JPH05270067A - Recording method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To provide a recording method and apparatus capable of preventing useless recording which is not intended by the user. Further, the present invention defines a process for page buffer overflow in advance, and deletes only the page in which the page buffer overflow has occurred so that continuous recording data is not affected. To provide. [Structure] Data input from an external device 1 is analyzed and converted into drawing data, and the drawing data is stored in a page buffer format. Then, when the page buffer for one page cannot be stored, it is possible to instruct whether or not the print data of the page is to be recorded halfway on the recording medium.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording method and apparatus for inputting recording data from an external device and recording it on a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional page printer for inputting and printing print data on a page-by-page basis is equipped with a page buffer for expanding print data for one page. When data is expanded in such a page buffer, if one page of recording data cannot be created and stored in the page buffer due to insufficient buffer capacity (hereinafter referred to as page buffer overflow), it is created halfway. The recorded data is once recorded on a recording paper, the user is notified that the page buffer overflow has occurred, and the printing process is interrupted. This allows the user to continue printing or
The only option was to output to the printer an instruction to delete the data already sent to the printer and expanded in the page buffer together with the contents of the receive buffer.

There are also printers that continue printing with incomplete page data without displaying any error or the like.

[0004]

Therefore, in the above-mentioned conventional example, a halfway printed matter in which the page buffer overflows is output, and such wasteful printing leads to waste of recording paper, toner, ink and the like. Was there. Also, in the case of a printer that informs the user as described above, the recording process is temporarily interrupted when a page buffer overflow occurs, but if printing is continued, the data that is continuously printed will also be printed in the middle of the page. It will be printed from, and this will also obtain a different result from the originally intended print result,
In the end, printing had to be performed again, which wasted waste of recording paper and ink.

If printing is not continued after the page buffer overflows, all the data in the printer will be deleted, but the contents of the receive buffer in the printer, which does not know how much data is being received, will be deleted. Therefore, it is not possible to determine how far the data must be retransmitted from the viewpoint of the external device that transmits the data.

Further, when a page buffer overflow occurs during a job, the initialization process is performed when printing is not continued, so the environment set at the start of the job is initialized, and the continuous data in the same job is saved by the user. Will not be printed as intended and unintended print results will be obtained.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a recording method and apparatus capable of preventing useless recording which is not intended by the user.

Further, according to the present invention, the processing when the page buffer overflows is specified in advance, and only the page in which the page buffer overflows is deleted so that the continuous recording data is not affected. A method and apparatus are provided.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the recording apparatus of the present invention has the following constitution. That is,
A recording device for inputting recording data from an external device and recording the recording data in a recording medium, the analyzing device analyzing the data input from the external device and converting the drawing data into drawing data, and the drawing data in a page buffer format. Storage means for storing,
When the storage means cannot store the page buffer for one page, the storage means has an instruction means for instructing whether or not to record the recording data of the page halfway on the recording medium.

In order to achieve the above object, the recording method of the present invention comprises the following steps. That is, it is a recording method of inputting recording data from an external device and recording it on a recording medium, the process of analyzing the data input from the external device and converting it into drawing data, and the drawing data in a page buffer format. It has a step of storing and a step of instructing whether or not to record the recording data of the page to a recording medium halfway when the page buffer for one page cannot be stored.

[0011]

With the above configuration, the data input from the external device is analyzed and converted into drawing data, and the drawing data is stored in the page buffer format. When the storage unit cannot store the page buffer for one page, it can be instructed whether or not the recording data of the page is recorded on the recording medium partway.

According to another aspect of the present invention, data input from an external device in units of jobs is analyzed and converted into drawing data, and the drawing data is stored in a page buffer format.
Then, when the storage unit cannot store the page buffer for one page, it can be instructed whether or not to record the print data of the same job that continues after the page on the print medium.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the present embodiment, an example of processing based on the contents defined by the key switches on the operation panel provided in the printer will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the schematic arrangement of a printer apparatus according to this embodiment and the outline of data flow.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an external device such as a host computer, which can execute an application program or the like for outputting recording data to the printer device of this embodiment. An input unit 2 receives the data sent to the printer device and stores it in the reception buffer 3. An analysis unit 4 reads the received data from the reception buffer 3, analyzes the control command, etc., and converts it into internal drawing data. A storage unit 5 stores and manages the drawing data converted by the analysis unit 4. The drawing data is managed based on a page control table (hereinafter abbreviated as PCT), and the entire drawing data registered and managed by this PCT is defined as a page buffer 6. A drawing unit 7 reads the drawing data stored in the storage unit 5 and develops a bitmap in the frame memory 8. An output unit 9 records the bitmap image data drawn in the frame memory 8 on the paper 10 or the like.

Reference numeral 11 is a control unit for controlling the entire printer device, for example, a CP such as a microprocessor.
It is equipped with U and controls each part that constitutes each function.
It also has a communication means with each functional unit. An operation panel 12 instructs the control unit 11 to specify the processing when the page buffer overflows to the analysis unit 4. This operation panel 12
By operating the key switch provided in the above, various designations can be made such that, for example, the page being created is output when a page buffer overflow occurs, but continuous data of the same page is not recorded.

2 and 4 are diagrams for explaining the process in the printer apparatus of this embodiment. In FIG. 2, reference numerals 20 and 21 denote an example of data sent from the external device 1 to the printer device of this embodiment, and 20 is 1
The print data of the page is shown, and 21 is the print data of the second page. Reference numeral 201 in FIG. 2 assumes that the printer apparatus causes a page buffer overflow at the time when the data so far is transmitted.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of printing by the conventional printer when the print data as shown in FIG. 2 is transmitted from the external device 1 to the printer.

Reference numeral 28 indicates a state in which the page buffer overflow has occurred at the position 201 shown in FIG. 2 and the printing process has ended. If the user instructs to continue printing at this point, 29 and 30 are set. Subsequent print data is printed as shown. However, in this case, the data of two pages shown in FIG. 2 is divided into three pages and printed.

On the other hand, when the user gives an instruction to stop printing at the time when the page buffer overflow occurs, only one page (31) up to the time when the page buffer overflow occurs is output, and the printer device ends the processing. Was there. Incidentally, in the case of interrupting the print processing in this way, the interrupt processing of the host computer is also necessary when the external device 1 is in the middle of data transmission, and in some cases it is necessary to re-receive and record the data. There were cases.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the printing process in the printer apparatus of the present embodiment. By setting the page processing flag 25 at occurrence and the page processing after occurrence 26 in advance, the page concerned is set. It is possible to prevent only output. The page buffer overflow occurrence flag 27 is
This flag is set when the page buffer overflows and reset when the page buffer ends normally. Page processing flag 25 at the time of occurrence and page processing flag 2 after the occurrence
The two variables 6 are set to either “ON” or “OFF” by the operation panel 12, and when “ON”, the corresponding page is output, and “OFF” indicates the corresponding page. It means not to output.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are flowcharts showing the processing by the control unit 11 of the printer apparatus of this embodiment. The control program for executing this processing is stored in the program memory 111 of the control unit 11.

First, in step S1, the page buffer overflow occurrence flag 27 of the RAM 112 is initialized to OFF.
Next, in step S2, data from the external device 1 is input via the input unit 2 and stored in the reception buffer 3. In this way, the data stored in the reception buffer 3 is determined by the analysis unit 4 as a control command. If it is not a control command in step S3, the process proceeds to step S4, the recording position and the like are set by the analysis unit 4, and then the information is output to the storage unit 5 to create the page buffer 6.

In step S5, it is determined in the storage unit 5 whether a page buffer overflow has occurred. If a page buffer overflow has occurred, the process proceeds to step S6.
In step S6, the page buffer overflow occurrence flag 2
7 is off. If it is off, the page buffer overflow is the first time since page creation was started, and the process proceeds to step S7. In step S7, it is checked whether or not the page processing flag at occurrence 25 is on. If it is off, the process proceeds to step S8, and the print data of the current page is discarded.

On the other hand, if the page processing flag 25 at the time of occurrence is ON, the process proceeds to step S9 to print out the current page. Then, the process proceeds to step S10, and the page buffer overflow occurrence flag 27 is set to ON in the sense that the page has once overflowed.

On the other hand, in step S6, if the page buffer overflow occurs again on the page that has already caused the page buffer overflow (page buffer overflow occurrence flag 27 is turned on), the process proceeds to step S11 and the post-occurrence page processing flag 26 is turned on. See if If it is off, the process proceeds to step S12 to discard the print data of the current page, but if it is on, the process proceeds to step S13 to print out the current page and return to step S2.

On the other hand, if the input data is the control command in step S3, the process proceeds to step S14, the control command is processed, and then the process proceeds to step S15. Also, if the page buffer overflow does not occur in step S5, step S5
In step 15, it is determined whether the page buffer 6 for one page has been created. If it is less than one page, the process returns to step S2 and the data input process is performed again.

When one page of print data is created in step S15, the flow advances to step S16 to determine whether the page buffer overflow occurrence flag 27 is on. This indicates whether or not it is the subsequent portion of the page that has already caused the page buffer overflow. If it is the subsequent portion of the page that caused the page buffer overflow, the process proceeds to step S17 to determine the processing content of this page.
It is determined whether the page processing flag at occurrence 26 is on or off. If it is off, the process proceeds to step S18 to discard the print data of the current page, and if it is on, the process proceeds to step S19 to print out the current page. In either case, the process proceeds to step S20, and since the processing of the page that caused the page buffer overflow is completed, the page buffer overflow occurrence flag 27 is initialized to OFF.

On the other hand, if the page buffer overflow flag 27 is off in step S16, step S2
In step 1, the current page is printed out because it is a page that has been normally completed. Then, the process returns to step S2 to process the next data.

The compatibility between the conventional printer device and the printer device of this embodiment can be maintained by setting both the on-occurrence page processing flag 25 and the post-occurrence page processing flag 26 on, and this is not intended as much as possible. Set both to off to avoid data output.

In the above embodiment, the page processing flag 25 at the time of occurrence and the page processing flag 26 after the occurrence are set by the operation panel 12. However, a new command is added to the control command system of the printer. By defining this, both of the page processing flag at occurrence 25 and the page processing flag after occurrence 26 may be set by this instruction.

As a second embodiment of the present invention, processing may be performed in a conversational manner with the user without setting the page processing flag 25 at occurrence and the page processing flag after occurrence 26. In this case, a new display unit and a key input unit are provided on the control unit 11 and the operation panel 12, and a message is displayed, a switch is input, and the result is output to the storage unit 5 again according to an instruction from the storage unit 5. This can be done by

In the case of the second embodiment, in the determination processing of steps S7, S11 and S17 of FIGS. 5 and 6, the storage pager does not refer to the page processing flag 25 at occurrence and the page processing flag 26 after occurrence. 5 issues an instruction to the control unit 11 to perform the following processing, and the control unit 1 receives the instruction.
No. 1 is displayed on the operation panel 12 and can be processed in the same manner as when the above-mentioned flag is used by inputting a key switch from the operation panel 12.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart for explaining the second embodiment, and is a flow chart showing another processing of step S7 of FIG.

When the storage unit 5 requests the control unit 11 to perform a response process for the page that causes the page buffer overflow first, the control unit 11 causes the operation panel 12 to display “PAGE”.
A message such as “BUFFER OVER (F)” is displayed. In step S32, it is determined whether the user has pressed the key switch on the operation panel 12, and it is determined whether the key switch defined in step S33 has been pressed. Next, in step S34, it is checked whether the output instruction switch of the operation panel 12 or the discard switch is pressed,
When the output instruction switch is pressed, the process proceeds to step S35, and the return value to the control unit 11 is set to "output". On the other hand, when the key switch for instructing the discard is pressed, the process proceeds to step S36, and the return value to the control unit 11 is set to "discard". After that, the process proceeds to step S37, and the operation panel 12
Return the display of.

In this way, the control unit 11 receiving the return value outputs the result to the storage unit 5. As a result, similarly to the determination in step S7, the storage unit 5 prints out the page in which the page buffer overflow occurs when the key switch defined to output is pressed according to the return value, and discards it. When the switch is pressed, the print data of the page generated by the page buffer is discarded.

The processing is the same in steps S11 and S17, and the page in which the storage section 5 causes the control section 11 to overflow the page buffer again causes the page to overflow again, or the subsequent data is normally terminated. Request a response process for the time, and on the control panel 11 operation panel 12,
Outputs a message such as "PAGE BUFFER OVER (L)" and waits for a response by the key switch on the operation panel 12, and defines whether to output at this time by defining two switches, ON and OFF. Use instead.

That is, when the defined key switch is pressed, the operation panel 12 outputs the result to the control unit 11, and the control unit 11 passes the result to the storage unit 5 to store the result. Similarly to the determinations in steps S11 and S17, step 5 can be branched to a process of whether to output according to the defined key switch.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, the on-occurrence page processing flag 25 and the post-occurrence page processing flag 26 shown in the above-mentioned embodiment are set, and further the user. In order to be able to perform processing in a conversational manner with the control unit 11 and the operation panel 12, a display unit and a key input unit are newly provided, and a message is displayed by an instruction from the storage unit 5.
A means for displaying the message, inputting the switch, and outputting the result to the storage unit 5 again is provided. Then, the control unit 11 controls the storage unit 5
When there is no response from the user within a fixed time after the instruction from, the setting contents of the page processing flag 25 at occurrence and the page processing flag 26 at occurrence are referred to in each case. By providing a means for outputting the value to the storage unit 5, the processing can be automatically advanced without a user.

This will be described with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 8. In the case of step S7 of FIG. 5, when the storage unit 5 requests the control unit 11, its response time is determined by a known means (for example, an operation). It is set to the sum of the response time limit designated by the panel or the like) and the current time variable that is incremented by the interrupt, and this is set as the response time limit (step S41). And step S
A message is displayed on the operation panel 12 at 42, and it is determined at step S43 whether or not there is an input from the key switch of the operation panel 12. If there is an input, step S44
Go to and determine if it is a defined switch. If not, the process returns to step S43 to again wait for the key switch input. If it is the defined switch, the process proceeds to the switch 45, and as described above, it is determined whether the switch is the output instruction switch or the discard instruction switch. Step S for output instruction
In step 46, the return value to the control unit 11 is set to "output", and when the discard instruction switch is pressed, the process proceeds to step S47 and the return value to the control unit 11 is set to "discard". Then, the process proceeds to step S48, and the display on the operation panel 12 is restored.

On the other hand, if the key switch of the operation panel 12 is not pressed in step S43, step S49
Then, the response time is compared with the current time, and if the response time has not been reached, the process returns to step S43 to wait for the input of the key switch on the operation panel 12. When the response time is reached in this way, the process proceeds to step S50, the content of the page processing flag 25 at occurrence is judged, and if it is on, the process proceeds to step S46 and the return value is output. On the other hand, if it is off, the process proceeds to step S47, and the return value is set to discard. Then, in step S48, the display on the operation panel 12 is returned to its original state, the result is transmitted to the storage section 5, and the processing is continued.

The flow of steps S11 and S17 is the same as that described above, except that the message displayed on the operation panel 12 at step S41 and step S5.
The variable referred to by 0 only changes to the post-generation page processing flag 26 instead of the generation page processing flag 25.

As explained above, according to these embodiments, it is possible to suppress the undesired recording result of the user, so that it is possible to save useless paper and recording. Further, when the user handles such data, the user can switch to another printer, increase the memory, and switch the drawing circuit without waste of paper.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The in-job flag 28 and the page buffer overflow occurrence flag (PB overflow flag) 27 referred to in this flowchart are the RAM 112.
It is supposed to be provided in.

When the processing is started, first, in step S51, the in-job flag 28 is turned off and the page buffer overflow occurrence flag 27 is initialized to be off. And step S5
2, the data from the external device 1 is stored in the reception buffer 3 via the input unit 2, the data is input, and step S
At 53, the analysis unit 4 determines whether or not it is a control command. If it is not a control command, the process proceeds to step S54, the printing position and the like are set by the analysis unit 4, and the information is output to the storage unit 5 to create the page buffer 6. Next, in step S55, it is determined whether or not a page buffer overflow has occurred in the storage unit 5, and if so, the page buffer overflow occurrence flag 27 is set to ON. If the page buffer overflow has not occurred, the process directly proceeds to step S57.

On the other hand, when a control command is input from the analysis unit 4 in step S53, the process proceeds to step S62, and it is determined whether or not it is a job start instruction. If it is a job start instruction, the process proceeds to step S63 to perform post-page processing. This page post-processing will be described later. Then, when the page post-processing is completed, the process proceeds to step S64 to set the in-job flag 28 to ON and the page buffer overflow occurrence flag 27 to OFF. Here, the page buffer overflow occurrence flag 27 is turned off because the job has changed. Even if the preceding job has not sent a job end instruction due to the interruption processing of the external device 1, it is also performed here in order to operate normally.

If it is determined in step S62 that the control command is other than the job start instruction, the process proceeds to step S65, and it is determined whether the command is a job end instruction. If it is a job end instruction, the process advances to step S66 to perform post-page processing. Then, in step S67, both the in-job flag 28 and the page buffer overflow occurrence flag 27 are turned off. This is to cancel the page buffer overflow state during this job because one job has been completed by this control command.

