JPS61226832A - Printer pause mode device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To release the increase, etc., of the load to the host CPU by providing a pause code with a printer as a pause code. CONSTITUTION:At the control code of the host data, a pause mode with the printer as a pause mode is provided, the pause code PC is judged, the printer is made into a pause mode and the replacing work of the printing element such as daisy wheels is executed. During such a period, the data of a host CPU are transferred and stored to the buffer of the printer, and after replacement, by resetting the printing waiting switch, the pause mode is released.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a printer as described above, which is provided with a function of placing the printer in a "pause" mode from a host computer.

[Conventional technology]

When using a conventional matrix type impact printer, when the format to be printed is, for example, as shown in Figure 4, when a mathematical formula such as a Greek letter is inserted in the middle of the main sentence of the English alphabet, only this part is printed on the matrix type. It is necessary to replace the printing elements of the type (such as the "daisy wheel" or "golf pole"). In addition, when you want to change the print color of a specific area or change the print quality, you often encounter cases where it is necessary to change the ink ribbon to a different color or from a multi-strike ribbon to a single-strike ribbon. do.

Conventionally, the following two methods have been used to replace printing elements or ink ribbons.

(1) Create a separate file only for the parts where you want to change the character type, etc., and print the two files on the same paper by exchanging the printing elements. Figure 5(a).

An example of the data transfer order is shown in (b). (a) uses printing elements for plain English, and (b) shows the following:
How to use print elements for Greek characters.

(2) Transmit a code to take the printer offline, such as C3 (ASCII standard code for information exchange in the United States), as shown in Figure 6, before and after the part where you want to change the character type, etc.・How to bring the printer online by changing the print element when it becomes empty, that is, use the following sequence. (1) First, the data of the text shown in FIG. 6(a) is transferred from the CPU (host), the printer is taken off-line by the DC3 code, all data is printed, and the data is empty. ■Exchange the printing element from English to Greek and perform online operation. ■Next, Figure 6 (b
) is transferred from the host CPU to the DC
3 code takes the printer offline and prints all data.

Data is empty. ■ Re-exchange and restore the printing elements from Greek characters to English characters. ■Then, the text data shown in FIG. 6(C) is transferred from the host CPU.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] However, in the first conventional method (1) as described above, it is necessary to create two files, and moreover, it is necessary to print twice on the same paper. It took a lot of effort.

In addition, the conventional second method (2) had the disadvantage that it placed a load on the host CPU because it was necessary to wait for data transfer from the host CPU until the printer was brought online. .

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the conventional method as described above. When the printing element or ribbon needs to be replaced during printing, it is not necessary to create two files as in the conventional method, or the printer The purpose is to provide a "pause mode" function that allows the host CPU to simply transfer data to the printer consistently, as shown in FIG. 3, without having to wait for the printer to come online.

[Means for solving problems]

Therefore, in the present invention, a pause code CP is provided to put the printer in pause mode (state S), the data is stored in the buffer of the printer from the host CPU, and the printer determines the pause code CP and starts the printer. The printer is configured to have its own pause mode, and after replacing the print element and/or ink ribbon of the printer, reset the print standby (ready) switch, etc. to cancel the printer's pause mode. It is.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be explained below based on examples. Figure 1 is 1
A flowchart of an operation sequence of an embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the host CPU data check function relationship.

The feature of the embodiment of the present invention is that a pause code C that puts the printer in pause mode is included in the control code of the host data.
As is clear from FIG. 1, in step l, this pose code CP is determined,
The printer is placed in pause mode, and printing elements such as daisy wheels are replaced between step 1 (yes) and step 20.

During this time, data from the host CPU is transferred to the printer buffer (
After the above exchange, the pause mode is canceled by resetting the print standby switch in step 2.

The relationship between the pause code CP in FIG. 2 and other data is clear from FIG. 1.

Note that the hardware/software for realizing the flowchart shown in FIG. 1 can be implemented extremely easily using conventional, current technology, and therefore the details of one circuit will be omitted.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the host computer is provided with a function to put the printer in pause mode, and during this time, the host CPU data is stored in the buffer of the printer, and the pause mode is canceled by a reset operation. Eliminates drawbacks such as creating two types of files, printing twice on the same paper, etc. when replacing printing elements or ribbons during printing, and increasing the load on the host/CPU. We were able to.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an operation sequence flowchart of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of host CPU data check function, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of data transfer order, and FIG. 4 is an example of a print format. FIGS. 5(a), (b) and FIGS. 6(a), (b), and (c) are explanatory diagrams of the conventional method.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A pause code is provided for controlling the printer in a pause mode from a host computer, and means for storing data transferred from the host computer during the pause mode, and reset means for canceling the pause mode. A printer pause mode device featuring: