JPH041067A - Printing system and printing control method and device - 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]

[Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a printing system in which a host computer such as a personal computer, workstation, word processor, etc. controls a printer with a duplex printing mechanism via a print control device. [Prior Art] Conventionally, in a printing system using a printer with a double-sided printing mechanism that employs an intermediate tray method, printing is performed in the following manner. (1) The host computer processes as follows. (i) After determining the number n of sheets stored in the intermediate tray (for example, n=
3) - Create print commands for odd-numbered pages in sequence, and
The printer controller (print control bag M
). In front side printing, the host computer specifies an external cassette other than the intermediate tray as the paper feed section and an intermediate tray as the paper discharge section. (ii) Then, in the same way, the second page, the fourth page, etc.
. . , instructs the printer controller to print the back side of the second nth page. For reverse side printing, the host computer uses an intermediate tray as a paper feed section, an external tray other than the intermediate tray as a paper output section,
instruct. (2) The printer controller performs the following processing in common for both front-side printing and back-side printing of a certain page. (i) Drawing is performed until a page break condition is detected. (ii) When the page break condition is detected, the following printing process is performed. ■ Confirmation and instruction of paper feed section section ■ Confirmation and instruction of paper discharge section section ■ Print instruction This conventional technique is described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 16976/1983. In addition, as a related known example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 63-2470
No. 41 and No. 63-247042 disclose that two or more pages of image data to be transferred from a data processing device are
A ``double-sided printing system'' is disclosed in which data is transferred to a printer twice, and even-numbered pages are printed during one data transfer, and odd-numbered pages are printed during the other data transfer. Problems to be Solved] In the above conventional technology, drawing and printing processing for odd-numbered pages and drawing and printing processing for even-numbered pages are performed separately.The host computer cuts out the pages after acquiring knowledge about the printer and duplex printing control. , creating print commands for every other odd-numbered page, creating print commands for every other even-numbered page, instructing the use of the intermediate tray as a paper feed section or paper ejection section, and controlling the intermediate tray capacity in the printer to prevent it from exceeding. , etc. need to be performed by the control program, which poses a problem in that the burden of developing the control program on the host computer side is large.Furthermore, when data is transferred twice for all odd and even pages, the data There is a problem that the time required for transfer doubles.Furthermore, since the above control programs are highly dependent on printer specifications, in order to support multiple types of printers, the host computer must write control programs for the number of printers. It had to be developed and implemented, which placed a heavy burden on the host computer.In addition, the conventional technology does not take into consideration the following items, and cannot provide a user-friendly double-sided printing function. (1) Ability to change paper size and number of copies for each paper within one document. (2) Ability to specify paper size, number of copies, paper splice/horizontal direction, paper source, etc. for back side printing. (3) Processing procedure when the printer controller detects ■change in intermediate tray storage paper size, ■intermediate tray full, ■end of document, ■change in paper size, etc. (4) ) Processing procedure for multi-page copying when the number of copies to be printed is 2 or more.In particular, multi-page copying procedure when the number of copies to be printed exceeds the storage capacity of the intermediate tray. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing system having a double-sided printing function, a printing control method, and an apparatus that require less development burden and have high throughput. [Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, a printing system according to the present invention includes a printer with a duplex printing mechanism, a host device that issues print commands, and a host device that interprets print commands received from the host device. In the printing system, the printing system includes a print control device that executes the command and instructs the printer to print, in the upper device, issuing means for issuing a single-sided/double-sided printing designation command that specifies whether to print on one side or on both sides; A means for issuing a paper size designation command that designates the paper size on which a logical page is to be printed, and a means for issuing a print number designation command that designates the number of copies to be printed of each logical page are provided in the print control device. means for interpreting a duplex print designation command; duplex print control means for interpreting and executing a print command string in a duplex print mode; paper size designation command processing means for executing the paper size designation command; and the number-of-copies designation command. The print copy number designation command processing means for executing the print copy number designation command processing means is provided. In this system, in double-sided printing, the paper size and number of copies to be printed are preferably allowed to be specified in units of two pages corresponding to the front and back sides of one sheet of paper. The host device further includes means for issuing a splicing/horizontal direction designation command for specifying the splicing/horizontal direction of each logical page, and means for issuing a print direction designation command for designating the printing direction of each logical page. , in the printing control device, the paper splicing
A paper splicing/horizontal direction designation command processing means for executing a horizontal direction designation command and a printing direction designation command processing means for executing the print direction designation command are further provided. It may also be possible to allow specification of paper splicing and horizontal direction in units of two pages corresponding to . Further, the host device further includes means for issuing a paper source specification command for specifying a paper source for each logical page, and means for issuing a paper output unit specification command for specifying a paper output unit for each logical page. , the print control device further includes a paper feed unit designation command l< processing unit that executes the paper feed unit designation command and a paper discharge unit designation command processing unit that executes the paper discharge unit designation command; In printing, the paper splicing and horizontal direction may be specified in units of two pages corresponding to the front and back sides of one sheet of paper. A print control device according to the present invention is a print control device that controls a printer with a double-sided printing mechanism that has a built-in intermediate tray. a double-sided printing control means consisting of a processing section, and the first half processing section includes a page serial number updating section that updates the serial number of each logical page to be printed, and an odd page/even page determining section that determines whether the page serial number is even or odd. and an odd page processing unit that performs drawing on the page buffer and startup of surface printing for odd numbered pages, and an even page processing unit that performs drawing on the page buffer for even numbered pages, and the latter half processing unit: This is configured by a back-side printing processing starting section that starts back-side printing processing for even-numbered pages. Preferably, the first half processing section includes a first detection section that detects the end of the document to be