JPH01141069A - Printer control system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (1) Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to a control method between a printer and a printer control device.

(Prior Art) A printer that is connected to a computer system is
Since the printing speed of printers is slow compared to the processing speed of computers, there has been a demand for printers that can print faster. For this reason, for example, with the advent of laser printers, printing speed has been considerably improved.

On the other hand, high-speed printers are equipped with various functions that require less manual effort, such as a mailbox that changes the paper ejection position for each distribution destination, a reversing output device that ejects paper with the print side down and automatically processes page alignment, So-called multi-function printers have been realized that are equipped with double-sided printing devices that save printing paper, large-volume stackers, and the like.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of the multifunctional printer, in which 1 is a print engine of a laser printer, 2 is a paper feed cassette, 3 is a mass paper feeder, 4 is a mailbox,
5 is a reversing output device, 6 is a duplex printing device, and 7 is a large quantity stacker.

The print engine 1 prints the printing paper from the paper feed cassette 2 or the mass paper feed device 3, and the paper is discharged to the mailbox 4, classified according to the distribution destination shown by the arrow 4a. Also 1
The sheets are delivered to the reversing output device 5 in the direction shown by the arrow 5a with the pages aligned with the printed side facing down. In the case of double-sided printing, the printing paper is conveyed in the direction shown by the arrow 6a, reversed via the double-sided printing device 6 so that the other side can be printed, and sent to the mailbox 4, the reverse output device 5, or the large-volume stacker 7. The paper is ejected. Switching of these transport paths is performed by a switching claw 8.

Figure 4 shows the host computer 9 and printer control device lO.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a signal connection side between the printer and the print engine 1 of the printer.

The printer control device 10 converts data sent from the host computer 9 into print data for printing by the print engine 1, and also controls the printer in accordance with instructions from the host computer such as paper feed position, paper ejection position, and paper ejection position. Instruct paper methods, etc. The printer performs printing based on print data from the printer control device, and also instructs various parts within the printer to start and stop printing, and to switch transport paths (4a, 5a, 6a, etc.) according to commands from the printer control device. , the switching claw 8 operates.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the above-mentioned system, conventionally there has been a communication between the printer and the print control device to determine whether the printer is capable of printing or not.
We only exchanged simple information, such as information about errors that occurred with printers.

For this reason, the printer may go into a waiting state during the time required to switch the conveyance path, and the printer control device also backs up data due to errors in order to recover from printer errors, which requires a huge amount of memory. It was. For example, when performing double-sided printing for 20 pages on 10 sheets, first print the odd numbered pages (1, 3...19), then print the even numbered pages (2, 4...20). Therefore, memory for the entire page was actually required, including the jam recovery process. Furthermore, it is necessary to put the printer in a waiting state while the conveyance path of the printing paper is switched, resulting in a decrease in printing speed.

An object of the present invention is to operate the printer efficiently by facilitating information exchange between the printer and the printer control device.

(Structure and operation) In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides the printer control method between a controlled printer having a plurality of paper transport paths and a printer control device that controls the operation of this controlled printer. When the device becomes capable of outputting print data sent from a host computer, etc. to the controlled printer, the device outputs print data that includes processing information necessary to print the page, regardless of the state of the controlled printer. Sends reservation signal and page identification signal.

When the controlled printer receives the print reservation signal, it checks the necessary processing for the print reservations received so far, sends the earliest ready-to-print page identification signal to the print control device, and prints multiple pages at the same time. If the page is ready, priority is given to the first-arrived print reservation, and the printer control device outputs the print data of the ready page transmitted from the controlled printer and causes the page to be printed. It is.

A printer control device according to the present invention receives data to be printed and instructions for processing from a host computer,
When the controlled printer is ready for output, unless the controlled printer has experienced a fatal error, it is sent with instructions for which paper path to use on the controlled printer, along with the page identification number. Outputs print reservation signal. In this case, the page identification signal may be output by the controlled printer to the printer control device when receiving the print reservation signal.

Next, the controlled printer checks the contents of required processing for all print reservation signals received so far, and outputs the earliest ready page identification number to the print control device. This judgment is determined based on the time required to switch one paper transport path and the length of the transport path.

Next, the print control device outputs the print data of the page corresponding to the page identification number sent from the controlled printer, and the controlled printer receives this and prints it.

In the following explanation, the page identification number refers to the pages attached to the print reservation signal and the print enable signal in FIG. 2, for example, the first page, the second page 921, etc.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, in which a printer control device 10 includes a CPU 10I, a ROM 102° RAM
103. Option I/F104. Host I/F105
゜Engine I/F106. Equipped with panel I/F107,
Information is transferred between these via the bus 100. The print engine 1 of the printer described above is I/F 106, the host computer 9 is I/F 105, and the operation unit 11 is I/F 10.
7. Also, the ROM cartridge 12, read/write cartridge 13, floppy disk 14, etc. are connected to the I/F 104.
and are connected to berths 100, respectively.

It should be noted that the printer consisting of the printer control device 10, print engine 1, and other units may be integrated or separated, or any of them may be used from the viewpoint of control.

In the present invention, a communication path is formed between the engine I/F 106 and the print engine 1, and under the control of the CPU10I,
It has already been mentioned that the above-mentioned effects are carried out, so the description thereof will be omitted here.

Below is a comparison of control operations between the conventional method and the present invention method.
This will be explained using figures.

(7) When printing 50 double-sided sheets of 100 pages.

