JPH08290636A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To shorten time required for processing and to prevent erroneous decision by a method wherein a group of control languages available for entering input data are classified into a plurality of groups, and the control language to be used is decided with one of discrimination rules varying in each of the classified groups applied to the input data. CONSTITUTION: A job controller interface 80 of an automatic discrimination parser in an image supply apparatus sends a discrimination starting command to a discrimination apparatus controller 82, based on a job execution instruction, and on the other hand, receives the results of discrimination from the discrimination apparatus controller 82. Discrimination apparatuses 84, 86, 88, 90 and 92 are provided respectively for languages A-E. In discrimination processing for the languages D and E, discrimination is made to find out whether the received data are for the languages D and E with the discrimination apparatuses 90 and 92 for the languages D and E. The results of discrimination are outputted to a grouped discrimination control part 94, and the results of discrimination are compared with rules, and kinds of language obtained from the results of discrimination are notified to the discrimination apparatus controller 82.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer device,
In particular, the present invention relates to a printer device that interprets a control language that describes data received from a host device such as a host computer and prints out based on the interpretation of the control language.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a printer, as means for discriminating the type of control language received from a host computer or the like, the following JP-A-5-282109, JP-A-104825, and JP-A-4-323069 are available.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 96823/96, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-888
There was a technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 22 and the like.

According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-282109,
A technique for identifying the type of control language based on a characteristic code unique to each mode is disclosed. If this technique cannot be identified by the method described above, it is identified by the feature code of the built-in mode of the device, and if it is not identified by the method, it is identified by the feature code of the card mode, and still cannot be identified. In this case, the method of making it indistinguishable is adopted.

According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-104825,
If the control code in the input data, such as an escape sequence, is judged, and the specified part is entirely composed of characters, the language that controls the printer with a character string (Po
A technology in which the emulation of st Script) is the target of analysis is disclosed.

According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-3203069,
There is disclosed a method in which a table of instruction codes having a high appearance frequency is prepared for each type of control language, and the type of control language is determined by comparing and comparing the instruction codes with the larger number of instruction codes.

According to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-96823, a table for comparison is provided for each emulation, and a fine data string unit in the data sent from the host computer is searched from each table, and each time a match is found. A determination method is disclosed in which the weights set to them are added to finally select the emulation having the largest addition value. In this discriminating method, when any emulation reaches an addition value of a predetermined value or more, or when the difference from the second largest addition value is a predetermined value or more, as a judgment reference time for determining the judgment result, etc. Is adopted.

According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-88822, the following discrimination method is disclosed. That is, it is determined whether or not the control character included in the input data exists in the command system in the order of priority, and if there is not, the command system is excluded from the selection targets. Then, when the remaining command system becomes one, it is selected as the discrimination result, and when there are two or more, another control character is searched from the remaining command system, and it is discriminated by the presence or absence of the control character. I do. If two or more command systems remain as a result of retrieving the required amount of data, the command system with the higher priority is selected. It should be noted that the above-mentioned required amount refers to the reception buffer capacity or the data amount of all pages, and the entire page refers to the amount of received data until the data reception interval becomes equal to or longer than the reference time.

[0008]

However, the above-mentioned conventional technique has the following problems.

In the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-282109, the built-in mode that is expected to be used frequently is checked first, but which mode is used frequently is determined by the user who is using the mode. However, there is a problem in that the speed of the discrimination process is not taken into consideration.

Further, in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-104825, the discrimination is performed in two stages, that is, the stage of discriminating the control code and the stage of discriminating that the predetermined portion is entirely composed of characters. Therefore, there is a problem that the determination process takes time.

Further, in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-323069, since the discrimination processing is performed based on the unique instruction code peculiar to one control language, the instruction code is stored as mere data. However, there is a problem that it cannot be distinguished from other control languages, and erroneous determination becomes very large.

Further, in the techniques disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-96823 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-88822, each control language is based on the added value of control characters, data strings, etc., as in the above technique. It is a method of discriminating the control language, and the discrimination method is not optimized for each control language,
Inevitably there is a problem that it takes processing time.

In consideration of the above facts, the present invention shortens the processing time for determining the control language by setting the optimum discrimination rule for each control language, and greatly reduces the possibility of misjudgment. It is an object to provide a printer device.

[0014]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 comprises a plurality of input means for inputting input data and a plurality of control language groups that may describe the input data. Classifying means for classifying into groups, and determining means for determining the type of control language describing the input data by applying different discrimination rules to the input data for each group classified by the classifying means. Output means for interpreting and outputting the input data on the basis of the type of control language determined by the determining means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, by applying the determination means of the first aspect to the determination rule for each group in the order of faster determination processing speed, the type of control language for describing the input data is determined. It was decided to decide.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the determining means of the first aspect includes code reading means for reading a code forming the input data, and determines the type of control language based on the appearance order of each code. It has at least one discrimination rule.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the determining means of the first aspect includes code reading means for reading a code forming the input data, and determines the type of control language based on the number of appearances of each code. It has at least one discrimination rule.

[0018]

According to the invention of claim 1, the classification means classifies the control language group that may describe the input data into a plurality of groups. Then, for the input data input by the input means, the determining means determines the type of control language that describes the input data by applying different discrimination rules to each group classified by the classifying means. Then, the output means interprets and outputs the input data based on the type of the control language determined by the determining means. As a result, it is possible to set the optimal discrimination rule for each control language, as compared to the conventional discrimination method that uniformly applies the same discrimination rule. Improved accuracy can be achieved at the same time.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the determining means determines the type of control language that describes the input data by applying the discrimination rules for each group in the order of faster discrimination processing speed. As a result, when the discrimination rules are applied in series, the processing time required for discrimination can be shortened.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the determining means determines the type of control language based on the order of appearance of each code read by the code reading means in the input data at least once. Apply. This allows
It is possible to greatly improve the discrimination accuracy as compared with the discrimination based on the presence / absence of a unique command.