printed, a second detection section that detects the completion of drawing to the final page buffer, and a third detection section that detects that the intermediate tray is full. and a fourth detection section that detects a change in paper size, and depending on the detection result of the detection section, the first half process is finished and the second half process is started. A detection unit for detecting a change in paper size is provided in the first half processing unit, and when the detection unit detects a change in paper size, the second half processing is performed and the paper of the paper size before the change is discharged from the intermediate tray. However, it is also possible to restart the first half process for the new paper size after the change, after waiting for the completion of the cleaning. The print control device receives print data as a print command string, and provides a command buffer for storing the received command string, and the first half processing unit interprets and executes the print command string in the command buffer to perform drawing. If there is a print command in the command buffer only up to the middle of the page on which the drawing is being performed, the first half of the process is set to a command reception waiting state, and after receiving the subsequent print command, the print command is returned to the command reception waiting state. You can also cancel it. Furthermore, the print control device includes a detection unit that detects when the intermediate tray is full, and a control table that stores at least information on unfinished pages printed due to the intermediate tray being full and information on the number of copies to be printed, and the detection unit detects when the intermediate tray is full. When this is detected, it is also possible to perform the latter half of the process, eject the paper from the intermediate tray, wait for the ejection to be completed, and then resume the unfinished printing process by referring to the control table. From another point of view, the print control device according to the present invention is a print control device for controlling a printer with a duplex printing mechanism that has a built-in intermediate tray. It includes a page buffer, and a double-sided printing control unit consisting of a first half processing section and a second half processing section, and the first half processing section includes a front/back determining section that determines whether each logical page to be printed is the front side or the back side, and It is composed of a front page processing section that performs drawing on the page buffer and startup of front side printing, and a back page processing section that performs drawing on the page buffer for the back page, and the latter half processing section starts back printing processing for the back page. This is composed of a back-side printing activation section that performs the following operations. The duplex printing control method according to the present invention is a duplex printing control method for controlling a printer with a duplex printing mechanism equipped with a built-in intermediate tray, which comprises: a) receiving print data for a plurality of pages and sequentially determining whether each page is the front side or the back side; b) If it is the front side, draw the page in the page buffer and print the drawing content on the front side using the intermediate tray as a paper ejection unit. C) If it is the back side, print the page on the page buffer. Draw is performed on the page buffer, d) Repeats the above processes a) to C) until a predetermined condition is satisfied, and e) When the above condition is satisfied, performs the drawing in the process C). The drawing content of the page buffer corresponding to the back page is printed on the back side of the paper stored in the intermediate tray using the intermediate tray as a paper feeding section. In this double-sided printing control method, the predetermined condition is, for example, when at least one of the following is detected: the end of the document to be printed, the completion of drawing to the final page buffer, the intermediate tray being full, and a change in paper size. That's true. [Operation] When the host computer, which is a higher-level device, uses the single-sided/duplex printing designation command issuing means to instruct double-sided printing at the beginning of the first page of a document, the print control device interprets and interprets the single-sided/double-sided printing designation command. After execution, the duplex printing control means is used to interpret and execute subsequent print command sequences in duplex printing mode. The double-sided printing control means first sets the page serial number (No.
Set to O and start the first half processing section. In response to this, the first half processing unit changes the page number by the page number updating unit.
is updated, and whether it is even or odd is determined by the odd page/even page determination section, and if the number is odd, the odd page processing section is activated. The odd-numbered page processing section performs drawing for odd-numbered pages until a page break condition is detected, and then prints on one surface of the paper using an external cassette other than the intermediate tray as the paper feed section and an intermediate tray as the paper output section. Activate using the print processing activation unit for printing. Actual front side printing is performed by a print processing unit activated by a print process activation unit for front side printing. The finished paper is -
It is then stored in the intermediate tray. If the odd page/even page determining unit determines that the page is even, the even page processing unit is activated. In response, the even-numbered page processing unit performs drawing for even-numbered pages until a page break condition is detected. Printing on the back side of even-numbered pages is performed later in the latter half processing section. The first half processing section is repeated until one of four first half processing end conditions is satisfied: document completion, completion of drawing to the final page buffer, intermediate tray full, and paper size change. When the first half processing end condition is met, the second half processing section is activated after the first half processing is completed. The second half processing section inputs the drawing contents of the page buffer section corresponding to each even numbered page rendered in the first half processing section by activating the back side printing processing starting section, and transfers the paper feed section to the intermediate tray and output tray. Printing is performed on the back side of paper using an external tray other than the intermediate tray as the paper section. This back side printing completes double-sided printing on the front and back sides of each sheet. After the second-half processing unit processes the drawing contents for all even-numbered pages drawn in the page buffer by the printing process starting unit for back side printing, it starts the unprinted page processing unit and performs processing in multi-page copying. When the remaining printing process or the page pass number of the last page is an odd number, the paper remaining in the intermediate tray (on which front side printing has been completed) is discharged from the intermediate tray to the external tray. As described above, if the host computer specifies double-sided printing at the beginning of the document and then sends a normal print command sequence, the print control device will start drawing and front-side printing for odd-numbered pages in the first half of the process. Double-sided printing can be performed by drawing on even-numbered pages and printing on the back side of the pages drawn in the first half in the second half of the process, reducing the development burden on the host computer. It is possible to realize a printing system that is less dependent on the printer specifications of the control program. By the way, in double-sided printing, when the intermediate tray is used as a paper feed section and then switched to be used as a paper discharge section, the processing time increases due to the printer mechanism. Therefore, the key to improving throughput is to make full use of the intermediate tray capacity and reduce the number of switching operations. This printing system makes full use of the intermediate tray capacity.
