JPH086744A - Image recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform the printing process of a next job when a current job which performs a printing process runs out of a form. CONSTITUTION:Print jobs which are received are queued in a queue table 12. If one job runs out of its set form while an image data expanding means 2 expands the print data of the job into image data, a control means 9 sends an indication for quitting the current job temporarily an performing the next job to a job man ing means 8 in case of shortage of a form setting the job. At this time, the control means 9 sends an indication for clearing the image data expanded currently in a page buffer 3 and releasing the page buffer 3 to a page buffer managing means 4. Consequently, the wait time of print jobs in the queue is prevented from becoming long owing to a shortage of a form.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus for printing input print data on recording paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, one image recording apparatus has been shared by a plurality of users. According to this, it is possible to improve the operating rate of the image recording apparatus and reduce the cost and space. In such a method, when a plurality of users make print requests, the image recording apparatus side accepts the plurality of print requests, orders and manages these print jobs, and manages them in a predetermined order. Image recording processing for print jobs is performed.

At this time, if the print job during the print processing is in a state in which the print processing is not performed for a long time due to a paper jam of the recording paper, a paper shortage, or the like,
The data in the page buffer in which the image of the print job is developed must be retained until the print processing becomes possible. Therefore, the area of the page buffer in which the image data to be held is written cannot be cleared and cannot be used for the expansion of the next page. there were.

On the other hand, page buffers for a plurality of pages are prepared, and even when printing processing is impossible, expansion processing is performed using the free space of the page buffer. . For example, JP-A-2-29718
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1, the number of pages requested to be printed is compared with the free space of the page buffer, print data for the number of pages that can be expanded in the page buffer is read, and the print data is expanded sequentially in the page buffer. In parallel with this, when a page buffer has a space, it is proposed to develop a new image in the space.

[0005]

However, in the conventional image recording apparatus as described above, when the recording sheet to be printed is not present in the paper feed tray in the image recording apparatus or is used up. If it does, it is necessary to replenish the paper tray with recording paper of the desired paper size, and the printing process cannot be performed until the paper is replenished, similar to the case where a paper jam occurs. It has a problem.

On the other hand, when the printing process is stopped due to a paper shortage or the like, and another print job waiting at this stage is a print request using the paper existing in the paper feed tray, It is possible to perform print processing for the print job by interrupt processing.
According to the conventional method of using the page buffer as described above, since the area corresponding to the paper size not existing in the paper feed tray is secured in the page buffer, the area of the page buffer that cannot be cleared increases. Even if another print job is interrupted in such a state, the print processing is delayed because there is no free space in the page buffer.

The present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems. When a paper shortage occurs, the print job is temporarily stopped, but the print job is stagnated by performing another print job using a paper of a different size. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image recording apparatus capable of reducing the number of print jobs to be performed and reducing the waiting time of the printing process as a whole.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, an image recording apparatus according to a first aspect of the invention has a spool means for storing input print data, a page buffer, and a spool means. In an image recording apparatus including an image data expanding unit that reads print data, converts it into image data, and expands it in a page buffer, and a paper feed tray, a job management unit that receives a print request, and a recording paper in the paper feed tray. And a page size buffer that secures a size corresponding to the set size in the page buffer when the image data expansion unit expands the image data in the page buffer. A certain size is secured in the page buffer by the management means and the page buffer management means, and In the case where the image data expanding means expands the image data of the size in the page buffer and the paper size detecting means detects that the paper of the size does not exist in the paper feed tray, the page buffer managing means is instructed. And a control means for instructing release of the page buffer.

An image recording apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention includes an image recording device including a page buffer, image data expansion means for reading out print data, converting the image data into image data, and expanding the image data in the page buffer, and a paper feed tray. In the apparatus, a job management unit that receives a print request, a paper size detection unit that detects the presence or absence of recording paper in the paper feed tray and the paper size, and an image data expansion unit that expands image data in a page buffer, When the page buffer management unit that secures a size corresponding to the set paper size in the page buffer and the paper size detection unit determines that there is no paper, the page buffer management unit transfers the page buffer to the page buffer. And a control unit for prohibiting a request to secure a size corresponding to the paper size. That.

[0010]

The operation of the image recording apparatus according to the first aspect is as follows. The input print data is stored in the spool means, expanded into image data by the image data expansion means, and written in the page buffer. After that, the image data expanded in the page buffer is subjected to print processing, but the paper size detecting unit detects that the paper of the size set in the print job does not exist in the paper feed tray. In this case, the control means instructs the page buffer management means to release the page buffer.

