JP2842257B2 - Printing equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus used in conjunction with a host computer, and more particularly to a printing apparatus for printing processing data generated by the host computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An example of this type of printing apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
No. 14,559. The printing apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. Transmission data from a host computer (not shown) is received by the host interface 51 as reception data. The received data is subjected to command analysis by the command analysis execution unit 52. The received data is further stored in the page buffer 53 and the disk memory 54. In accordance with the operation of the operation panel 55, the drawing unit 56
Selects and processes data in the disk memory 54 to generate drawing data. The drawing data is sent to the printer interface 59 and stored in the image memory 57 as image data to be printed by the printer. The image data is transferred to the printer interface 59 by the video transfer circuit 58. A printer engine (not shown) is connected to the printer interface 59.

Next, the operation of the printing apparatus shown in FIG. 6 will be described. The received data received by the host interface 51 is a command group that can be processed by the drawing program 56, and does not include information for identifying data. Normal,
The received data is stored in the page buffer 53, but is also stored in the disk memory 54 in order to avoid repetitive data transfer from the host computer. The received data stored in the page buffer 53 is processed by the drawing unit 56 and is deleted after printing is completed. However, since the data is also stored in the disk memory 54, the received data stored in the disk memory 54 is read out again from the operation panel 55, so that the same data as the previous time is printed out without receiving the data again from the host computer. I can do it.

[0004]

However, in the printing apparatus shown in FIG. 6, since the received data is simply stored in the disk memory 54, it is difficult to identify the data. Therefore, when there are a plurality of jobs (a series of data consisting of a single page or a plurality of pages), it is difficult to select a job. Further, there is a problem that the host computer cannot select a job.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus in which a job can be easily selected and a host computer can select the job.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus in which data can be selected and erased by a host computer, thereby eliminating troublesome operations.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus for receiving a data string having processing data and header information added to the processing data, and printing the processing data. Processing data storage means for storing the processing data in a selected storage area of the storage area, header information storage means for storing the header information with address data representing the selected storage area,
Address data reading means for reading address data accompanying the header information from the header information storage means based on a print request, and processing data reading for reading processing data of a storage area represented by the read address data from the processing data storage means Means, print processing means for printing the processing data read by the processing data reading means, and a page memory for storing the processing data and for deleting the processing data after the printing processing by the printing processing means. The printing apparatus , wherein the processing data storage means re-outputs or deletes the stored processing data in response to a re-input of a data sequence instructing re-output or deletion of the processing data; means
Means the start address where the processing data is stored.
There is a storage address area for storing tasted data.
And the storage address area has no room for storage.
Temporary data storage that automatically deletes old data
Selectively erase data according to area and command
A printing device characterized by having a permanent data storage area is obtained.

According to the present invention, header information discriminating means for discriminating header information for data identification added to processing data by a printer driver of application software started on a host computer, and storing the header information Request data processing means for storing the processing data, processing data control means for controlling the processing data storage means, and notifying the header information storage means of the storage address of the processing data; A print processing means for printing the processing data selected by the header information, and a page memory for storing the processing data and deleting the processing data after the printing processing by the printing processing means, The processing data storage means re-inputs a data string instructing re-output or deletion of the processing data. The printing apparatus according are those re-output or erase the stored processed data to the
The header information storage means stores the processing data.
For storing data meaning the start address
An address area, wherein the storage address area is
Automatically delete old data when there is no room for storage
Temporary data storage area and selective according to instructions
And a permanent data storage area for erasing data .

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention in relation to a host computer 10. The host computer 10 includes a printer driver 11 dedicated to a printer defined according to application software, and a printer instruction device 1 defined according to printer holding data search selection instruction software.
2 and the host interface 13 connected to them
And transmits a series of commands that can be processed by the printing apparatus. The host interface 13 is a bidirectional I / O interface.

The printer driver 11 adds a data management name 22, a data holding level 23, and a date 24 as header information to process data 21 that can be processed by the printing apparatus as shown in FIG. The data is transmitted to the printing device via the host interface 13. 32 bytes are assigned to the data management name 22. One byte is allocated to the data holding level 23, and as will be described later, the logic of the least significant bit of the eight bits is set.
"0" indicates temporary storage (T), and logic "1" indicates permanent storage (P), where 6 bytes are assigned to date 24.

