JPH11110152A - Recording medium recording emulation program for image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To enable common use of an emulation device regardless of the type (new or old) of an image forming device. SOLUTION: A CPU (computer) of a laser printer reads information of a printer (including information indicating a type of a printer) by a program according to the present invention in an emulation device, and reads the information of the emulation device according to the type of the printer. Set the operating conditions that match the emulation program. In other words, if the drawing method is the banding method, the operating conditions such as various parameters and memory allocation for creating drawing data for banding conforming to the emulation program are compatible with the emulation program if the full bitmap method is used. Operating parameters, such as various parameters for creating drawing data for a full bitmap, and memory allocation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording medium (emulation device) such as an emulation card or an emulation cartridge which records an emulation program for an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a digital copying machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, an emulation device which can be attached to and detached from an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a digital copying machine is sold, but is inserted into the image forming apparatus to be built in the apparatus. Computer (CP
U) can create various types of bitmap data of different types using an emulation program recorded in the emulation device.

[0003]

However, it is necessary to switch the conventional emulation device to a new one every time a new image forming device is developed. this is,
This is because, if a new technology is adopted in the image forming apparatus, the operating conditions of the computer may not be compatible with the emulation program of the emulation apparatus (the communication procedure between the computer and the emulation apparatus may change).

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to enable an emulation apparatus to be commonly used regardless of the type (new or old) of an image forming apparatus.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a computer-readable recording medium on which an emulation program of an image forming apparatus is recorded. And a recording medium that records an emulation program for the image forming apparatus together with a program for causing the image forming apparatus to set operating conditions suitable for the emulation program in accordance with the type of the program.

When the computer of the image forming apparatus determines that the emulation program cannot be used in the image forming apparatus, the computer controls the image forming apparatus to perform display or printing to that effect. The present invention also provides a recording medium recording an emulation program for an image forming apparatus, wherein the program to be executed is also recorded in a computer-readable manner.

Further, when the computer of the image forming apparatus determines that the emulation program cannot be used in the image forming apparatus, the computer controls the image forming apparatus to display or print the countermeasure. The present invention also provides a recording medium recording an emulation program for an image forming apparatus, wherein the program to be executed is also recorded in a computer-readable manner.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a laser printer provided with an emulation device (a recording medium storing an emulation program of an image forming apparatus) embodying the present invention.

The laser printer 1 includes a controller 2
And a printer engine 3 and an operation panel 4. Also, the emulation device 5
Is detachably provided. The controller 2 is a general term for a control mechanism that converts print data from the host device 30 into bitmap data (video signal) and outputs the bitmap data (video signal) to the printer engine 3 in accordance with the control mode set at that time and the control code from the host device 30. It is composed of the following modules.

That is, a host interface (hereinafter, "interface" is abbreviated as "I / F") 11, an engine I / F 12, a panel I / F 13, an option I / F
F20 and a central processing unit (hereinafter abbreviated as “CPU”)
14, Program ROM 15, Font ROM 16, R
An AM 17, an NV-RAM 18, and an option RAM 19 are provided.

The host I / F 11 receives various commands (control signals) and data sent from the host device 30 and transmits a status signal indicating the status of the printer to the host device 30. Various serial I / Fs or parallel I / Fs are selected according to the host device to be connected. The engine I / F 12 transmits commands and video signals to the printer engine 3,
The status signal from the printer engine 3 is received.

The panel I / F 13 transmits display control data to the operation panel 4 and receives each key information. The option I / F 20 includes a connector for attaching and detaching the emulation device 5 and an I / F circuit, and receives data from the emulation device 5.

The CPU 14 is a central processing unit (computer), and by using a control program stored in the program ROM 15 or a control program recorded in the emulation device 5, print data (printing) from the host device 30. Data, control data)
And the overall control of the controller 2.

A program ROM 15 stores a control program for the CPU 14 to process and manage data in the controller 2 and controls peripheral modules. A font ROM 16 stores various fonts used for printing (printing). I have. The RAM 17 is a random access memory, a work memory used when the CPU 14 performs data processing, a reception buffer for temporarily storing print data from the host device 30 in page units and temporarily storing the print data in the reception buffer. The print data in the print data is converted into an actual print pattern, and is used for a bitmap memory or the like for storing as bitmap data (video signal).