Upon receiving this instruction, the page buffer management means clears the image data currently written in the page buffer and releases the page buffer.

As a result, among the print jobs in the waiting state, a print job using a paper size other than the paper size in the out-of-paper state can use the page buffer. Therefore, the print processing of this print job is performed. Is possible.

Next, the operation of the image recording apparatus according to the second aspect will be described as follows.

When the print request is received by the job managing means, it is expanded by the image data expanding means and expanded into image data. At that time, first, the paper of the size set by the print request is transferred. When it is determined whether or not the paper is present in the paper feed tray, and the paper size detection means detects that the paper of the size is not present in the paper feed tray, the control means instructs the page buffer management means to move to the page buffer. The request to secure the size corresponding to the paper size is prohibited.

As a result, when the paper size of the size set by the print request does not exist in the paper feed tray, the print request is stopped and the print job of the other print request is performed.

[0016]

Embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a first embodiment of an image recording apparatus according to the present invention, in which 1 is a host interface,
Reference numeral 2 is an image data developing means, 3 is a page buffer, 4 is a page buffer managing means, 5 is a printing means, 6 is a paper feed tray, 7 is a paper size detecting means, 8 is a job managing means, and 9 is a job managing means.
Is a control means, 10 is a spooler, 11 is an address storage table, and 12 is a queue table.

In FIG. 1, the host interface 1
Is connected to a network (not shown) such as a LAN and receives data such as a print request from a host computer.

The spooler 10 is for storing print data received by the host interface 1, and is composed of a hard disk device or the like.

When there is a print request, the job management means 8 manages the print request as a print job. When the print request is accepted, the print jobs are stored in the queue table 12 in a predetermined order, for example, in the order of acceptance. Queue.

When the job management means 8 gives an instruction to expand the print data, the image data expanding means 2 reads the specified print data from the spooler 10 and expands it into bitmap image data.

The page buffer 3 is for writing the image data expanded by the image data expanding means 2 and is composed of a storage device such as a DRAM. In addition,
Here, it is assumed that the page buffer 3 has a size capable of storing image data for a plurality of pages. Then, this page buffer 3 is a page buffer management means 4
Managed by.

The address storage table 11 stores the start address of the page of the print data stored in the spooler 10 when the image data expanding means 2 expands the image data in the area of one page in the page buffer 3. It is for.

The printing means 5 prints the image data developed in the page buffer 3 on a recording sheet of a size set by the print data. Since the printing unit 5 is well known, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The paper feed trays 6 ₁ , 6 ₂ , ..., 6 _n are for accommodating recording paper to be supplied to the printing means 5, and are accommodated in paper feed trays different for each paper size. And
The paper size and the presence / absence of the recording papers stored in the paper feed trays 6 ₁ , 6 ₂ , ..., 6 _n are detected by the paper size detecting means 7. The detection of the paper size of the recording paper stored in the paper feed tray, the paper feed tray ₆₁ through
It can be detected by a method of detecting a magnet or the like provided in the housing of _n with a sensor, and the presence / absence of a sheet can be detected by an optical sensor provided on a conveyance path for supplying a recording sheet to the printing unit 5. It is obvious to those skilled in the art that it can be detected by

The control means 9 totally controls the operation of the image recording apparatus.

In this embodiment, the control means 9,
The job management means 8, the page buffer management means 4, and the image data expansion means 2 operate on a CPU capable of parallel processing, and each of these means operates as one process. Furthermore, each process communicates with other processes (hereinafter, IPC).
It is designed to be able to communicate by means of a message). The address storage table 11 and the queue table 12 are created in the main memory used by the CPU. Further, here, the queue table 12 is a table having a FIFO structure, and the order in the FIFO can be changed by the job management means 8.

Next, the operation of each part of the image recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 is a flow chart showing the operation of the job management means 8, FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the operation of the control means 9, FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the operation of the image data expansion means 2, and FIG. 5 is a page buffer. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the management unit 4. As is clear from the above description, the processes shown in these flowcharts are naturally performed in parallel in each unit.

First, referring to FIG. 2, the job management means 8
The operation of will be described. The job management unit 8 performs an event-driven operation, and waits for a print request reception signal from the host interface 1 and an interrupt processing instruction from the control unit 9 (S10, S15).

When the signal indicating that the print request is received is received from the host interface 1, the job management means 8 determines that an event that the print data is input occurs, and the print data is regarded as one job and the job ID is set as the job ID. Is numbered (S11). This job ID
May be, for example, an integer value that is incremented by 1 after the power of the image recording apparatus is turned on.

