JP2003127502A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform printing while suppressing waste of recording sheet when a printed matter does not possibly match that expected by a user. SOLUTION: When an analyzing section 21 judges the page description language of print data successfully, a print engine 19 prints a print content represented by the print data on a recording sheet according to normal print conditions in a normal setting storage section 16. Consequently, normal printing is performed. When the analyzing section 21 fails to judge the page description language of print data, print content represented by the print data is printed according to error print conditions in an error setting storage section 17. The error print conditions are set to perform printing while suppressing waste of recording sheet.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus having a page description language discriminating ability.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional printing apparatus of this type, print data is analyzed and a page description language (PDL) of print data is used.
And the content indicated by the print data is recorded on the recording sheet according to the page description language. Also,
When the print data does not include the designation of the page description language, the page description language suitable for the content indicated by the print data is determined according to the analysis result of the print data, and the page description language is used to indicate the page description language. The contents are recorded. Further, if the page description language suitable for the content indicated by the print data cannot be discriminated, the content indicated by the print data is recorded as it is without using the page description language.

[0003]

However, the printed matter printed by the printing device may not match what the user has expected. For example, without using a page description language,
If the content indicated by the print data is recorded as it is, the printed matter often does not match what the user expected. Alternatively, if the print data contains a page description language that cannot be discriminated by the printing device, or if the discrimination of the page description language by the printing device fails, or if garbled characters occur during transfer of the print data, the printed matter is printed by the user. It does not match the assumption of.

In addition, even if the printing does not match what the user has expected, the printing by the printing device is continued until the end.
A large amount of printed matter contrary to the user's intention is created. Further, if many line feed commands and page break commands are included in the print data, line breaks and page breaks are frequently performed, resulting in an enormous number of prints and wasted many recording sheets.

Even if the printing can be stopped in the middle by the user's operation input, the printing is continued until the user sees the printed matter and finds that the printed matter is contrary to his or her intention. Will be done.

Further, there is a printing apparatus which unilaterally cancels the print request of the user when the page description language cannot be discriminated or the page description language cannot be discriminated. However, if the user's print request is unilaterally canceled, the print content cannot be even confirmed.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and when there is a possibility that the printed matter does not match what the user has expected, printing is performed while suppressing waste of recording paper. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing device capable of executing.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the printing apparatus of the present invention analyzes the print data and determines the page description language of the print data; If the page description language of the print data is successfully determined by the storage unit that stores the set error printing condition and the analysis unit, the content indicated by the print data is printed according to the normal printing condition, and the analysis unit When the determination of the page description language of the print data fails, a control unit for printing the content indicated by the print data according to the error print condition is provided.

According to the present invention having such a configuration, when the page description language of the print data is successfully determined, the content indicated by the print data is printed according to the normal printing condition. As a result, normal printing is performed. If the page description language of the print data fails to be identified, the content indicated by the print data is printed according to the error print condition. If a condition for saving the recording paper to be printed is set as the error printing condition, it is possible to confirm the content indicated by the print data while suppressing the waste of the recording paper.

Further, in the present invention, the control means is provided with an instruction means for instructing whether or not printing is possible, and when the analysis means fails to determine the page description language of the print data, the control means prints according to the error print condition. The printing of the content indicated by the data is performed halfway, and when the printing is instructed by the instruction means, the printing of the content indicated by the print data is restarted.

In this case, printing can be resumed by printing the content indicated by the print data halfway, confirming the content, and then instructing printing by the instructing means. Waste of paper can be minimized.

Further, in the present invention, when the printing of the content indicated by the print data is restarted, the printing of the content indicated by the print data can be started from the beginning according to the normal printing condition.

In this case, by restarting printing, normal printing can be started from the beginning. That is, it is possible to print the content indicated by the print data halfway and confirm that the content is in line with the user's intention, and then start printing from the beginning.

Further, in the present invention, the error printing condition includes a condition that the contents of a plurality of pages indicated by the print data are reduced and recorded on one recording sheet.

By thus recording the contents of a plurality of pages indicated by the print data on one recording sheet, the recording sheet can be saved.

Further, in the present invention, the error printing condition includes a condition for designating the type of recording paper on which the content indicated by the print data is recorded.

For example, if recycled paper or back paper (recording paper with the front side recorded) is designated as the type of recording paper, the recording paper can be saved.

Further, in the present invention, the error printing condition includes a condition that the content indicated by the print data is recorded separately on the front and back sides of the recording paper.