Next, the printing apparatus will be described. The printing device includes a printer interface 31. The data sequence 20 transmitted from the host interface 13 is received by the printer interface 31. The printer interface 31 is also a bidirectional I / O interface. The data string 20 received by the printer interface 31 is supplied to the head information discriminating unit 32. The header information determination unit 32 checks the first data management name 22 from the header information portion of the data string 20 and determines whether the data management name is a management name already registered in the header information storage unit 33. If the data management name 22 is a new name, it is registered in the header information storage unit 33 as a new management name. If the data management name 22 has been registered, it is updated. Further, the data holding level 22 and the date 23 following the data management name 22 are also registered in the header information storage unit 33 as in an information storage table described later.

As will be described in detail later, the printing apparatus further includes a storage device control unit 34 and a processing data storage device 3.
5, data transfer control unit 36, data control unit 37, drawing processing unit 38, page memory 39, and printer engine 4.
Contains one.

FIG. 3 shows an information storage table registered in the header information storage unit 33. In this information storage table, the data management name 22, the data holding level 23, and the date 24 include the ID 25
And a storage address 26 are added. ID 25 is
Instead of selecting the stored data by the data management name 21, an ID code is allocated for convenience and can be selected by ID31. For example, when a 20 Mbyte area from address 00000000h to address 13FFFFFFh is secured as the processing data storage device 35, the storage address 26 means a start address where processing data is stored within this range.

The area of the storage address 26 is 00000
Provisional data storage area from address 00h to 09FFFFFh and 13FFFFF from address 0A0000h
It is divided into permanent data storage areas up to address h.
Whether to store the processing data in the temporary data storage area or the permanent data storage area is determined by the data holding level 23 in the information header of the data string 20 described above. In the provisional data storage area, when there is no room to store data that has already been stored, a process of discarding old data is automatically performed. If there is no room for storage in the permanent data storage area, the user must determine which data should be discarded and delete it. The erase selection method will be described later.

The processing data storage device has a number of storage areas. The search for a free area in these storage areas and the determination of the write destination start address are all performed by the storage device control unit 34. In addition, the information of the search and the determination is reflected in the start address of the header information storage unit 33. The data management name 21, data retention level 22, and date 23 as header information of the data string 20 are
The processing data 21 stored in the header information storage 33
Only the processing data storage device 3 is
It is stored in a selected one of the five storage areas. Therefore, header information is recorded in the information storage table together with address data indicating the selected storage area.

The processing data 21 is stored in a header information discriminating section 32.
Is sent to the page memory 39 through the processor and stored in the page memory 39 in addition to the processing data storage device 35. Normally, the processing data stored in the page memory 35 is sent to the drawing processing unit 38 under the control of the data control unit 39, and after the drawing processing unit 38 performs a predetermined process,
It is sent to the printer engine 41 and printed by its operation. After the printing is completed, the processing data in the page memory 35 is deleted.

Next, a method for selecting and erasing data will be described.

The printer instruction device 12 of the host computer 10 is started. At this time, the host interface 13 and the printer interface 31 for connecting the host computer 10 and the printing apparatus are RS2, respectively.
32C serial interface or IEEE12
An 84-compliant parallel interface may be used.

A list of processing data stored in the processing data storage device 35 is read by the data transfer control unit 36 from the header information storage unit 33 and transferred to the host computer 10. The transfer information at this time is ID 25, data management name 2
2, data retention level 23, date 24. The printer instruction device 12 displays, for example, the contents shown in FIG. 4 on the monitor screen of the host computer 10 according to the transfer information. At this time, the ID number 31 is not displayed.
The user selects data to be re-outputted or data to be deleted on the monitor screen by the management name, and inputs an item number. In response to this operation, the printer instruction device 12 transfers a data re-output / erase instruction data sequence for instructing the printer to re-output or delete the processing data again. At this time, the instruction using the data string is performed using ID25.

When the printer instruction device 12 requests the printing device to re-output the processing data, that is, a printing request, the data control unit 37 reads the address data accompanying the header information from the header information storage unit 33 based on the request. At this time, the data controller 37 functions as an address data reader.
Further, the storage device control unit 34 reads the processing data of the storage area represented by the read address data. At this time, the storage controller 34 functions as a processing data reader. The read processing data is sent to the drawing processing unit 38 through the data control unit 37, and after performing predetermined drawing processing,
The print data is sent to a printer engine 41 as a print processing unit, and a predetermined print is executed.

