JPH06274287A - Printer system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a printer system improving a page feed informing method and improving the matching performance with a master device which includes a change in the sort of paper in each page. CONSTITUTION:In this printer system connecting a computer 1 having a print output port to a printer device 2 constituted of a printer control part 21 for interpreting printing data received from the computer 1 and developing the data to bit map data and a printer body part 22 for receiving the bit map data from the control part 21, forming an image and executing prescribed printing, the printer body part 22 in the printer 2 is provided with a means for transmitting a previously determined signal to the control part 21 before starting the carrying of paper from a paper feed tray for printing paper and the control part 21 is provided with a means for transferring the received signal to the computer 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer system, and more particularly to a printer system in which the page break notification method is improved to improve the matching performance with a host device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a system including a printer device which is used by being connected to a higher-level device such as a personal computer, when printing a plurality of pages from the higher-level device, the upper-level device side divides the page breaks. This is difficult to detect, and in order to do this, the print data is spooled in an arbitrary storage area before being sent to the printer device, and the data is sent to the printer sent by the application program of the host device. Interpretation is required according to the mode, and work such as finding the page break code is required. Regarding this, for example, the technique disclosed in JP-A-61-131118 can be referred to. This technology manages multiple print jobs by controlling the number of pages to be sent to the printer on the high-level device side, speeds up the printer device, and print job unit of the data processing device (high-level device). And the printing unit of the printer device.

[0003]

The former of the above-mentioned prior arts has a problem that not only depends on the mode of the printer device, but also the processing is very complicated and the processing amount is large. Further, even if the page break code is not transmitted, the page may be broken on the printer device side, and there is a problem of lack of accuracy. The latter of the above-mentioned conventional techniques, that is, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-131118, is a system in which the higher-level device side is the main component, and this is the system in which the printer device side is the main component. It is difficult to change. However, in reality, in a printer device that is used by being connected to a higher-level device such as a personal computer, due to a setting error on the printer device side, for example, an emulation mode setting error of the printer device, a reduction ratio setting error, etc. Even when an undesired print result is output, the operator of the higher-level device who has instructed to print does not notice this and prints until the end, resulting in waste of paper and waste of printing time. In many cases. Further, in the conventional system, when a higher-level device instructs to print a plurality of pages, in order to know how much the print job has been processed and how many print jobs remain, There is also a problem that it is necessary to manually perform processing such as manually counting the number of printed matter that has been output. In particular, when creating a document over a plurality of pages, it is necessary to modify the application program for processing such as when the type of paper is changed for each page. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems in the related art, improve the page break notification method, and change the paper type for each page. It is to provide a printer system with improved matching performance with a higher-level device, including when desired.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a computer having a print output port, a printer control unit for interpreting print data received from the computer, and developing the print data into bitmap data. In a printer system in which a printer unit configured to receive and image the above bitmap data and perform predetermined printing is connected by a communication path capable of bidirectional communication. The main body unit is provided with means for transmitting a predetermined signal to the printer control unit before starting the conveyance of the paper from the print paper feed tray, and to the printer control unit of the printer device. According to a printer system, means for transferring the generated signal to the computer are provided respectively. It is achieved Te.

[0005]

In the printer system according to the present invention, the printer main body of the above-mentioned printer device sends a predetermined signal to the printer control unit before starting the conveyance of the paper from the paper feed tray for the print paper. By sending the received signal to the computer, the printer control unit checks the print status and sets the printer condition for each print page on the computer side based on the signal. It becomes possible to perform fine control such as.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a computer having a function of operating an application program and sending out print data, commands and the like, and 2 will be described later. The printer includes a printer control unit 21 and a printer body unit 22. The printer control unit 21 is connected to the computer 1 via the interface 3 capable of bidirectional communication, and has a function of interpreting received print data and controlling the printer body unit 22. The printer body 22 has an image creating process, a carrying process, and the like.

