JPH0412876A - Printer controlling apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To remove complexities and difficulties in switching a mode by selecting a default emulation mode when an emulation mode is not designated within a predetermined time after the supply of electricity. CONSTITUTION:An interface control part 40 initializes the inside when a power source is turned ON, and then starts a timer T to set a waiting time for an input from an operation panel. Waiting of an input from the operation panel is continued until the timer T is terminated. If there is an input, the input value is output to a bit map control part 30. If no input is made before the timer T is finished, a value indicating a default emulation is output to the bit map control part 30.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a printer control device that prints data sent from a data processing device such as a host computer.

(Prior Art) Generally, a printer is connected to a host computer, word processor, or the like. The data sent from the host to the printer consists of character data and graphic data that are printing pattern information, as well as control data that controls the printing method of these character and graphic data and the mode of the printer.

However, character data is difficult, and there is no unified standard for control data, and each printer manufacturer has its own standards established and used.

Therefore, even if a printer is connected to a host that does not meet the standards, proper printing results cannot be obtained and it is practically unusable.

On the other hand, there are some printers that are actually on the market in considerable numbers and have almost become standardized. Therefore, many computers and word processors are compatible with such printers.

Conversely, on the printer side, in addition to its own operating mode, if it is equipped with an operating mode that imitates the standard printer mentioned above (so-called emulation mode), it can be used by connecting to many hosts. Therefore, it is advantageous from various aspects.

In a printer equipped with this emulation mode, if the original mode is also considered as a type of emulation mode, there will be cases where it is necessary to switch between the emulation mode and the ECL emulation mode. Traditionally, this switching has been done before turning on the power to the printer main body. ), or by inserting a predetermined emulation ROM cartridge in advance, which requires considerable time and effort. It may also be possible to switch by sending a command from a host connected to the printer, but this method also requires knowledge of printer commands and is difficult for general users.

Eliminating the complexity and difficulty of the above mode switching work,
An object of the present invention is to provide a printer control device equipped with an emulation mode that allows anyone to easily switch modes.

(Means for Solving the Problems) Therefore, the printer control device of the present invention provides an input means for inputting print data and control data, and malfunctions due to differences between printer models in the input data I input to the input means. emulation control means for controlling the emulation mode to imitate the operation of the original printer so as to prevent the printer and obtain the desired operation;
an emulation instruction means for instructing the printer to select an emulation mode; a clock means for measuring a predetermined time from when the power is turned on; If no instruction is given by the emulation instruction means by the time the timing is finished, the specified emulation mode is switched to the specified emulation mode.
The present invention is characterized by comprising emulation switching means for controlling switching to the mode.

(Function) In a printer equipped with various emulation modes, if the emulation mode is not instructed within a predetermined time after the power is turned on, the default emulation mode will be selected, and if the instruction is made, the specified emulation mode will be selected.・The mode is selected.

Furthermore, the emulation mode selected the last time the printer was used can be set as the default.

(Example) The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(a) Configuration of child photo printer First, the schematic configuration of the printer and controller will be explained.

FIG. 1 shows a printer with 7 stems 10 which is an embodiment of the present invention.
The configuration of the processing system is shown below.

In order to improve the throughput of the pig processing device 1, the data from the general-purpose data processing device fil is stored in an external file buffer 2 and then transferred to the printer system 1O.
is output to.

The printer system IO includes a bitmap type data processing device 3, a print engine 4 using an electrophotographic process and a laser, and accessory devices such as an external paper feed unit 5 and a sorter 6.

FIG. 2 shows the appearance of the printer/stem 1o. The print engine 4 incorporates the above-mentioned human map type data processing device f3, and can be connected to an external paper feed unit 5 and a sorter 6 as accessories. In addition, on the upper front side of the print engine 4, there is an operation panel 4 with a display showing the system status and keys for performing simple operations.
4 is installed.

FIG. 3 shows details of the operation panel 44. Here, 901 to 903 are the input keys, and 910 to 91
8 display elements. A key 901 is a PAUSE key for temporarily stopping the printing operation. key 902
is the TEST key for starting TEST print. Key 903 is a shift key, and by pressing it at the same time as key 902, you can select CANCEL to interrupt printing.
This is the key. The reason why keys 902 and 903 are pressed at the same time to function is to prevent interruptions due to careless operations.

According to this embodiment, the emulation/on instruction means is a key on the operation panel, and by inputting this key, the emulation/on instruction is issued. It is assumed that this emulation/on instruction input is performed using any predetermined key that operates only when the printer is in a printable state. Furthermore, when the printer is ready to print, it can also be used as a key with another function (for example, a soft key). This is preferable because it eliminates the need for extra keys for emulation instructions and simplifies the structure of the operation panel.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of printer/stem 10.

The bitmap type data processing device 3 includes a bitmap control section 30, a bitmap RAM (B
M-RAM) 32, a bitmap writing section 31 and font section 33 for drawing on this BM-RAM 32, and an EMU-RAM 34 which is a non-volatile rewritable memory that stores various emulations including defaults. Connection with the print engine 4 is made through a bus B3 for control data (number of sheets, accessory control, etc.) and a bus B4 for image data.

The print engine 4 is mainly composed of three print rollers. First, the interface control section 40 processes control data from the bitmap control section 30, controls the operation panel, and controls the print engine 4 through the internal bus B5.
Controls the overall timing. The electrophotographic control section 41 controls the electrophotographic processing section 45 in accordance with data sent from the interface control section 40 via the internal bus BS. Then, in order to write the image data sent from the bitmap writing section 31 through the internal bus B4 onto the photoreceptor drum, the print head control section 42 prints according to the information sent from the interface control section 40 through the internal bus BS. It controls the light emission of the semiconductor laser of the head section 43 and the rotation of a polygon motor (not shown).

In addition, the external paper feed unit 5 and the sorter 6 are also connected to the internal bus B5.
It is controlled by the interface control section 40 through the interface control section 40.

The printer 7 stem 10 described above is a bitmap type laser printer. The print data (mostly represented by a code) sent from the data processing device 1 is sent to the BM-RA of the human map processing device t3.
The image is developed as an actual print image on the M32 and output to the print engine 4. The print engine 4 modulates the laser beam according to the data from the hit map type data processing device 3, records the data on the photoreceptor, and further transfers it onto recording paper.

The data sent from the data processing device 1 includes not only print data but also codes for format control and engine mode setting.

The bitmap type data processing device 3 analyzes these protocols in addition to the print data, controls the format, and issues instructions for feeding paper to the print engine 4, changing the printing mode, etc. as necessary.

Furthermore, when emulation mode is designated, emulation is realized through the connected EMU-RAM 34. In print engine 4,
In addition to the above-mentioned recording control, the electrophotographic control used for it,
Controls the timing of recording paper and performs processing in synchronization with paper feeding to other options. Control of the print engine 4 is similar to that of an electrophotographic copying machine except for the scanning system.

(b) Focus Map Control Section FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the bit map control section 30. The hit map control section 30 is composed of several blocks connected by an internal bus B30. BM-CPU3
01 is a central control unit of the focus map type data processing device 3, and a data processing device interface 30.
8 communicates with the data processing device I and external 7-aisle 7a2, converts print data, controls the bitmap writing unit 31 through the bitmap writing unit interface 306, and controls the print engine through the print engine interface 307. Control 4. SMS-ROM3Q2 stores the program of BM-CPU301. SYS-RAM-303 is BM-
This is a working storage area for the CPU 301, and is used to store stacks and basic flags. It should be noted that a non-volatile EMU-RAM 34 used for storing emulation and emulation modes including default τ is externally connected to this hitmap control section 30.

The R-buffer 304 is a buffer for communication with the outside (data processing device 1 and file buffer 2), and is a buffer for communication with the outside (data processing device 1 and file buffer 2).
The purpose is to enable communication between the processing program of the PU 301 and the data processing device 1 to be processed even asynchronously.

The P-buffer 305 stores the data of the data processing device 1 as an intermediate code (hereinafter referred to as a packet) that is converted from the font attributes and is easy to draw on the BM-RAM 32 .

The actual drawing of the font is performed by the bitmap writing section 31, but the information to the bitmap writing section 31 is 7.
It is necessary to calculate parameters such as the ont pattern built-in address and the drawing address to the BM-RAM 32.

This takes a certain amount of time. Therefore, BM-RAM3
While printing the data of page 2, the data of the next page is preprocessed (8), thereby speeding up the processing.

Therefore, the movement of data in the P-buffer 305 is F
■F○ (first in, first out).

The flint engine interface 307 is an interface with the print engine 4, and sends JOB control commands such as print commands to the print engine 4.
interface via bus B3.

Furthermore, in emulation mode, BM-
The CPU 30f refers to the specified emulation data in the EMU-RAM 34 and processes the data processing device 1.
Emulation is realized by converting (translating) the empty data into the food system specific to the printer system IO.

(c) Bitmap Control 70--The operation of the book/stem will now be explained with reference to the flowchart.

FIG. 6 shows the process 70-
It is a chart. In FIG. 6, first, when the power is turned on, the internals are initialized (step 5100, hereinafter steps are omitted), and the BM-RAM 32, R-buffer 3
04, Clear the P-buffer 305 (S l 0
2).

Processing 7 of the interface control unit 40 for the eighth cause
As shown in 3208.5210 of 0-, the emulation specification value sent from the interface control unit 40 is read (5104), and if it is a value specifying the default (YES in 5106), it is stored in the EMU-RAM3.
Load the default emulation from 4 (S
l 08'), if it is a specified value by input (S I 0
6: NO), reads the specified emulation from EMU-RAM34 and changes it to the default (
S110). This default can be easily changed by changing the pointer indicating the address location where the default emulation is stored. Therefore, the next time this printer is turned on, this emulation will be specified as the default unless you specifically specify emulation.