Since the first half of processing continues until the intermediate tray is full, the number of times the intermediate tray is switched from being used as a paper ejection section in the first half of processing to being used as a paper feeding section during second half processing can be minimized, thereby reducing throughput. can be improved. In addition, this printing system allows for (a) multi-page copying in double-sided printing, (b) changing the paper size and number of print copies for each paper in one document, and (c) changing the paper size, number of print copies, and paper splicing. - Processing when the horizontal direction, paper feed section, etc. are specified for back-side printing can be performed without any problem, so it is possible to provide a user-friendly double-sided printing function. (Hereinafter, blank space) [Example] Hereinafter, a first example of the present invention will be described using the configuration example shown in FIG. This printing system includes a host computer 10, a printer controller 11, and a printer engine section IA equipped with an intermediate tray type double-sided printing mechanism. The printer controller 11 includes a command receiving section 12, a command buffer section 13. It consists of a command processing section 14, a page buffer section 18 (corresponding to a plurality of pages), and a printer control section 19. The print command sent by the host computer 10 is received by the command receiving section 12 and stored in the command buffer section 13. Hereinafter, the print command may be simply referred to as a command. Commands in the command buffer section 13 are processed by the command processing section 14, and drawing data such as characters, figures, images, etc., which are the execution results, are stored in the page buffer section 18. The data in the page buffer section 18 is read by the printer control section 19, converted into a signal in a format that can be received by the printer engine section IA, and outputted to the printer engine section IA. The printer engine section IA prints on the paper surface using an electrophotographic printing mechanism or a wire dot printing mechanism according to the input signal. The feature of this embodiment is that a host computer 10 is provided with a single-sided/double-sided printing designation command issuing means 101 for specifying single-sided printing/double-sided printing to the printer controller, and a command processing unit 14 in the printer controller is provided with A single-sided/double-sided printing designation command processing unit 15, a single-sided printing control unit 16, and a duplex printing control unit 17 are provided. When performing double-sided printing, the host computer 10 specifies double-sided printing at the beginning of the first page using the single-sided/double-sided printing designation command issuing means 101. In the printer controller 11, after executing this command, the double-sided printing control unit 17 interprets and executes the subsequent print command sequence in the double-sided printing mode, and instructs the printer engine unit IA to perform double-sided printing. The computer 10 includes a paper size specification command issuing means 102 for specifying the paper size of each logical page, a print number specification command issuing means 103 for specifying the number of copies of each logical page, and a paper size specification command issuing means 103 for specifying the number of copies of each logical page. Paper splicing/horizontal direction designation command issuing means 104 for specifying splicing/horizontal direction;
A print direction designation command issuing means 105 for specifying the print direction of each logical page, a paper source designation command issuing means 106 for specifying the paper feed section of each logical page, and a paper ejection section for each logical page. An arbitrary one of the paper discharge part designation command issuing means 107 for designation is provided. Further, in the drawing section, which will be described later in FIG.
3, the print number specification command processing unit 1744, and the paper splicing/
Horizontal direction specification command processing section 1745, print direction specification command processing section 1746, and paper feed section specification command processing section 1
747 and a paper discharge section designation command processing section 1748 are provided. Each of the above command processing units 1743 to 1748 processes the paper size designation command received from the host computer 1o,
The commands for specifying the number of print copies, splicing/horizontal direction, print direction, paper feed section, and paper output section can now be executed. These six commands will hereinafter be collectively referred to as various commands for setting printing conditions. The specifications of these commands are shown in FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b). Note that the paper size specification command and paper source specification command defined in Figure 2 are as follows:
Create a relationship like the one below. (i) When both paper size and paper source are specified ■ If a cassette of the specified paper size is attached to the specified paper source, that paper source is specified. ■If both are not specified, use the method shown in (ii) to specify. (ii) When only the paper size is specified (optional without specifying the paper source) (°C) The paper source is searched in order for the paper source in which the cassette of the specified paper size is installed. On the other hand, if both portrait and landscape cassettes are supported, do the following: For example, if two paper sizes are specified as A4, the printer controller will select A4 landscape and A4 portrait cassettes in the order (printing speed Check the cassettes in order of speed (fastest first) and determine the paper source. (■ If there is a cassette with the specified paper size in the paper source, determine that cassette as the paper source. ■ If not, install the cassette. Messages and lamps for instructions are displayed on the panel. (iii) If the paper size is not specified and only the paper source is specified, the printer controller uses the previous value or initial value as the paper size. By the way, the host computer 10 uses these commands to send the command string shown in FIG. 3(b) to the printer controller 11 in order to instruct double-sided printing of the finished state shown in FIG. 3(a). In a), PL, P2.-, PLO indicate separate logical pages. Among these, Pl. P3.-, P9 are printed on the paper surface, and P2゜P4.-
..., PLO is printed on the back side of the paper. Here, Pl and P2, P3 and P4.・P9 and PIO are printed on the front and back sides of the same paper, respectively. The various commands for setting print conditions described above are for specifying the paper size, number of copies to be printed (one sheet, horizontal direction, print direction, paper feed section, paper ejection section, etc.) for each logical page, but two-sided printing is possible. In some cases, inconveniences may occur if the specifications for the front and back sides of the same sheet of paper do not match. For example, if the paper size and number of copies to be printed do not match on the front and back sides, an inconvenience will occur if you try to print on the back side with the specified values. Therefore, the processing specifications when each printing condition is specified for the front side and the back side of the paper by the above command are defined as shown in Figure 4, and each command processing section 1743 to 1748 is processed according to the specifications shown in this figure. did. The main points of FIG. 4 are as follows. (]) The paper size and number of copies may be different for each paper. (2) The printing direction may be different for each logical page. (3) Paper size, number of copies, paper splicing/horizontal direction, printing direction,
Either surface can be specified for the paper feed section and the paper discharge section. (4) For the back page, of the above specified items, only the print direction and paper ejection section can be specified. (5) The paper discharge section can be specified for any logical page, but if it is specified for the front side, the execution is effective only for the back side. (6) Each specification remains valid until a new specification is made. (7) A specification under conditions that do not match the above will be treated as a double-sided printing specification prohibition command error. In this error processing, the error details are reported to the host computer, displayed on the operation panel on the printer controller, and the printing process is canceled. As shown in FIG. 1(b), the double-sided printing control section 17 includes a first half processing section 171, a second half processing section 178, and a print processing section 179.
Consisting of: The first half processing section 171 includes a page number updating section 172. It is composed of an odd page/even page determining section 173, an odd page processing section 174, and an even page processing section 175. The latter half processing section 178 includes a print processing starting section 17A for back side printing and an unprinted page processing section 17B. Note that the second control table 1 shown in FIG.
77 and the different size paper intermediate tray mixing prevention section 17C will be mentioned later in the description of other embodiments. The double-sided printing control unit 17 first sets the page pass NO to O and starts the first half processing unit 171. [First-half processing unit] 71 updates the page number updating unit 172, and changes the even/odd number to the odd number page/page number update unit 172.