The characteristic operation of the printer 2 according to this embodiment will be described below. In the printer body 22 of the printer 2, as shown in the sequence diagram of FIG.
A predetermined specific signal (herein, this is referred to as a “paper feed confirmation signal”) is sent to 1. The printer control unit 21 sends this signal to the higher-level device (computer) 1 to notify it that a page break will occur, and then returns a response signal (ACK) to the printer body unit 22. As a result, the printer body 22 starts to convey the paper. By going through such a process, it becomes possible for both the printer control unit 21 and the computer 1 to recognize the division for each page, and the computer 1 does not need a complicated command interpretation part.

When the computer 1 receives the above-mentioned paper feed confirmation signal, it counts the number of print pages based on this signal and compares it with the number of page break codes previously sent from the application side. If they do not match, this can be judged as an error and printing can be stopped on the computer 1 side. For example, when the application side outputs three pages but five sheets are output, it is considered that printing is not normally performed due to some setting error. In such a case, the application suspends the printing operation of the printer by displaying a warning message to the user and receiving an input as to whether or not to stop printing.

According to the above embodiment, the computer 1 is
Involuntary timing When a page break occurs now, it can be judged as an error due to a setting error on the printer side and printing can be interrupted, resulting in wasted paper and wasted printing time. It becomes possible to prevent. In addition, when printing with an application running on the computer 1, the user specifies the total number of pages to be printed, or
When the application itself determines, the remaining amount of the print job currently being executed can be calculated from the ratio of the number of printed pages to the total number of pages. Therefore,
It is possible to notify the user by outputting the result to the display screen.

For example, when printing of all 10 pages is started and the page break signal is transmitted three times from the printer side, the display "3/10" is displayed on the display screen of the computer 1. As a result, the operator can know the degree of his / her printing performance. Also,
As another embodiment, an example in which the configuration information of each print page is transmitted from the computer 1 to the printer 2 in advance is shown. For example, Send information like.

These pieces of information are sent to the control unit 21 of the printer 2.
It is stored in a memory (not shown). Upon receiving the page break signal from the printer body 22, the printer controller 21 instructs the printer body 22 to set the next page based on the memory contents. This makes it easy to set the printer on a page-by-page basis. According to the above-described embodiment, it is possible to easily perform different page settings for each print page. It is needless to say that the above embodiment shows one example of the present invention, and the present invention should not be limited to this.

[0012]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the page break notification method is improved so that the matching performance with the host device can be improved even when it is desired to change the type of paper for each page. This has the effect of realizing a printer system with improved performance.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing a characteristic operation of the printing system according to the embodiment.

[Description of Reference Signs] 1: Computer, 2: Printer, 21: Printer control unit, 22: Printer main unit, 3: Bidirectional communication interface.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A computer having a print output port, interpreting print data received from the computer,
Two-way communication is possible with a printer device that is composed of a printer controller that develops bitmap data and a printer body that receives the bitmap data from the printer controller, forms an image, and performs predetermined printing. In a printer system connected by various communication paths, a predetermined signal is transmitted to the printer main body of the printer device before the conveyance of the paper from the paper feed tray for printing paper is started. And a means for transferring the received signal to the computer in the printer control section of the printer device. 2. The printer system according to claim 1, wherein the computer detects a page break based on a signal transferred from a printer control unit of the printer device. 3. The computer monitors the timing of page break based on a signal transferred from the printer control unit of the printer device, and when the page break is performed at an unintended timing, the computer monitors the timing. The printer system according to claim 1, wherein it is determined that a setting error has occurred in the printer device. 4. The printing execution is performed by the computer monitoring the number of pages being printed based on a signal transferred from a printer control unit of the printer and comparing the number of pages being printed with the number of printing pages sent by itself. The printer system according to claim 1, wherein the printer system recognizes a situation. 5. A printer control unit of the printer device,
Print page setting information for each page transmitted from the computer is stored, and page setting of the next print page is performed based on a signal transmitted from the printer main body section of the printer device. The printer system according to item 1.