JPH06312563A - Printing device and control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To save power consumption of a printing device. CONSTITUTION:A display controller 9 monitors inputs from an input element 3 and a switch operating element 8. When there is no input for a predetermined time, display states of a displayer 10 and LED 11 are stored and lights are put out. When the controller 9 senses any input, dislay is effected on the displayer 10 and LED 11 according to the stored display states.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus which receives a control code or a character code input from an external apparatus and performs a printing operation, and a control method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional printing apparatus, a display device (liquid crystal panel, fluorescent display tube, etc.) or LE on an operation panel or the like is provided while the printing process is not executed while the power is on.
D etc. always displayed (lit) the state.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the above conventional example,
Even when the power of the printing apparatus is ON but the printing operation is not performed for a long time, the display device, the LED and the like continue to display the status of the printing apparatus. Although the power consumption of the display device, the LED, etc. is small, it still consumes unnecessary power.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus and a control method thereof for saving power consumption.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the printing apparatus according to the present invention has the following configuration.

A printing apparatus which operates according to input data from the outside, a display means for displaying a state, a judging means for judging that an input from the outside has not been received for a predetermined time, and a judgment result by the judging means. Display control means for controlling the display by the display means.

Further, the control method according to the present invention has the following configuration.

[0008] A control method for controlling printing according to input data from the outside, which includes a display step of displaying a state, a determination step of determining that input from the outside has not occurred for a predetermined time, and a determination result of the determination step. And a display control step of controlling display based on the display step.

[0009]

With the above configuration, it is determined that the input data from the outside does not exist for a predetermined time, and the display of the status is controlled according to the result.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. [Description of Laser Beam Printer (FIG. 4)] Before describing the configuration of the present embodiment, the configuration of the laser beam printer to which the present embodiment is applied will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the internal structure of a laser beam printer (hereinafter abbreviated as LBP) of the embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 100 denotes an LBP main body, which inputs and stores character information (character code), form information, macro commands, etc. supplied from an external device (2 in FIG. 1) connected to the outside. A corresponding character pattern, form pattern, or the like is created according to the information in (1), and an image is formed on a recording paper, which is a recording medium. Reference numeral 101 denotes an operation panel on which switches and LEDs for operation, a display and the like are arranged, and 1 is a control unit for controlling the entire LBP 100 and analyzing character information supplied from an external device. The control unit 1 mainly converts the character information into a video signal having a corresponding character pattern and converts the character information into a laser driver 102.
Output to.

The laser driver 102 is a semiconductor laser 10.
3 is a circuit for driving the laser beam 3, and the laser beam 1 emitted from the semiconductor laser 103 according to the input video signal.
Switch 04 on / off. The laser beam 104 is swung in the left-right direction by the rotating polygon mirror 105 to operate on the electrostatic drum 106. As a result, an electrostatic latent image having a character pattern is formed on the electrostatic drum 106. This latent image is electrostatic drum 1
After being developed by the developing unit 107 around 06, it is transferred to the recording paper. A cut sheet is used as the recording sheet, and the cut sheet recording sheet is stored in a sheet cassette 108 mounted on the LBP 100 and taken into the apparatus by a sheet feeding roller 109 and conveyance rollers 110 and 111.
It is supplied to the electrostatic drum 106. [Description of Printer Control System (FIG. 3)] FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a control system of the laser beam printer shown in FIG. In the figure, 1 is a control unit, and 2 is an external device for transmitting various print data to the printing device. Reference numeral 21 is an input interface unit for inputting various information from the external device 2, 22 is a CPU for controlling the entire control unit 1, 23 is a ROM storing a control program of the CPU 22, character font patterns, etc., 24
Is a reception buffer for storing print data sent from the external device 2, a RAM used for a work area required for the program to operate, and the like. Reference numeral 25 is an output interface for outputting the output image to the printing mechanism unit 6 that actually prints. Reference numeral 26 is a panel interface for performing input and output with the operation panel 101, 10 is a display, 11 is an LED, and 12 is a switch for input. Each of these components is connected to 31 system buses.

The processing operation of the control unit 1 embodying the present invention in the printing apparatus having the above configuration will be described.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the control functions realized by the control unit 1 in the printing apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG.
Briefly explaining FIG. 1, 2 is an external device such as a host computer for outputting print data, 3 is an input unit for receiving data, 4 is print data analysis for analyzing the input data and generating an output image in a bitmap format. Reference numeral 5 denotes an output unit that controls ON / OFF of a laser beam in accordance with an output image generated by the print data analysis unit 4, reference numeral 6 denotes a printing mechanism unit that actually performs printing, and reference numeral 7 denotes a recording medium such as paper. Further, 8 is a switch operation processing unit for recognizing and processing an operation of the switch 12, 9 is an input unit 3 and a switch operation processing unit 8
It is a display controller that controls the display and LEDs based on the information from, and also has a time measuring function. 10 is an indicator and 11 is an LED. [Explanation of Control Procedure] FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an algorithm of a display control process in the display control unit 9 of FIG. In addition, the processing procedure of this flowchart is C in FIG.
It can be realized by executing the program of the ROM 23 by the PU 22.

In FIG. 2, the display control unit 9 starts as soon as the power of the printing apparatus is turned on to enable printing.

In step S1, the input unit 3 in FIG.
The switch operation processing unit 8 is constantly monitored to determine whether or not the print data is not input and the switch operation is not performed for a certain period of time.

If this condition is met, step S
In step 2, the current display contents and display states of the display 10 and the LED 11 are stored in the built-in storage unit (RAM 24 in FIG. 3), and the display 10 and the LED 11 are all turned off.

