatus in order to generate second information therefrom and which outputs the generated second information, said output method comprising the steps of:
- dividing the first information input from the information processing apparatus into a plurality of segments;
- discriminating between a first group of the plurality of segments to which the generation process can be applied within a prescribed time, and a second group of the plurality of segments to which the generation process cannot be applied within the prescribed time;
- and
- controlling the output apparatus to store in a memory the input first information in the first group without applying the generation process, and for controlling the output apparatus to apply the generation process to the input first information for the second group so as to generate the second information and to store the generated second information in the memory.
An output control apparatus which divides one page of code data into segments and controls data output for each segment, said apparatus comprising:
- determining means for determining, based on a time required to convert pattern data into image data segment-by-segment and a time predetermined based on an output speed of a printer used in conjunction with said apparatus whether the image data can be drawn in a memory in the predetermined time;
- and
- control means for controlling image data drawing such that the image data is drawn in the memory in advance based on the pattern data for one segment, if said determining means determines that the image data for the one segment cannot be drawn in the predetermined time.
A drawing method which divides one page of code data into segments and controls data output of each segment, comprising the steps of:
- a determining step for determining, based on a time required to convert pattern data into image data segment-by-segment and a time predetermined based on an output speed of a printer used in conjunction with said method, whether the image data can be drawn in a memory in the predetermined time;
- and
- a controlling step for controlling image data drawing such that the image data is drawn in the memory in advance based on the pattern data for one segment, if said determining step determines that the image data cannot be drawn in the predetermined time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.