The even page determination section 173 makes a determination, and if the page is an odd number, the odd page processing section 174 is activated. The odd-numbered page processing unit 174 draws the odd-numbered pages in the drawing unit 174-1 until a page break condition is detected, and then sets the paper feed unit to an external cassette other than the intermediate tray and the paper output unit to the intermediate tray. The printing on the front side of the paper is started using the print processing starting section 174-2 for front side printing.6 Actual front side printing is started by the printing processing section 179 started by the printing processing starting section 174-2 for front side printing. will do. The completed paper is stored in the -alternative tray. If the odd page/even page determining unit 173 determines that the page is even, the even page processing unit 175 is activated. The even-numbered page processing unit 175 performs drawing for even-numbered pages in the drawing unit 175-1 until a page break condition is detected. Back side printing for even-numbered pages is performed later in the latter half processing section 178. In this embodiment, the first half processing section 171 is repeated until one of four types of first half processing termination conditions is satisfied: (1) end of document, (2) completion of drawing to the final page buffer, (2) intermediate tray full, and (2) change in paper size. When this first half processing end condition is met, the second half processing section 179 is activated after the first half processing is completed. The second half processing section 178 inputs the drawing contents of the page buffer section 18 corresponding to each even numbered page rendered by the first half processing section 171 by activating the back side printing processing starting section 17A, and then starts the paper feeding section. Printing is performed on the back side of paper using an intermediate tray and an external tray other than the intermediate tray as the paper ejection section. This back side printing completes double-sided printing on the front and back sides of each sheet. The second-half processing unit 178 activates the unprinted page processing unit 17B after the print process activation unit 17A for back side printing processes the drawing contents for all even-numbered pages drawn in the page buffer. The unprinted page processing unit 17B performs remaining printing processing in multi-page copying (details will be explained in the fourth embodiment) and paper remaining in the intermediate tray (front side printing) when the page running number of the final page is an odd number. Completed) from the intermediate tray to the external tray. Note that the aforementioned paper size specification command processing unit 1743, number of print copies specification command processing unit 1744, paper splicing/horizontal direction specification command processing unit 1745, print direction specification command processing unit 1746, paper source specification command processing unit 1747, and paper ejection The copy specifying command processing section 1748 is the odd page processing section 17
4 and the drawing sections 174-1 and 175-1 in the even-numbered page processing section 175 as shown in FIG. 1(C). In FIG. 1(C), drawing sections 174-1 and 175-1
is provided with a command buffer reading section 1741 and a page break processing section 1742. Command buffer reading section 1741
is a part that reads commands from the command buffer part 13, and is used by the drawing part 174-1 or 175-1 to interpret commands. Also, page break processing unit 17
42 is activated when the drawing section 174-1 or 175-1 detects a page break, that is, a page break condition, while processing the command string in the command buffer section 13, and performs page update processing. Using Figure 1(c), four types of first-half processing termination conditions: ■End of document, ■Completion of drawing to last page buffer, ■Intermediate tray full, ■Detection of paper size change and shift from first-half processing to second-half processing. Explain the mechanism of process migration. (The end of the document in step 1 means that the command buffer reading section 1
741 is detected using the document end detection unit 174A. The completion of drawing to the final page buffer in ■ is performed by the page break processing unit 1.
Reference numeral 742 detects a drawing access to the final page buffer in the page buffer section 18, which is made up of a plurality of pages, using the final page buffer drawing completion detection section 174B. The intermediate tray full condition (2) is detected by the intermediate tray full detection section 174C in the page break processing section 1742 managing and determining whether the number of sheets in the intermediate tray of the printer engine section IA is full. ■The paper size change is performed by the paper size specification command processing unit 17.
43 detects using the paper size change detection section 174D. When any of the above four types of first-half processing end conditions is detected, the detected content is set in the first-half processing end flag in the first control table 176. When the drawing unit 174-]- or 175-1 detects the fulfillment of any of the first-half processing end conditions by referring to the first-half processing end flag, the drawing unit 174-]- or 175-1 ends the processing by the first-half processing unit 171, and executes the processing by the second-half processing unit 178. I moved on to processing. Note that in FIG. 1(b), the drawing units 174-1 and 17
Although 5-1 has been described as being provided separately, they may be integrated in one location for common use. In this case as well, double-sided printing can be performed in the same way. Figure 5 shows (a) definition of the first half processing end flag, (b) setting location (timing), (C) end location (timing) of first half processing by referencing it, and (d) page at the end of first half processing. Shows the distinction between even and odd. Each part in Figure 1 includes a microprocessor, RAM, and ROM.
, LS1. What can be achieved using a logic IC1 electrophotographic printing mechanism, wire dot printing mechanism, etc. will be described later. In this embodiment, if the host computer specifies double-sided printing at the beginning of the document as described above and then sends a normal print command sequence, the printer controller will perform the drawing and surface printing for odd-numbered pages in the first half of the process. Start printing,
By drawing on even-numbered pages and printing on the back side of the pages drawn in the first half in the second half of the process, double-sided printing can be performed, reducing the development burden on the host computer and reducing the burden on the host computer. It is possible to realize a printing system in which the control program is less dependent on the printer specifications. By the way, in double-sided printing, when the intermediate tray is used as a paper feed section and then switched to be used as a paper discharge section, the processing time increases due to the printer mechanism. Therefore, the key to improving throughput is to fully utilize the intermediate tray capacity and reduce the number of switching operations. This printing system makes full use of the intermediate tray capacity,
Since the first half of processing continues until the intermediate tray is full, the number of times the intermediate tray is switched from being used as a paper output section in the first half of processing to being used as a paper feeding section during second half of processing can be minimized, thereby reducing throughput. can be improved. In addition, with this printing system, in double-sided printing, it is possible to (a) multi-page copy, (b) change the paper size and number of print copies for each paper in the document, and (c) change the paper size, number of print copies, and paper splicing. - Processing when the horizontal direction, paper feed section, etc. are specified for back-side printing can be performed without any problem, so it is possible to provide a user-friendly double-sided printing function. (Hereafter, blank space) Next

[2] A second embodiment of the present invention will be described. Normally, when sheets of different sizes are mixed in the intermediate tray, the printer engine enters a printer error state (hereinafter referred to as an intermediate tray error) and stops printing. This embodiment is intended to prevent intermediate tray errors from occurring due to sheets of different sizes being mixed into the intermediate tray. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1(b), in addition to the first embodiment, a different size paper intermediate tray mixing prevention section 1.7C is added to the duplex printing control section 17. It is something. The processing procedure in this embodiment will be explained below. (1) When the paper size of an odd numbered page (paper size 1) changes to the paper size of the next odd numbered page (paper size 2), the processing of the first half processing unit 171 ends. (2) Processing is performed by the latter half processing unit 178 for paper size 1, and double-sided printing for paper size 1 is completed. (3) The double-sided printing control unit 17 activates the different size paper intermediate tray mixing prevention unit 17C. This different size paper intermediate tray mixing prevention unit 17C is configured to control the first control table 176
Referring to the first half processing end flag in , it is determined whether a paper size change has been detected. If a change in paper size is detected, the intermediate tray mixing prevention section 17C for paper of another size waits until conveyance of the paper from the intermediate tray for paper size 1 is completed within the printer engine section IA. The conveyance state of the paper is determined by the mixing prevention section 17C.
