JPH10278364A - Page printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a page printer receiving a print request from a plurality of host units in which printing can be performed with a priority corresponding to the emergency or the importance. SOLUTION: The page printer 10 having a plurality of interfaces 1, 2 receiving a print request from host units 20, 30 comprises a priority memory 3 preset with the priority among the interfaces 1, 2, and a control section 4 for deciding whether an interface having received a print request has a priority higher than that of an interface currently processing a print data with reference to the priority memory 3, interrupting the currently executing printing process if the former interface has a higher priority and processing a print request arriving at the interface having a higher priority.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a page printer, and more particularly to a page printer having a plurality of interfaces for connecting a host device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been a page printer having a plurality of interfaces for connecting a host device. Then, the print requests input from the host device are processed in the order of input. For example, when two upper apparatuses A and B are connected, if a print request is issued from the upper apparatus A first and then a print request is issued from the upper apparatus B, first, the print request of the upper apparatus A is processed. Then, after the processing is completed, the print request of the host device B is processed.

[0003]

However, in the above-described conventional example, for example, even if a print request from the higher-level device B needs to be processed urgently, the higher-level device A
Until this print request is processed, there is a disadvantage that the print request of the host device B is not processed.

[0004]

An object of the present invention is to improve the disadvantages of the prior art. In particular, in a page printer capable of receiving a print request from a plurality of higher-level devices, print processing is performed in a priority order according to urgency or importance. Its purpose is to be able to do so.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, in a page printer having a plurality of interfaces for receiving a print request from a host device, a priority order between the interfaces is set in advance. A memory is provided. Also, referring to this priority memory, if the priority of the interface that has issued the print request is higher than the priority of the interface that is currently processing the print data, the currently executing print process is interrupted and the priority is changed. A control unit is provided for processing a print request arriving at a high interface.

According to this, for example, when there is a higher-level device A connected to a lower-priority interface and a higher-level device B connected to a higher-priority interface, the print request of the higher-level device A is processed. Even if there is a print request from the upper-level device B, the control unit refers to the priority order memory and determines that the interface to which the print request of the upper-level device B has arrived has a higher priority. Then, the process based on the print request from the higher-level device A is interrupted, and the process based on the print request from the higher-level device B is started.

In the present invention, the priority order memory may be provided with a priority order setting unit capable of freely setting the priority order of a plurality of interfaces. In this case, the priority is switched in accordance with the occasional importance of the print request output by the higher-level device connected to each interface.

In the present invention, the control unit may be provided with a print setting save memory for temporarily storing the print settings of the interrupted print request. In this case, when interrupting the processing of the print request being executed, the control unit temporarily stores the print settings of the print request in the print setting save memory, and starts the processing of another print request having a higher priority. When the processing of the other print request having the higher priority is completed, the print setting of the interrupted print request is read from the print setting save memory, and the processing of the interrupted print request is resumed.

[0009] Accordingly, the above-mentioned object is achieved.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.
A description will be given based on FIG.

The page printer 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes a plurality of interfaces 1 and 2 for receiving a print request from the host devices 20 and 30. In addition, each interface 1,
It has a priority memory 3 in which priorities between the two are set in advance. Further, referring to the priority memory 3, if the priority of the interface that has issued the print request is higher than the priority of the interface that is currently processing the print data, the print processing that is currently being executed is interrupted and the priority is changed. And a control unit 4 for processing a print request arriving at an interface having a high priority.

In the present embodiment, the priority order memory 3 is provided with a priority order setting section 5 which can freely set the priority order of the plurality of interfaces 1 and 2. Further, the control unit 4 is provided with a print setting save memory 6 for temporarily storing print settings of a print request to be interrupted.