When the job ID is assigned, the job management means 8 stores the print data in the spooler 10 (S12).

Next, the job management means 8 determines whether the image data expansion means 2 is executing the previous print job.
That is, whether or not the print data of the previous print job is being expanded is determined by the IPC message from the image data expanding unit 2 (S13), and the image data expanding unit 2 is determined.
Has completed the previous print job, the image data expansion means 2 is instructed by IP to expand the print data stored in the spooler 10 into image data.
It is transmitted by the C message (S17). In FIG. 2, the symbol 20 indicates that the IPC message is transmitted. The same applies hereinafter. However, in the following, the reference numeral 20 is omitted.

However, if it is determined in step S13 that the image data expanding unit 2 has not finished processing the previous print job, information about the print job received this time, for example, the job ID, spooling in the spooler 10, Queue table 1 for information such as addresses and data volume
2 (S14), and waits until the image data expanding unit 2 finishes processing the previous print job. And
When the image data rasterizing unit 2 finishes processing the previous print job, the job managing unit 8 transmits an instruction to rasterize the print job into image data by an IPC message. The job management unit 8 repeats the above processing each time the host interface 1 receives a print request.

When the job management means 8 receives from the control means 9 an IPC message for instructing the start of interrupt processing (the IPC message transmitted in S27 of FIG. 3 described later) (S15), the job queue means 12 stores it in the queue table 12. The order of the first stored print job and the current print job is exchanged (S16). As a result, the current print job is placed at the head of the queue, and conversely the print job located at the head of the queue is expanded by the image data expansion means 2 into image data. Therefore, the job management unit 8 sends an IPC message instructing the image data expansion unit 8 to expand the image data after the replacement of the print jobs (S17).

Even when the job management means 8 receives from the control means 9 an IPC message instructing the start of interrupt recovery processing (IPC message transmitted in S32 of FIG. 3 described later), this step S16 and step The process of S17 is performed.

As described above, the job management unit 8 manages and controls a print job when a print request is made and controls and manages interrupt processing.

Next, the operation of the control means 9 will be described with reference to FIG. The control means 9 is a process for performing overall control of the image recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1. However, operations relating to these overall controls will not be mentioned here, and the operation according to the present invention will be described in particular.

The control means 9 waits for a signal from the paper size detection means 7 (S20). The signal from the sheet size detecting means 7, a signal indicating that the recording paper in the input tray with middle of the paper feed tray 6 ₁ to 6 _n is exhausted, printing on the paper feed tray which has been emptied There are two types of signals, that is, a signal indicating that the paper has been replenished.

Now, suppose that there is no more recording paper in the paper feed tray 6 ₁ . And this paper feed tray 6 ₁ is A4
If it is a tray that stores recording paper of a size,
The paper size detection means 7 sends a signal to the control means 9 indicating that the A4 size recording paper in the paper feed tray 6 ₁ is out of paper.

When this signal is received, the process proceeds to step S22 by the determination in step S21. In the process of step S22, the control unit 9 refers to the queue table 12 managed by the job management unit 8 and determines whether or not there is a print job in a waiting state.

In step S22, if there is a print job in the waiting state, the page buffer managing means 4 is instructed to A4 in the page buffer 3.
An instruction to reject the size reservation request is transmitted by an IPC message (S23). However, if there is no print job waiting, the paper tray 6 ₁
Since there is no choice but to wait until A4 size recording paper is replenished, the process returns to step S20.

When a page buffer reservation refusal instruction is sent to the page buffer management means 4, the control means 9 next checks whether the image data expansion means 2 is currently executing a print job (S25). ), If a print job is being executed, the size of the area currently allocated to the page buffer 3 is out of paper by referring to the information from the image data expansion unit 2, in this case, A4 size. If the A4 size area is used, an instruction to release the currently used page buffer area is sent to the image data expansion means 2 by an IPC message (S26). ).

After that, the control means 9 controls the job management means 8
On the other hand, an interrupt processing start instruction for instructing to interrupt the current print job and interrupt the first print job in the queue table 12 instead is transmitted using the IPC message (S27). Then, in order to indicate that the processing of the print job currently performed by the job management means 8 is the interruption processing, the interruption flag is turned on (S28), and the signal from the paper size detection means 7 is waited again.

If it is determined in step S25 that the image data rasterizing unit 2 is not currently executing a print job, the process proceeds to step S27.

In such a state, the paper feed tray 6 ₁
When A4 size recording paper is replenished in the paper, a signal indicating that the A4 size recording paper has been replenished in the paper feed tray 6 ₁ is sent from the paper size detecting means 7. Upon receiving this signal, the control means 9 shifts from step S21 to step S29, and responds to the event that the recording paper is replenished, the page buffer 3 that has been output so far.
In order to cancel the instruction to refuse to secure the A4 size area in the
It is sent to the page buffer management means 4 by a PC message.

Next, the control means 9 checks whether or not the interrupt flag is on (S31), and if the interrupt flag is on, the interrupted print job is restored to the job management means 8. Then, an instruction to start the printing process is transmitted using an IPC message (S3
2). After that, the control means 9 turns off the interrupt flag (S33), and returns to step S20. Note that step S
If the interrupt flag is not turned on in 31, the process directly returns to step S20.

As described above, the control means 9 repeats the above-mentioned processing in response to the event signal sent from the paper size detection means 7. As a result, the allocation of the page buffer 3 is controlled according to the presence / absence of recording paper of a specific size in the paper feed tray, and the control for interrupting the execution of the print job that requires the recording paper of the size out of paper is performed. To do.

Next, the operation of the image data expanding means 2 will be described with reference to FIG. Image data expansion means 2
Is an IPC message of the image data expansion instruction transmitted from the job management means 8 (IP transmitted in S17 of FIG. 2).
When C message) is received as an event (S4
0), the print data stored in the spooler 10 is read (S41). Then, the read print data is decoded for each predetermined code unit to obtain data and control information for developing the image data.

At this time, it is determined whether the read print data is the top data of the page (S).
42). It is obvious to those skilled in the art that this judgment can be easily made by identifying the page break symbol or the like in the print data.

When it is determined that the data is the top data of a page, the image data expansion means 2 sends the address of the data on the spooler 10 or the spooler 1.
The offset from the beginning of the spooling file stored in 0 is stored in the address storage table 11 (S43). If it is not at the beginning of the page, the process proceeds to step S48 to perform a process of expanding the print data in the area secured in the page buffer 3 and rendering a bit image as image data.

After that, when the print data of the page is expanded into image data, a control code indicating what size of recording paper is to be printed is extracted from the print data and identified, so that the requested paper of the page is identified. The size is detected (S44). Then, based on the detected paper size, the IPC message is requested to the page buffer management means 4 for the buffer size required for printing on the recording paper of that size (S45).

Then, the system waits for a response from the page buffer managing means 4, that is, a message indicating whether the requested buffer size is successfully secured or rejected (S46).
If the message from the page buffer management means 4 indicates that the page buffer has been successfully secured, the print data is expanded in the secured area in the page buffer 3 to render a bit image as image data. Go (S48). Image data expansion means 2
Repeats the above processing until there is no print data.

However, when the message from the page buffer management means 4 indicates a page buffer reservation refusal, the image data expansion means 2 causes the page buffer release instruction message from the control means 9 (S26 in FIG. 3). (IPC message sent in step S49) is received (S49), and if there is a page buffer release instruction, the page head address stored in the address storage table 11 is read and the read address in the spooler 10 is set. The value is returned to this value (S50).

As a result, if the job for expanding this print data into image data is interrupted by the job management means 8 and another print job is interrupted, the expansion cannot be completed at the stage of returning from this interrupt processing. The expansion process can be returned from the top of the page.

As described above, for the print data in the process of expansion, which has returned the read address, a request for releasing the page buffer storing the image data is transmitted to the page buffer management means 4 using the IPC message (S5).
1). This completes the preparation for interrupting the processing.

When the page buffer release instruction is not transmitted from the control means 9 in step S54, the process returns to step S45 again, and the page buffer request is transmitted to the page buffer management means 4 by the IPC message.

As described above, the image data expanding means 2 is
Image data rasterization processing is performed in page units in accordance with an image data rasterization instruction from the job management means 8, and rasterization processing is performed using the area of the page buffer 3 allocated by the page buffer management means 4. Then, according to the page buffer release instruction from the control means 9, the secured area of the page buffer 3 is immediately released, and an operation for preparing for interruption of the expansion processing of the print job is performed.

Next, the operation flow of the page buffer managing means 4 for managing and controlling the area allocation of the page buffer 3 in response to the request from the image data expanding means 2 will be described with reference to FIG.

The page buffer management means 4 receives a page buffer request message from the image data expansion means 2 (see FIG. 4).
When receiving the IPC message transmitted in S45), the allocation prohibition size table is referred to (S61).
This allocation prohibition size table is a table provided internally in the page buffer management means 4, and is the same as the address storage table 11 and the queue table 12 in the CPU.
Is allocated in the main memory of.