By thus recording the contents indicated by the print data separately on the front and back sides of the recording paper, the recording paper can be saved.

Further, in the present invention, the error printing condition includes a condition that at least one of a line feed and a page break indicated by the print data is ignored.

Thus, by ignoring at least one of line feed and page break indicated by the print data, the characters and symbols can be packed and recorded, so that the recording paper can be saved.

Further, in the present invention, the error printing condition includes a condition that the printing of the content indicated by the print data is performed halfway.

By stopping the printing of the content indicated by the print data on the way, the recording paper can be saved.

[0024]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the printing apparatus of the present invention. The printing device 11 of the present embodiment is
A communication unit 14 for receiving print data from a terminal device 12 such as a personal computer through a network 13;
A data storage unit 15 that stores the received print data
A normal setting storage unit 16 for storing normal printing conditions selected at normal time, an error setting storage unit 17 for storing error printing conditions selected at the time of error, an input operation unit 18 operated by a user, A print engine 19 for printing the print content indicated by the print data on a recording sheet and a control unit 20 for controlling the printing device 11 are provided. The control unit 20 includes an analysis unit 21 that analyzes print data and determines a page description language (hereinafter referred to as PDL) that describes image data.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of print data transmitted and received from the terminal device 12 to the printing device 11. The print data 31 includes print setting data 32 and image data 33.
Consists of. The print setting data 32 is a PDL describing print conditions indicating the size of recording paper and image data 33.
The image data 33 includes data indicating the type of
Indicates the print contents.

The normal printing condition in the normal setting storage unit 16 and the error printing condition in the error setting storage unit 17 are as follows:
It is set and stored by the user operating the input operation unit 18.

As the normal printing conditions, as shown in FIG. 3, a condition 41 indicating the number of pages recorded on one recording sheet, a condition 42 indicating the size of the recording sheet, and a condition 43 indicating one side and both sides of the recording sheet. , And the condition 44 indicating the type of recording paper
There is.

In condition 41, "1-up", "2-up",
And “4-up” are selected. When "1-up" is selected, the print content of one page indicated by the print data is recorded on one recording sheet. Also, "2-up"
When is selected, the print contents of two pages are reduced and recorded on one recording sheet. Further, when "4-up" is selected, the print contents of four pages are reduced and recorded on one recording sheet.

In condition 42, one of the three standard sizes "A4", "B4", and "A3" is selected.

In condition 43, either "single-sided printing" or "double-sided printing" is selected. When "single-sided printing" is selected, the print content indicated by the print data is printed on only one side of the recording paper. When “double-sided printing” is selected, the print content indicated by the print data is printed on both sides of the recording paper.

Under the condition 44, "fine paper", "recycled paper",
And "backing paper" (recording paper with the front side recorded) are selected.

An item marked with "●" is selected for each of the conditions 41 to 44. Therefore, the normal printing conditions are
"1-up", "A4", "single-sided printing", and "recycled paper"
Will be.

When selecting one of the three standard sizes or selecting one of the three types of recording sheets, each standard size recording sheet or each tray containing each type of recording sheet is selected. Is provided in the print engine 19,
Select one of these trays and pull out the recording paper from the selected tray to print engine 19
Supply to. As for the standard size, the size of the recording paper in the tray may be detected by a sensor, or the size of the recording paper may be identified by previously associating each tray with each standard size.

As the error printing condition, as shown in FIG. 4, the condition 51 indicating the number of pages recorded on one recording sheet and the condition 5 indicating the size of the recording sheet are the same as the normal printing condition.
2. There is a condition 53 indicating one side and both sides of the recording sheet, a condition 54 indicating the type of the recording sheet, and further, a condition 55 for instructing to ignore line breaks and page breaks, and a number of pages to be printed. There is a condition 56 for

In the condition 55, "Ignore line breaks" and "Ignore page breaks" are appropriately selected. You may select either one, or both, even if you do not select either. When "Ignore line feed" is selected, the line feed command included in the print data is ignored and the print content indicated by the print data is recorded. When "Ignore page break" is selected, the page break command included in the print data is ignored and the print content is recorded.

In the condition 56, the number of pages to be printed among the print contents of a plurality of pages indicated by the print data is input and designated.

For each of the conditions 51 to 56, an item marked with "●" or a check mark is selected or designated. Therefore, the error printing conditions are "4-up", "A4", "single-sided printing", "backing paper", "ignore page breaks", and "print up to eight pages". .

