JP2613283B2 - Printer - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a printer such as a laser beam printer and a wire dot printer, and in particular, receives a specific command transmitted from a host computer when an error occurs, and
The present invention relates to a printer that can quickly perform error recovery processing.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, a printer connected to a host computer such as a personal computer or a work station receives a command transmitted from the host computer, interprets and processes the content of the command, and generates an execution result. Based on this, the printer engine is controlled to execute printing.

Since this printer executes printing in response to a command from the host computer, it is necessary not to accept the command from the host computer when an error such as out of paper occurs.

Conventionally, as a countermeasure for this, the following two states are set in the communication state between the host computer and the printer.

(I) State 1 State in which the printer can receive all commands from the host computer. Usually called online state.

(Ii) State 2 A state in which the printer is electrically connected to the host computer but is considered to be logically disconnected. Usually called offline state.

The online state is a normal state in which the printer can execute a printing process.

The state transition between the online state and the offline state
This was done as shown in Figure 10. In other words, the state changes from the online state to the offline state when the printer detects an error inside or when the user presses an online key on the printer operation panel. On the other hand, the state shifts from the offline state to the online state when the user presses the online key.

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] According to the above-described conventional technology, when the printer detects an error in the printer and enters a state 2, the host computer and the printer are logically disconnected. For this reason, there is a problem that a command cannot be transmitted from the host computer to the printer to inquire about various states of the printing apparatus such as an error content, and that an error recovery processing such as a restart of print processing and a cancel instruction cannot be issued. there were.

For printers that are used away from the print requester, such as print servers and shared printers, dangerous errors such as running out of consumables such as paper and toner and heating of laser beam printer fuser heaters may occur. When the printer reception state changes to state 2, the host computer cannot issue the above inquiry or error recovery instruction to the printer, which degrades the operability, safety, and reliability of the system. Was.

On the other hand, it is conceivable that the printer sends various messages regarding an error or the like. However, this method requires the printer to have a transmission function that can be activated independently of the host computer, and also requires the host computer to have a corresponding reception function. Therefore, there is a problem that the method cannot be applied when the host and the printer do not have corresponding functions.

Therefore, there is a demand for the development of a printer that allows the host computer to inquire the printer about its status and to issue an error recovery instruction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to enable a host computer to inquire about various states of a printer and to issue a printer error recovery instruction when a printer enters an error state. An object of the present invention is to provide a printer with improved printer operability, safety and reliability.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present application discloses the following description as means for achieving the above object.

A first invention is connected to a host computer, receives a command transmitted from the host computer, interprets and processes the content of the command, controls a printer engine unit based on the result, and performs printing. Means for setting, when an error is detected, the receiving state of the printer to a state in which various inquiries and an error recovery instruction from the host computer are accepted, but a command related to an instruction of the print content is not accepted. It is characterized by having.

A second invention is connected to a host computer, receives a command transmitted from the host computer, interprets and processes the content of the command, controls a printer engine unit based on the result, and performs printing. A first state in which all commands from the host computer can be received, a second state electrically connected to the host computer but logically disconnected, A third state in which various inquiries from the host computer and a command relating to an error recovery instruction are accepted, but a command relating to an instruction for print content is not accepted, and the first state is set in a normal state. , When abnormal
It is characterized by comprising means for selectively setting either the second or third state.

The third invention is connected to a host computer, receives a command transmitted from the host computer, interprets and processes the content of the command, controls a printer engine unit based on the result, and performs printing. A control table that describes the reception status of the printer according to the type of command that the printer can currently accept, and the reception status of the printer described in the control table. An execution permission determining unit that determines whether a command transmitted from the host computer is executable.

