JPH0825713A - Printing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] It is an object to provide a printing apparatus capable of appropriately selecting and using a plurality of print media having different properties. A printing apparatus PA includes a print medium instruction unit A, a data input unit B, a print data processing unit C, a print medium D containing a plurality of qualities of ink, etc., a print control unit E, and a print unit F. The print medium instruction unit A selects a print medium to be used for printing from the plurality of print media D, and instructs the processing unit C to create print data according to the print medium. The input unit B receives print data from a computer or the like and outputs it to the processing unit C. The processing unit C creates print data according to the print medium selected by the instruction unit A in order to print the data obtained from the input unit B. The print control unit E receives the print medium D according to an instruction from the processing unit C.
To the printing means F.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus capable of printing on various types of paper suitable for the paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of printing apparatus, when printing is performed using one type of printing medium (for example, ink), the amount used is adjusted according to the quality of the printing paper. Was being done.

In other printing apparatuses, prior to printing,
Printing has been performed after previously replacing the output medium with a dedicated output medium prepared according to the quality of paper.

However, in these conventional printing apparatuses, it is difficult to cope with many sheets of different properties by adjusting the amount of use of one type of printing medium, and various dedicated printing media can be used. Even when prepared, it is necessary to replace the print medium with a suitable print medium each time depending on the quality of the paper, which is a troublesome operation.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus capable of appropriately selecting and using a plurality of printing media having different properties.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 1 is a printing apparatus, comprising a data input means for receiving print data, and data received by the data input means. Printing means for printing, a plurality of types of print media used for printing by the printing means, selection means for selecting a print medium suitable for paper from the plurality of print media, and printing selected by the selection means And a print control unit that controls printing using the medium.

Here, the invention according to claim 2 is the invention according to claim 1.
In the printing apparatus described above, the selection unit may select a plurality of print media, and the print control unit may control printing using the plurality of selected print media.

[0008]

In the present invention, a printing medium suitable for a paper can be selected from a plurality of printing media by the selecting means and used for printing, and printing on various papers of different qualities can be performed satisfactorily and easily. Is possible.

Further, by selecting a plurality of print media, it is possible to perform highlight printing as needed.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the printing apparatus of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral PA is a printing device. The printing apparatus PA includes a print medium instruction unit A, a data input unit B, a print data processing unit C,
The print medium D includes inks of a plurality of qualities and the like, a print control unit E, and a print unit F.

The print medium designating means A includes a plurality of print media D.
A selection unit that selects a print medium to be used for printing from among the above and instructs the print data processing unit C to create print data according to the selected print medium.

The data input means B is means for receiving data to be printed from an external information device such as a computer and outputting it to the print data processing means C.

The print data processing means C is means for creating print data according to the print medium selected by the print medium designating means A in order to print the data obtained from the data input means B.

The print control means E is a print data processing means C.
It is a means for transferring the print medium D to the printing means F according to an instruction from.

The printing means F includes a printing mechanism for printing on paper under the control of the printing control means E, and a paper feeding mechanism for carrying the paper toward the printing mechanism.

In the printing apparatus PA having such a structure, when the print data inputted from the data input means B is outputted to the printing means F as the output means, it is selected according to the quality of the selected paper or the like. For example, two types of inks (print media) having different qualities can be selected. Therefore, when outputting a character or a graphic, an appropriate ink can be selected and used. Further, by using the selected two kinds of inks having different qualities at the same time, it is possible to perform the highlight printing with high print density. Furthermore, it is possible to print on OHP paper by using an ink having a higher viscosity than the ink used for printing on plain paper.

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the printing apparatus of the present invention. Reference numeral CPU in FIG. 2 is a microprocessor. The microprocessor CPU controls each component connected to the BUS via the bus BUS in order to input data necessary for printing, set printing conditions, control the printing mechanism, create print data, and the like. Is. The BUS is a common bus composed of an address bus, a control bus and a data bus. Using this BUS, address signals, control signals and various data are transferred between each crisis connected to the BUS.

KEY is a selection of the transfer condition of the external I / F,
A setting panel for selecting paper to be printed and setting operating conditions of the printing mechanism. This setting panel KEY
Is provided with various switches SW described later.

The IOP is an external data I / F for receiving print data from an external information device such as a personal computer or a workstation. The external data I / F (IOP) is preferably SCSI or Centro, but is not limited thereto. The interface IOP can be selected by operating the switch SW on the setting panel KEY.

The ROM is a read-only memory. In this ROM, the control procedure of the microprocessor CPU is stored in advance, and as a result, a judgment for printing using a print medium according to the quality of paper using a plurality of print media (ink, etc.) is made. The predetermined process can be performed based on the determination.

The RAM is used as a temporary storage of print data, a work memory for developing an output memory for printing the print data, and a temporary storage for controlling each component.

The PRAM is an output memory and has a memory structure corresponding to a plurality of print media. The output memory PRAM stores data corresponding to the output data of each print medium, and is used to output the print medium to a printing mechanism described later.

CG is a character generator,
It is used to transfer the character pattern to be printed to the output memory PRAM.

The INK is composed of ink for printing on paper or the like. In this embodiment, two types of ink having different qualities are used, but the present invention is not limited to this.

PCTL is a print control unit. This print control unit PCTL sends only appropriate ink corresponding to the paper to be used to the printing mechanism described later from among the plurality of print media INK when printing the print data stored in the output memory PRAM. belongs to.