The normal print condition is read from the normal setting storage unit 16 when the PDL of the print data is successfully determined by the analysis unit 21 of the control unit 20 and when the print condition is not included in the print data. Is used. In addition, the error printing conditions are set in the analysis unit 21
When the determination of the PDL of the print data by the above fails, it is read from the error setting storage unit 17 and used.

In the printing apparatus 11 of the present embodiment, the print processing is performed depending on whether the PDL of the print data is successfully discriminated or not, thereby suppressing waste of recording paper. Next, this processing process will be described according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, the communication unit 14 receives print data from the terminal device 12 through the network 13 (step S101). The print data is stored in the data storage unit 15 by the control unit 20. Analysis unit 21 of control unit 20
Extracts the image data indicating the type of PDL, the printing conditions, and the print contents from the print data, analyzes the type of PDL, and determines the PDL (step S102). If the PDL describing the image data 33 is successfully determined (“success” in step S102), the analysis unit 21
Determines whether or not there are print conditions for the print data (step S103). If the print condition of the print data exists (“Yes” in step S103), the control unit 20 instructs the print engine 19 about the type of PDL of the print data and the print condition of the print data, and indicates the print content. Image data is given to the print engine 19 (step S
104). The print engine 19 is a PD for print data.
When the type of L and the print condition of the print data are instructed, while recognizing the type of PDL describing the image data,
According to the recognized PDL and the print condition of the print data, the print content indicated by the image data is printed on the recording paper (step S105).

If there is no print condition for the print data (“none” in step S103), the control unit 20 reads the normal print condition from the normal setting storage unit 16,
The PDL type of the print data and the normal print condition are instructed to the print engine 19, and the image data indicating the print content is given to the print engine 19 (step S
106). The print engine 19 is a PD for print data.
When the type of L and the normal printing condition are instructed, the PDL of the type describing the image data is recognized, and the print content indicated by the image data is recorded on the recording paper according to the recognized PDL and the normal printing condition. Printing is performed (step S105). For example, in the case of the normal printing conditions shown in FIG. 3, since the conditions are “1-up”, “A4”, “single-sided printing”, and “recycled paper”, the print content of one page indicated by the print data is set. Recording is performed on one recording sheet, A4 recording sheet is used, the print content is printed on one side of the recording sheet, and recycled paper is used as the recording sheet.

If the PDL describing the image data fails to be discriminated ("failure" in step S102), the control unit 20 reads the error printing condition from the error setting storage unit 17, and prints the error printing condition. At the same time, the image data indicating the print contents is given to the print engine 19 (step S108). When the print engine 19 is instructed about error printing conditions, the print engine 19 prints the print content indicated by the image data on the recording paper according to the error printing conditions. For example, in the case of the error printing conditions shown in FIG. 4, "4-up", "A4", "single-sided printing", "backing paper", "ignore page breaks", and "up to page 8" are printed. .), The print content of four pages indicated by the print data is reduced and recorded on one recording sheet, and the print content is printed on one side of the recording sheet using the A4 recording sheet and recorded. Use backing paper as the paper. Further, the page break command included in the image data is ignored, and the print content indicated by the image data is continuously printed without a page break. Further, when the printing content of the eighth page indicated by the image data is recorded on the second recording sheet, the recording of the printing content is stopped (step S10).
9).

If the error printing condition includes the condition "Ignore line breaks", the line break command included in the image data is ignored and the print content indicated by the image data is displayed without line breaks. Printed continuously.
If the condition of "print up to page 0" is included instead of "print up to page 8", the print content indicated by the image data is not printed at all.

After that, since the control unit 20 failed to determine the PDL describing the image data and executed the printing, the input operation unit 18 prompts the user to instruct whether or not to continue the printing. Is displayed on the display screen (step S110).
At this time, the user looks at the display screen of the input operation unit 18 to check the print content of the recording paper printed by the print engine 19, and determines whether to continue printing.
Here, when the user operates the input operation unit 18 and inputs that the printing is to be continued, the control unit 20 reads the normal printing condition from the normal setting storage unit 16, and the normal printing condition is sent to the print engine 19. Along with instructing
The image data indicating the print content is given to the print engine 19 again (step S106). Print engine 19
Prints the print content indicated by the image data on the recording paper from the beginning according to the normal print condition (step S105). As a result, the print content indicated by the image data is re-recorded on the recording paper from the beginning according to the normal printing condition. Here, printing is restarted from the beginning according to the normal printing condition, but instead of this, printing of the print content indicated by the image data on the recording paper may be restarted according to the error printing condition.