This is confirmed by using the functions of the printer control section 19 to adjust the paper conveyance state of the printer engine section IA. (4) The double-sided printing control unit 17 starts double-sided printing for paper size 2 from the processing of the first half processing unit 171. As described above, in (3), the different size paper intermediate tray mixing prevention unit 17C waits for paper size 1 to be conveyed from the intermediate tray to completion, and then in (4), double-sided printing for paper size 2 is performed. By starting
The intermediate tray error can be prevented. Therefore, in double-sided printing, printing can be continued without any problem even if the paper size is changed for each paper. Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. This embodiment is for performing double-sided printing when the command buffer section 13 contains commands only up to the middle of the page. The configuration of this embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment or the second embodiment. Next, the processing procedure is shown. (1) When the command buffer section 13 contains commands only up to the middle of odd-numbered pages. (a) Assume that the state of the command buffer unit 13 is as shown in FIG. 6(a). The first half processing unit 171 sequentially processes the first to seventh pages. Regarding the first page, drawing is performed by the drawing section 174-1 in the odd-numbered page processing section 174, and front-side printing processing is started by the front-side printing print processing starting section 174-2. Regarding the second page, only drawing is performed by the drawing section 175-1 in the even-numbered page processing section 175. Similarly, for the third page, start drawing and surface printing processing,
Regarding the fourth page, the process proceeds by performing only drawing. Then, the drawing section 17 for the seventh page
4-1, the end of the command buffer section 13 is detected. (b) The double-sided printing control unit 17 proceeds with the processing as follows. The basic procedure and command buffer access pointer control are the same as for single-sided printing. 1) The process of the double-sided printing control unit 17 is set to a command reception waiting state. (ii) Receives the next command (FIG. 6(b)) and releases the processing of the duplex printing control unit 17 from the command reception waiting state 6 (j) The duplex printing control unit 17 receives the second half of the seventh page. The processing of the first half processing section 171 is restarted from the drawing processing of the drawing section 174-1 regarding the command. (iy) While continuing the processing, the first half processing unit 171 detects the end of the document, which is one of the conditions for ending the first half processing. After this detection, the one-sided printing control section 17 finishes the processing by the first half processing section 171 and starts the second half processing section 178. (v) The second half processing unit 178 sequentially starts the printing process for the second page, the fourth page, . (2) When the command buffer section contains commands only up to the middle of even-numbered pages. Process in the same way as if the command is only in the middle of an odd numbered page. When the state of the command buffer section 13 is as shown in FIG. 6(c), the following three replacements may be performed in the processing procedure in (1). ■Replace the 7th page with the 8th page. ■Replace Figure 6(a) with Figure 6(c). ■Replace Figure 6(b) with Figure 6(d). According to this embodiment, the host computer sends a print command string to the printer controller without being aware of page breaks, and even if the command buffer contains commands only up to the middle of the page, double-sided printing can be performed without any problem. It has the effect of being able to Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described. This embodiment is intended to perform multi-page copying in which the number of copies to be printed is two or more without any problem even in double-sided printing. The configuration of this embodiment is first, second, and so on. Or it is similar to the case of the third embodiment. When a plurality of copies are to be printed, there are two methods for transmitting a command sequence from the host computer 10 to the printer controller 11, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. The method shown in Figure 7 uses the first and second corpages, which are the front and back sides of the same sheet.
A sending command is created to print multiple copies of each page, such as printing multiple copies of a page, then printing multiple copies of the third and fourth pages. On the other hand, in the method shown in FIG. 8, after printing from the first page to the last page, a sending command is created to repeat this process multiple times. Although the latter has a larger amount of transmitted commands than the former, it is superior in that the output results are sorted. However, the latter has lower throughput than the former. When instructing double-sided printing, the host computer 10 evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of one method and selects an appropriate method. The processing procedure for performing multi-page copying using the method shown in FIG. 7 will be described below. Note that when the method shown in FIG. 8 is used, the processing of printer controller I/roller 1] is the same as when the number of copies to be printed is 1. (1) When the intermediate tray capacity is not exceeded Execute the same processing procedure as multi-page copying in single-sided printing. That is, in printing by the print processing unit 179 on the front side or the back side of each sheet, control by reading the completed page buffer contents is repeated for several copies to be printed. (2) When the intermediate tray capacity is exceeded Multi-page copy printing of the same odd or even pages is repeated as long as the intermediate tray capacity is not exceeded. In order to repeatedly control the intermediate tray capacity so as not to exceed it, the second control table 177 is set to the double-sided printing control unit]7
(see Fig. 1(b))). [Second control table] 77, as shown in FIG.
The following items shall be provided. ■ Number of remaining empty sheets in the intermediate tray (N r ) 1771 ■ Page serial number of unfinished multi-page copies for front side printing (face page seqno) 1772 ■ Remaining number of copies to print of uncompleted multi-page copies for front side printing (face multno) 1773 ■) Page serial number (ba
ck pageseqno) 1774 ■ Remaining number of copies of unfinished pages for multi-page copying for back side printing (back
n+ultno) 1775 An example is shown in FIG. FIG. 9(a) shows an example of a command sequence sent from the host computer 10 to the printer controller 11. Two copies of the first and second pages are printed on the front and back sides of the same paper, and two copies of the third and fourth pages are printed on the front and back sides of the same paper.
Assume that the host computer 10 instructs the printer controller 11 to print the fifth and sixth pages on both sides of the same sheet of paper for 30 copies. Here, the description will be made assuming that the intermediate tray capacity N in the printer engine section IA is 24 sheets. The same applies to other values of N. The printer controller 11 processes as shown in FIG. 9(b). First, the first half process 91 is performed until the first half process end condition that the intermediate tray becomes full is detected, and the 24 sheets of paper on which front side printing has been completed are stored in the intermediate tray. As shown in Figure 9(b), there are two Pl sheets, two P3 sheets, and P5
20 sheets are stored. Next, in the second half process 92, back side printing is performed on the 24 sheets of paper stored in the first half process 91. As a result, 24 sheets of paper with double-sided printing are output to the external paper ejection tray. Next, the first half process 93 is performed again, and 10 copies of the front side of P5, whose front side printing was not completed in the first half process 91, are printed and stored in the intermediate tray. Finally, the second half process 94 is performed, and the first half process 93 prints the surface printed one.
Perform back side printing on 0 sheets of paper. The processing procedure of the first half process 91 will be explained in more detail. ■Start drawing and surface printing processing (2 parts) for the first page. ■Draw on the second page. ■Start drawing and surface printing processing (2 parts) for the third page. ■Draw on the fourth page. - After drawing the fifth page, an attempt is made to start the front side printing process with 30 copies to be printed, but all 30 copies cannot be stored in the intermediate tray. Therefore, the number of copies to be printed is set to 20 copies, which corresponds to the number of empty sheets remaining in the intermediate tray Nr(1771)=24-4=20, and the front side printing process is started. In ■■, after detecting that the intermediate tray is full, which is one of the conditions for ending the first half processing, the processing of the first half processing section 171 is ended, and the processing of the second half processing section 178 is started and ended. FIG. 11 shows the process of FIG. 9(b) performed by the double-sided printing control unit 17.
5 shows the changes in the values of the five items in the second control table 177 when The initial value of each item in the second control table 177 is
As shown in the figure, Nr1771 = 24, facep
ageseqno1772 = -1, face m
ultno1773 = 01back pages
eqno 1774 = -1, back mu
It is set as ltno1775=O. First half processing 9
At the end of 1, Nr1771 = O, face
pageseqno1772=P5, face
multno1773=10. back page
seqno 1774=-1, back multno
It has changed to 1775=O. The processing procedure of the latter half processing 92 will be explained in more detail. ■Start the back side printing process (2 copies) for the second page. ■Start the back side printing process (2 copies) for the 4th page. ■Start the back side printing process (20 copies) for the 6th page. Here, the number of copies to be printed for the sixth page is 24, but there are only 20 copies of paper in the intermediate tray, so the number of copies to be printed is reduced to 2.
I have set it to 0 copies. At the end of this second half processing, each item of the second control table 177 has N as shown in FIG.
r 1771" 24, face pageseqn
o1772 = P 5, face ll1ultn
o1773 = 10, back pageseqno
1774 = P 6, back multn. 1775=10 is set. Next, the processing procedure of the first half process 93 will be explained in more detail. ■ face mult in second control table 177
n. Since 1773 is not O, page through No face
Regarding pageseqno 1772, number of copies fa
Start surface printing for ce multno 1773 minutes. ■Detects the end of the document, finishes the first half process 93, and then finishes the second half process 9
Start 4. Next, the processing procedure of the latter half process 94 will be explained in more detail. ■ back multn in second control table 177
. 1775 is not O, so page through No back
Regarding pageseqno 1774, number of copies printed ba
ck multno 1775 minutes of back side printing is activated. (2) Since the end of the document has been detected, the process of the double-sided printing control unit 17 is ended. According to this embodiment, there is an effect that multi-page copying can be performed without any problem even in double-sided printing.6 By combining the effect of the second embodiment described above, it is possible to change the paper size and number of copies for each paper. In this case, double-sided printing can be continued without any problem. Next, a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, the function of the double-sided printing control section 17 is added to the printing system previously proposed by the present applicant in Japanese Patent Application No. 1-164637, and its configuration is shown in FIG. The drawing process and the printing process are processed as a drawing task and a printing task, respectively, by the task processing unit 13'. The page buffer section 14' has a plurality of page buffers, and their usage status is managed by a page buffer management table section 18' within the page buffer control section 116'. The usage status of the printer engine section 16' is managed by a printer management table section 19' within the printer control section 117'. The execution status of the tasks is managed by the task management table section 17', and the task control section 12' starts each task by referring to this. That is, an empty page buffer is assigned to a drawing task, and an empty printer engine section is assigned to a printing task. If there is no free page buffer, the drawing task is managed as a page buffer free wait state, and when any page buffer becomes free, the free page buffer wait state is released. If the printer engine is not free,
The print task is managed as waiting for a printer to become available, and when the printer becomes available, the idle state is released. In this way, efficient print control can be achieved by effectively utilizing shared resources such as the page buffer section and the printer engine section, and by making it possible to execute drawing tasks and printing tasks in parallel. In this embodiment, each component in the duplex printing control section 17 in FIG. 1 is associated with each component in FIG. 12 as follows, and the functions of each component in the duplex printing control section 17 are as follows. As shown in FIG. 12, this is realized as a function of each part of FIG. (1) First half processing section 171 → drawing task processing section 131' (2) Second half processing section 178 → drawing task processing section 131' (3) Printing processing section 179 → printing task processing section 132' (4) First control table 176 → page buffer management table section 18' (5) second control table 177 → printer management table section 19' (6) single-sided printing control section 16 → drawing task processing section 131'
and printing task processing unit 132' (7) single-sided/double-sided printing command processing unit 15 → drawing task processing unit 131' Note that the reference numbers of the components in FIG. Please clarify the correspondence with No. 164637. According to this embodiment, the CPU, printer engine section, and page buffer section (consisting of multiple pages) can be used without idle time, so throughput is improved and double-sided printing is realized at the printer engine's maximum speed. be able to. A specific example of the hardware configuration of the printer controller in the embodiment described above will be explained using FIG. 13. The printer controller includes a CPU bus]-11, a host communication controller 112, a CPU], 13, a ROM
It consists of a memory 114, a floating point arithmetic coprocessor 115, a sub CPU 1.1.6, a user operation panel 117, an image rotation LS 1118, a printer memory controller 119, and a DRAM memory IIA. The CPU bus 1]-1 consists of various input/output signals (address signals, data signals, and other control signals) of the CPU 113. The CPU 113 connects to the 1
12,115,1], 6,118°119, etc., and peripheral controllers such as 114. Performs input/output with memory such as IIA. Here, considering the correspondence with the functional diagram of FIG. 1(a), the command receiving section of FIG. 1 is the host communication controller 1.