A fourth invention is a command receiving unit for receiving a command transmitted by a host computer, a receiving buffer unit for storing the command received by the command receiving unit, and processing a command in the receiving buffer unit. A command processing unit, a printer output buffer unit for storing an execution result of the command processing unit, a printer control unit for outputting data in the printer output buffer unit to a printer engine unit, and The command processing unit reads out one command from the reception buffer unit and determines a command type, and a command identification unit for determining the command type. A command execution unit for executing a command of each command type, In accordance with the type of command that the printer can currently accept, a control table that describes the receiving state of the printer is provided, and a command execution permission determination is provided in the command processing unit. The command execution unit determines whether the command execution is permitted according to the printer reception state in the control table and the command type determined by the command identification unit. If the command execution is permitted, the command execution unit is activated, and the command execution unit is not permitted. In this case, the command execution unit is not activated.

In a fifth aspect based on the fourth aspect, as the reception state of the printer, a state 3 called a hold state is prepared in addition to a state 1 called an online state and a state 2 called an offline state. The command execution permission determining unit accepts and executes only commands for inquiring about various printer states and commands for error recovery instructions such as resuming and canceling print processing from the host computer using the command execution permission determining means. State 3 for shifting the printer reception state to state 3 when an error is detected in step 1 or an interruption command is received from the host computer and executed.
A shift means is provided, and a state 1 shift means for shifting printer reception to state 1 when the printer receives and executes a restart command or a cancel command in state 3 is provided.

In a sixth aspect based on the fourth or fifth aspect, the shift to the state 3 which is one of the printer reception states and the release from the state 3 are performed by a key provided on an operation panel in the printer. It is characterized in that an instruction can be given by pressing.

In a seventh aspect based on the fourth, fifth or sixth aspect, a state 4 is added to the printer reception state.
Using the command execution permission determining means, accepts and executes only the cancel command from the host computer, and shifts to state 4 when an error such as a paper jam that requires retransmission of the command from the host computer is detected. From state 1 to state 1 when a cancel command is received and executed.

An eighth invention is characterized in that, in the seventh invention, in the state 4, a printer status inquiry command and / or a polling command can be received and executed using the command execution permission determining means. And

In a ninth aspect based on the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh or eighth aspect, in the second status, the printer status inquiry command and / or the polling command are transmitted using the command execution permission determining means. To accept and execute.

Further, the present invention provides, as an invention of a printing system, a printing system configured by connecting the printer according to each invention to a host computer.

[Operation] According to the present invention, when an error is detected, the receiving state of the printer is set to a state in which various inquiries and an error recovery instruction from the host computer are accepted, but a command related to an instruction of the print content is not accepted. Is provided, it is possible to set a third state in which a countermeasure against an error can be executed in a reception state in which there were only two states, an online state and an offline state.

This state can be expressed by describing the printer reception state using a control table or the like, and referring to the description to determine whether or not various commands transmitted from the host computer can be executed. It is preferable that the determination of the feasibility is made in advance by preparing data that determines feasibility for each printer reception state for each command and referring to this data.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described in more detail.

When the printer detects a recoverable error such as out of paper or out of toner during the printing process, the printer shifts the printer reception state in the first control table to state 3 by the state 3 shifting means.
As a result, the state moves to state 3.

When the printer receives a command from the host computer in state 3, after identifying the type of the command, the printer is permitted to execute the command of the command type in the printer reception state by using the command execution permission determination unit. Is determined. If permitted, execute the command; otherwise, do not execute.
In the state 3, the execution permission determining means permits only a command for inquiring about various states of the printer and an error recovery instruction command such as a restart or cancel instruction.

As described above, according to the present invention, by operating the state 3 shifting means and the command execution permission determining means while using the first control table, even if the printing apparatus is in an error state, it is possible to inquire about various states of the printer. Alternatively, an error recovery instruction to the printer can be made by transmitting a command for that from the host computer to the printer. Therefore, the operability, safety, and reliability of the printer can be improved.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the basic configuration of the first embodiment of the present invention.

The printer 11 of the embodiment shown in FIG.
12, a reception buffer unit 13, a command processing unit 14, a printer output buffer unit 15, a printer control unit 16, a printer engine unit 17, a first control table 18, a second control table 19, and an abnormality processing unit 1a. It is composed. The printer and the host computer 10 constitute a printing system.

In FIG. 1, a command transmitted by a host computer is received by a command receiving unit 12 and received by a receiving buffer unit 13.
Is stored in Commands in the reception buffer unit 13 are processed by the command processing unit 14. The drawing data of the characters and figures, which are the execution results, are stored in the printer output buffer unit 15.
Is stored in The data in the printer output buffer section 15 is read out by the printer control section 16 and is output to the printer engine section 17.
Is converted into a signal in a format that can be received by the printer engine 17 and output to the printer engine unit 17.

The printer engine 17 according to the input signal,
Printing on paper is performed using an electrophotographic printing mechanism or a wire dot printing mechanism.

The configuration of this embodiment is characterized in that a first control table 18 for describing a printer reception state is provided, a new printer state called state 3 (also called a hold state) is described, and a command processing unit 14 is described. Command identification section
In other words, a command execution permission determination unit 142 is provided in addition to the command execution unit 141 and the command execution unit 143.

The first control table is composed of, for example, a memory and represents one of the states 1 to 3. The setting of this state is, for example, the command receiving unit 12, the command processing unit 1
4. When an abnormality is detected in the printer control unit 16 or the like, the abnormality is processed by the abnormality processing unit 1a according to the content.

The command execution permission determining unit 142 determines whether a command transmitted from the host computer is executable according to the printer states 1 to 3 set in the first control table 18.

The second control table 19 is a table which is referred to when making the determination as to whether or not execution is possible, and has data indicating whether or not execution is possible for each state for each command.

In the present embodiment, the data indicating whether or not the command can be executed is stored in the second control table 19. However, the data need not be an independent table. For example, the first control table 18
It may be incorporated inside. The command execution permission determination unit
It may be incorporated as a judgment condition in the judgment processing program of 142. In these cases, the second control table 19 can be omitted.

 First, the contents of the first control table 18 will be described.

The table 18 describes the printer reception status as shown in FIG. The printer reception state takes one of three states: state 1 (called an online state), state 2 (called an offline state), and state 3 (called a hold state).

Each part of the printer, that is, the command execution part
143, the command receiving unit 12, the command execution permission determining unit 142,
The specification of access to the first control table 18 by the abnormality processing unit 1a is defined as shown in FIG.

According to this access specification, the state 3 is entered when any of the following occurs.

(1) When the printer 11 receives a suspend command from the host computer 10 and executes it.

(2) When the printer detects a class 2 error (defined later).

In addition, from the state 3, when one of the following occurs, it is escaped.

(1 ') When the printer 11 receives a restart command from the host computer 10 and executes it.

(2 ') Printer has a class 3 error (defined later)
When was detected.

(3 ') When the user presses an online key on the operation panel.

The definitions of the class 1 error, the class 2 error, and the class 3 error used in the above description and FIG. 2 (c) are as follows.

(A) Class 1 error: An error that can be ignored and continued. As an example, there is a case where a space is printed and the printing is continued when a character of a character code which does not have a font is instructed to be printed.

(B) Class 2 error: An error that requires user intervention, such as an out-of-consumable error such as out of paper or out of toner. After the user process, the printer can resume the printing process from the error detection interruption point.

(C) Class 3 error: Fatal error. For example, it includes a failure of a fixing device of a laser beam printer, a failure of a microprocessor, an LSI, a memory and the like in a printing apparatus, and other unrecoverable errors.

As for the printer reception state, the overall specification of the state transition between state 1 and state 3 is defined as shown in FIG.

Next, the processing procedure in the present embodiment will be described with reference to the PAD (P
Roblem Analysis Diagram).

In the main process 40, after performing the initialization process 41, the command process 42 is repeated. In the initialization process 41, the printer 11
After initialization of various management information in the buffer memory and the buffer memory such as the printer output buffer unit 15, the first control table
The printer reception status, which is the content of 18, is set to status 1 (online status).

In the command processing 42, if the reception buffer unit 13 is not empty, the command identification 43 is performed, the content is read, and the type of the command transmitted by the host computer 10 is identified.
The command identification 43 outputs a command No. as a result.