Then, this allocation prohibition size table is received when the page buffer reservation refusal instruction message (IPC message transmitted in S23 of FIG. 3) is received from the control means 9 (when the determination in step S66 is Yes).
Or a page buffer reservation refusal cancellation instruction message (Fig. 3
When the IPC message transmitted in S29 is received (when the determination in step S68 is Yes), the buffer size that prohibits allocation is registered together with the corresponding paper size (step S67), or the registration is deleted. It is used for performing (step S69).

Therefore, in the above-mentioned example, the allocation prohibition size table has registered therein information for prohibiting securing the buffer size for A4 size recording paper in the page buffer.

By referring to this allocation prohibition size table (S61), the page buffer management means 4
Determines whether the buffer size requested by the image data expansion unit 2 is prohibited (S6).
2) If the size is prohibited, an IPC message to the effect that page page allocation is rejected is sent to the image data rasterizing means 2 (S63). If the size is not prohibited, a request is made in the page buffer 3. A free area of the specified size is searched, and if there is free space, the area is allocated and the information is registered in the page buffer allocation table (not shown in FIG. 1) (S65).

This page buffer allocation table is
A table for registering which area in the page buffer 3 is a free area and what size is used, and which is allocated on the main memory of the CPU like the allocation prohibited size table. Is.

After allocating the page buffer, the page buffer managing means 4 sends an IPC message to the image data expanding means 2 with the start address of the secured area indicating that the securing is successful (S64).

When the page buffer management means 4 receives the page buffer reservation refusal instruction message (IPC message sent in S23 of FIG. 3) from the control means 9, the page buffer management means 4 sets the buffer size for which allocation is prohibited to the corresponding paper size. When it is registered in the allocation prohibition size table together with the size (S67), the process returns to step S60, and when the page buffer reservation refusal cancellation instruction message (IPC message transmitted in S29 of FIG. 3) is received from the control means 9. The information registered in the allocation prohibition size table is deleted (S69) and the process returns to step S60.

Further, when a page buffer release request message (IPC message transmitted in S51 of FIG. 4) is received from the image data expansion means 2, as shown in FIG. 5B, within the corresponding area of the page buffer 3. Is cleared (S71), and the registration of the page buffer information registered in the page buffer allocation table is deleted (S72).

As described above, the page buffer management means 4
Refers to the page buffer allocation table and the allocation prohibition size table to accept the page buffer securing request from the image data expanding unit 2 to control the buffer allocation and rejection, and to respond to the page buffer release request. The operation such as clearing the data in the buffer 3 is performed.

As described above, the respective units operate in cooperation with each other to reject the request to secure the buffer for the paper size in which the paper has run out, and interrupt the print job in the waiting state to enter the waiting state. If a certain print job is a job that uses recording paper that is not out of paper, it is possible to avoid an unnecessary waiting state due to paper supply waiting of the job that is currently being executed.

Further, the control means 9 controls the step S2 of FIG.
If there is no print job in the queue table in No. 2, the page buffer securing refusal instruction IPC message is not transmitted to the page buffer management means 4. This is because when there is no print job in the waiting state, As long as there is a vacant area that can be secured in the page buffer 3, if the image data expansion processing of the print job is performed by the image data expansion means 2, the expansion processing of the printing processing by the printing means 5 ends after paper supply. This is a process for making it possible to do it as quickly as possible.

However, if the paper supply operation is not performed for a long time, the empty area of the page buffer 3 is completely used for the expansion processing of the job, and after that, the host interface 1 receives a print request. It is possible that data will be entered, but in such a case,
Even if the print request input later is a print process for a recording paper that is not the paper size that has run out of paper, there is no empty area in the page buffer 3 already and interrupt print processing cannot be performed. Things can happen. In order to avoid such a situation, the page buffer reservation refusal instruction is transmitted even if the waiting print job does not exist in the queue table 12 in the determination processing of step S22 of FIG. It is necessary. Therefore, the control means 9 may perform a process of skipping the determination routine of step S22.

In the above embodiment, the IPC message is used as the communication means between the respective parts, but it goes without saying that other communication means may be used.

The first embodiment has been described above.
Next, a second embodiment will be described.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the configuration of the second embodiment of the present invention, in which the same components as those shown in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals, and a duplicate description will be omitted.

As is clear from a comparison between FIGS. 1 and 6, the configuration shown in FIG. 6 is a configuration in which the spooler 10 and the address storage table 11 are removed from the configuration of FIG. It is desirable that the host interface 1 be provided with a server that stores print requests in the preceding stage. In this embodiment, a server is provided in front of the host interface 1.

Next, the operation of each part of the image recording apparatus shown in FIG. 6 will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 to 10. FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the operation of the job management means 8.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control means 9,
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the image data expanding means 2, and FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the page buffer managing means 4.

First, referring to FIG. 7, the job management means 8
The operation of will be described. The job management unit 8 performs an event-driven operation, and waits for a print request reception signal from the host interface 1 and an interrupt processing instruction from the control unit 9 (S80, S84).

When the signal indicating that the print request is received is received from the host interface 1, the job management unit 8 determines that an event that the print data is input occurs, and the print data is regarded as one job and the job ID is set as the job ID. Is numbered (S11).

Next, the job management means 8 determines whether or not the image data expansion means 2 is executing the previous print job.
That is, whether or not the print data of the previous print job is being expanded is determined by the IPC message from the image data expanding unit 2 (S82), and the image data expanding unit 2 is determined.
If the previous print job has been completed, an instruction to expand the received print data into image data is transmitted to the image data expansion means 2 by an IPC message (S86).

However, if it is determined in step S82 that the image data rasterizing unit 2 has not finished processing the previous print job, information about the print job received this time, for example, the job ID, the type of the host interface, etc. Is stored in the queue table 12 (S83)
Then, the image data developing unit 2 waits until the processing of the previous print job is completed. Then, when the image data expanding unit 2 finishes processing the previous print job, the job managing unit 8 transmits an instruction to expand the print job into image data by an IPC message. The job management unit 8 repeats the above processing each time the host interface 1 receives a print request.

When the job management means 8 receives from the control means 9 an IPC message for instructing the start of interrupt processing (IPC message transmitted in S94 of FIG. 8 described later) (S84), the job queue means 12 stores it in the queue table 12. The order of the first print job stored and the current print job are exchanged (S85). As a result, the current print job is placed at the head of the queue, and conversely the print job located at the head of the queue is expanded by the image data expansion means 2 into image data. Therefore, the job management unit 8 sends an IPC message instructing the image data expansion unit 8 to expand the image data after the replacement of the print jobs (S86).

Even when the job management means 8 receives from the control means 9 an IPC message instructing the start of interrupt recovery processing (the IPC message transmitted in S98 of FIG. 8 described later), this step S85 and step The process of S86 is performed.

As described above, the job management unit 8 manages and controls a print job when a print request is made and controls and manages interrupt processing.

Next, the operation of the control means 9 will be described with reference to FIG. The control means 9 is a process for performing the overall control of the image recording apparatus shown in FIG. 6, but the operation relating to the overall control is not mentioned here, and the operation according to the present invention will be described in particular.

The control means 9 waits for a signal from the paper size detection means 7 (S90). The signal from the sheet size detecting means 7, a signal indicating that the recording paper in the input tray with middle of the paper feed tray 6 ₁ to 6 _n is exhausted, printing on the paper feed tray which has been emptied There are two types of signals, that is, a signal indicating that the paper has been replenished.

Now, it is assumed that there is no more recording paper in the paper feed tray 6 ₁ . And this paper feed tray 6 ₁ is A4
If it is a tray that stores recording paper of a size,
The paper size detection means 7 sends a signal to the control means 9 indicating that the A4 size recording paper in the paper feed tray 6 ₁ is out of paper.

When this signal is received, the process proceeds to step S92 by the determination at step S91. In the process of step S92, the control unit 9 refers to the queue table 12 managed by the job management unit 8 and determines whether or not there is a print job in a waiting state.

In the determination in step S92, if there is a print job in the waiting state, the page buffer managing unit 4 is instructed to A4 in the page buffer 3.
An instruction to reject the size reservation request is transmitted by an IPC message (S93). However, if there is no print job waiting, the paper tray 6 ₁
Since there is no choice but to wait until A4 size recording paper is replenished, the process returns to step S90.

When a page buffer reservation refusal instruction is sent to the page buffer management means 4, the control means 9 next interrupts the job management means 8 for the print job currently being executed and substitutes it. An interrupt processing start instruction for instructing to interrupt the first print job in the queue table 12 is transmitted to the printer using the IPC message (S94).

Then, in order to indicate that the processing of the print job currently performed by the job management means 8 is the interruption processing, the interruption flag is turned on (S95),
It again waits for a signal from the paper size detecting means 7.

In such a state, the paper feed tray 6 ₁
When A4 size recording paper is replenished in the paper, a signal indicating that the A4 size recording paper has been replenished in the paper feed tray 6 ₁ is sent from the paper size detecting means 7. When this signal is received, the control means 9 shifts from step S91 to step S96 and responds to the event that the recording paper is replenished, the page buffer 3 that has been output so far.
In order to cancel the instruction to refuse to secure the A4 size area in the
It is sent to the page buffer management means 4 by a PC message.

Next, the control means 9 checks whether or not the interrupt flag is on (S96), and if the interrupt flag is on, the interrupted print job is restored to the job management means 8. Then, the instruction to start the printing process is transmitted using the IPC message (S9).
8). After that, the control means 9 turns off the interrupt flag (S99), and returns to step S90. Note that step S
If the interrupt flag is not turned on in 97, the process directly returns to step S90.

As described above, the control means 9 repeats the above-mentioned processing in response to the event signal sent from the paper size detection means 7. As a result, the allocation of the page buffer 3 is controlled according to the presence / absence of recording paper in the paper feed tray, and the control for interrupting the execution of the print job that requires the recording paper of the size out of paper is performed.

Next, the operation of the image data expanding means 2 will be described with reference to FIG. Image data expansion means 2
Is an IPC message of the image data expansion instruction transmitted from the job management means 8 (IP transmitted in S86 of FIG. 7).
When C message) is received as an event (S10)
0), read the received print data or the print data fetched from the server (S101). And
The read print data is decoded for each predetermined code unit, and the data and control information for developing the image data are acquired.

At this time, it is judged whether or not the read print data is the top data of the page (S).
102).

When it is determined that the data is the top data of a page, a control code for printing on which recording paper size should be printed from the print data when the print data of the page is developed into image data. The required paper size of the page is detected by extracting and identifying (S103). Then, based on the detected paper size, the size required for printing on the recording paper of that size is sent to the page buffer management means 4 by IP.
Request by C message (S104).

Then, the system waits for a response from the page buffer management means 4, that is, a message indicating whether the requested buffer size is successfully secured or rejected (S10).
5). If the message from the page buffer management means 4 indicates that the page buffer has been successfully secured, the print data is expanded in the secured area in the page buffer 3 to render a bit image as image data. Go (S107). The image data developing means 2 repeats the above processing until there is no print data.

However, if the message from the page buffer management means 4 indicates that the page buffer reservation is rejected, the image data expansion means 2 proceeds to step S10.
Returning to step 4, based on the detected paper size, the page buffer management means 4 is requested by the IPC message for the size required for printing on the recording paper of that size.

As described above, the image data expanding means 2
Image data rasterization processing is performed in page units according to an image data rasterization instruction from the job management means 8, and rasterization processing is performed using the area of the page buffer 3 allocated by the page buffer management means 4.

Next, the operation flow of the page buffer managing means 4 for managing and controlling the area allocation of the page buffer 3 in response to the request from the image data expanding means 2 will be described with reference to FIG.

The page buffer management means 4 receives the page buffer request message from the image data expansion means 2 (see FIG. 9).
When the IPC message sent in S104 of step S104 is received, the allocation prohibition size table is referred to (S11).
1). This allocation prohibition size table is a table provided internally to the page buffer management means 4, and is allocated on the main memory of the CPU like the address storage table 11 and the queue table 12.

This allocation prohibition size table is received when a page buffer reservation refusal instruction message (IPC message transmitted in S93 of FIG. 8) is received from the control means 9 (when the determination in step S116 is Yes), When the page buffer reservation rejection cancellation instruction message (the IPC message transmitted in S96 of FIG. 8) is received (when the determination in step S118 is Yes).
In addition, the buffer size for which allocation is prohibited is registered together with the corresponding paper size (step S11).
7) It is used for deregistration (step S119).

Therefore, in the above-described example, the allocation prohibition size table has registered therein information that prohibits securing the buffer size for A4 size recording paper in the page buffer.

By referring to this allocation prohibition size table (S111), the page buffer management means 4 judges whether or not the buffer size requested by the image data expansion means 2 is prohibited (S11).
2) If the size is prohibited, the IPC message to the effect that page buffer allocation is rejected is sent to the image data expansion means 2 (S113). If it is not the prohibited size, the request is made in the page buffer 3. A free area of the specified size is searched, and if there is free space, the area is allocated and the information is registered in the page buffer allocation table (not shown in FIG. 6) (S11).
4).

This page buffer allocation table is
A table for registering which area in the page buffer 3 is a free area and what size is used, and which is allocated on the main memory of the CPU like the allocation prohibited size table. Is.