12 and CPU 113, and the command processing unit 14 is CPU 1
13, the printer control unit 19 is connected to the sub CPU 116 and the printer memory controller 119, and the command buffer unit 13 and page buffer unit 18 are connected to the DRAM memory IIA.
corresponds to The host communication controller 112 is a controller that allows the printer controller 1 to communicate with the host computer 10 . The physical I/F for this communication (referred to as host 1 to I/F) is SC5I (Small Com
puter system interface),
R3232C. R5422, G P -I B (General
Purpose Interface Bus), Centronics, HDLC (High-LevelD
Atal, ink Control), etc., are used to implement appropriate hardware logic for the controller 112 depending on the type of physics/F used. The ROM memory 114 contains a printer controller (Herola initialization startup program (IPL)).
(Also called program Loading) program)
and stores part of the character font. The DRAM memory IIA stores (i) the control program for this printer controller, (poor) remaining character fonts, (i)
ii) command buffer unit memory, (iv) page buffer unit memory, and (v) various management tables such as a task management table, page buffer management table, printer management table, and others. Among these (i)
and (il) are stored in the IPL program. Furthermore, (1) and (h) are not stored in the DRAM memory 110, but are
It may be stored in the OM memory 114 in advance. Conversely, all character fonts may be stored in the DRAM memory 11A without storing any character fonts in the ROM memory 114. The floating point arithmetic coprocessor 115 performs floating point arithmetic according to instructions from the CPUI 13. The image rotation LS 1118 performs rotation processing of the drawing output according to instructions from the CPU 113 when the CPU 113 draws characters and images to the page buffer unit 18 . The floating point arithmetic coprocessor 115 and image rotation LS 1118 can speed up the drawing process. Note that 115 and 118 can be removed and processed by the CPU, but in this case the speed of the drawing process will be reduced. The sub CPU 116 performs input/output processing with the user operation panel 117 and the printer unit IA according to instructions from the CPU 113. The printer memory controller 119 performs read processing of the DRAM ROM memory 114 (normally the contents of the page buffer section) to the printer engine section IA and the DRAM memory I.
Performs IA control (refresh, etc.). This reading process is performed using the built-in DMA (Direct Memory Ac
cess) function, and when the reading of data for paper pages from the page buffer section is completed, the printer memory controller 119 sends an interrupt signal to the CPU 113 (a part of the signal in the CPU/< cess 111). is asserted to start page read end interrupt processing by the CPU. The print control device is connected to the printer engine unit 1A through the video I/O via the sub CPU 116 via the signal line 11B and the printer memory controller 119 via the signal line 11C.
Communication is performed according to an I/F called F. The signal line 11C allows the printer memory controller 119 to transfer the contents of the page buffer section 18 to the printer engine section IA.
It consists of an image output signal read out to. Signal line 11B is sub-C
A command status transmission/reception signal for the PU 116 to send commands for inquiries and instructions to the printer engine unit IA and receive response status from the printer engine unit IA, and a procedure for reading out the contents of the page buffer memory to the printer engine unit IA. Consists of control signals for controlling the In the above embodiment, odd page numbers correspond to front side printing and even page numbers correspond to back side printing, but the correspondence relationship may be changed. In other words, double-sided printing can be performed in the same way even if even-numbered page running numbers correspond to front-side printing and odd-numbered page running numbers correspond to back-side printing. [Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, if the host computer specifies double-sided printing at the beginning of the document and then sends a normal print command sequence, the printer controller will print and print odd pages in the first half of the process. Double-sided printing can be performed by starting front-side printing, drawing on even-numbered pages, and performing back-side printing on the pages drawn in the first half of processing in the second half of the process, so the control program on the host computer side This has the advantage that it is possible to realize a printing system with less development burden and less dependence of the control program on the host combinator on the printer specifications. In the printing system according to the present invention, in order to make full use of the intermediate tray capacity and continue the first half of processing until the intermediate tray is full, the intermediate tray is used as a paper ejection section in the first half of processing, and is used as a paper feeder in the second half of processing. Since it is possible to minimize the number of times of switching to use as a part, there is also the effect that throughput can be improved. In addition, with this printing system according to the present invention, in double-sided printing, it is possible to (a) multi-page copy, (b) change the paper size and number of print copies for each paper in a document, and (c) change the paper size and number of print copies. , paper splicing/horizontal direction, paper feed section, etc. can be performed without any problem, so there is also the effect that it is possible to provide a user-friendly double-sided printing function.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the first embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram of specifications of various print condition setting commands in the first embodiment, and Fig. 3 is a host diagram of the host in the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the method of sending commands from the computer to the printer controller. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the processing specifications for commands for setting various printing conditions for the front and back sides of paper in the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the state of the command buffer in the third embodiment, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are diagrams illustrating the state of the command buffer in the fourth embodiment. Explanatory diagram of a method for sending commands from a host computer to a printer controller for multi-page copying, No. 9
11 is an explanatory diagram of a multi-page copying method when the intermediate tray capacity is exceeded in the fourth embodiment, FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the second control table in the fourth embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration example of the fifth embodiment, and FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of the hardware configuration of the present invention. 10. Host computer, 11.. Printer controller, 12.. Command receiving section, 13. Command buffer section, ] 4. Command processing section, 15. Single-sided/duplex printing designation command processing section, ] 6.. Single-sided printing control section, 17 ・
Double-sided printing control section, 18... page buffer section, 19.