If it is determined in step S65 that the control command is not the job end but another control command, the process proceeds to step S68 and the process corresponding to the control command is performed.

Upon completion of each of the above processes, step S
Proceeding to 57, it is determined whether or not the data for one page has been created. If the data for one page has not been created, the process returns to step S52 and page creation is continued.

When the creation of the data for one page is completed in step S57, the process proceeds to step S58, and it is determined whether the page buffer overflow is occurring during the job. This depends on whether the in-job flag 28 is on and the page buffer overflow occurrence flag 27 is on. If the condition is not satisfied, the data is out-of-job data or normally completed data, and therefore the process proceeds to step S61 to output the current page.

On the other hand, if the condition is satisfied, step S5.
Since the page buffer overflow occurred during the job in step 9, the job processing flag 29 at the time of occurrence provided in the RAM 112 is referenced to determine what to do with the continuous job data including this page. If the job processing flag 29 at the time of occurrence is ON, the process proceeds to step S60,
The print data of the current page is discarded and the process returns to step S52 to perform the next data processing. On the other hand, when the occurrence job processing flag 29 is off, the print data of the current page is output.

The page post-processing (steps S63 and S66) performed at the time of the job start instruction in step S62 and the job end instruction in step S65 is performed when there is a page being created when each instruction is given. , The page is forcibly terminated, and steps S58 to S61
The same processing as is performed. This makes the new job unaffected by the data on the previous page.

The compatibility with the conventional model can be maintained by setting the job processing flag 29 at occurrence to OFF, and is set to ON to avoid unintended data output as much as possible.

The job processing flag 29 at the time of occurrence is
It may be set by an instruction from the operation panel 12, or a new instruction may be defined in the control instruction system of the printer apparatus, and the job processing flag 29 at the time of occurrence may be set by this instruction.

As another embodiment, in place of the job processing flag 29 at the time of occurrence, it is possible to instruct whether to discard or print the print data of the current page in a conversation form with the user. In this case, as described above with reference to FIG. 7, the control unit 11 and the operation panel 12 are provided with new display units and input units, and in response to an instruction from the storage 5, a message is displayed and a key switch is input and its input. This can be done by outputting the result to the storage unit 5 again.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of one device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program for implementing the present invention to a system or an apparatus.

As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to prevent the output of a print result which is not intended by the user.

[0059]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent useless recording which is not intended by the user.

Further, there is an effect that only the page in which the page buffer overflow has occurred is deleted so that continuous recording data is not affected.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printer device according to an embodiment and an outline of a data flow.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a process in the printer apparatus of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a conventional printing example.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining processing in the printer apparatus according to the present embodiment.

[Figure 5]

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing by the control unit 11 of the printer device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart for explaining a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart for explaining a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart for explaining a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 External device 2 Input section 3 Receive buffer 4 Analysis section 5 Storage section 6 Page buffer 7 Drawing section 8 Frame memory 9 Output section 11 Control section 12 Panel switch 25 Page processing flag at occurrence 26 Page processing flag at occurrence 27 Page buffer overflow occurrence flag.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A recording device for inputting recording data from an external device and recording the recording data on a recording medium, the analyzing device analyzing the data input from the external device and converting the drawing data into drawing data. In a page buffer format, and instructing means for instructing whether or not to record the recording data of the page to a recording medium halfway when the storing means cannot store the page buffer for one page. A recording device characterized by having. 2. A recording apparatus for inputting recording data from an external device and recording the recording data on a recording medium, the analyzing device analyzing data input from the external device in units of jobs and converting the data into drawing data. Storing means for storing the drawing data in a page buffer format, and if the storing means cannot store the page buffer for one page, whether or not to record the recording data of the same job continuing after the page on the recording medium. A recording device comprising: an instructing unit for instructing. 3. A recording method for inputting recording data from an external device and recording the recording data on a recording medium, the process comprising: analyzing data input from the external device and converting the drawing data into drawing data; A recording method comprising: a step of storing in a buffer format; and a step of instructing whether or not to record the recording data of the page to a recording medium halfway when a page buffer for one page cannot be stored. Method. 4. A recording method for inputting recording data from an external device and recording the recording medium on a recording medium, the process comprising: analyzing data input from the external device in units of jobs and converting the data into drawing data; Storing the data in the page buffer format, and instructing whether or not to record the record data of the same job continuing after the page in the recording medium when the page buffer for one page cannot be stored. A recording method characterized by having.