JPH0687253A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To judge whether a printer is in an emulation mode or not by installing a memory means which stores the internal setting condition of the printer itself and an indication means which indicates printing the contents and by printing the internal setting condition as indicated. CONSTITUTION:A button 3, an indication means, is pushed to judge whether a printer is in an emulation mode or in a native mode. The judgment is conducted by investigating DIP switch condition. However, if the present mode is stored in RAM 7 in advance, the mode can also be judged by it. When the emulation mode is judged, a red ink cartridge is selected. For the native mode, the following processing for printing internal setting condition is conducted with a normal black cartridge selected. When the internal setting items to be printed are judged to remain in RAM 7, one of the items is read to be printed with the ink cartridge selected.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer, and more particularly to a printer having a function of emulating a plurality of models.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printing apparatus of this type can change a setting state inside the apparatus according to print information. Further, this setting state can be changed by operating a button or the like on a panel provided in the apparatus, or can be printed out under a predetermined printing environment.

Further, in recent years, in addition to the printer language interpretation function originally provided in the printing apparatus, other printing apparatus (or another printer language) is emulated to operate as a pseudo other printing apparatus. Things that can do have also appeared.

[0004]

However, in the conventional example described above, when the internal setting state is printed, the internal setting state is always printed in a constant printing environment regardless of the operating state of the printing apparatus. It was difficult to determine whether the printing device is in a state of emulating another printing device.

Therefore, in some cases, the host computer may output print data of a printer that is completely different from the one that the printing device is currently emulating, resulting in meaningless output results. There is a drawback that the paper is wasted.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned prior art. When printing the internal setting state, at least the printing apparatus is in the emulation mode only by looking at the internal setting state. It is intended to provide a printing device that can determine whether or not it is.

To achieve this object, the printing apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, in a plurality of printing devices or a printing device having a function of emulating a printing language, a storage unit that stores the internal setting state of the device itself, an instruction unit that instructs to print the contents of the internal setting state, and the instruction. And a printing unit that prints the internal setting state so that it can be determined whether or not the device is in the emulation mode at least when instructed by the unit.

[0008]

In the structure of the present invention, when the printing of the internal setting state is instructed by the instructing means, the printing state is changed and printing is performed based on whether or not the apparatus is in the emulation mode at that time.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the printing apparatus of the embodiment. In the figure, 1 is a printing unit that actually prints an image, and 2 is a CPU that controls the entire apparatus.
The details of the structure of the printing unit 1 will be described later, but in the embodiment, an inkjet printer capable of two-color printing of black and red will be described as an example. Reference numeral 3 is one of the buttons provided on an operation panel (not shown), which is used to instruct printing of the contents in order to confirm the internal setting state. Reference numeral 4 is an input / output device for receiving data from the host computer H and inputting a signal from the button 3. The input / output device 4 in the embodiment is provided with a plurality of interfaces including a parallel interface and a serial interface as interfaces for connecting to the host computer H. Reference numeral 5 denotes an image generation device for generating dot information to be printed, a RAM for developing a dot pattern for printing,
It is composed of a controller for drawing various line drawings, and a circuit for transferring the dot pattern developed in the RAM to the printing unit 1. A ROM 6 stores a control processing procedure (program) of the CPU 2 and a font pattern.
Is. The stored programs include a program for receiving print data and storing the data in a reception buffer in the RAM 6, a program for realizing various emulations, and a program according to a flowchart shown in FIG. 2 described later. . However, in the embodiment, for simplification of description, the case where there is only one emulation that can be processed separately from the mode using the function of the apparatus itself (called the native mode) will be described.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a RAM used as a work area of the CPU 2, and an area for storing and holding an internal environment setting state set from the reception buffer, the host computer H, the operation panel or the like is secured. The information regarding the internal environment setting includes, for example, the transfer rate of the serial interface in the input / output device 4,
The size of the receiving buffer, whether or not the carriage returns to the home position when the printing unit 1 breaks the page, and the like.

