DATA PROCESSING APPARATUS WITH DOT CHARACTER GENERATOR

The apparatus comprises a dot matrix character generator (16) which includes a ROM (17) for a series of standard alphanumeric characters, for the ISO alphabets, the Kana alphabet and a series of Kanji ideograms which are more frequently used. The character generator further comprises a RAM (18) in which other Kanji idoegrams can be selectively stored. They are normally registered in an archive mass memory (47) and can be sequentially transferred to the RAM, a portion of which operates as a FIFO memory if the code required is not present therein. The character generator (16) is connected by means of an internal bus (42) to at least a video control unit (19) and a control unit (27) for a dot printer (38), which units may be served in accordance with a bus priority and arbitration logic. The printer is provided with a printer control unit (93, 82, 83, 41) having an auxiliary character generator (41) for the ISO and Kana characters and a reduced group of Kanji characters. The associates control unit (27) is capable of feeding to the printer control unit both the codes of the characters of the auxiliary generator (41) and the print signals in respect of the dots given by the main character generator (16).