This will be described in more detail.
0 is a personal computer or the like. Each of the interfaces 1 and 2 is a parallel interface or the like having an internal buffer, but may be a network interface that is substantially connected to a plurality of higher-level devices. The priority memory 3 is a rewritable nonvolatile memory,
NVRAM or the like is preferred. The control unit 4 includes a CPU that operates according to firmware,
The print data input to the printer is developed into page data, and the print output unit 7 performs processing such as development. here,
Details of the operation of the control unit 4 will be described later. Priority setting section 5
Include the setting keys provided on the operator panel of the printer, and the interfaces 1 and 2 registered from the setting keys.
Is updated in the priority memory 3. The print setting save memory 6 is a RAM, and temporarily stores print conditions such as print language information, resolution information, paper size information, and paper direction information transmitted from a host device at the time of a print request.
The print output unit 7 includes an electrophotographic printing mechanism, and develops and outputs page data on a medium.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

Now, in the priority order memory 3, it is assumed that the priority order of the interface 1 to which the higher-level device A is connected is set lower and the priority order of the interface 2 to which the higher-level device B is connected is set higher. First, host device A
When a print request is input to the interface 1 from the control unit 4, the control unit 4 accepts print settings from the host device A. The print settings include print language information, resolution information, paper size information, paper orientation information, number of copies information, selected hopper information,
The selected font information and print margin information are included.
After making these print settings valid, the host device A
The print data received from the printer is developed into page data and printed out from the print output unit 7.

When a print request is input from the host B while the print request from the host A is being processed, and the input to the interfaces 1 and 2 conflicts, the control unit 4
With reference to the priority order memory 3, it is checked which interface has a higher priority order. When it is determined that the priority of the interface 2 connected to the higher-level device B is set higher, the following process is executed to interrupt the print request of the higher-level device A that is currently being executed.

First, printing of the currently printed page is completed. Next, the contents of the currently valid print settings are stored in the print setting save memory 6, and the print processing based on the request from the host device A is temporarily suspended. Then, the print setting based on the print request from the higher-level device B is validated, and the print data of the higher-level device B is received and processed. During this time, the reception of the print data of the host device A is continued until the internal buffer of the interface 1 becomes full. When the control unit 4 finishes processing the print request from the host device B, the print setting save memory 6
, The print setting of the currently suspended host apparatus A is read out, and the print setting is made valid again. Then, the reception and processing of the print data of the higher-level device A already stored in the interface 1 are restarted.

When urgent document data is output from the higher-level device A, the priority order setting unit 5 is operated, and the interface 1 to which the higher-level device A is connected is higher than the interface 2 to which the higher-level device B is connected. Set a higher priority,
This is updated to the priority memory 3. In this case, if there is a print request from the upper apparatus A during the processing of the print request from the upper apparatus B, the processing based on the print request from the upper apparatus B is suspended,
The print request of the host device A is immediately processed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, even while a print request from a certain higher-level device is being processed, if there is an urgent print request from another higher-order higher-level device, the currently executing process is executed. Is interrupted, and the printing process of the emergency document is started immediately, so that a print output can be obtained in a priority order according to the urgency or importance.

Further, since the priority order can be switched from the priority setting unit 5 in accordance with the occasional importance of the print request output from the higher-level device connected to each interface, the connection of the higher-level device to the interface can be established. It is possible to flexibly and easily select whether or not to print out urgently according to the content of print data at times without replacement.

Further, the print settings of the print request to be interrupted are temporarily stored in the print setting save memory 6, so that when the interrupted process is resumed, the print process does not need to be re-received from the host device. Where the printing can be restarted, efficient operation can be achieved without wasting the printing process.

In particular, since print data continues to be stored in the buffer of the interface even in the case of an interrupted print request, the restart of processing can be started immediately.

Here, the number of interfaces for connecting the host device is not limited to two, but may be two or more.

[0024]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Corresponding portions with the above-described embodiment are given the same reference numerals to clarify the corresponding relationship.

Referring to FIG. 2, the page printer 10
Are interfaces 1 and 2 for receiving print data from host computers 20 and 30 as host devices, and a host interface management unit 106 for controlling / managing them.
A print control unit 108 for controlling / managing printing, an output control unit 109 for controlling / managing output, and an operation panel 112
Interface management unit 111 for controlling and managing the
And a priority memory 3 in which the priorities of the interfaces 1 and 2 are set, data analysis units 113 and 14 for analyzing print data received from the interfaces 1 and 2, and reception and print setting information (print settings). It has a print setting save memory 6 for saving, and an overall control unit 107 for controlling / managing the whole.