Subsequent to the command identification 43, a command execution permission determination 44 is performed. As the input, the printer reception state and the command number, which are the contents of the first control table 18, are used.
In the command execution permission determination 44, it is determined whether or not the execution of the command of the input command number is permitted in the current printer reception state (45).

In this embodiment, this determination is made using the second table shown in FIG. By referring to this second control table, for example, in state 3 (hold state), execution of command 1 is permitted, but command l + 1
Is determined not to be permitted.

In FIG. 5, commands 1 to 1 are assigned commands for inquiring about various states of the printer and commands for error recovery instructions such as restart and cancel instructions.
Specifically, the following commands were assigned.

Inquiry of printer ready status Inquiry of printer model name Inquiry of printer print mode Inquiry of printer status Instruct to print interrupt Instruct to resume print Cancel to instruct printer 11 ,
Others are reported to the host computer 10.

These commands are also referred to as a suspend command, a resume command, and a cancel command, respectively.

Commands l + 1 to m are assigned to commands for specifying print contents such as characters, figures, images, and the like.

If the execution of the command is permitted in the judgment 45, the command execution 46 is performed. In command execution 46, the command No.
,..., Command i processing
462,..., One of the processes 463 for the command m is executed.

If the execution of the command is not permitted in the judgment 45, an error processing 47 is performed. The error processing 47 uses a printer reception state and a command number as inputs.

The storage of the command in the reception buffer unit 13 is performed in the fourth
This is performed when the command receiving unit 12 receives a command reception interrupt from the host computer 10 as shown in FIG.

Each part of the components in FIG. 1 and each of the following embodiments can be realized by using a microprocessor, a RAM, a ROM, an LSI, a logic IC, an electrophotographic printing mechanism, a wire dot printing mechanism, and the like.

According to the present embodiment, even if the printer enters an error state, commands for inquiring about various states of the printer and commands for error recovery instructions such as restart and cancel instructions are received, and characters, graphics, images, etc. are received. Can be rejected, the operability, safety and reliability of the printing apparatus can be improved.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described using the configuration example of FIG.

FIG. 6 shows a configuration in which a panel control unit 1b is added to the configuration example of FIG. 1, and the panel control unit 1b accesses the first control table 18.

FIG. 7 shows an access specification of the first control table 18 by the panel control section 1b.

A key called a hold key is newly provided on the operation panel, which is one component of the printer, and the state changes between state 1 and state 3 when the key is pressed.

FIG. 8 shows a state transition diagram between the printer reception states in this embodiment.

As shown in the figure, in the present embodiment, pressing the hold key in the state 1 has the same effect as transmitting the interruption command of the printer 11 from the host computer 10, and the state 3
Pressing the hold key on the host computer 10
Has the same effect as the transmission of the restart command from the printer to the printer 11.

According to the present embodiment, when the user presses the hold key on the operation panel, the host computer 10
The same effect as transmitting an interruption command or a resume command from the printer 11 to the printer 11 can be obtained, so that the operability of the printer by the user can be improved.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

In this embodiment, a state 4 is added as the printer reception state to the above-described first or second embodiment. State 4 is defined as a state in which the printer 11 accepts only a print processing termination command (the above-described print cancel instruction command) among commands from the host computer 10 as shown in FIG.

To state 4, in order for the printer to resume printing,
An error that requires retransmission of the print command sequence from the host computer 10 (referred to as an error requiring command retransmission)
Move when detecting. Examples of errors requiring command retransmission include a paper jam error; a parity error in the data memory of the reception buffer unit 13, the printer output buffer unit 15, and the like.

After detecting these errors, the printer 11 accepts only the cancel command from the host computer 10, and in executing the cancel command, the printer forcibly terminates the printing process, and executes various management information and the reception buffer unit 13 in the apparatus. The buffer memory such as the printer output buffer unit 15 is cleared.

After executing this cancel command, the printer changes the printer reception state from state 4 to state 1. In addition, you may design so that it may transfer from the state 4 to the state 3.