When the user operates the input operation unit 18 to input that printing should be stopped, the control unit 20 stops printing by the print engine 19 (step S111).

As described above, in this embodiment, the print data P
If the DL determination is successful, the print content indicated by the print data is printed on the recording paper according to the print conditions of the PDL and print data and the normal print conditions. As a result, normal printing is performed. In addition, P of print data
If the DL determination fails, the print content indicated by the print data is printed according to the error print condition. This error print condition is that the print content of multiple pages indicated by the print data is reduced and recorded on one recording sheet, a back sheet is used as the recording sheet, a line feed command or a page break command included in the image data. Is ignored or the number of recording sheets for recording the print content indicated by the image data is limited. Therefore, it is possible to confirm the print content indicated by the print data while suppressing the waste of the recording paper.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment and can be variously modified. For example,
Other conditions may be set as the normal printing condition and the error printing setting condition.

[0049]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the page description language of the print data is successfully discriminated, the content indicated by the print data is printed according to the normal printing condition. As a result, normal printing is performed. If the page description language of the print data fails to be identified, the content indicated by the print data is printed according to the error print condition. If a condition for saving the recording paper to be printed is set as the error printing condition, it is possible to confirm the content indicated by the print data while suppressing the waste of the recording paper.

Further, according to the present invention, printing of the content indicated by the print data is performed halfway, the content is confirmed, and then printing can be resumed by instructing printing by the instruction means. Therefore, the waste of recording paper can be minimized.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, normal printing can be started from the beginning by restarting printing. That is, it is possible to print the content indicated by the print data halfway and confirm that the content is in line with the user's intention, and then start printing from the beginning.

Further, according to the present invention, since the contents of a plurality of pages indicated by the print data are reduced and recorded on one recording sheet, the recording sheet can be saved.

Further, according to the present invention, as the type of recording paper, for example, recycled paper or backing paper (recording paper with the front side recorded)
Is specified, it is possible to save the recording paper.

Further, according to the present invention, since the content indicated by the print data is separately recorded on the front and back sides of the recording paper, the recording paper can be saved.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, at least one of line feed and page break indicated by the print data can be ignored, so that characters and symbols can be packed and recorded, and the recording paper can be saved. it can.

Further, according to the present invention, since the printing of the content indicated by the print data is stopped on the way, it is possible to save the recording paper.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of print data handled by the printing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a chart showing normal printing conditions in the printing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a chart showing error printing conditions in the printing apparatus of FIG.

5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure by the printing apparatus of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 Printing device 12 terminal devices 13 network 14 Communications department 15 Data storage 16 Normal setting storage 17 Error setting storage 18 Input operation section 19 print engine 20 Control unit 21 Analysis Department

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F term (reference) 2C061 AP01 AR03 BB15 HH01 HH03                       HJ06 HK04 HK08 HK11 HN02                       HN15 HN22                 2C087 AB05 BD01 BD06 CA03 CA06                       CB02 CB03 CB05 CB12 DA10                 5B021 AA02 BB01 BB04 CC02 CC05

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. Analysis means for analyzing print data to determine a page description language of the print data, storage means for storing set normal printing conditions and set error printing conditions, and print data by the analyzing means. If the page description language is successfully determined, the content indicated by the print data is printed according to the normal printing conditions, and if the page description language determination of the print data by the analysis unit fails, the error printing conditions are determined as follows. A printing apparatus comprising: a control unit that prints the content indicated by the print data. 2. An instruction means for instructing whether or not printing is possible, wherein the control means, when the determination of the page description language of the print data by the analysis means fails, according to the error print condition.
2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing of the content indicated by the print data is performed halfway, and the printing of the content indicated by the print data is restarted when the instruction of the printing is instructed by the instruction unit. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the printing of the content indicated by the print data is restarted, the printing of the content indicated by the print data is started from the beginning according to the normal printing condition. 4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the error printing condition includes a condition that the contents of a plurality of pages indicated by the print data are reduced and recorded on one recording sheet. 5. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the error printing condition includes a condition of designating a type of recording paper on which the content indicated by the print data is recorded. 6. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the error printing condition includes a condition that the content indicated by the print data is recorded separately on the front and back sides of a recording sheet. 7. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the error printing condition includes a condition that at least one of a line feed and a page break indicated by the print data is ignored. 8. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the error printing condition includes a condition that printing of the content indicated by the print data is performed halfway.