Here, the operation panel 112 and the user interface 111 correspond to the priority setting unit 5 of the above embodiment.
include. The host interface management unit 10
6. The overall control unit 107, the print control unit 108, and the output control unit 109 are included in the control unit 4 of the above embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 2, the print setting save memory 6 indicates print language information 21 indicating the type of print language used for the interrupted print data, and designation of the resolution used. Resolution information 22, paper size information 23 indicating the size of the paper used, paper orientation information 24 indicating the orientation of the paper being used, ie, portrait or landscape, and copy indicating the number of copies to print Number of sheets information 25, selection hopper information 26 indicating the paper feeding port designation, selected font information 27 indicating the type of font used, print margin information 28 indicating the top margin value and left margin value of the paper, Is saved.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

Now, it is assumed that the interface 1 is set to a higher priority than the interface 2 in the priority memory 3. Here, interface 2
When print data is sent from the host computer 30 connected to the printer, the print data is analyzed by the data analysis unit 114, and printing is performed in page units.

During this time, when print data is sent from the host computer 20 connected to the interface 1, the host interface management unit 106 determines that the print data from the interface 1 has a higher priority.
An instruction to interrupt the processing is issued to the data analysis unit 114 which is analyzing the print data of the interface 2. When receiving the instruction to interrupt the processing, the data analysis unit 114 performs the analysis processing for one page after receiving the instruction, and does not perform the analysis processing for the subsequent pages. Then, after printing of one page is completed after receiving the instruction, the data analysis unit 114 sets the overall control unit 107.
To the switchable state.

The overall control unit 107 includes a data analysis unit 114
When the switchable status notification is received from the printer, the print language information 21, the resolution information 22, the paper size information 23, the paper direction information 24, the number of copies information 25, the selected hopper information 26,
After the selected font information 27 and the print margin information 28 are saved in the print setting save memory 6, the interface 1
The print data from the interface 1 is analyzed by the data analysis unit 113, and the print processing of the print data of the interface 1 is started.
At this time, reception of print data from the host computer 3 connected to the interface 2 is continued until the reception buffer in the interface 2 becomes full.

When the print processing based on the print data from the host computer 20 is completed, the overall control unit 107 terminates the analysis processing of the data analysis unit 113, reads out each setting information saved in the print setting save memory 6, and re-reads it. The setting is instructed to the data analysis unit 114 to analyze the print data of the interface 2.

Here, as a method of recognizing the end of the print data from the host computer 20, the print data is not sent from the host computer 20 in accordance with the end instruction from the host computer 20, or for a certain period of time. In this case, the end of the print data is recognized.

[0034]

The present invention is constructed and functions as described above. According to this, even while a print request of a certain higher-level device is being processed, an urgent print request is issued from another higher-level device. If there is, the process currently being executed is interrupted,
Since the printing process of the urgent document is started immediately, it is possible to obtain a print output in a priority order according to the urgency or importance.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the priority order can be switched from the priority order setting unit in accordance with the occasional importance of the print request output from the higher-level device connected to each interface. It is possible to flexibly and easily select whether or not urgent printing is to be performed in accordance with the content of print data from time to time without exchanging the connection of the host device to the printer.

Further, according to the third aspect of the present invention, the print setting of the print request to be interrupted is temporarily stored in the print setting save memory 6, so that when the interrupted processing is resumed, the print setting information is again transmitted from the upper apparatus. Can be resumed without the need to receive the print request, and an excellent page printer, which can be efficiently operated without wasting the print processing, can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the contents stored in a print setting save memory.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 2 Interface 3 Priority memory 4 Control unit 5 Priority setting unit 6 Print setting save memory 7 Print output unit 10 Page printer 20, 30 Host device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A page printer having a plurality of interfaces for receiving a print request from a higher-level device, comprising: a priority memory in which priorities among the respective interfaces are set in advance; And a control unit for interrupting the currently executing print process and processing a print request arriving at the higher priority interface when the priority of the interface that has been processed is higher than the priority of the interface that is currently processing print data. A page printer characterized by being provided. 2. The page printer according to claim 1, wherein a priority order setting unit that can freely set the priority order of said plurality of interfaces is provided in said priority order memory. 3. The page printer according to claim 1, wherein a print setting save memory for temporarily storing print settings of the interrupted print request is provided in the control unit.