FIG. 6 shows a data re-output / erase instruction data string. In the case of the re-output instruction, data is called from the processing data storage device 35 by the storage device control unit 34 from the start address of the data corresponding to the ID 25, and the data control unit 3
7 is transferred. Hereinafter, similarly to the normal case, drawing data is created by the drawing processing unit 38 and printed out by the printer engine 10.

According to the above-described printing apparatus, a plurality of jobs can be identified by adding a data management name, a data holding level, and a date as header information to processing data, and selection and deletion of processing data can be performed. Since the operation can be performed via the host computer 10, the trouble of operating the printing apparatus is eliminated.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a printing apparatus in which a job can be easily selected and a host computer can select the job. In addition, data can be selected and erased by the host computer, so that troublesome operations can be eliminated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention in relation to a host computer.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a data string transmitted from a host computer.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an information storage table of a header information storage unit included in the printing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an example of display contents of a monitor screen of a host computer.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a data re-output / erase instruction data string.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a conventional printing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Host computer 11 Printer driver 12 Printer instruction device 13 Host interface 31 Printer interface 32 Header information discrimination part 33 Header information storage part 34 Storage device control part 35 Data storage device 36 Data transfer control part 37 Data control part 38 Drawing processing part 39 Page Memory 41 Printer engine

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A printing apparatus for receiving a data string having processing data and header information added to the processing data, and printing the processing data, the printing apparatus comprising a storage device selected from a plurality of storage areas. Processing data storage means for storing the processing data in an area; header information storage means for storing the header information together with address data representing the selected storage area; and Address data reading means for reading address data accompanying the header information, processing data reading means for reading processing data of the storage area represented by the read address data from the processing data storage means, and reading by the processing data reading means Print processing means for performing print processing of the processing data, and a mark for storing the processing data, A page memory from which the processed data is erased after the printing process, wherein the processed data storage means rewrites the stored processed data in response to the re-output or re-input of a data string designating the processed data. In a printing apparatus that is to be output or erased , the header information storage means stores the processing data.
For storing the data indicating the starting address
Having a storage address area, wherein said storage address area
Automatically retrieves older data when there is no room for storage.
The temporary data storage area to be erased at
There is a permanent data storage area for selectively erasing data.
A printing device, comprising: 2. Header information discriminating means for discriminating header information for data identification added to processing data by a printer driver of application software started on a host computer, and header information storing means for storing the header information. Processing data storage means for storing the processing data, processing data control means for controlling the processing data storage means, and notifying the storage address of the processing data to the header information storage means; A print processing unit for printing the selected process data, and a page memory storing the process data and deleting the process data after the print process by the print process unit, wherein the process data storage unit includes In response to a re-input of a data string instructing re-output or deletion of the processing data, the stored processing is performed. In printing apparatus is intended to be re-output or erase physical data, said header information storing means, said processing data is stored
For storing the data indicating the starting address
Having a storage address area, wherein said storage address area
Automatically retrieves older data when there is no room for storage.
The temporary data storage area to be erased at
There is a permanent data storage area for selectively erasing data.
A printing device, comprising: 3. An application started on a host computer
Processing data with the printer driver of the application software
The header information for data identification added to the data
Header information determining means for storing the header information;
Data storage means, and processing data for storing the processing data.
Data storage means and the processing data storage means,
The storage address of the processed data is passed to the header information storage means.
Processing data control means for knowing the header information upon request.
Process to print the process data selected in the report
A step and storing the processing data, and
Page data whose processing data is deleted after the printing process
And the processing data storage means stores the processing data.
Re-input of a data string instructing re-output or deletion of data
Depending on the processing data stored is re-output or erased
Ones, and the said processed data said stored processed data in the storage means reads from the header information storage unit, the printing apparatus having a two-way data transfer control means for transferring to the printer holding data search selection instruction software on the host computer In the header information storage means, the processing data is stored.
For storing the data indicating the starting address
Having a storage address area, wherein said storage address area
Automatically retrieves older data when there is no room for storage.
The temporary data storage area to be erased at
There is a permanent data storage area for selectively erasing data.
A printing device, comprising: