JPH02190373A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To immediately and simply confirm a position during present printing from the content of a display by providing control means having means for storing printing data of predetermined number of digits from the head of a page stored in printing data memory means and printed at present in display data memory means and for displaying the stored printing data on display means. CONSTITUTION:Control means is composed of means for storing data stored in a receiving buffer 16 sequentially for one page in a print buffer 17 via a CPU 11 and a ROM 12, means for printing data stored in the print buffer 17, and means for storing data of predetermined number of digits from the head of a page stored in the print buffer 17 and printed at present in a display RAM 25 and displaying the data of the display RAM 25 on a display tube 21. Accordingly, data of predetermined number of digits from the head of the page printing at present are displayed on display means, thereby immediately and simply confirming a position during present printing. Thus, the remaining printing time up to completion of all the printing can be presumed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a printer. More specifically, the present invention relates to a printer that displays a predetermined number of digits of data from the top of the page currently being printed.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, for example, in a laser beam printer, when data is ready to be received, "ON LINE" is displayed on the display tube.
Also, when data cannot be received, the display tube will display “OF”.
F LINE" is displayed on each display tube. If data is actually being received in a receivable state, "Processing" is displayed on the display tube.

Therefore, by looking at the message displayed on the display tube, the operator could confirm whether the printer is capable of receiving data and whether it is actually receiving data.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Although it is possible to check whether data can be received and whether data is actually being received using a display like that of a conventional printer, it is difficult to confirm whether or not data is actually being received. At present,
It is not possible to check from the display which part of the entire text is being printed.

This means that since the remaining print amount is also unknown, it is not possible to estimate how much time it will take to finish printing.

On the other hand, if you look at what has actually been printed, you can check how much printing has been completed, but this is troublesome because you have to take out the printed paper and check it each time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention, which has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, is to provide a printer that allows the location currently being printed to be immediately and easily confirmed from the contents of the display.

[Means for Solving the Problems] Therefore, the present invention provides a received data storage means for storing data divided into pages by a command, a print data storage means for storing print data, a display means, and a display means for storing the data divided into pages by a command. display data storage means for storing data to be displayed on the means; means for sequentially storing the data stored in the received data storage means in the print data storage means for each page; A means for printing data, and a predetermined number of digits worth of print data stored in the print data storage means and from the top of the currently printed page is stored in the display data storage means and stored in the display data storage means. The apparatus is characterized by comprising a control means including means for displaying print data on the display means.

[Operation] The data stored in the received data storage means is stored in the print data storage means for each page and then printed. At this time, print data for a predetermined number of digits from the top of the currently printed page that is stored in the print data storage means is stored in the display data storage means, and the print data in the display data storage means is displayed on the display means. Is displayed.

Therefore, while a predetermined number of digits of data from the beginning of the page currently being printed is displayed on the display means, the location currently being printed can be immediately and easily confirmed by looking at the contents of the display means. Therefore, it is possible to estimate the remaining printing time until all printing is completed.

[Example] Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

In FIG. 1, 11 is a CPU. The CPU 11 is connected to a host computer 15 via an interface circuit 14 in addition to a ROM 12 storing a program that determines the operation of the CPU II.
A receive buffer 1 serves as a received data storage means for storing data transmitted from the host computer 15.
6 is connected. Here, the host computer 15
The data sent from the page includes character codes including space codes, carriage return codes, commands for separating pages, and the like.

Further, a print buffer 17 as a print data storage means for storing print data is connected to the CPU 11, and a mechanism for printing the print data stored in the print buffer 17 via an interface circuit 18. 19 are connected. The mechanism 19 includes hardware such as an image forming section for writing an image on the photosensitive drum and a paper feed motor for transporting paper to the image forming section.

In addition, the CPU II has a display tube 2 as a display means.
1. A 0 display RAM 25 to which a power-on LED 22, an on-off key 23, a reset JIr-24, etc. are connected, and a display RAM 25 as a display data storage means for storing data to be displayed on the display tube 21. is 2, which can store data for 20 characters, which is equivalent to approximately one line on 85-size paper, etc.
It is composed of 0 byte RAM.

The CPU II executes the processes shown in the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 according to the program stored in the ROM 12. That is, data transmitted from the host computer 15 is stored in the receive buffer 16, and the data in the receive buffer 16 is sequentially read out and developed into a bit image and stored in the print buffer 17.

When data for one page is stored in the print buffer 17, the data in the print buffer 17 is transferred to the mechanism 19.
to print. Also, when storing the data in the receive buffer 15 in the print buffer 17, it is necessary to
Data for 0 characters is stored in the display RAM 25, and the data stored in the display RAM 25 is displayed on the display tube 21. Note that these details will be explained along the flowcharts of FIGS. 2 and 3.

Here, the CPtJll and the ROM 12 provide means for sequentially storing the data stored in the receive buffer 16 in the print buffer 17 for each page, means for printing the data stored in the print buffer 17, and means for printing the data stored in the print buffer 17. A control means includes means for storing a predetermined number of digits of data from the top of the currently printed page in the display RAM 25 and for displaying the data in the display RAM 25 on the display tube 21.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained according to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

When the power is turned on, the CPU II executes processing according to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, step (
After initialization is performed at step 11 (hereinafter simply abbreviated as ST), it is determined whether there is data in the receive buffer 16 at step 5T12. The data in the receive buffer 16 is
It is received by the reception interrupt shown in the figure. That is, when a reception interrupt from the host computer 15 is recognized, data from the host computer 15 is read in step 1, and the data is stored in the receive buffer 16 in step ST2.

In the judgment of ST'12, if it is recognized that there is data in the receive buffer 16, the process advances to 5T13 and the display tube 2
Determine whether there is a display in 1. If there is a 0 display, proceed to 5T22. 6 If there is no display, in ST1.4 to 5T16, determine whether the data read from the receive buffer 16 is a character code or a space code. , a carriage return code.

In the judgment of 5T14, if the character code is 5T1
After proceeding to 7 and storing the data in the display RAM 25, proceed to 5T22 on the condition that the display RAM 25 is not full at 5T18.At 81-22, the data read from the receive buffer 16 is a print start command, in this case page Determine whether the command separates the page and page.

In this case, since it is a character code, 5T23 expands the data into the print buffer 17 as a bit image, returns to 5T12, passes through 5T13, and then returns to 5T14-5T14.
At T16, the next data successively received from the receive buffer 16 is determined.

Further, in the determination at 5T15, if it is a space code, the process advances to S'f''19 and it is determined whether the display RAM 25 is empty (no data is stored at all).

If the display RAM 25 is empty, that is, if the first data read from the receive buffer 16 is a space code, the process advances to 5T16. On the other hand, if the display RAM 25 is not empty, the process advances to 5T17 and the data is transferred to the display RAM 2.
After storing to 5T, the process proceeds to 5T22 on the condition that the display RAM 25 is not full at 5T18.

Therefore, when it is recognized that the data read from the receive buffer 16 is a character code, the subsequent data (
(including spaces) are sequentially stored in the display RAM 25. In this way, the display RAM 25 becomes full.
In other words, when data for 20 characters is stored in the display RAM 25, the 5T18 determines that the display RAM 2
5 is determined to be full, and the data in the display RAM 25 is displayed on the display tube 21 at 5T21.

In addition, in the determination at 5T16, if it is a carriage return code, the process advances to 5T20 and the display RAM 25 is empty (
R for displaying 9 to determine if there is no data at all
If AM25 is empty, that is, if the first data read from the receive buffer 16 is a carriage return code, the process advances to 5T22. On the other hand, if the display RAM 25 is not empty, the process advances to 5T21 and the data in the display RAM 25 is read. It is displayed on the display tube 21. Therefore, display RAM
If there is a carriage return code before it is determined that the RAM 25 is full, the data stored in the display RAM 25 until then is displayed on the display tube 21.

When the data in the display RAM 25 is displayed on the display tube 21, 5T13 determines that it is displayed, but the following f & 5T2
2. The processing of 5T23 and 5T12 is repeated. Therefore, subsequent data is expanded into the print buffer 17 as a bit image without performing the processing of s'r14 to s'r21.

In this way, one page's worth of data is printed at t17.
When it is recognized at 5T22 that the next data is a print start command, that is, a command to separate pages, the contents of the print button 17 are printed at 5T24.

During this printing, data in the display RAM 25, that is, data for 20 characters from the beginning of the page currently being printed, is displayed, so that the page currently being printed can be confirmed from the display. After printing is completed, the display tube 21 is cleared at 5T25, and the display RAM 25 is cleared at 5T26, after which the process returns to 5T12 and the same processing is performed for the data of the next page.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, data for 20 characters from the beginning of the page currently being printed is displayed on the display tube 21, so that by looking at the display tube 21, it is possible to confirm the page currently being printed. In addition to being able to estimate where the text is located within the entire sentence.

Moreover, since data for 20 characters from the beginning of the page is displayed, the contents of the page can be estimated.

In addition, if the data at the beginning of the page is a space code or carriage return code, instead of storing that data in the display RAM 25, the character code is recognized and the data for 2o characters (in this case, ), including the space code, are stored in the display RAM 25, so that the content of the text can be displayed efficiently. In other words, if the space code continues from the beginning of the page, the displayed text becomes shorter, making it difficult to understand the content, or if the carriage return code begins at the beginning of the page, it is not displayed at all. Although the display becomes meaningless, this problem can also be solved.

In the above embodiment, when the data at the beginning of the page is a space code, that data is not stored in the display R1AM25, but the space code is also stored in the display R1AM25.
The data may be stored at AM25.

In addition, in the above embodiment, data for 20 characters is displayed, but the number of data to be displayed may be less than or greater than 20 characters; however, if it is too small, the content of the text may be affected. It becomes difficult to grasp the data, and conversely, if there are too many, it will take time to process, so it is preferable to have a number of data that satisfies these requirements.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, data for a predetermined number of digits from the beginning of the page currently being printed is displayed on the display means, so that the page currently being printed can be confirmed from the display. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figures show one embodiment of the present invention, with FIG. 1 being a block diagram showing the overall configuration, and FIGS. 2 and 3 being flowcharts. 11.12...CPU and ROM (control means), 16...Receive buffer 21...display tube (display means), 25...Display RAM (display data storage means).

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Received data storage means for storing data separated into pages by commands, print data storage means for storing print data, display means, and display data storage means for storing data to be displayed on the display means. and means for sequentially storing the data stored in the received data storage means in the print data storage means one page at a time, means for printing the data stored in the print data storage means, and means for causing the print data storage means to print the data stored in the print data storage means. It includes means for storing print data of a predetermined number of digits from the top of the stored and currently printed page in the display data storage means and for displaying the print data stored in the display data storage means on the display means. A printer characterized by comprising: a control means;