When the host computer 10 confirms that the printer 11 has completed the execution of the cancel command by receiving response data (for example, good status in SCSI) from the printer, the host computer 10 resends the print command sequence to the printer 11. Then, the printing process is executed again.

According to the present embodiment, when an error that requires command retransmission occurs, the printer always receives and executes the cancel command, clears the internal data, and then re-executes the printing process. There is an effect that correct and reliable operation can be performed. In this type of print processing in which the printing process cannot be resumed from the interruption point where the error was detected, it is ineffective if the printer accepts and executes the suspend command and the resume command before executing the cancel command.

 Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described.

In this embodiment, in any one of the first to third embodiments, the printer accepts and executes the printer status inquiry command described in the first embodiment even in state 2 (online state) and state 4. Things.

The host computer 10 can check the following status of the printer 11 by using the printer status inquiry command.

Printer reception status Print completion status of each page Error occurrence status Retransmission start page position from host computer 10 when an error requiring command retransmission is detected Paper size required when paper out error occurs and paper feed with paper out According to the present embodiment, the host computer 10 can inquire and know the statuses (1) to (7) of the printer 11 in all printer reception states. Reliability of a printing system consisting of a computer and a printer,
Safety can be improved.

Also, the polling command shown below is accepted and executed by the printer 11 in all printer reception states together with the printer status inquiry command, and by using the polling command together, the processing amount at the time of inquiry can be reduced.

 The function of the polling command is defined as follows.

The host computer 10 inquires the printer 11 whether there is any content to be reported in the printer. This inquiry is repeated at an appropriate cycle (it is sufficient if the average printing time per printer page is 1/2 to 1/10 or less).

The printer returns the presence or absence of the content to be reported to the host computer as response data. The case where the content to be reported is present is a case where a change occurs in any of the above-described printer statuses.

When this polling command is used, the host computer 10 may appropriately transmit the polling command to the printer 11 at an appropriate cycle, and issue the printer status inquiry command only when there is a report content.

Since the amount of response data from the printer to the host computer is smaller in the polling command than in the printer status inquiry command, the use of the polling command has the effect of reducing the processing amount at the time of inquiry as described above.

In the above embodiment, the state transition between the printer reception states based on the key press on the operation panel (see FIGS. 3 and 8) may be changed as follows.

(1) In the state 3, even if the cancel command is executed, the original printer reception state is maintained. In a printer that realizes state 4, state 4
When the cancel command is executed, the state is shifted to state 3.

In the case where the above change is performed, in order to shift from the state 3 to the state 1 after executing the cancel command, it is necessary to transmit a hold key press or a resume command from the host computer.

(2) When the online key is pressed in state 2 and a class 3 error is detected in the printer, the state is not shifted to state 1 and the original state is maintained. If no class 3 error has been detected, move to state 1.

(3) When the online key is pressed in state 3, state 3 is maintained without moving to state 2.

These changes (1) to (3) can be implemented in any combination according to the needs of the printer.

[Effect of the Invention] According to the present invention, even if the printer enters an error state,
Since the status of the printer can be inquired and an error recovery instruction can be sent to the printer from the host computer by sending commands to the printer, the operability, safety and reliability of the printer can be improved. effective.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the contents of a first control table of the first embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a PAD diagram showing an operation procedure of the first embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining contents of a second control table of the first embodiment. 6, FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the second embodiment, FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the contents of the first control table in the second embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 9 is a state transition diagram showing a state transition between printer reception states in the embodiment, FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the contents of the first control table in the third embodiment, and FIG. 10 is a printer reception state in the conventional invention. It is a state transition diagram which shows the state transition between. 10 host computer, 11 printer, 12 command receiving unit, 13 reception buffer unit, 14 command processing unit, 141 command identification unit, 142 command execution permission determination unit, 143 Command execution unit 15, Printer output buffer unit 16, Printer control unit 17, Printer engine unit 18, First control table 19 Second control table 1a Abnormal Processing unit, 1b: Panel control unit.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-2-60781 (JP, A) JP-A-2-166511 (JP, A) JP-A-62-127935 (JP, A) JP-A-61- 180337 (JP, A) JP-A-63-64120 (JP, A)