The NV-RAM 18 is a non-volatile memory that stores internal data even when the power is turned off, and stores the contents of a mode instruction from the operation panel 4 and the like. The option RAM 19 includes the RAM 17 and the NV-R
The memory stores data other than the data stored in the AM 18.

The printer engine 3 comprises a laser writing unit for optically scanning the inside of a photoreceptor (not shown) with a laser beam modulated in accordance with a video signal, a photoreceptor, and process devices around the photoreceptor. The image forming unit includes a mechanical unit including a paper transport unit including rollers such as a pair of registration rollers and the like, and an engine driver serving as a control unit. The printing operation is performed by controlling the sequence operation of the unit and the paper transport unit and the video modulation signal to the laser writing unit.

The operation panel 4 has a display section for displaying various information such as the status of the printer, and an operation section for setting the operation mode, fonts and the like of the printer. The emulation device 5 is an option card, an option cartridge, or the like, and includes an emulation program, font information necessary for emulation, and a recording medium (for example, a non-volatile memory) in which the program according to the present invention is readable by the CPU 14 and a connector. It is configured.

By inserting this emulation device 5 into the connector of the option I / F 20, the CPU 1
4 can create various types of bitmap data of different types using an emulation program recorded in the emulation device 5.

The host device 30 is a host device such as an office computer, a personal computer, a word processor, a data processing device or an image processing device.
In order to print the print data such as document information created here, the print data (print data and control data) is transmitted to the laser printer 1.

When the print data is sent from the host device 30, the CPU 14 receives the print data by the host I / F 11, and then prints the print data and control data (SP, CR, LF, HT, VT). ,...), And the print data and the control code are temporarily stored in the reception buffer of the RAM 17, and then the data is fetched one by one (for example, in byte units) from the reception buffer to perform the printing process.

For example, if the data fetched from the reception buffer of the RAM 17 is a character code (print data),
An intermediate code including a print position, a print size, a character code, font information, and the like is created and stored in an intermediate buffer of the RAM 17. If the data fetched from the reception buffer of the RAM 17 is a command such as a control code or an escape sequence as control data, a predetermined process is performed on the command. That is, for example, if the print position is specified, the position of the next character code is set to the specified position, or if the font is changed, the font information of the next character code is changed to the specified font. The processing is performed in such a manner as to do so.

In this way, the processing of the print command from the host device 30 is performed, or the processed data is 1
If the number of pages exceeds the number of pages, a process of converting the intermediate code stored in the intermediate buffer of the RAM 17 into bitmap data is performed. When the process is completed, a print start command is issued to the printer engine 3 through the engine I / F 12, and Transfer bitmap data synchronously. In a series of flows as described above, print data (print data) from the host device 30 is printed (printed) via the printer engine 3.

Here, the processing according to the present invention will be described by taking as an example the case where there are two types of drawing methods (a banding method and a full bitmap method) as a drawing method (a method of generating bitmap data) by the CPU 14.
The old printer is of the full bitmap type, and the newly developed printer is of the banding type.

The banding method is suitable for speeding up when bitmap data is compressed to save memory. However, depending on the bitmap data (image),
Some data cannot be compressed unless dots (bits) are thinned out, and such compression / expansion of bitmap data has a disadvantage that an image cannot be correctly represented. The full bitmap method does not prevent the image from being correctly represented, but requires a lot of memory.

The CPU 14 generates bitmap data using an emulation program recorded in the emulation device 5 and outputs the bitmap data to the printer engine 3 for printing. Various parameters for creating bitmap drawing data (intermediate code) and operating conditions such as memory allocation are set. If the banding method is used, various kinds of banding drawing data (intermediate code) are created. Set operating conditions such as parameters and memory allocation.

That is, depending on the type of the printer (the banding method and the full bitmap method), various parameters and memories for creating drawing data using an emulation program recorded in the detachable emulation device 5 are used. Operating conditions, such as the assignment of, are different.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing routine executed by the CPU 14 of the laser linter 1 by the program according to the present invention recorded in the emulation device 5. This routine is executed by the host device 3
The process starts when print data is received from 0. First, in step 1, printer information (including information indicating the type of printer) stored in the NV-RAM 18 or the like is read. In accordance with the setting, the operating condition suitable for the emulation program recorded in the emulation device 5 is set.

That is, in steps 2 and 3, it is determined whether the drawing method is the banding method or the full bitmap method. If the banding method is used, in step 5, various types of banding drawing data for creating the banding drawing data conforming to the emulation program are used. In the case of the full bitmap method, the operating conditions such as the allocation of parameters and memory are changed to various parameters for creating drawing data for the full bitmap conforming to the above emulation program in step 6 and the operating conditions such as allocation of memory. Set each.

If it is determined that the emulation program recorded in the emulation device 5 cannot be used for this printer, and that the emulation program is not used for any of the drawing methods, the necessary message information is displayed on the display section of the operation panel 4 in step 4. The message information display process to be displayed on the display is performed. The message information can be output to the printer engine 3 as a video signal and printed.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of a subroutine of the message information display processing of FIG. First, the address where the message information is stored in the NV-RAM 18 is searched, the message information is read from the address, and the message information to be displayed among the message information, that is, the emulation program recorded in the emulation device 5 is used for this. Message information indicating that the printer cannot be used for the printer and a countermeasure is selected, and the selected message information is displayed on the display unit of the operation panel 4.

The message information indicating the above countermeasures is an instruction for version upgrade, additional memory, additional non-volatile memory of the emulation device, new purchase of the emulation device, and the like. Note that it is also possible to display or print only message information indicating that the emulation program recorded in the emulation device 5 cannot be used in this printer. Further, it is also possible to store the above-described message information in the emulation device 5, read it, and display or print it.

As described above, the program recorded in the emulation device 5 together with the emulation program causes the CPU 14 to set operating conditions suitable for the emulation program recorded in the emulation device 5 in the printer according to the type of the printer. Therefore, there is no need to replace the emulation device 5 depending on the type (new or old) of the printer. That is, the emulation device 5 can be commonly used regardless of the type of the printer, and compatibility can be maintained.

When the CPU 14 determines that the emulation program recorded in the emulation device 5 cannot be used for this printer, the CPU 14 performs control for causing this printer to display or print to that effect.
Since the PU 14 performs the operation, if the emulation device 5 is erroneously inserted into a printer that cannot be used, the user can immediately know the cause of the malfunction and the operability is improved.

Further, when the CPU 14 determines that the emulation program recorded in the emulation device 5 cannot be used for this printer, the CPU 14 controls the CPU 14 to display or print countermeasures. If the emulation device 5 is erroneously inserted into a printer that cannot be used, the user can know a procedure for enabling the emulation device 5, which is very convenient.

Although the embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an emulation device of a laser printer has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this, and various types of emulation devices of other printers, such as digital copiers and facsimile devices, may be used. Is applicable to the emulation device of the image forming apparatus.

[0036]

As described above, according to the present invention, the emulation apparatus can be commonly used regardless of the type (new or old) of the image forming apparatus.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing routine executed by a CPU 14 of a laser linter 1 by a program according to the present invention recorded in an emulation device 5 of FIG.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a laser printer including an emulation device embodying the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of a subroutine of the message information display processing of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: laser printer 2: controller 3: printer engine 4: operation panel 5: emulation device 11: host I / F 12: engine I / F 13: panel I / F 14: CPU 15: program ROM 16: font ROM 17: RAM 18: NV-RAM 19: Option RAM 20: Option I / F 30: Host device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A computer-readable recording medium in which an emulation program of an image forming apparatus is recorded, wherein a computer of the image forming apparatus is provided with operating conditions suitable for the emulation program in accordance with the type of the image forming apparatus. A recording medium in which an emulation program for the image forming apparatus is recorded together with a program for setting the image forming apparatus. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the computer executes a program when the computer of the image forming apparatus determines that the emulation program cannot be used in the image forming apparatus. A recording medium recording an emulation program for an image forming apparatus, wherein a program for causing the computer to perform a control for causing the apparatus to perform display or printing to that effect is also recorded. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein, when a computer of the image forming apparatus determines that the emulation program cannot be used in the image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus performs the image forming. A recording medium recording an emulation program for an image forming apparatus, wherein a program for causing the computer to perform control for causing the apparatus to display or print the countermeasure is also recorded.