Conventional method (1)... (Refer to the flow on the right side from the center line in Figure 2) There is a request to print the first page from the printer control device, and the printer controls the printer to send the first page print ready signal 81' from the printer. Send it to the device and print the first page P□. Next, even if there is a second page print request S2 from the printer control device, the waiting time T2 until the paper on which the first page is printed enters the duplex printing device 6 (FIG. 3) and paper can be re-fed is calculated. After waiting, the second page first print ready signal 82' is sent to the printer control device, and the second page print P
Do step 2. For pages 3 and below, control is performed between the printer and the printer control device as shown in the figure.

Since this is processed for each page, the printer control device only needs to have memory for print data for error recovery for that page, so it requires less time, but it requires waiting time until paper can be re-feeded. This results in very slow printing speed.

Conventional method (2) First, odd-numbered pages (1, 3, ... 99) are printed using the control procedure of conventional method (1), and the sheets of these odd-numbered pages are reprinted in the zero order stored in the duplex printing device. Wait for the waiting time until the paper is fed, and then load the even numbered pages (2, 4°...10
0) is printed.

This saves the waiting time T,,T,... for each page (there is a waiting time from an odd page to an even page), but on the other hand, in error recovery, the printed paper is completely ejected. It is necessary to hold the print data in memory until In this case, print data for at least 50 to 60 pages will be held, requiring a huge amount of memory.

In contrast, in the method of the present invention, as shown in the flow on the left side of the center line in FIG. 2, the printer control device sends 1 to the printer as a print reservation signal for the first page.

The printer sends a first page print ready signal Syu' to the print control device, and then the print control device sends a second page print reservation signal 2 to the printer. At this point A, the second page is the back side of the first page. After printing the first page, a switchback is required, so even after the first page is finished, the paper cannot be re-feeded (printed) immediately.

Next, the printer prints the first page P, then sends 3 to the 3rd page 1st print reservation signal from the printer control device, and the 3rd page 1st print ready signal S,' from the printer.
is sent to the printer control device.

At this time B, the second page cannot be printed until the first page can be re-fed, so the third page first print enable signal 83' is sent and the third page is printed P3. Thereafter, as shown in the figure, a print reservation signal and a print enable signal for each page are sent from the printer control device to the printer, and from the printer to the printer control device. At time C, the second and seventh pages can be printed, but since the second page has been reserved for printing first, the second page is printed.

In this way, conventional method (1) (flow to the right of the center line)
As is clear from the comparison, there is no waiting time between each page, and first the odd numbered pages are printed P, P3, P5, then the even pages are printed P2*P4+P6, then the odd pages P, etc.
. . . Based on the print reservation signal, the paper conveyance path is switched in advance and the paper is fed, thereby significantly increasing the printing speed. Therefore, the printer control device can be made smaller and more economical because it is sufficient to store at most several pages of print data in the memory for error recovery.

(b) When 5 pages of paper are stored in the mailbox and 5 pages are stored in the bulk stacker.

In the conventional method, pages 1 to 10 are processed sequentially, so when printing pages 1 to 5, the printer is in a waiting state for the time required to switch the conveyance path (mailbox 4 and large stacker 7...Figure 3). , the printing speed is reduced by the waiting time.

Since the printing reservation signal for the 6th page is input to the printer by the time the printing of the 1st page is completed using the method of the present invention, the switching time of the conveyance path is short for printing 6 pages per day (see Fig. 3). (Switching from the arrow 4a to 78 based on the structure), the sixth page can be printed first before the second page. That is, the printer is 6
The first page printer enable signal is sent, and the printer prints the sixth page. By the time the sixth page finishes printing, the mailbox transport path has been switched.
The second page can be printed without waiting time.

In this way, by notifying the printer control device of the print enable signal that enables the printer to print as soon as possible, printing can be performed without putting the printer in a waiting state, and the printing speed can be increased.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, the present invention allows the printer to operate with the least amount of waiting time, thereby speeding up the entire system and reducing the memory for holding print data for error recovery. , which has the advantage of requiring minimal capacity.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a side view of the general configuration of a multi-function printer.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of signal connections between a host computer, a printer control device, and a printer (print engine, etc.). 1...Print engine, 2...Paper feed cassette, 3...OSE paper feeder, 4...Mailbox, 5...Reversing output device, 6...Double-sided printing device, 7...・Large quantity stacker, 8...switching claw,
9...Host computer, 10...Printer control device, 100...Bus, 101...CPU
, 102...-ROM, 103 RA
M, 102-107 ---Various I/Fs, 11...
Operation section. Patent applicant Rico Co., Ltd. - Fig. 1 Fig. 3 1-° Print engine 2... #Paper cassette 3-/Person tm&l, 1 4... Mail? Person 5...Reversing force device 6-@flllfν Distortion device 7--person, (person tucker 8°°) Mr. 1 Figure 4

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) Between a controlled printer equipped with a plurality of paper conveyance paths and a printer control device that controls the operation of this controlled printer, the printer control device receives print information sent from a host computer, etc. When the output becomes possible for the controlled printer, a print reservation signal and a page identification signal containing processing information necessary for printing the page are sent to the controlled printer, regardless of the state of the controlled printer, and When the control printer receives the print reservation signal, it checks the necessary processing for the print reservations received so far, sends the earliest ready-to-print page identification signal to the print control device, and also prepares multiple pages at the same time. If the page is ready, priority is given to the first-arrived print reservation, and the printer control device outputs the print information of the ready page transmitted from the controlled printer and prints it. . (2) The printer control device outputs only a print reservation signal, and when the controlled printer receives the print reservation signal, the controlled printer transmits a page identification signal to the printer control device. A printer control method according to claim (1). (3) When the printing paper is discharged to a predetermined position and printing is completed, a print end signal is transmitted from the controlled printer to the printer control device along with a page identification signal. Printer control method described. (4) The printer control method according to claim (1), wherein the print information is held in the printer control device until a print end signal is transmitted from the controlled printer.