JPH041076A - Printing control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to perform maintenance work under a most suitable condition by a method wherein on a printer, two independently replaceable maintenance information historical memories are provided, and also a writing switch, reading switch, maintenance information historical memory control circuit and printing data control circuit are provided. CONSTITUTION:When receiving a printing command and printing data from a high order device 1, a printing data control circuit 2 sends printing data to a printer 3, and the printer 3 performs printing by this. A maintenance information historical memory control circuit 4 performs writing/reading for maintenance information historical memories 5 and 8. For example, when maintenance work is completed, a maintenance worker writes the performed maintenance content in the maintenance information historical memories 5 and 8 by a writing switch 7. The maintenance worker writes a maintenance performed date and maintenance code, etc. to the maintenance information historical memory control circuit 4 by pressing the writing switch 7. Since the memory control circuit 4 copies the content of all addresses of the maintenance information historical memory 8 to the maintenance information historical memory 5, the content prior to trouble can be reproduced, and the maintenance information will not be lost. By this method, the historical data can be utilized as information for the pursuit of causes when trouble is generated, and it can be used to improve the reliability of a printer device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a printing control system for a printer, and more particularly to a method for controlling maintenance information for a printer.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, printer maintenance information has not been stored in the printer itself, or even if it has been stored, it has been stored only in one maintenance history memory. For example, maintenance information such as that the printing hammer was replaced on January 25, 1989, and the paper feed roller was replaced on February 3, 1989, etc., is written down by maintenance personnel in a notebook when performing maintenance work, and is printed on the printer. The maintenance information was either not input to the maintenance history memory and stored therein, or even if it was stored in the maintenance history memory, the maintenance information would be lost if the memory itself failed.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Therefore, when maintenance personnel go to a user's location to perform maintenance, they do not know the maintenance history of the printer, which prevents them from performing optimal maintenance work and adversely affects the reliability of the printer.

[Means to solve the problem]

The printing control method of the present invention includes, in a printer that prints in response to a printing command from a host device, nonvolatile first and second maintenance information history memories that store maintenance information of the printer and are each independently exchangeable; a write switch for specifying write data to the first and second maintenance information history memories; a read switch for reading out the contents of the first and second maintenance information history memories; and a switch for the write switch and the read switch. a maintenance information history memory control circuit that operates the first and second maintenance information history memories according to instructions; and edits print data from the host device and contents read from the first and second maintenance information history memories. and a print data control circuit for printing.

Further, in the print control method of the present invention, the contents of the first maintenance information history memory are transferred to the second maintenance information history memory, and the contents of the second maintenance information history memory are transferred to the first maintenance information history memory. It is configured to include means for transferring history memory.

〔Example〕

Next, the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, upon receiving a print command and print data from a host device 1, a print data control circuit 2 sends print data to a printer 3, and the printer 3 prints based on the print data. The maintenance information history memory control circuit 4 writes/reads the maintenance information history memories 5 and 8.

First, when the printer device is first powered on at the factory, all addresses (from address 0 to address n) of maintenance information history memories 5 and 8 are cleared to 0. The maintenance information history memories 5 and 8 are memories with a nonvolatile function that retains their contents even when the power is turned off. When the maintenance information history memories 5 and 8 have been cleared, the maintenance information history memory control circuit 4 writes maintenance information sequentially from address 0 to the maintenance information history memories 5 and 8 with the same content in response to a write signal from the write switch 7. Maintenance information is coded and defined in advance.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of encoding maintenance information.

In the figure, for example, when regular cleaning is performed, the maintenance code is set to 01. If regular maintenance is performed, change the maintenance code to 02.
．． If you replace the printing hammer, change the maintenance code to 03. If the paper feed roller is replaced, change the maintenance code to 04. When replacing the hammer driver package, define the maintenance code as 05 or the like. The maintenance hood also contains special codes, ie, maintenance code 98 and maintenance code 99, which have the function of copying the contents between the maintenance information history memory 5 or 8 when the two memories are out of order.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of contents written in the maintenance information history memories 5 and 8. At the end of the maintenance work, the maintenance personnel writes the contents of the performed maintenance into the maintenance information history memories 5 and 8 using the write switch 7. The write switch 7 is preferably a "numeric keypad" or the like that can specify numbers (0 to 9). The maintenance person presses the write switch 7 to send the maintenance date, maintenance code, etc. to the maintenance information history memory control circuit 4.