According to the invention of claim 4, the determining means determines the type of the control language based on the number of appearances of each code read by the code reading means for the input data at least once. Apply. As a result, the possibility of erroneous determination can be reduced as compared with the determination rule based on the presence / absence of a unique command.

[0022]

【Example】

(First Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, an image recording device 11 as an output device of the present invention includes a recording unit 12 that records an image, and an image supply device 1 that supplies image information to the recording unit 12.
3, a power supply unit 14, and an operation panel 15 for inputting an instruction from the outside.

The recording unit 12 is composed of, for example, a laser printer, and has an operation command signal 26 from the image supply device 13.
Based on the image information 2 supplied from the image supply device 13
7 is printed out on the recording paper 23 (image recording). In order to execute this image recording normally, the recording unit 12 sends a status signal 24 indicating the type of the recording paper 23 accommodated in the cassette tray (not shown) and whether the fixing unit (not shown) has reached the fixing temperature. It is sent to the image supply device 13. Also,
The recording unit 12 sends to the image supply device 13 a synchronization pulse 25 for synchronizing the transfer of image information with the recording unit 12.

A host interface terminal 17 and an input terminal 18 are connected to the image supply device 13. The host interface terminal 17 is a terminal for inputting print data from a host interface (not shown), and the input terminal 18 is a terminal for inputting print data from a network (not shown). Print data can be input in two systems via the host interface terminal 17 or the input terminal 18. Note that the input terminal 18 may be connected to a plurality of devices on the network as a print data supply source.

The image supply device 13 is based on the status signal 24 and the sync pulse 25 sent from the recording section 12,
The operation command signal 26 is sent to operate the recording unit 12, and the host interface terminal 17 or the input terminal 1
The print data input from 8 is sent to the recording unit 12 as the image information 27 to control the image recording.

The operation panel 15 is composed of an input section such as keys and switches and a display section composed of a liquid crystal display (LCD), an emitting diode (LED) and the like, and is recorded in the image supply device 13 by an operator's operation. The necessary instruction information 19 regarding the above is transmitted. Further, the response information 21 returned from the image supply device 13 that has received the instruction information 19 is displayed.

The power supply unit 14 converts a commercial power supply (AC) into a predetermined direct current or alternating current and supplies electric power to the recording unit 12 and the image supply device 13.

The image supply device 13 is, as shown in FIG.
The system bus 32 plays a central role in various controls.
CPU (Central Processing Unit) 31 connected to the. A panel I / F (interface) circuit 33 and a host I / F circuit 34 are connected to the system bus 32.

The panel I / F circuit 33 is provided on the operation panel 15
When the operator operates a key on the operation panel 15, a signal corresponding to this is output from the operation panel 15 and the panel I / F
It is transferred on the system bus 32 via the circuit 33. Further, the display information of the system bus 32 is transferred to the operation panel 15 via the panel I / F circuit 33 and displayed.

The host I / F circuit 34 is a circuit for interfacing with a host device such as a host computer. For example, the host I / F circuit 34 is a circuit for receiving print data input from the host computer based on the RS232C standard or the Centronics standard. It is configured.

Further, the image supply device 13 can have a plurality of host interface terminals,
Host I according to the required host interface
The / F circuit 35 can be added. Examples of expandable interfaces include Centronics interface and Ethernet. This allows print data to be input from multiple host interfaces.

The system bus 32 has a non-volatile memory (NVM) 37, a RAM 38, and a program memory 3.
9, a character pattern memory 41, a recording unit I / F circuit 43, and a bitmap controller 44 are connected.

The NVM 37 is a memory backed up by a battery (not shown), and can hold necessary data even when the image recording apparatus 11 itself is powered off.

The RAM 38 is a working memory of the CPU 31, and holds data necessary for performing various controls of the image recording device 11. The RAM 38 also functions as a reception buffer that temporarily holds the print data input from the host I / F circuit 34 or the host I / F circuit 35. The RAM 38 includes a bit map memory 42 that stores bit data for electronically editing the generated character pattern, image, etc. in association with one page of recording paper.

The program memory 39 is a memory in which a program for controlling the image recording device 11 by the CPU 31 is stored. The program memory 39
The program stored in is read by the CPU 31 when the power of the image recording apparatus 11 is turned on.

The character pattern memory 41 is a memory that stores a character pattern when printing out, and is a so-called font memory.

The recording section I / F circuit 43 is a circuit for interfacing with the recording section 12. For example, the bit data expanded in the bit map memory 42 is supplied to the recording section 12 as image information 27. It also serves as an interface for transmitting and receiving the status signal 24, the synchronization pulse 25 and the operation command signal 26.

The bitmap controller 44 is a circuit for controlling the transfer of image information between the bitmap memory 42 and the recording section I / F circuit 43.

The program memory 46 and the character pattern memory 47 are memories for storing a program and a character pattern similarly to the program memory 39 and the character pattern memory 41, respectively, but selectively according to the user's request. It can be connected to the image recording device 11. As the program memory 46 and the character pattern memory 47, a removable IC card format or SI
An MM format ROM or the like can be used. As a result, it is possible to widely support programs and character patterns corresponding to print data and control data sent from various host computers.

The hard disk 48 is a magnetic recording device for storing a large amount of data, and is used for adding character patterns, saving form data and logo data, saving input data from the host computer, and the like. The hard disk 48 can also be connected by the user as needed.

Next, FIG. 3 shows the structure of the program stored in the program memory 39, that is, the software. As shown in FIG. 3, a device driver, which is a software group for individually controlling each peripheral device such as the hard disk 48, is located in the lowermost layer.

In the next layer, an OS (operating system)
Is located and plays a core role of software for controlling the image recording device 11. This OS is for task management,
By performing storage management, input / output management, etc., the CPU 3
1, managing the hardware such as the RAM 38 and each peripheral device. Further, the logical resources such as files and upper programs are managed by performing file management, program management, communication control, etc. based on the management of hardware resources. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to minimize the modification of the software of the upper layer due to the change of the hardware.

A control library and an application program are provided above the OS.
Is located. The control library stores a control program group used for the application programs in the uppermost layer.

The application program is an application program created so that the image recording device 11 executes the operation desired by the user. A decomposer that interprets a printer language as a control language and develops it into an image belongs to this application program.

FIG. 4 shows an application program as basic functional blocks. The control 60 controls the entire system, and includes the in 62 and the others 6
The data process 64 and the others 68 are controlled based on the job start request from 8.

This control 60 has the following (1)-
It is composed of the module (4). In this embodiment, the control 60 will be referred to as a system control unit. (1) Check the system controller setting information and start each task. (2) Job controller Controls execution of jobs. (3) Page controller Manages bitmap memory. (4) Timer controller Manages the timer by message.

The in 62 manages data input / output with the host computer. In order to perform such input / output, the IN 62 passes data to the data process 64 or receives data from the data process 64. Further, when data is transferred or received, the control 60 is requested to start a job.

Further, the in 62 is composed of, for example, the following modules. (1) Interface A Local Interface A (2) Interface B Local Interface B (3) Interface C Network Interface C (4) Interface D Network Interface D (5) Interface E Network Interface E For example, Centronics, RS-232C, etc., and as the network interface, Ethernet, local talk, etc. can be used.

The data process 64 processes data. The data to be processed is the data received from the in 62, and the processing result is passed to the in 62 or the out 66.

The data process 64 is synonymous with the control language interpretation unit defined in this embodiment, and is called a decomposer in this embodiment.

The decomposer is implemented as the data process 64 and has the following types. These are 1
Operates as one or more tasks. (1) Automatic discrimination parser This is a task for discriminating the printer language (control language). (2) Language A Decomposer A group of tasks for interpreting and executing the printer language A (product native page description language). (3) Language B Decomposer A group of tasks for interpreting and executing printer language B (an industry standard page description language). (4) Language C Decomposer This is a task group for interpreting and executing the printer language C (plotter control language developed by X company). (5) Language D Decomposer A group of tasks for interpreting and executing the printer language D (wire dot printer control language developed by Y company). (6) Language E decomposer This is a group of tasks for interpreting and executing the printer language E (wire dot printer control language developed by Z company). (7) Dump This is a task for forming a hexadecimal dump image. (8) Print utility formatter task This is a task to form images of various print utilities.

Out 66 outputs the data of the processing result of the data process 64. This out 66
Is composed of the following modules: (1) Engine controller Controls the printer engine (recording unit).

The others 68 execute various functions other than those described above and composite functions. This Others 6
8 is composed of the following modules. (1) The UI panel 15 is controlled. (2) Printer management agent It has the function to realize the printer management system in the network. For example, functions such as printer resource, status setting, and provision to the client.

As described above, the application program is composed of some constituent elements, and each constituent element is further composed of some functional modules. These functional modules actually consist of one or more tasks. The decomposer also constitutes some tasks.

These task groups are synchronized with each other by using various functions prepared as a control library. The decomposer also realizes the print function by synchronizing with the task group forming the control 60, the in 62, and the out 66 by using the control library.

Next, the operation of the image recording device 11 will be described. The control data composed of print data output from an information processing device such as various host computers and workstations and a control language that defines how to output the print data is the host interface terminal 1
The image is supplied to the image supply device 13 via the input terminal 7 or the input terminal 18. Since there are many types of information processing devices, the input control data is not always unified. For example, the control data sent by a certain information processing device may be able to specify the size of a recording sheet, the size of a character, and the like in detail, but the control data of another device may not be able to perform such a specification.

When there is no designation in the control data as in the latter case, that fact is displayed on the display portion of the panel 15.
Then, when the operator key-inputs the necessary data regarding the recording on the panel 15, the instruction information 19
Is transmitted to the image supply device 13, and recording control based on the instruction information 19 becomes possible.

Even when the size of the paper or the size of the characters to be recorded is designated as the control data on the side of the information processing apparatus, it is possible to input the instruction information 19 from the panel 15 by a key operation or the like. is there. In such a case, the instruction on the information processing device side can always be prioritized, or the input on the panel 15 side can be prioritized. It is also possible to give priority to a person who gives an instruction later in time.

Next, the image supply device 13 sends the instruction information 19
Based on the status signal from the recording unit 12, whether or not printing is possible is determined, and the fact is displayed on the panel 15 as response information 21. For example, when the paper of the size instructed by the instruction information 19 is not set in the recording unit 12, the panel 15 displays a response prompting to set the paper of that size.

When the preparation for recording is completed as described above, the image supply device 13 sends the operation command signal 26 to the recording section 12 to operate the recording section 12 on the basis of the control data, and at the same time, the recording section 12 outputs the signal. The print data input while synchronizing the output timing with the synchronization pulse 25 is used as the image information 2
7 is transferred to the recording unit 12.

Next, the overall operation of the application program, particularly the operation of the decomposer activated at the start of the job, will be described. The decomposer activated at the start of the job is a decomposer of the printer language (control language) set for each input port. If the control language set for the job input port specifies automatic discrimination, the automatic discrimination parser is started (automatic discrimination mode), and if automatic discrimination is not specified, the set control The language decomposer is started (printer language fixed mode). The processing of the decomposer in these two cases will be described below. Note that the target decomposers are the decomposers and dumps for the above language A, language B, language C, language D, and language E.

First, the printer language fixed mode processing will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 5 and the block diagram of FIG. In FIG. 6, the in-task 74 is an in-task 74.
2, the out task 76 is a task according to the out 66, the job controller 72 is one functional module of the control 60 described above, and the decomposer 70 is
It is one decomposer that executes the job.

The in-task 74 determines whether or not a job is detected (step 300). If the determination is negative, the wait state of the decomposer 70 is maintained until a job is detected. When the job is detected, the in-task 74 refers to the printer language setting of the corresponding input port and requests the job from the job controller 72 as the job of the corresponding decomposer (step 302). Note that the job being detected means that a series of data has been input to a certain interface.

Job controller (system control unit) 7
2 receives the job request from the in-task 74 and outputs a job execution instruction to the decomposer 70 (step 304).

Upon receiving the job execution instruction as the asynchronous event, the decomposer 70 starts the decomposer processing (step 306). By the decomposer processing by the decomposer 70, the printer language in the reception buffer (RAM 38) received by the in-task 74 is interpreted as the set printer language.

It is determined whether the decomposer 70 detects EOJ indicating the end of data while reading the printer language in the reception buffer (step 30).
8). If the EOJ is not detected, the decomposer processing (step 306) is continued, and if the EOJ is detected, the decomposer 70 performs the job end processing. The EOJ can be determined by detecting the input of data indicating the end of the job, the timeout of the data input waiting time, the input of the forced ejection instruction from the panel 15, the end of the file, the end of the network connection, and the like.

As the job end processing, the decomposer 7
0 first issues a job end notification to the out task 76 (step 310). As a result, the engine controller can detect that there is no output request for the job after the processing data (step 312), and prepare for the end of output.

Then, the decomposer 70 reports the job completion to the job controller 72 (step 314).

As described above, at the end of the decomposer processing,
The decomposer 70 shifts to the asynchronous event wait state (step 316) and waits for an instruction to execute a new decomposer process (step 304).

Next, the process in the automatic discrimination mode is shown in FIG.
The flowchart of FIG. 8 and the functional blocks and control flow appearing in this flowchart will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. Note that FIG. 8 shows a case where automatic discrimination is possible, and FIG. 9 shows a case where automatic discrimination is not possible. The newly added automatic discrimination parser 78 is a printer language discrimination task implemented as the data process 64 described above. is there.

First, it is determined whether or not the intask 74 has detected a job (step 318). In the case of a negative determination, the wait state of the decomposer 70 is maintained until a job is detected. If a job is detected, in task 7
4 issues a job request to the job controller 72 as a job of the automatic discrimination parser 78 (step 32).
0).

Job controller 7 which has received a job request
2 issues a job execution instruction to the automatic discrimination parser 78 (step 322).

Automatic discrimination parser 7 which has received a job execution instruction
When any one of the following conditions is satisfied, 8 executes the automatic discrimination processing for the received predetermined number of data or the data up to the EOJ detection (step 32).
4).

When a predetermined number of data is received When EOJ is detected Details of this automatic discrimination processing will be described later.

When the automatic discrimination parser 78 finishes the automatic discrimination processing, it is judged whether or not the language of the inputted printer language can be discriminated (step 326). When it is possible to determine which language the input printer language is, the automatic determination parser 78 determines that the job controller 7
A request for switching to the decomposer 70 corresponding to the printer language of the determination result is issued to 2 (step 334), and the job controller 72 issues a job execution instruction to activate the decomposer 70 (step 304). After that, the control shifts to the decomposer 70, and the steps including step 304 are the same as those in the printer fixed mode of FIG. 5, and therefore, the portions corresponding to those of FIG. Is omitted.

The job controller 72, not the automatic determination parser 78, determines and takes action whether or not the decomposer of the printer language determined by the automatic determination parser 78 is installed by the option software.

On the other hand, if it is not possible to determine which language the input printer language is in step 326,
The automatic discrimination parser 78 issues an ABORT request to the job controller 72 (step 32).
8). At this time, the fact that the print language cannot be determined is registered in the print log.

Upon receiving the abort request, the job controller 72 issues an abort instruction to the automatic discrimination parser 78 (step 330). As a result, the automatic discrimination parser 78
Processing ends (step 332). That is, the decomposer 71 shifts to the asynchronous event waiting state (FIG. 9).
reference). At this time, since there are a plurality of released decomposers without pointing to a specific one, the decomposer 7 shown in FIG.
1 is distinguished from the single decomposer 70.

Then, the automatic discrimination parser 78 which has completed the processing
Sends an abort completion report to the job controller 72 (step 333), whereby the automatic determination processing ends, and the process returns to the first step 318. At this point, since the output request has not been made to the out task 76 yet, the job completion is not notified to the out task 76, unlike when the determination can be made (see FIG. 9).

By using the above automatic discrimination mode, it is possible to automatically identify in which printer language the data received from the host computer is described. Therefore, even if the user does not specify the printer language, the image recording can be performed. The device 11 can select an appropriate printer language processing system according to the received data and perform print processing.

Next, the internal structure of the automatic discrimination parser 78 and the detailed control flow will be described. As shown in FIG. 10, the automatic determination parser 78 uses the job controller 72.
A job controller interface 80 is provided for interfacing with the.

Further, the job controller interface 80 gives a discrimination start instruction to the discriminator controller 82 based on the job execution instruction and receives the discrimination result sent from the discriminator controller 82. Further, the job controller interface 80 receives the job execution instruction from the job controller 72 and sends a decomposer switching request or an abort request to the job controller 72.

The discriminator controller 82 gives a start instruction to each of the discriminators that determine whether or not the received data is in a specific printer language, based on the determination start instruction from the job controller interface 80. Result from the vessel (either success, failure or indefinite)
To receive.

In this embodiment, the language A discriminator 84 and the language B are used.
Five discriminators, a discriminator 86, a language C discriminator 88, a language D discriminator 90 and a language E discriminator 92, are provided, and the received data are described in language A, language B, language C, language D and language E. Whether or not each is determined.

The language A discriminator 84, the language B discriminator 86, and the language C discriminator 88 are each a direct discriminator controller 82.
The target printer language is determined according to the activation instruction from the discriminator controller 82, and the discrimination result is sent to the discriminator controller 82.

Language D discriminator 90 and language E discriminator 92
Are connected to the discriminator controller 82 via the group discrimination control unit 94, and each of the target printer languages is discriminated by a start instruction input via the group discrimination control unit 94, and the discrimination result is displayed. It is sent to the discriminator controller 82 via the group discrimination control unit 94.

Whether or not the discriminators are formed into one group is based on, for example, that the target printer languages have common commands, and if they have common commands, then 1 It consists of two groups.

Further, these discriminators are connected to the buffer 96, and read the received data stored in the buffer as the discrimination target. This buffer 9
Reference numeral 6 is a local memory, and the reception data stored therein is a reception buffer (RAM 38 in FIG. 2).
It has been transferred from.

Each discriminator sequentially reads the received data by a predetermined number of bytes, and searches each discriminator for a command used in the target language. Each discriminator also searches the received data for a grammatical error, assuming that the received data is in the target language. Then, based on the combination of the two types of search results, "whether there is a command" and "whether there is a syntax error", the following determination result of "success", "undefined", or "failure" is output.

“Success”: “No syntax error” and “Command exists” “Undefined”: “No syntax error” and “No command” “Fail”: “Syntax error” “Success”, the received data The printer language of is the language targeted by the discriminator, and in the case of "indefinite", it is not known whether or not it is the language, "failure"
In the case of, it indicates that the printer language of the received data is not the language.

By defining the discrimination result as described above, in the case of "failure", the discrimination processing by the discriminator can be terminated when the "syntax error" is detected. As a result, it is possible to minimize the discrimination processing for the control language that does not apply, and it is possible to speed up the discrimination processing.

Further, by detecting the "grammar error", it is possible to prevent the erroneous determination even when the command of the other control language is accidentally included as the character string, so that the determination accuracy can be improved.

The "grammar error" means that a contradiction as a control language has been detected, and is detected as follows. That is, each discriminator detects, from the control language describing the received data, an instruction code which cannot be in the control language targeted by the discriminator, or an instruction code which cannot be in the control language. When a combination is detected, the "grammar error" determination result is output. Further, when a certain instruction code is located at a particular position in a data string, or in the case of a control language in which the order of the instruction code is fixed, there is no such instruction code at that position, which corresponds to a "grammar error".

Next, the flow of processing of the automatic discrimination parser 78 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When a certain amount or more of received data is stored in the receive buffer (RAM 38), a predetermined number of the received data, for example 256, is stored in the buffer 96 which is a local memory.
Bytes or 1024 bytes of received data are transferred (step 340). However, if EOJ indicating the end of received data is detected with less than the predetermined number, EOJ is detected.
The received data up to are transferred (step 340).

When the job controller 72 receives a job execution instruction from the job controller 72, the job controller interface 80
Gives a discrimination start instruction to the discriminator controller 82.
Then, the discriminator controller 80 that receives the discrimination start instruction
Gives an activation instruction to each discriminator and activates them in order.

First, the language A discriminator 84 is activated (step 342), and a discrimination process as to whether or not the received data in the buffer 96 is the language A is performed. When the discrimination process is completed, the result is transmitted to the discriminator controller 82, and the discrimination result is discriminated (step 344).

If the determination in step 344 is "success", it is determined that language A is the printer language of the received data (step 372). Then, the information that the discrimination result is the language A is transmitted to the job controller interface 80, and the system is notified of the discrimination result (step 374). Alternatively, from the job controller interface 80 to the job controller 7
2. A request for switching to the decomposer that interprets the language A is sent to 2.

If the determination in step 344 is "failure" or "undefined", the next language B discriminator 86 is activated (step 346) and it is determined whether the received data in the buffer 96 is language B or not. Is done.

If the determination result (step 348) is successful, it is determined that the language B is the printer language of the received data, and the same processing as above is executed.

If the determination in step 348 is "failure" or "undefined", the next language C discriminator 88 is activated (step 350), and the received data in the buffer 96 is the language C.
Is determined.

If the determination result (step 352) is successful, it is determined that the language C is the printer language of the received data, and the same processing as above is executed.

By thus completing the automatic discrimination processing when one discriminator judges "success", it is not necessary to perform discrimination processing for a control language not applicable,
The discrimination process can be speeded up.

However, if the determination in step 352 is "failure" or "undefined", the discriminator controller 82
Gives a start instruction to the group discrimination control unit 94, and the language D
-Language E discrimination processing is executed (step 354). This language D / language E discrimination processing is composed of the following steps. First, the language D discriminator 90 determines whether or not the received data is in the language D (step 356).
Is performed, the determination result is sent to the group determination control unit 94, and is temporarily held there. Next, the language E discriminator 9
2, the discrimination processing of whether or not the received data is the language E (step 358) is performed, and the discrimination result is sent to the group discrimination control unit 94. Group discrimination control unit 94
Compares the discrimination results by the language D discriminator 90 and the language E discriminator 92 in accordance with the rules, and discriminates which one is the same or which is neither (step 36).
0). For example, when only one language is successfully discriminated and the other is “failure” or “indefinite”, the former language is set as the discrimination result. If both are “successful”, the language D is the determination result, and if both are “indefinite”, the language E is the determination result. When both are "failure", the determination result is "failure", one is "undefined" and the other is "failure".
In the case of, the determination result is “undefined”.

When the discrimination result is obtained, the group discrimination control unit 9
4 notifies the discriminator controller 82 of the discrimination result and, in the case of "success", the language. Then, the determination result is determined (step 362), and if “successful”, either language D or language E is determined to be the printer language (step 372) and the system is notified (step 374). ). On the other hand, in the determination of step 362,
In the case of "failure" or "undefined", it is determined whether "all failed" or "undefined" (step 366).
If all are unsuccessful, the determination result is "error" (step 370), and if "indeterminate", the determination result is language E (step 368) and the system is notified (step 374). ). This language E is one of the wire dot printer control languages as described above, and is a language capable of simple text output (combination of a character string and a command such as carriage return / line feed). Therefore, such processing is possible. .

As described above, the control languages having commands common to each other are treated as one group, and the discrimination results of the control languages in the same group are output when all the discriminations by these discriminators are completed. Since this is done, it is possible to prevent erroneous determination as a control language within the same group. Further, it is possible to avoid misjudgment with other control languages that do not belong to the group.

Furthermore, step 360 and step 368
As described in Section 2, even if the data is "indefinite" without the command that characterizes the printer language, by applying the appropriate control language defined as a rule,
Can be printed.

When a plurality of discriminators in the same group output "success" in step 360,
The group discrimination control unit 94 may output the discrimination result by the following method.

First, the instruction codes in each control language are classified into a unique command and a common command. For this common command, a weighting table is prepared for each discriminator, and the instruction code of the input control language is matched. Each time, the weights set for each discriminator are added.
Then, the final addition result is used as auxiliary information for the determination result “success”. That is, if there are multiple discriminators that have detected “success” after the addition results of all the discriminators in the group have been output, the control language of the group is determined by the size of the addition result for each discriminator. It is a method of making a decision. Since the common command has different meanings and importance in control for each control language, this method enables identification within a group and improves discrimination accuracy.

Further, in the control language group in the group,
Prioritize in advance, and after all discriminators in the group have obtained the results, except for the discriminator that detects that the discriminant instruction code is included, in which control language of the group according to this priority order A method of determining if there is also effective. This method can be applied especially when the control meaning of the common command (s) is more important for one control language than another control language. That is, when there are a plurality of discriminators that have detected “success” in the group, this means that a common command is included as input data. Therefore, when the control meaning of the common command (group) is more important than other control languages, the priority order can be regarded as a measure of certainty.

According to this method, the classification of the unique command and the common command, the weight search, and the addition processing can be omitted and the processing time can be shortened as compared with the above-mentioned method.

Further, in the above example, the discrimination rules for discriminating each control language are all searches for the presence / absence of commands and the inconsistency of instruction codes. However, the discrimination rules determined for each control language are the same. May be applied. That is, the discrimination rule executed in each discriminator is the optimal discrimination rule for discrimination of the target control language, and the discrimination rule may be different or the same depending on the type of control language. As a result, the need for an unnecessary search is reduced, the processing time can be shortened, and the discrimination accuracy can be improved by the discrimination rule most suitable for the control language.

12 and 13 show examples of discrimination rules that are different for each control language.

The flowchart of FIG. 12 shows the discrimination rule in the language A discriminator 84, and this discrimination rule specifies the language A by the appearance order of the commands. In language A, commands are received in layers called segments, so the first and second
The command to be received second is fixed, so
The language can be specified by the order of appearance of commands.

According to FIG. 12, first, the code forming the input data is read, and the command delimiter check is performed, whereby the first command is acquired (the first stage of step 376). At this time, the comment text is read and discarded (the latter stage of step 376).

Next, it is checked whether or not the data to be discriminated has been completed (step 378). When the data is completed, the determination result is undefined (step 40).
4) The processing of the language A discriminator 84 is ended.

If the command has not been completed, the first command check is performed (step 380), and it is determined whether or not the command to appear first in the language A data is correct (step 382).

If the result of the first command check is an error, the determination result is a failure (step 4
02), the processing of the language A discriminator 84 is ended.

If the result of the first command check is correct, a parameter delimitation check is performed on the read code to acquire the parameter (previous stage of step 384). At this time, the comment sentence is also read and discarded (the latter stage of step 384).

Next, it is checked whether or not the data to be discriminated has been completed (step 386). When the data is completed, the determination result is undefined (step 40).
4) The processing of the language A discriminator 84 is ended.

If not completed, the parameter check of the first command is performed (step 388), and it is determined whether the parameter of the command that should appear first in the language A data is correct (step). Three
90).

If the parameter check result is an error, the determination result is a failure (step 40).
2) The processing of the language A discriminator 84 is ended.

If the result of the parameter check is correct, the second command is acquired (step 39).
2). The method of acquiring the second command is similar to that of the first command.

Next, it is checked whether or not the data to be discriminated has been completed (step 394). When the data is completed, the determination result is undefined (step 40).
4) The processing of the language A discriminator 84 is ended.

If not completed, the second command check is performed (step 396), and it is determined whether or not the command to appear second in the data of language A is correct (step 398).

If the result of the second command check is an error, the determination result is a failure (step 4
02), the processing of the language A discriminator 84 is ended.

If the second command to come is correct,
The determination result is "success", and the control language is regarded as language A (step 400).

As described above, when a language is discriminated by the order of appearance of commands, it happens to have the same code as the command as a data string, as compared with the case where only the command peculiar to the language is retrieved. Since the confusion with the case can be avoided, the discrimination accuracy is significantly improved. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 12, if the order or position of the appearance of the command is different, the determination result is immediately "failed" at that time.
As a result, the processing of the discriminator can be completed, and the processing time can be shortened.

Next, the flowchart of FIG. 13 shows the language C.
The discrimination rule in the discriminator 88 is shown. The discrimination rule specifies the language C when the number of appearances of the command of the language C exceeds a predetermined number.

According to FIG. 13, first, the command is acquired (the first stage of step 406). The command can be obtained by searching the alphabet, and if found
Take out up to a byte. That is, the data of every 2 bytes is acquired from the data to be discriminated. If the detected character is not an alphabet but an ESC (1Bh) code, it is confirmed that the next 1 byte is (2Eh), and the next 1 byte is extracted. Therefore, 3 bytes are acquired from the discrimination data.

Next, it is checked whether or not the discrimination data has ended (step 408). When the data is completed, the determination result is indefinite (step 428), and the processing of the language C discriminator 88 is terminated.

If not completed, a command check is performed (step 410) and it is determined whether or not the command of language C is correct (step 412).

If the result of the command check is an error, that is, if the command acquisition ends in error or it is determined that the acquired command does not belong to language C, the determination result is a failure (step 414). ), Language C
The processing of the discriminator 88 is ended.

If the result of the command check is correct, the command number is counted up (step 416).
Is done. Note that this command count is determined by the language C discriminator 8
It has been cleared to zero when starting up 8.

Next, it is determined whether or not the count value of the number of commands has reached 5 (step 418). Affirmative judgment,
That is, when the count value of the number of commands reaches 5, the determination result is "success" and the control language is treated as the language C (step 420).

In the case of a negative determination, it is determined whether or not the command for which the command check is performed is a command having a character as a parameter (step 422). If the command is not a character parameter command, the process returns to step 406 to acquire the next command from the determination data, and the same processing is repeated until any determination result is obtained.