Then, in step S3, the process waits until print data is input or a switch operation is performed.

When print data is input or a switch operation is performed, the data stored in step S2 is read from the storage section in step S4, and the previous display and LED states are restored. Then, the state of step S1 returns again.

According to the above procedure, when the printer does not input any data for a certain period of time, the display 10 and the LED 1
1 can be turned off to save power consumption, and if there is any input in that state, display can be resumed from the state immediately before turning off.

[0020]

[Other Embodiments] In the above embodiments, when the print data is not input to the printing apparatus and the switch operation is not performed for a certain period of time, the indicator and the LED are completely turned off. The supply may be reduced to dim the display. Further, even if the light is completely turned off, the user may be informed that the power is currently in the ON state by turning on the light for a short time at a certain time interval.

By doing so, it is possible to inform the user that the printing apparatus is powered on and the state of the printing apparatus at that time while saving power consumption.

A laser beam printer has been described as an example of the printing apparatus of the present embodiment, but the present invention is not limited to this and is applicable to an inkjet printer described below. [Schematic Description of Inkjet Printer Main Unit] FIG.
Is an inkjet recording apparatus IJR to which the present invention can be applied.
It is a general-view figure of A. In the figure, a drive motor 5013
Driving force transmission gears 5011, 500
The carriage HC that engages with the spiral groove 5004 of the lead screw 5005 that rotates via 9 has a pin (not shown) and is reciprocated in the directions of arrows a and b. The carriage HC has an ink jet cartridge IJC.
Is installed. A paper pressing plate 5002 presses the paper against the platen 5000 in the moving direction of the carriage. Reference numerals 5007 and 5008 denote photocouplers, which confirm the existence of the carriage lever 5006 in this area.
Home position detection means for switching the rotation direction of the motor 5013 and the like. Reference numeral 5016 is a member that supports a cap member 5022 that caps the front surface of the recording head. Reference numeral 5015 is a suction unit that sucks the inside of the cap, and performs suction recovery of the recording head through the in-cap opening 5023. 5017 is a cleaning blade, 50
Reference numeral 19 denotes a member that allows this blade to move in the front-rear direction, and these are supported by the main body support plate 5018.
Needless to say, a well-known cleaning blade can be applied to this example instead of this form. Also, 50
Reference numeral 12 is a lever for starting suction for suction recovery, which moves with the movement of the cam 5020 that engages with the carriage, and the driving force from the driving motor is movement-controlled by a known transmission means such as clutch switching. .

The capping, cleaning, and suction recovery are configured so that the desired processing can be performed at their corresponding positions by the action of the lead screw 5005 when the carriage comes to the area on the home position side. As long as the desired operation is performed at the timing, any of the above can be applied to this example. [Description of Control Configuration of Inkjet Printer] Next, a control configuration for executing the recording control of the above-described apparatus will be described with reference to the block diagram shown in FIG. In the figure showing the control circuit, 1700 is an interface for inputting a recording signal, 1701 is an MPU, 1702 is an MP.
A program ROM that stores a control program executed by the U1701 and a dynamic ROM 1703 that stores various types of data (such as the above-described recording signals and recording data supplied to the head). 1704 is a recording head 170
8 is a gate array for controlling the supply of recording data to the interface 8, interface 1700, MPU 1701, R
It also controls data transfer between AMs 1703. Reference numeral 1710 denotes a carrier motor for carrying the recording head 1708, 1
Reference numeral 709 denotes a carry motor for carrying the recording paper. 170
5 is a head driver for driving the head, 1706, 17
07 are the carrier motor 1709 and the carrier motor 1 respectively
A motor driver for driving 710. 171
1 is an interface with the operation panel of the printer, 17
Reference numeral 12 is a display, and 1713 is an LED, which displays the printer status and the like. 1714 is a switch for an operator to input. Note that 1711 to 1714 are not shown in FIG.

The operation of the above control structure will be described. When a recording signal is input to the interface 1700, the gate array 1
A recording signal is converted between the 704 and the MPU 1701 to print data for printing. And the motor driver 1
The recording heads 706 and 1707 are driven, and the recording head is driven according to the recording data sent to the head driver 1705 to perform printing. Further, the MPU 1701 controls the LRD 1713 and the display device 1712 to display the state and the like according to the procedure of the flowchart of FIG.

It is obvious that the constituent elements of the present invention can be incorporated in the control structure of the ink jet printer as described above, and the present invention can be applied not only to the laser beam printer but also to the above ink jet printer and the like.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

[0027]

As described above, according to the printing apparatus and the control method thereof according to the present invention, it is possible to save the power consumption.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a display control process in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a control unit of the printing apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a structural cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of the laser beam printer of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the internal structure of the inkjet printer of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a control unit of the inkjet printer of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 control unit, 3 input unit, 4 print data analysis unit, 5 output unit, 8 switch operation processing unit, 9 display control unit, 10 indicator, 11 LED, 12 switch, 101 operation panel.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus which operates according to input data from the outside, a display means for displaying a status, a determination means for determining that an input from the outside has not been received for a predetermined time, and a determination result by the determination means. And a display control unit that controls the display by the display unit based on the above. 2. The display control means turns off the display or lowers the display power.
The printing device described. 3. A control method for controlling a printing apparatus which operates according to input data from the outside, comprising a display step of displaying a status, and a determination step of determining that input from the outside has not occurred for a predetermined time. A display control step of controlling display by the display step based on the determination result of the determination step.