PRT is a printing mechanism. This printing mechanism P
The RT is roughly composed of a print head, a paper feed mechanism, and the like, and prints on paper or the like according to an instruction from the print control unit PCTL.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing the main part of the setting panel KEY in the printing apparatus shown in FIG.

When using the OHP paper, SW1 in FIG. 3 is a print medium 1 to be described later, which is suitable for the quality of the OHP paper.
SW2 is a switch for selecting a print medium 2 which will be described later that matches the quality of the plain paper when using plain paper, and SW3 is a switch for selecting the print media 1 and 2 at the same time. This switch is used for so-called emphasized printing in which the contours of characters and figures are clearly highlighted by increasing the amount of ink used. In particular, when printing is performed using a paper having high ink permeability such as Japanese paper, the contour and the bleeding can be appropriately expressed by using, for example, two types of print media (inks) at the same time as described above. There are advantages.

FIG. 4 shows a plurality of print media IN corresponding to the paper quality selected on the setting panel KEY shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a relationship between an output memory PRAM shown in FIG. 2 and a print control unit PCTL when outputting to a printing mechanism PRT that performs printing using K.

Print data to be printed is stored in advance in the random access memory RAM, and the output memory P
The RAM stores output data 1 corresponding to the print medium 1 and output data 2 corresponding to the print medium 2 used according to the quality of the paper selected on the setting panel KEY described above.

First, the output data 1 of the output memory PRAM
When the print data 1 in the random access memory RAM is transferred to the print medium 1, the print medium 1 is sent to the print mechanism 1 by the output control 1 and printing is performed. Similarly, output memory PRAM
When the print data 2 of the random access memory RAM is transferred to the output data 2 of the above, another print medium 2 is sent to the printing mechanism 2 by the output control 2 and printing is performed. By simultaneously transferring the two print data 1 and 2 to the output data 1 and 2, it is possible to perform printing using two types of print media.

As shown in FIG. 4, the output memory PRAM
A processing procedure for transferring data to and using the plurality of print media to perform printing according to the instructed paper quality will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 5, when the power is turned on, the external data I / F, the random access memory RAM, the output memory PRAM, etc. are initialized and the print data can be received (step S1).

Next, the print data transferred from a personal computer (not shown) or the like connected to the external data I / F (IOP) is input (step S2).

Next, in the character generator CG or the like, print data is created to print the input print data (step S3). This print data is stored in the random access memory RAM.

Next, the conditions set and instructed by the setting panel KEY are read (step S4). As described above, the instructions in this embodiment are SW1, SW2, and SW.
Printed on OHP paper by each switch of 3,
Printing on plain paper or highlight printing can be selected respectively.

Next, in accordance with the instruction read in step S4, depending on the quality of the paper, etc., the subsequent step S4.
6, S8 or S10 is selected. That is, when the OHP paper is selected, the output data 1 is set (step S6), the output data 2 is cleared (step S7), and the print data of the random access memory RAM is the output data 1 of the output memory PRAM. Transferred to.

When plain paper is selected, output data 1 is cleared (step S8), output data 2 is set (step S9), and random access memory RAM
Print data is output data 2 in the output memory PRAM.
Transferred to.

Also, in the case of the emphasized printing, the output data 1 and 2 are set together (steps S10 and S11), and the print data of the random access memory RAM is output memory P.
Transferred to output data 1 and 2 in RAM.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when print data is prepared in the output memory PRAM, output is possible (step S12), and output (printing) to the printing mechanism 1 and / or 2 is performed (step S12). Step S13).

Here, the timing at which printing is actually performed is line by line in the case of a serial printer, or when one page of data is prepared in the case of a laser printer. A publicly-known technique can be used for controlling printing, and thus a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Although the setting panel KEY is used to select the printing medium in the above embodiment, the quality of the paper can be automatically determined by using, for example, a photo sensor.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, when a plurality of paper feed mechanisms forming a part of the printing means are provided, the selection of the paper feed mechanism may be linked with the selection of the print medium. That is, when a photo sensor that determines the quality of the paper is used to select the print medium, the detection data is used to select the paper feed mechanism, and the paper is fed by the paper feed mechanism suitable for the paper quality. can do.

Further, in the above embodiment, it is premised that the same print medium is used for one page. However, a print medium which is partially different is used in accordance with an instruction from a personal computer or the like. It is also possible to use water resistant print media to prevent the loss of information.

[0047]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When printing on various types of paper with different qualities, for example, according to the paper quality by panel operation or sensor detection,
A suitable print medium can be easily selected and used from the inks as a plurality of print media.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a printing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a printing apparatus of the present invention.

3 is a setting panel KE in the printing apparatus shown in FIG.
It is a front view which shows the principal part of Y.

4 is a diagram illustrating a case of outputting to a printing mechanism PRT that performs printing using a plurality of print media INK corresponding to the quality of paper selected on the setting panel KEY illustrated in FIG. 3;
3 is a block diagram showing the relationship between the output memory PRAM shown in FIG.

5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the printing apparatus shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 PA printing device KEY setting panel CPU microprocessor IOP external data interface ROM read only memory PRAM output memory RAM random access memory CG character generator INK ink PRT printing mechanism

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A data input device for receiving print data, a printing device for printing the data received by the data input device, a print medium of a plurality of types used for printing by the printing device, and a plurality of the print media. A printing apparatus comprising: a selection unit that selects a printing medium suitable for a sheet from the printing medium; and a printing control unit that controls printing using the printing medium selected by the selection unit. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selection unit selects a plurality of print media, and the print control unit controls printing using the plurality of selected print media. A printing device characterized by being present.