For example, when the printing hammer was replaced on January 25, 1989, write switch 7 was set to 89. Of.

Press 25.03. The maintenance code uses the code defined in FIG. The maintenance information history memory control circuit 4 writes the data from the write switch 7 into the maintenance information history memory 5, and also writes the same contents into the maintenance information history memory 8.

The maintenance personnel writes all the maintenance work performed in this way into the maintenance information history memories 5 and 8. Figure 3 shows the printing hammer replacement (maintenance code 03) on January 25, 1889.
Paper feed roller replaced on February 10, 989 (maintenance code 0)
4), periodic cleaning (maintenance code Of) was performed on March 20, 1989.

This indicates that regular maintenance (maintenance code 02) was performed on March 23, 1989.

Next, a method of reading out the contents of the maintenance information history memory 5 will be explained. A maintenance person or operator presses the readout switch 8 when he or she wants to read out maintenance information. When the read switch 6 is pressed, the signal is sent to the maintenance information history memory control circuit 4, and the maintenance information history memory control circuit 4 reads the contents of the maintenance information history memory 5 and sends it to the print data control circuit 2.

The print data control circuit 2 sends the contents of the maintenance information history memory 5 to the printer 3, and the printer 3 prints the contents. In this way, maintenance information can be printed on your own printer.

Next, a memory backup method when either maintenance information history memory 5 or 8 fails will be explained. For example, if the maintenance information history memory 5 breaks down, the maintenance person replaces the maintenance information history memory 5 with a new one, then sets the write switch 7 to "99" (command to copy memory 8 to memory 5) and writes. . Then, the maintenance information history memory control circuit 4 copies the contents of all addresses in the maintenance information history memory 8 to the maintenance information history memory 5.

In this way, the maintenance information history memory 5 can reproduce the contents before the failure, and the maintenance information will not be lost.

Also, if the maintenance information history memory 8 breaks down, by setting the write switch 7 to "98" (command to copy the contents of the memory 5 to the memory 8) and writing, the contents of the maintenance information history memory 5 will become the maintenance information history. Copied to memory 8,
The contents before the failure will be reproduced.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention provides a printer with two independently exchangeable maintenance information history memories, a write switch, a read switch, a maintenance information history memory control circuit, and a print data control circuit. Alternatively, the operator can know the history of maintenance work performed, and even if the maintenance information history memory fails, maintenance information will not be lost and maintenance work can be performed under optimal conditions. Therefore, the history data can be used as information when searching for the cause of a failure, which has the effect of improving the reliability of the printer device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a maintenance code, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the contents of a maintenance information history memory. 1... Host device, 2... Print data control circuit, 3.
...Printer, 4...Maintenance information history memory control circuit,
5.8... Maintenance information history memory, 6... Read switch, 7... Write switch.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a printer that prints in response to a print command from a host device, first and second independently exchangeable non-volatile maintenance information history memories that store maintenance information of the printer; a write switch for specifying write data to the first and second maintenance information history memories;
and a read switch that reads the contents of a second maintenance information history memory; a maintenance information history memory control circuit that operates the first and second maintenance information history memories according to instructions of the write switch and the read switch; A print control system comprising: a print data control circuit that edits and prints print data from a host device and contents read from the first and second maintenance information history memories. 2. The printing control method according to claim 1, wherein the contents of the first maintenance information history memory are transferred to the second maintenance information history memory, and the contents of the second maintenance information history memory are transferred to the first maintenance information history memory. A printing control method characterized by comprising means for transferring maintenance information history memory.