Printer control section, IA/printer engine section, 171.
・First half processing section, 172 page number update section, 173
odd page/even page determination unit, 174 odd page processing unit, 175-even page processing unit, 178--second half processing unit, 179-print processing unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A printer with a double-sided printing mechanism, a host device that issues a print command, and a print control device that interprets and executes the print command received from the host device and instructs the printer to print. In the printing system, the host device includes means for issuing a single-sided/double-sided printing designation command that designates whether to print on one or both sides, and a paper size designation command that designates the paper size on which each logical page is to be printed. and means for issuing a print number designation command that specifies the number of copies to be printed of each logical page, and in the print control device, means for interpreting the single-sided/double-sided printing designation command, and a means for issuing a print command sequence for double-sided printing. A double-sided printing control means that interprets and executes the print mode, a paper size designation command processing means that executes the paper size designation command, and a print number designation command processing means that executes the print number designation command. printing system. 2. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein in double-sided printing, the paper size and the number of copies to be printed are allowed to be specified in units of two pages corresponding to the front and back sides of one sheet of paper. 3. In the host device, means for issuing a paper length/horizontal direction designation command for specifying the paper length/horizontal direction of each logical page, and means for issuing a print direction designation command for designating the printing direction for each logical page. further provided, in the print control device, paper length/horizontal direction designation command processing means for executing the paper length/horizontal direction designation command; and print direction designation command processing means for executing the print direction designation command. 3. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein in double-sided printing, the vertical and horizontal directions of the paper are allowed to be specified in units of two pages corresponding to the front and back sides of one sheet of paper. 4. The host device further includes means for issuing a paper feed section designation command for specifying a paper feed section for each logical page, and means for issuing a paper ejection section specification command for specifying a paper ejection section for each logical page. , further comprising a paper feed unit designation command processing unit for executing the paper feed unit designation command and a paper discharge unit designation command processing unit for executing the paper discharge unit designation command in the print control device; 3. The printing system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the printing system allows designation of paper vertical and horizontal directions in units of two pages corresponding to the front and back sides of one sheet of paper. 5. In a print control device that controls a printer with a double-sided printing mechanism that has a built-in intermediate tray, double-sided printing consists of a page buffer for multiple pages that draws the contents of each logical page to be printed, a first half processing section, and a second half processing section. The first half processing unit includes a page serial number updating unit that updates the serial number of each logical page to be printed, an odd page/even page determining unit that determines whether the page serial number is even or odd, and for odd pages, It is composed of an odd page processing section that performs drawing on the page buffer and startup of front-side printing, and an even-numbered page processing section that performs drawing on the page buffer for even-numbered pages, and the latter half processing section performs back-side printing processing for even-numbered pages. 1. A printing control device comprising a back side printing processing starting section that performs starting. 6. In the first half processing section, a first detection section that detects the end of the document to be printed, a second detection section that detects the completion of drawing to the final page buffer, and a third detection section that detects that the intermediate tray is full. It has at least one detecting section of a detecting section and a fourth detecting section that detects a change in paper size, and is characterized in that it ends the first half process and moves to the second half process according to the detection result of the detecting section. 6. The printing control device according to claim 5. 7. The first half processing section includes a detection section that detects a change in paper size, and when the detection section detects a change in paper size, the second half processing is performed and paper of the previous paper size is removed from the intermediate tray. 6. The printing control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the print control apparatus resumes the first half of the process for the new paper size after the change, after ejecting the paper and waiting for the completion of the ejection. 8. Receives print data as a print command string, has a command buffer for storing the received command string, and when the first half processing section interprets and executes the print command string in the command buffer to perform drawing. , if the print command exists in the command buffer only up to the middle of the page on which the drawing is being performed, the first half of the process is placed in a command reception waiting state, and after receiving the subsequent print command, the command reception waiting state is released. Claim 5 characterized in that
Printing control device as described. 9. A detection unit that detects when the intermediate tray is full, and a control table that stores at least information on pages that have not been printed due to the intermediate tray being full and information on the number of copies to be printed, and when the detection unit detects that the intermediate tray is full, the second half 6. The print control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the printing control apparatus performs processing to eject the paper from the intermediate tray, waits for completion of the ejection, and resumes unfinished print processing by referring to the control table. 10. In a print control device that controls a printer with a double-sided printing mechanism that has a built-in intermediate tray, double-sided printing consists of a page buffer for multiple pages that draws the contents of each logical page to be printed, a first half processing section, and a second half processing section. The first half processing section includes a front/back determining section that determines whether each logical page to be printed is a front or back side, and a front page processing section that performs drawing on the page buffer and starting front side printing for the front page. and a back page processing unit that performs drawing on the page buffer for the back page, and the latter half processing unit is configured by a back print starting unit that starts back print processing for the back page. Control device. 11. A duplex printing control method for controlling a printer with a duplex printing mechanism and a built-in intermediate tray, comprising: a) receiving print data for multiple pages and sequentially determining whether each page is the front side or the back side; and b) determining whether each page is the front side or the back side. If so, the page is drawn on the page buffer, and the drawing content is printed on the front side using the intermediate tray as a paper ejection unit; c) If it is on the back side, the page is drawn on the page buffer. and d) carry out the above processes a) to c until the predetermined conditions are satisfied.
) is repeatedly executed, and e) when the above condition is satisfied, the drawing content of the page buffer corresponding to the back page drawn in the process c) is applied to the paper stored in the intermediate tray. A double-sided printing control method characterized by performing back-side printing using an intermediate tray as a paper feeding section. 12. The predetermined condition is the end of the document to be printed;
12. The double-sided printing control method according to claim 11, wherein at least one of completion of drawing to the final page buffer, fullness of the intermediate tray, and change in paper size is detected.