JPS609792A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To alleviate load on a host apparatus and enable to constantly obtain an intended printing format, by a method wherein a plurality of printing regions corresponding respectively to a plurality of paper sizes are stored, and external information is printed in the printing region conforming to the paper size. CONSTITUTION:Based on an output from a non-volatile memory 24 to which a paper size signal (c) is inputted as an address signal, a CPU23 sets a printing format for one page. Continuous printing data fed from a host apparatus (a) to a reception buffer 21 are sequentially stored into a page memory 22 on the basis of the printing format. From the page memory 22 in which one-page amount of printing data are stored, printing data are outputted to a line buffer 25 by a one- line amount at a time. Based on the contents of the line buffer 25, dot information is supplied from a character generator 26 to a recording part (b) through an interface by a one-line amount at a time. Then, a recording operation is shifted for each page.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a printing device that prints external information provided from a host device such as a computer, and more specifically, to a printing device configured to be loaded with recording paper of a plurality of sizes. The present invention relates to a printing device.

(Prior Art) In this type of printing device, a margin value is set for each paper size. - For example, in the case of a paper size such as letter paper, the margin is such that the number of characters that can be printed per line is 80, and the number of lines that can be printed per page is 66, as shown in Figure 1. The values are standard values. As shown in Figure 1, the margins include a left margin (L) and a right margin (R) in the horizontal direction, and a top margin (T) and a bottom margin (B) in the vertical direction. However, in conventional devices, these margin values are determined by instructions from the host device. Therefore, even if the paper size is changed, in order for external information to be printed in a well-balanced manner on the recording paper, the host device must somehow learn the new paper size and send the margin value to the printing device that matches the paper size. It must be set using the command. For this reason, the host device constantly monitors the paper size information from the print@reader and determines the paper size.

A command to set a margin value suitable for the printer is sent to the printing device along with various other commands and print data. h) If the host device is configured to not be able to receive paper size information from the printing device, or if a reception error occurs even if the host device is configured to be able to receive paper size information as described above, the paper size information may not be received in the intended or expected format. External information cannot be printed. For example, as shown in Figure 2, a situation arises in which printing is performed on A4 size recording paper 1 with the margin value of letter paper 2, and the characters rXJ, rYJ, rZJ that exceed the horizontal width of the A4 size paper are It may not be printed.

As described above, conventional printing apparatuses have problems in that the load on the host device is heavy and the intended print format cannot be obtained.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been made in view of these problems, and its purpose is to provide a printing device that can reduce the load on the host device and that can always obtain the intended print format. be.

(Structure of the Invention) The present invention that achieves this object stores printable areas corresponding to a plurality of paper sizes, and reads out the corresponding printable area based on the output signal of the paper size detection means. and a recording section that performs printing according to instructions from the printing control section, and when external information to be printed is input, the printing control section controls the recording section so that the recording section is loaded. The apparatus is characterized in that the external information is printed in a printable area that matches the paper size of the recording paper being used.

(Embodiments) Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printing device according to an embodiment of the present invention and the relationship between the printing device and a host device.
In the figure, 10 is a host device such as a computer, 11 is a printing device 3, and this printing device 11 is composed of a printing control section 12 and a recording section 13. The print control unit 12 stores printable areas (a concept including margin values) corresponding to a plurality of paper sizes, and prints the printable area based on the output signal of the paper size 3-detection means provided in the recording unit 13. , the corresponding printable area can be read out. Also, the recording section 13
, which performs printing according to commands from the print control section 12. The selection of recording paper in this embodiment is determined by the host device 10.
A cassette/tray selection command is issued to the print control unit 12, and the print control unit 12 receives the number and outputs a cassette/tray selection signal to the recording unit 13. receives the paper size signal from
Post equipment 10 in the format according to the paper size
This causes the recording section 13 to print the print data sent from the printer. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the print control section 12. In this figure, 21 is a reception buffer that takes in various data from the host device 10, and 22 is a central processing unit (C
Page memory stored by PU) 23, 2
4 is a non-volatile memory in which the relationship between the paper size signal and the margin value is written, (margin value table) 25 is a receiver that receives the output of the page memory 22; 26 is the receiver that receives the output of the line buffer 25 into dot information. This is a character generating device that converts the data and outputs it to the recording unit 13.

Next, the operation of the embodiment having the above configuration will be explained. First, the data taken into the reception buffer is stored in the page memory 22 while being interpreted as print data and various commands. This writing is performed by the CPLJ 23 in a page-by-page print format that matches the paper size of the loaded recording paper. Specifically, the CPU 23 sets the print format for one page based on the output (margin value) of the nonvolatile memory 24 to which the paper size signal is given as an address input, and the print format is sent from the host device 10 to the reception buffer 21. Continuous print data is stored in the page memory 22 based on the print format. Page memory 22 containing print data for one page
Print data is sent line by line to the line buffer 25. Based on the contents of the line buffer 25, dot information is output from the character generator 26, and the dot information is sent to an interface (not shown). It is supplied to the recording section 13 via the recording section 13. When the output of one line of dot information is completed, the next line of print data is set in the line buffer 25, and the dot information regarding this print data is similarly output. When the output 23 of one page's worth of dot information is completed, the process moves on to the recording operation of the next page valve. Note that by providing the line buffer 25 for two lines and configuring it so that print data is sent out from one of the line buffers 25 and the next print data is stored from the page memory 22 into the other line buffer 25. , at the same time as the output of the dot information for one line is completed, the line buffer 25 is switched, and the switched line buffer 25 is involved in outputting the dot information,
At this time, the other line buffer 25 can also be operated to store print data from the page memory 22.

In the print control device 1iIl having such a configuration and operation, when the paper size is changed, the print control unit 12 immediately writes print data to the page memory 22 in a print format that matches the changed paper size. In order to do this, external information is printed on the recording paper in a well-balanced manner.

Also, the post device 10 monitors the paper size and outputs margin value commands! Because there is no need to rinse
The load on the host device 10 can be reduced.

In addition, in cases where multiple printing devices are connected to the post device, and one of them is a printing device with a new configuration as described above, and the margin value command is also output from the host device, In this case, for example, the printing device may be configured to output a signal of a fixed paper size to the host device and ignore a margin value command from the host device.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained below, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a printing device that can reduce the load on the host device and that can always obtain the intended printing format. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

7- Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram of margins on recording paper, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram of printing errors due to paper size misidentification, and Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention in relation to a host device. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the print control section in FIG. 3. 10...Host device 11...Printing device 12...
Print control unit 13... Recording unit 21... Reception buffer 22... Page memory 23... CPU 24... Non-volatile memory (margin value table) 25
... Line buffer 26 ... Character generator patent applicant Roku Konishi Photo Industry Co., Ltd. Representative Patent attorney Osamu Ijima 8- Figure 1 Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] A print control section that stores printable areas corresponding to multiple paper sizes and can read out the corresponding printable areas based on the output signal of the paper size detection means, and prints according to instructions from the print control section. When external information to be printed is input, the print control section controls the recording section to print the printable information in a printable area that matches the paper size of the loaded recording paper. A printing device characterized in that it is configured to print external information.