In the case of the command of the character parameter, the character parameter is read and discarded so that the parameter is not interpreted as a command in the command acquisition in step 406 (step 424).

In this parameter read-and-discard processing, it is judged whether or not the judgment data has ended (step 42).
6) When the processing is finished, the determination result is set to "undefined", and the processing of the language C discriminator 88 is ended. If not completed, the process returns to step 406, the next command is acquired from the determination data, and the same processing is repeated until any determination result is obtained.

As described above, when the language is discriminated by the number of appearances of the command, there is an advantage that the discrimination accuracy is improved as compared with the case where only the presence or absence of the command peculiar to the language is detected. In the case of adopting such a discrimination rule, if the parameter read-and-discard processing is performed as shown in FIG. 13, confusion with the case where the data string happens to have the same code as the command concerned can be avoided. Is no longer a concern.

Further, when the control languages which are discriminated by the number of appearances of commands form a group as described above, for example, when the languages D and E are mentioned above, two discriminations are made as described above. If they are performed separately, the possibility of misjudgment increases. For example, some language D commands do not cause an error in the language E discriminator 92, so that the language E cannot be finally discriminated as the language E unless the language D is discriminated. .

The flow of the final determination process in the case of such group determination is specifically shown in the flowchart of FIG.
The processes of the language D discriminator 90 and the language E discriminator 92 are
Only command error checking and command count counting.

According to FIG. 14, first, the language D discriminator 90
Thus, it is determined whether the input data is described in the language D (step 430). When the processing is completed, it is determined whether or not the language D discriminator 90 ends in error (step 432), and if the error ends, the process moves to the discrimination processing by the next language E discriminator 92 (step 43).
8) If it is not an error end, the presence or absence of a command peculiar to language D is checked (step 434).

When there is a command peculiar to language D, the determination result is "success", and the control language is treated as language D. On the other hand, if there is no command peculiar to language D, the process proceeds to the discrimination process by the next language E discriminator 92 (step 438).

The language E discriminator 92 discriminates whether or not the input data is described in the language D (step 438). When the process is finished, the language E discriminator 9 is executed.
It is determined whether or not 2 ends in error (step 44).
0). If it is an error end, the determination result is "failure" (step 446). If it is not an error end, the presence or absence of a command specific to the language E is checked (step 4).
42).

When there is a command specific to the language E, the determination result is "success" and the control language is treated as the language E. On the other hand, if there is no command specific to language E, the determination result is "undefined" (step 448).

By thus making the final judgment of the control language group belonging to the group, erroneous judgment within the group can be avoided and the judgment accuracy can be improved.

In the case where each discriminator has a discrimination rule as described above and the discrimination processing is ended when "success" is output, the discriminators having the fastest processing time are processed in order. If this is done, the processing time will be shortened. For example, the method of checking the appearance order of commands is the fastest, and the following check is based on the number of commands and whether or not there is a unique command. Therefore, if the discrimination rules are activated by each discriminator in this order, Since the processing time of the discriminator near the beginning, which is frequently repeated, is short, the average discrimination processing time is shortened.

The order of activating each discriminator may be invariable, but may be variable. For example,
There are a method of first determining the one determined immediately before, a method of counting the determination result of which control language and determining in descending order of the count value, a method in which the user specifies the order of determination by the command or the operation panel, etc. is there. By making the order variable in this way, the processing time can be further shortened.

(Second Embodiment) In the first embodiment, an example in which one discriminator is provided for each discriminator, that is, for each control language has been described in detail. However, a plurality of discriminant rules is provided for each discriminator. May be applied. This will be disclosed below as a second embodiment. Since the configuration of the printer device and the configuration of the software are the same as those in the first embodiment, the same numbers are assigned and the description is omitted.

In the second embodiment, each discriminator has a plurality of discrimination rules. For example, in the language A discriminator 84, when the first and second command sequences of the data are correct, or when a command group specific to the language A is detected, the language A
Has a discrimination rule to determine Therefore, the command group to which the discrimination rule is applied differs for each discrimination rule, and forms a corresponding group. For example, in the case of the language A discriminator 84, the command group is classified as shown in Table 1.

Each discriminator has a function of classifying the read commands into each group according to the discrimination rule given to each discriminator.

[Table 1] The operation of the language A discriminator 84 based on the group classification in Table 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In order to detect the appearance order of the commands, the command number counter is initialized at the start of discrimination (step 450).

Next, a character string is obtained from the input data (step 452). The character string is a series of data strings until the delimiter defined by the language A is detected.

It is determined whether or not the data is completed while the character string is being acquired (step 454). If the data is completed, the determination result is "undefined" (step 472), and the determination is made. finish.

If the data has not ended, it is checked whether the acquired command is normal (step 456). If a normal command cannot be detected, the determination result is "failure" (step 474). ), The determination is completed.

When a normal command is detected, 1 is added to the command number counter (step 458).

Next, it is checked whether or not the detected command belongs to the group (step 460). If the command belongs to the group, that is, if the command is to immediately determine the language, the determination result is "success" (step 476), and the determination ends.

If the command does not belong to a group,
It branches depending on whether the appearance order of the acquired command is the first or the second (step 462).

If the detected command has the first appearance order and the command belongs to the group, that is, should be the first command in the data (step 464 affirmative judgment), the next command is acquired. To do so, the process returns to the character string acquisition process (step 452). If the detected command is the first command in the data, but the command does not belong to the group, that is, the command should not be the first command in the data (No determination in step 464), the determination result is “failure”. The determination processing ends.

If the order of appearance of the detected commands is the second, and the command is a command belonging to a group, that is, a command that should be the second command in the data (Yes in step 466), the determination result is "successful". , And the language A is treated as a control language. Even if the detected command is the second command in the data, if the command does not belong to the group, that is, the command should not be the second command in the data (No judgment at step 466), the determination result is “failure”. The determination processing ends.

The above is the language A discriminator 84 according to the second embodiment.
It is the operation of, but by performing such processing,
There is an effect that the average time required for the discrimination can be shortened. That is, in the first embodiment, the language A must be discriminated only by the appearance order and at least two data must be detected. In the second embodiment, for example, only the first language A in the data string is to be detected. If there is a specific command,
At this point, the determination result can be obtained, and only one data need be detected. In addition, the fact that there is less data to be detected also has the advantage that there is less risk that the data will end halfway and the determination result will be indeterminate, and that the determination accuracy will improve.

Next, an example of determining the language C will be described. In the first embodiment, the discrimination rule of the language C discriminator 88 is based on the number of appearances of commands, but in the second embodiment, in addition to this, discrimination by a command peculiar to only the language C can be executed. It is like this. Therefore, the command group of language C is classified as shown in Table 2.

[0163]

[Table 2] The operation of the language C discriminator 88 based on the group classification in Table 2 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In order to detect the order of appearance of commands, the command number counter is initialized at the start of discrimination (step 478).

Next, a character string is obtained from the input data (step 480). The character string is a continuous data string until the delimiter defined by the language C is detected.

It is judged whether or not the data is ended while the character string is being acquired (step 482). If the data is ended, the judgment result is "undefined" (step 494), and the judgment is made. finish.

When the data is not completed, it is checked whether or not the acquired command is normal (step 484). If the normal command cannot be detected, the determination result is "failure" (step 496). ), The determination is completed.

When a normal command is detected, it is checked whether the command belongs to the group (step 486). If the command belongs to the group, that is, if the command is to immediately determine the language, the determination result is "success" (step 498), and the determination ends.
In this case, the control language is treated as language C.

When the command belongs to the group, that is, the command whose number of appearances is to be counted, 1 is added to the command number counter (step 488).

Next, it is judged whether or not the number of commands in the command number counter has reached 5 (step 490), 5
If not, the process returns to the character string acquisition process (step 480) and the same process is repeated.

When the number of commands reaches 5, the determination result is "success" (step 492), and the control language is treated as the language C.

The above is the language C discriminator 88 according to the second embodiment.
It is the operation of, but by performing such processing,
There is an effect that the average time required for the discrimination can be shortened. That is, in the first embodiment, the language C must be discriminated only by the number of appearances and five commands must be detected. However, in the second embodiment, for example, the language C is detected before five commands are detected. If there is a unique command only, the determination result can be issued at this point. In addition, the fact that there is less data to be detected also has the advantage that there is less risk that the data will end halfway and the determination result will be indeterminate, and that the determination accuracy will improve.

The above is an embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the discriminator for discriminating the control language shown in the above embodiment is not limited to the type and number of the control language. Further, the discrimination rule is not limited to the check of the appearance order and the number of commands, and for example, the weighted addition result or priority order of each command may be used.

Furthermore, the circuit configuration, functional blocks, software configuration, control, input / output flow, etc. can be arbitrarily changed. For example, by realizing the automatic discrimination processing and the like with a gate array, higher speed can be achieved.

[0175]

As described in detail above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the type of control language that describes input data is determined by applying different discrimination rules to each group. It is possible to set the optimum discrimination rule for each control language, and it is possible to reduce the processing time required for the discrimination and improve the discrimination accuracy at the same time.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the discrimination rules for each group are applied in the order in which the discrimination processing speed is high. Therefore, the processing time required for discrimination can be shortened.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the discrimination rule for determining the type of control language based on the appearance order of each code is applied at least once. Therefore, it is more significant than the discrimination based on the presence / absence of a unique command. In addition, it is possible to improve the discrimination accuracy.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, the discrimination rule for determining the type of control language based on the number of occurrences of each code is applied at least once. Therefore, the discrimination rule based on the presence / absence of a unique command is simply used. The effect that the possibility of erroneous determination can be reduced is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image recording apparatus according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a circuit configuration diagram of the image recording apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a software structure of the image recording apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a basic functional block diagram in an application program.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the image recording apparatus in a printer language fixed mode.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of the image recording apparatus in a printer language fixed mode.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the image recording apparatus in the automatic determination mode.

FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram of the image recording device in the case where the image recording apparatus normally operates in the automatic determination mode.

FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram of the image recording apparatus when an abort request is issued in the automatic determination mode.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an automatic discrimination parser.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of an automatic discrimination parser.

12 is a flowchart showing the flow of discrimination rules in the language A discriminator 84. FIG.

13 is a flowchart showing the flow of discrimination rules in the language C discriminator 88. FIG.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing the flow of a final discrimination rule for languages D and E forming a group.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a flow of discrimination rules in the language A discriminator 84 according to the second example.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the flow of discrimination rules in the language C discriminator 88 according to the second example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 70 Decomposer 78 Automatic Discrimination Parser 82 Discriminator Controller 84 Language A Discriminator 86 Language B Discriminator 88 Language C Discriminator 90 Language D Discriminator 92 Language E Discriminator 94 Group Discrimination Control Unit

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Ichiro Konno 3-7-1, Iwatsuki-shi, Saitama Prefecture Fuji-Zerox Co., Ltd. Iwatsuki Plant (72) Inhito Yuhito 3-7-1, Iwatsuki-shi, Saitama Prefecture No. Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Iwatsuki Office

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An input unit for inputting input data, a classifying unit for classifying a control language group that may describe the input data into a plurality of groups, and each group classified by the classifying unit. Applying different discrimination rules to the input data to determine the type of control language that describes the input data, and determining the input data based on the type of control language determined by the determining unit. A printer device including: an output unit that interprets and outputs. 2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the determining unit determines the type of control language that describes the input data by applying the determination rule for each group in the order of increasing determination processing speed. apparatus. 3. The determining means comprises code reading means for reading a code forming the input data, and has at least one discrimination rule for determining the type of control language based on the appearance order of each code. 1. The printer device according to item 1. 4. The determining means comprises code reading means for reading a code forming the input data, and has at least one discrimination rule for determining the type of control language based on the number of appearances of each code. 1. The printer device according to item 1.