Print control apparatus controlling utilization state of plural format blocks

摘要

A print control apparatus includes a page memory and a format memory respectively for receiving and storing a plurality of page data items and a plurality of format data entries which are supplied from a host computer, and is adapted to expand the corresponding page data and format data stored in the memories into dot data to perform overlay operation to thereby output the print data to a printer. The format memory is divided into a plurality of blocks, and the in-use and unused states of each of the blocks are controlled by a control table. The format data is prefetched into blocks in a free state detected by the control table, to thereby prevent the printing operation from being interrupted in case of changing the format data.