Thereafter, various parameters are initialized (S112).

Since the received data is converted into a packet that can be easily output to the hitmap writing section 30 and stored in the P-buffer 305, first make sure that there is space in the P-buffer 7305 (YES in 5114), then R-buffer 7305. If the data has been received by the Pan7a 304 (YES in 5116), the received data is extracted from the R-buffer 304, analyzed, and processing such as outputting it to the P-buffer 305 according to the result is performed (S I I 8).

Next, the packets stored in the P-buffer 305 are processed and written to the BM-RAM 32 (SI
26). However, when changing to BM-RAM32, the printout of the previous page is not completed, that is, the BM
- This cannot be performed if there is data in the RAM 32, so if printing is in progress (YES at 5120) or the previous packet is being written to the BM-RAM 32 by the bit/tomanop writing unit 31 (YES at S122), the process cannot be performed. Not done. Also, if there is no data in the P-buffer 305 (No in S124), the process is naturally not performed.

If the analysis data is a paper discharge request (YES in SI 28)
), print control is performed, and actual printing is started (S 1 30).

Data from the data processing device 1 is read asynchronously by the reception interrupt shown in FIG. 7 (Sl 40).
, -tan R-buffer 304 (S l 42
).

(d) Flow of Interface Control FIG. 8 shows the operational flow of the interface control section 40.

When the power is turned on, the interface control unit 40 first initializes the internal unit (S200), and then starts a timer T that sets a waiting time for input from the operation panel (S202). Thereafter, wait for input from the operation panel (S2) until timer T ends (5204).
06). If there is an input (YES in S206), the input value is output to the hitmag control unit 30 (8208).
. If you do not input until the timer T ends (S 20
4: YES), a value specifying a default emulation (for example, the above-mentioned default pointer value) is output to the human map control unit 30 (S210).

Then, initial settings such as initializing various parameters are performed (S212). Command to enable interrupts 5214
), outputs a start signal to the print head control unit 43 (
5216). After that, the processing loop (3218 to S23
Enter 0).

In the processing loop, the process first waits for a print start request from the bitmap control unit 30 (5218), and when the start request is received (YES), the mode information is updated (S22).
0). Next, at t: when the first printing is performed, a paper feed request signal is output to the electrophotographic control unit 41 (S222). Next, the system waits for a print command (5224), and when the print command is received (YES), an exposure permission signal is output to the print head control unit 42 (S226).
. Accordingly, the actual exposure is performed by the print head control section 42. When the print/do control section 42 finishes the exposure, it sends an exposure end signal to the interface control section 4.
Output to 0. When this signal is detected (YES at 5228)
S), outputs an exposure end signal to the hit map control unit 30 (5230), and returns to the beginning of the processing loop (S2] 8).

In the above example, the default emulation mode is set to the last used emulation mode, but the default is fixed and the same emulation mode is always used when the emulation mode selection is not performed. It can also be done.

Further, in the above embodiment, an electrophotographic printer was used as an example of the printer, but the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to any other type of printer, such as a bit impact printer. It goes without saying that it can be done.

(Effects) According to the printer control device of the present invention, the emulation mode can be selected using a predetermined key within a predetermined time when the power is turned on, thereby eliminating the complicated work of replacing cartridges and switching dip switches. There is no need to do this.

Furthermore, by setting the last used emulation mode as the default emulation mode, you can easily switch frequently used emulation modes when turning on the power. It becomes possible to finish
Saves time and effort.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows the system configuration of an electrophotographic printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the printer stem. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the operation panel. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the bitmap data processing device and print engine. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the bitmap control section and emulation RAM. FIG. 6 is a processing flowchart of the human map control section. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a data reception interrupt from the data processing device. FIG. 8 is a process 70-chart of the interface control unit. l...Data processing device 3...Bitmap type data processing device 4...Print engine 30...Bitmap control unit 34...EMU-RAM 40...Interface control unit 44...Operation panel patent Applicant Minolta Camera Co., Ltd. Representative Patent Attorney Haka Aoyama 1 person 7J1 Figure -1 Figure 3 H/TM data processing device 4 Print engine (actual source ON) 2 ((U [ Schiff No. 3 (B)

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) An input means for inputting print data and control data, and an original printer operation to prevent malfunctions due to differences between printer models in the input data input to the input means and to obtain the desired operation. emulation control means for controlling the printer to enter an emulation mode that imitates the emulation mode, emulation instruction means for instructing the printer to select an emulation mode, timekeeping means for measuring a predetermined time from power-on; If an instruction is given by the emulation instruction means before timing is finished, switch to the instructed emulation mode, and if no instruction is given by the emulation instruction means before timing is finished,
1. A printer control device comprising emulation switching means for controlling switching to a predetermined emulation mode. (2) The emulation switching means selects the previous emulation mode again and switches to the emulation mode if no instruction is given by the emulation instruction means before the timekeeping means finishes timekeeping. Item 1. The printer control device according to item 1.