The structure of the printing unit 1 of the embodiment is shown in FIG. 3, and its operation will be briefly described below. In the figure, the drive force transmission gear 50 is interlocked with the forward / reverse rotation of the drive motor 5013.
Lead screw 50 rotating through 11,5009
Carriage HC engaging with spiral groove 5004 of No. 05
Has a pin (not shown), and guides 50 in the directions of arrows a and b.
It is reciprocated along 03. Black and red inkjet cartridges IJC are mounted on the carriage HC. 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 are home position detecting means for confirming the presence of the carriage lever 5006 in this area and switching the rotation direction of the motor 5013. Reference numeral 5016 is a member that supports a cap member 5022 that caps the front surface of the recording head, and 5015 is suction means that sucks the inside of the cap.
The suction recovery of the recording head is performed through the opening 5023 in the cap. 5017 is a cleaning blade, 5019
Is 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, 502
Reference numeral 1 denotes a lever for starting suction for suction recovery, which moves with the movement of the cam 5020 that engages with the carriage,
Movement of the driving force from the driving motor is controlled by 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.

Next, in the printing apparatus of the embodiment, the button 3
The process when is pressed will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. As described above, the button 3 provided on the operation panel is provided for instructing printing of the current internal setting state. Further, whether the device is operated in the native mode or the emulation mode is switched by a dip switch (not shown).

In step S1, it is determined whether print information is stored in the reception buffer, that is, whether print data is received. If the print data exists, the process proceeds to step S2 to perform the corresponding print processing. Below, while the unprocessed print data is stored in the receive buffer,
Steps S1 and S2 are repeatedly processed.

Now, when a series of printing processes is completed, etc.
In the reception standby state, steps S1 and S3 are repeated. At this time, if button 3 is pressed, the process proceeds from step S3 to step S4.

In step S4, it is determined whether the current device is in the emulation mode or the native mode. This judgment is made by checking the state of the DIP switch, but the current mode is RA.
If it is stored in M in advance, the determination may be made with that.

When it is determined that the emulation mode is set, the red ink jet cartridge is selected. Conversely, when in the native mode, a normal black inkjet cartridge is selected and the following internal setting state printing process is executed.

In step S6, it is determined whether or not the internal setting items to be printed remain in the RAM 6. If it is determined that the remaining ink is left, the process proceeds to step S7, one of the internal setting items is read out, and in step S8, printing is performed by the selected ink jet cartridge. This process is repeated until printing of all internal setting items is completed.

When the printing of the internal setting items is completed in this way, the process proceeds to step S9, the print color is restored, the recording paper recorded in step S10 is output (discharged), and the process returns to step S1.

In the above embodiment, the internal setting state is printed by pressing the button 3. However, the internal setting state is printed.
The command for output may be included in the print information and may be executed by a command from the host computer H.

Further, in the embodiment, the printing of the internal setting state in the emulation mode and the native mode is performed by changing the color, but it is important that they can be discriminated. Not something.
For example, it goes without saying that the size of characters and the typeface may be changed. Further, for the same reason, the present invention is not limited by the printing method, and it is apparent that the present invention can be applied to any printer such as a laser beam printer, a dot impact printer, a thermal transfer printer and the like.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when printing / outputting the setting state inside the apparatus, the printed result is visually different when the printing apparatus is in the emulation mode and when it is not. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the situation in which the print data is mistakenly recognized as the emulation mode even though it is not in the emulation mode. Therefore, the printing paper is not wasted.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, at the time of printing the internal setting state, at least it is possible to determine whether or not the printing apparatus is in the emulation mode only by looking at the internal setting state. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating operation contents of print processing according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a structural diagram of a printing unit in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Printing Section 2 CPU 3 Button 4 Input / Output Device 5 Image Generation Device 6 ROM 7 RAM

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a plurality of printing devices or a printing device having a function of emulating a printing language, a storage unit for storing the internal setting state of the device itself, and an instruction unit for instructing to print the contents of the internal setting state. A printing device for printing the internal setting state so that, when instructed by the instructing device, at least the device can determine whether or not the device is in an emulation mode.