Electronic equipment with a printer

Electronic equipment with a printer has a special graph print mode designation means, in which, when a special graph print mode is designated by the special graph print mode designation means in a graph data input operation, the print density of the corresponding graph data area in the graph is modified.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to graph printing in electronic equipment 
with a printer. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
It has been a common practice to display a calculation result by a chart 
such as a graph to facilitate visual recognition. A desk-top computer or a 
portable printer having a graph print function has been known. 
In the graph printing, data to be specially noted is preferably expressed 
with emphasis, and when respective items are to be expressed by different 
graph patterns, data to be specifically noted is preferably printed in an 
emphasized manner so that it is easily distinguished and hence efficiency 
of work is improved. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic equipment 
with a printer in which a special key is provided, which when it is 
depressed, a print density of a graph pattern is increased in order to 
print the pattern in an emphasized manner.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
FIG. 1 shows a diagram of a keyboard KB of a printer in accordance with one 
embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a 
configuration for printing a graph while increasing a print density by 
data inputted by the keyboard KB. 
In FIGS. 1 and 2, when a print mode switch SW1 on the keyboard KB is 
switched from a normal mode to a graph mode, a controller CC detects the 
graph print mode through a signal line l.sub.s and sets function keys on 
the keyboard KB to graph data input keys. A graph pattern consists of an 
aggregation of dots and one line consists of 126 dots horizontal and 7 
dots vertical. Pattern memories PCM1 and PCM2 of FIG. 2 each have a 
126-byte memory capacity with one byte including a 1.times.7-dot data. The 
memory PCM1 is used as a forward printing pattern memory and the memory 
PCM2 is used as a reverse printing pattern memory in order to effect 
forward/reverse printing so that the graph patterns are printed at an 
increased printing density. 
Let us assume that a graph pattern has an area of 100% as a whole, and when 
"20 + 50 + = " is inputted, a graph of 70% area as a whole consisting 
of a 20% area and a 50% area is printed. If the 50% area data is to be 
printed in an emphasized manner, "50 + G = " is inputted so that the 
50% area graph pattern is printed at an increased print density. That is, 
the key G is used as a special graph print mode designation means to 
print at the increased print density, and when this key is depressed in 
the graph pattern data input sequence, the print density for that data is 
increased. The operation is now explained in detail with reference to FIG. 
2. 
When "20 + " and "50 + G = " are inputted, the controller CC detects 
the end of the graph data input when = is inputted and stores dot 
patterns representing the data 20% and 50% as well as dot patterns 
representing a space and a graph number, for example, 03 in the forward 
printing pattern memory PCM1 through a character generator CG in the 
controller CC. It also stores the dot pattern representing the data 50% 
and the dot pattern for the space in the reverse printing pattern memory 
PCM2 when G is inputted. 
To store those dot patterns, "125" is set in a dot register PR through a 
signal line l.sub.PR, and a dot counter PC and a line counter LC are 
cleared through a signal line l.sub.c. An output line l.sub.AD of the dot 
counter PC is used as an address signal line to the pattern memories PCM1 
and PCM2. A signal line l.sub.A1 is set to "1" to open an AND gate AD1 so 
that the forward printing data on a data signal line DB1 appears on a data 
signal line DB2. A forward printing read/write signal line l.sub.RW1 is 
set to "0" to write the pattern data into the forward printing pattern 
memory PCM1. The contents of the dot register PR and the dot counter PC 
are compared, and if they are not equal, the content of the dot counter PC 
is incremented by one through a signal line l.sub.PC to store the next 
7-dot pattern data in the memory PC1. This operation is repeated until the 
contents of the counter PC and the register PR coincide to store the 
126-byte graph data, that is, pattern data for 20%, 50%, space, graph 
number 03 and graph vertical axis line in the forward printing pattern 
memory PCM1. 
To write the pattern data in the reverse printing pattern memory PCM2, the 
dot counter PC is cleared by the signal line l.sub.c, and the signal line 
l.sub.A1 is set to "0" to close the AND gate AD1 and the signal line 
l.sub.A2 is set to "1" to open the AND gate AD2 so that the pattern data 
on the data signal line DB1 appears on the line DB3, and the special 
pattern data is stored in the reverse printing pattern memory PCM2 by 
setting the reverse printing read/write signal line l.sub.RW2 to "0". The 
contents of the dot register PR and the dot counter PC are compared and if 
they are not equal, the content of the dot counter is incremented by one 
to write the next 1.times.7-dot reverse printing pattern data in the 
memory PCM2. This operation is repeated until the contents of the counter 
PC and the register PR coincide to write the 126-byte graph data, that is, 
the print data for the 50% and the space into the reverse printing pattern 
memory PCM2. 