Claims (10)

(57) [Claims] The present invention is connected to a host computer, receives a command transmitted from the host computer, interprets and processes the content of the command, controls a printer engine based on the result, and performs printing. The printer to be executed, and if an error is detected, the reception status of the printer is changed to
A printer comprising means for setting such that it accepts various inquiries and error recovery instructions from a host computer, but does not accept commands relating to instructions for print contents. 2. A printer is connected to a host computer, receives a command transmitted from the host computer, interprets and processes the content of the command, controls a printer engine unit based on the result, and performs printing. A first state in which the printer to be executed can receive all commands from the host computer; a second state electrically connected to the host computer but logically disconnected;
A third state in which various inquiries from the host computer and a command relating to an error recovery instruction are accepted, but a command relating to an instruction for print content is not accepted, and the first state is set in a normal state. A printer for selectively setting any one of the second and third states when an abnormality occurs. 3. A printer connected to a host computer, receives a command transmitted from the host computer, interprets and processes the content of the command, controls a printer engine unit based on the result, and performs printing. A control table that describes a reception state of the printer according to a type of a command that the printer can currently accept, and a reception state of the printer described in the control table. A printer comprising: an execution permission determining unit that determines whether a command transmitted from a host computer is executable. 4. A command receiving section for receiving a command transmitted by a host computer, a receiving buffer section for storing the command received by the command receiving section, and a processing section for processing a command in the receiving buffer section. A command processing unit, a printer output buffer unit for storing an execution result of the command processing unit, a printer control unit for outputting data in the printer output buffer unit to a printer engine unit, The command processing unit is configured to include a printer engine unit that is a printing mechanism for performing printing, the command processing unit reads one command from the reception buffer unit, and a command identification unit for determining the command type. In a printer having a command execution unit for executing a command of each command type, In accordance with the type of command that the printer can currently accept, a control table describing the reception status of the printer is provided, and a command execution permission determination is provided in the command processing unit. Determine whether the command execution is permitted or not according to the printer reception state in the table and the command type determined by the command identification unit,
A printer characterized in that when the execution of a command is permitted, the command execution unit is activated, and when the execution of the command is not permitted, the command execution unit is not activated. 5. A receiving state of the printer, a state 1 called an online state and a state 2 called an offline state.
In addition to the above, a state 3 called a hold state is prepared. In the state 3, only a command for inquiring about various states of the printer and an error recovery instruction command including at least a print processing restart and a cancel instruction are sent from the host computer. When the printer detects an error in the state 1 or receives and executes an interruption command from the host computer and executes the command, the printer reception state is changed to the state 3. A state 3 shift means for transferring is provided,
5. The printer according to claim 4, further comprising state 1 transition means for transitioning the printer reception state to state 1 when the printer receives and executes a resume command or a cancel command in state 3. 6. A state 3 which is one of the printer receiving means.
6. The printer according to claim 4, wherein a shift to and release from the printer can be instructed by pressing a key provided on an operation panel in the printer. 7. The printer receiving state includes a state 4 called a cancel wait state in which the printer accepts only a cancel command that is a print processing termination command among commands from the host computer. A means for shifting a printer reception state to the state 4 when an error requiring retransmission of a command from the host computer including at least a paper jam is detected, and the printer receiving the cancel command in the state 4 6. A means for shifting to said state 1 when executed.
Or the printer according to 6. 8. The printer according to claim 7, wherein in the state 4, a printer status inquiry command and a polling command can be received and executed by using the command execution permission determining means. 9. The printer according to claim 7, wherein in the state 2, a printer status inquiry command and a polling command can be received and executed by using the command execution permission determining means. 10. The method of claim 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
A printing system configured by connecting the printer according to 7, 8, or 9 to a host computer.