After allocating the page buffer, the page buffer managing means 4 sends an IPC message to the image data expanding means 2 with the start address of the secured area indicating that the securing is successful (S11).
5).

Further, when the page buffer management means 4 receives the page buffer reservation refusal instruction message (the IPC message transmitted in S93 of FIG. 8) from the control means 9, the page size corresponding to the buffer size for which the allocation is prohibited is set. The size is registered together with the size in the allocation prohibited size table (S117), and the process returns to step S110.
When the page buffer reservation rejection cancellation instruction message (IPC message transmitted in S96 of FIG. 8) is received from the control means 9, the information registered in the allocation prohibition size table is deleted (S119), and step S1.
Return to 10.

As described above, the respective units operate in cooperation with each other to reject the request to secure the buffer for the paper size in which the paper has run out, and to interrupt the print job in the waiting state, whereby the waiting state is entered. If a certain print job is a job that uses recording paper that is not out of paper, it is possible to avoid an unnecessary waiting state due to paper supply waiting of the job that is currently being executed.

Further, the control means 9 carries out step S9 in FIG.
If there is no print job in the queue table in 2, the page buffer management refusal instruction IPC message is not transmitted to the page buffer management means 4, but when there is no print job in the waiting state, As long as there is a vacant area that can be secured in the page buffer 3, if the image data expansion processing of the print job is performed by the image data expansion means 2, the expansion processing of the printing processing by the printing means 5 ends after paper supply. This is a process for making it possible to do it as quickly as possible.

However, if the paper supply operation is not performed for a long time, the empty area of the page buffer 3 is completely used for the job expansion processing, and after that, the host interface 1 receives a print request. It is possible that data will be entered, but in such a case,
Even if the print request input later is a print process for a recording paper that is not the paper size that has run out of paper, there is no empty area in the page buffer 3 already and interrupt print processing cannot be performed. Things can happen. In order to avoid such a situation, the page buffer reservation refusal instruction is transmitted even if the waiting print job does not exist in the queue table 12 in the determination processing of step S92 of FIG. It is necessary. Therefore, the control means 9 may perform a process of skipping the determination routine of step S92.

In the above embodiment, the IPC message is used as the communication means between the respective parts, but it goes without saying that other communication means may be used.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and various modifications can be made.

[0111]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the print job on the recording paper of the size which is out of paper is interrupted, and the paper of the size which is not out of paper is used in other print jobs. Since the print job is executed, unnecessary waiting time can be avoided.
As a result, the number of print jobs that are stagnant due to running out of paper can be reduced, and the waiting time for print processing can be reduced as a whole.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of a job management unit 8 in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a work flow chart showing the operation of the control means 9 in the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an image data expansion unit 2 in the first embodiment.
3 is a flowchart showing the operation of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the page buffer management means 4 in the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the operation of the job management means 8 in the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the operation of the control means 9 in the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an image data expansion unit 2 in the second embodiment.
3 is a flowchart showing the operation of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the page buffer management means 4 in the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Host interface, 2 ... Image data expansion means, 3 ... Page buffer, 4 ... Page buffer management means, 5 ... Printing means, 6 ... Paper feed tray, 7 ... Paper size detection means, 8 ... Job management means, 9 ... Control means, 10 ... spooler, 11 ... address storage table, 12 ... queue table.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A spool means for storing input print data, a page buffer, and image data expanding means for reading the print data stored in the spool means, converting the print data into image data, and expanding the image data in the page buffer.
In an image recording apparatus having a paper feed tray, a job management unit that receives a print request, a paper size detection unit that detects the presence or absence of recording paper in the paper feed tray, and the paper size, and an image data expansion unit that is a page buffer. When the image data is expanded to the page data, a page buffer management unit that reserves a size corresponding to the set paper size in the page buffer, and a certain size is secured in the page buffer by the page buffer management unit, and When the data expansion unit expands the image data of the size in the page buffer and the paper size detection unit detects that the size of the paper does not exist in the paper feed tray, the page buffer management unit receives the page. And a control unit for instructing release of the buffer. Image recording device. 2. A job management means for accepting a print request in an image recording apparatus comprising a page buffer, image data developing means for reading print data, converting it into image data and developing it in the page buffer, and a paper feed tray. A paper size detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of recording paper in the paper tray and the paper size, and a size corresponding to the paper size set when the image data expanding means expands the image data in the page buffer. If the page buffer management unit that reserves the minutes in the page buffer and the paper size detection unit determine that there is no paper, the page buffer management unit secures the size corresponding to the paper size in the page buffer. An image recording apparatus comprising: a control unit for prohibiting a request.