As described above, the data in the pattern memories PCM1 and PCM2 each 
consists of 1.times.7 dots stored in one-byte memory. They are dot pattern 
data converted by the character generator CG in the controller CC. Let us 
assume that the graph pattern for 20% is to be represented by a black 
zigzag pattern, the graph pattern for 50% is to be represented by a black 
solid pattern and a numeral "3" is to be printed as shown in FIG. 3. The 
lowermost dots of the patterns are assigned to the least significant bits, 
and the 1.times.7-dot patterns are represented by hexadecimal notation. 
The numeral is represented by 5.times.7-dot matrix and the graph pattern 
is represented by continuation of the 1.times.7-dot matrices. Thus, the 
numeral "3" is represented by the hexadecimal 6C, 92, 92, 82, 44 from the 
right toward the print line, the black zigzag pattern is represented by 
D6, AA, D6, AA, D6 and the black solid pattern is represented by FE, FE, 
FE, FE. The black solid circles represent the black dots. 
In the graph print under consideration, the 20% area, the 50% area and the 
graph number 03 are to be printed and the black solid pattern for the 50% 
area is to be printed at the increased print density. The contents of the 
forward printing pattern memory PCM1 and the reverse printing pattern 
memory PCM2 are shown in FIG. 4. The dot pattern data are transferred to a 
printer controller PCC to print them. The printer feeds a paper by a pulse 
motor PM, has a piezo on-demand type ink jet nozzle for black ink mounted 
on the carriage, reciprocates the carriage by a linear motor LM and drives 
a piezo ink jet nozzle drive circuit PZD by a timing pulse TP detected by 
a carriage position sensor FDP to print out the pattern. 
In the reciprocal print operation, the data from the forward printing 
pattern memory PCM1 are printed during the forward movmement of the 
carriage and the data from the reverse printing pattern memory PCM2 are 
printed during the reverse movement. The paper is fed by 1/2 dot pitch 
(1/2 dot pitch of the pattern dots of FIG. 3). Thus, after one 
reciprocation, the next print starts from the position shifted by one dot 
pitch from the previous forward print position. Thus, the graph pattern 
for the 50% area is printed as shown in FIG. 5, that is, printed at the 
increased print density. The operation is now explained with reference to 
FIG. 2. 
When the dot patterns have been stored in the pattern memories PCM1 and 
PCM2, the controller CC sets the signal line l.sub.c to "0", clears the 
dot counter PC and the line counter LC and initializes the addresses of 
the pattern memories PCM1 and PCM2. It sets the forward and reverse 
printing read/write signal lines l.sub.RW1 and l.sub.RW2 to "1" (read 
state), and confirms that the busy signal line l.sub.BSY from the printer 
controller PCC is "1"0 (non-busy) and sets the signal line l.sub.PF to "1" 
and the signal line l.sub.PB to "0" to instruct the print operation to the 
printer controller PCC. In response thereto, the printer controller PCC 
sets the busy signal line l.sub.BSY to "0" (busy), and sets the drive 
signal line l.sub.F for the linear motor LM to "1" and the signal line 
l.sub.B to "0" to move the carriage from the home position (right position 
as viewed to face the print paper) to the left (forward direction). It 
detects the timing pulse from the carriage position sensor FDP and sets 
the signal line l.sub.BSY to "1" at the timing pulse immediately preceding 
to the print start position to inform to the controller CC that the 
pattern data can be received. The controller CC sets the signal line 
l.sub.REQ to "0" to inform that the data on the data line DP1 through the 
AND gate AD3 which is now open by the signal line l.sub.PF to "1" is 
valid. (The AND gate AD4 is closed by the signal line l.sub.PB "0"). In 
response to the signal line l.sub.REQ, the printer controller PCC reads in 
the data of the forward printing memory PCM1, sets the signal line 
l.sub.BSY to "0" (busy), and drives the piezo drive circuit PZD by the 
signal line l.sub.B1 at the next timing pulse to print the black dots 
corresponding to the higher order bits (first line in FIG. 5) of the 
1.times.7-dot pattern. Since the first byte data is 00 (see FIG. 4), the 
first print is space. After the printing, the signal line l.sub.BYS is set 
to "1" to inform to the controller CC that the next pattern data can be 
received. The controller CC increments the dot counter PC by one by the 
signal line l.sub.PC to increment the address to the pattern memories by 
one to transfer the next data to the data line DP1 through the AND gate 
AD3, and sets the signal line l.sub.REQ to "1" to inform that the data on 
the data line DP1 is valid. The printer controller PCC reads in the data 
of the pattern memory PCM1 and prints it out at the next timing pulse. In 
a similar manner, the data shown in FIG. 4(A) are sequentially printed in 
the direction of the arrow to forward-print the data of the highest order 
bits in the first line of the 1.times.7-dot forward printing pattern data. 
The content of the dot counter which is incremented by one for each print 
and the content of the dot register PR are compared by the comparator CO, 
and when they coincide, the controller CC determines the end of the 
126-dot printing, sets the dot register PR to "0" by the signal line 
l.sub.PR, sets the signal line l.sub.PF to "0" and sets the signal line 
l.sub.BF to "1". 
The printer controller PCC sets the busy signal line l.sub.BSY to "0", sets 
the motor signal line l.sub.f to "0" and sets the signal line l.sub.B to 
"1" to drive the carriage reversely to start the reverse printing. Since 
the signal line l.sub.PF is "0" and the signal line l.sub.PB is "1", the 
AND gate AD3 is closed and the AND gate AD4 is open. Thus, the data of the 
reverse printing pattern memory PCM2 appears on the data signal line DP2. 
The paper feed pulse motor PM is driven to feed the paper by 1/2 dot 
pitch. Like the forward printing, the busy signal line l.sub.BSY is set to 
"1" at the timing pulse immediately preceding to the print position to 
inform to the controller CC that the pattern data can be received. The 
controller CC sets the signal line l.sub.REQ to "0" to inform that the 
first data or the 126th dot data for the reverse printing is valid. The 
printer controller PCC receives the data from the reverse printing pattern 
memory PCM2 through the data signal line DP2 and prints it out at the next 
timing pulse and sets the busy signal line l.sub.BSY to "1" to inform that 
the next reverse printing pattern data can be received. Because it is the 
reverse printing, the controller CC decrements the dot counter PC by one 
by the signal line l.sub. BC and decrements the pattern memory address by 
one to supply the 125th byte data to the data line DP2 through the AND 
gate AD4 which is opened by the signal line l.sub.PB, and sets the signal 
line l.sub.REQ to "0" to print data at the next timing pulse. In a similar 
manner, the dot pattern data of the first line of the 1.times.7-dot 
reverse printing pattern data is reversed-printed until the first byte 
data is printed. The number of print dots is compared by the comparator CO 
and the controller CC increments the line counter LC by one by the signal 
line l.sub.1. The output signal line l.sub.c of the line counter LC is 
used to check if seven reciprocal runs of the carriage have been 
completed. Since it is now the first reciprocal run, no output is produced 
on the signal line l.sub.2. Thus, the content of the dot register RP is 
set to "125", the signal line l.sub.PF is set to "1" and the signal line 
l.sub.PB is set to "0" to command the printing of the second line of 
1.times.7 dots. The printer controller PCC sets the busy signal line 
l.sub.BSY to "0" and feed the paper by 1/2 dot pitch by the paper feed 
pulse motor PM (one dot pitch from the forward printing of the first 
line), sets the drive signal line l.sub.F of the linear motor LM to "1" 
and sets the signal line l.sub.B to "0" to effect the forward printing. 
When the comparator CO detects the coincidence, the paper is fed by 1/2 
dot pitch and the reverse printing is effected. In a similar manner, seven 
reciprocal runs are carried out. After the seven reciprocal runs of 
printing, the controller CC receives the output from the line counter LC 
by the signal line l.sub.2 to detect the end of the 1.times.7-dot printing 
for the lateral 126 dots. 
In the print operation, the black zigzag pattern for the 20% area, the 
black solid pattern for the 50% area, the vertical axis of the graph and 
the graph number "03" are printed in the forward printing, and only the 
black solid pattern for the 50% area except the space area is printed in 
the reverse printing with the paper being shifted by 1/2 dot pitch. As a 
result, the black solid pattern for the 50% area is printed at the 
increased print density as shown in FIG. 5. The printout is shown in FIG. 
6. 
As described hereinabove, according to the present invention, the data to 
be particularly noted in the graph pattern is printed at the increased 
print density by depressing the special graph print mode designation key 
G so that area corresponding to that data is emphasized and work 
efficiency is improved. 
While only one color is used in the present embodiment, multi-color 
printing may be carried out with multi-color pattern memories and 
multi-color nozzles. Further, while the print density of one of the data 
of the graph is emphasized in the present embodiment, the graph may be 
formed by one data and the print density for that data may be increased. 
While the print density of the specific data is increased in the present 
embodiment, the pattern for the specific data may be printed only in the 
forward printing and other data areas may be printed in both forward and 
backward printings so that the specific data area is instead printed at a 
decreased print density.