JPH09150557A - Printer system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To divide a printing data in compliance with a plurality of printers and print out the divided data in parallel. SOLUTION: This printer device 20 comprises an input and output section 22 for the host device for controlling the transfer of data from a host device 10, a development section 26 for developing the printing data received by the input and output section 22 for the host device into an image data and a printing section 28 for print output of the image data developed by the development section 26, and an external printer input and output section 24 for controlling the data transfer to an external printer device 30 is provided combinedly in the input and output section 22 for the host device. The development section 26 is provided with the dividing function for dividing the printing data by the page unit based on the printer selecting information in compliance with a given printer constitution information specified for the printing data by the page unit on the printer, and the divided data output function for outputting the printing data on the page, for which the external printer device 30 is selected, based on the printer selecting command out of the printing data divided by the printing data dividing function to the external printer input and output section 24.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer system, and more particularly to a printer system in which a plurality of printer devices are connected to one host device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a printing means using a plurality of printers in order to reduce a printing time, a plurality of printers are connected in parallel, a print size is determined from a print request, and print data is determined for each print size. And print them in parallel (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-205660).

[0003]

However, in the conventional method, since the division of the print data is determined based on the print size, the print time cannot be reduced for a print request of the same print size. Was.

[0004] For example, a printer having a color printing function such as an ink jet system or a thermal transfer system has a slower processing speed than a laser printer having no color printing function, so that color data such as figures and monochrome data such as characters can be obtained. When printing is performed using only one of a printer having a color printing function and a printer having no color printing function in response to mixed print requests, there has been a problem that the printing time is long or color printing cannot be performed.

Further, in the conventional method, the printer devices are connected in parallel, so that the number of interfaces of the higher-level device is occupied by the number of printer devices, and print data is also created and transmitted to each printer device. There was a problem that had to be.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a printer system capable of improving the disadvantages of the conventional example, and in particular, capable of dividing print data according to the configuration of a plurality of printer devices and printing out in parallel. Is the purpose.

[0007]

Therefore, according to the present invention, as a first means, a higher-level device for outputting color or monochrome print data such as a document or a figure, and a print data transmitted from the higher-level device are printed. It has a printer device for outputting and an external printer device connected to the printer device. Moreover, the printer device controls the data transfer with the host device, the host device input / output unit, the expansion unit that expands the print data received by the host device input / output unit into image data, and the expansion unit. And a printing unit that prints the image data. Furthermore, the input / output unit for the higher-level device is provided with the input / output unit for the external printer that controls data transfer with the external printer device, and the expansion unit is
A print data division function that divides the print data in page units based on a printer selection command according to predetermined printer configuration information specified in print data in page units, and a print data division function that divides the print data by the print data division function. Of these, a configuration is adopted in which a print data of the page selected by the external printer device by the printer selection command is output to the external printer input / output unit.

[0008] In the first means, the print data transmitted from the host device is transferred to a printer (first printer).
And external printer devices (second and third printer devices)
Performs distributed processing. In such distributed processing, how to distribute the print data becomes an issue.

First, the second and third printer devices are the first
Connected to the printer device. Therefore, the printer system does not need to be connected by a network such as a LAN. First, the host device (host computer) selects a printer device that uses print data in page units based on predetermined printer configuration information. Then, this selection result is set in the print data as a printer selection command.

In the first printer device, the print data is divided on a page basis by the print data dividing function based on the printer selection command. Then, the divided data output function outputs, to the external printer input / output unit, the print data of the page for which the second and third printer devices are selected by the printer selection command among the divided print data. Therefore, the print data of the portion where the second and third printer devices are selected is transferred from the first printer device to the second printer device.
Output to the printer device.

Then, the second printer device also divides the print data in page units and outputs the data to the third printer. Therefore, a printer connected to one higher-level device and a printer connected to this printer are configured to print one print data in parallel. In addition, since the division is performed based on a printer selection command corresponding to predetermined printer configuration information, the division is accurately performed in accordance with the printer resolution, monochrome / color, and a difference in a built-in font.

[0012] In the second means, in addition to the items for specifying the first means, the printer device transmits printer configuration information indicating the configurations of the developing unit and the printing unit to the host device via the host device input / output unit. The configuration information transmission unit is provided.

According to the second means, the printer device transmits printer configuration information, which is a list of functions of the developing unit and the printing unit, to the host device. If it is the first printer device, it is transmitted via the host device input / output unit, and if it is the second printer device, it is transmitted via the host device input / output unit and the first printer. The upper-level device selects the printer to be used for printing the print data based on the printer configuration information thus transmitted.

[0014] In the third means, in addition to the matter specifying the second means, the host device responds to the print data based on the external printer device and the printer configuration information of the printer device transmitted by the configuration information transmission function. The printer is provided with a printer selection unit for selecting a printer device in page units, and a printer selection setting unit for setting a selection result of the printer selection unit as a printer selection command in the print data.

In the fourth means, in addition to the matters for specifying the third means, the configuration information transmission function is configured to transmit resolution information of the printing section, emulation information of the development section, etc., and the printer selection section , A selection coefficient calculation function that compares a print request such as resolution and emulation specified by print data with printer configuration information, and adds a predetermined coefficient to the item for items that do not match, and this selection coefficient calculation function The total coefficient-by-coefficient selection function for selecting a printer device based on the selection coefficient calculated for each printer configuration information is adopted.

The present invention aims to achieve the above-mentioned object by each of these means.

[0017]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printer system according to the present invention. The printer system includes a host device (host computer) 10 that outputs color or monochrome print data such as documents and graphics, a printer device 20 that prints out print data transmitted from the host device 10, and a printer device. And an external printer device 30 to be connected.

Further, the printer device 20 is connected to the host device 1
0, an input / output unit (input / output interface A) 22 for a higher-level device that controls data transfer to the printer, a developing unit 26 for developing print data received by the input / output unit 22 for the higher-level device into image data, and a developing unit 26 And a printing unit 28 that prints out the image data developed by the printing unit 26.

Further, an input / output unit for external printer 24 for controlling data transfer with the external printer device 30 is provided in the input / output unit 22 for the host device.

In addition, as shown in FIG.
A print data division function 2 for dividing the print data in page units based on a printer selection command according to predetermined printer configuration information specified in page units in the print data.
7A and a divided data output function 27B for outputting to the external printer input / output unit 24 the print data of the page selected by the external printer device 30 according to the printer selection command among the print data divided by the print data division function 27A. And

This will be described in detail.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the printer configuration information. The printer configuration information includes a printer identification number Id, an emulation Emu, a resolution Reso, and a printing speed PP.
M, paper size Size, color printing Color, Du
A printer type printer A and a thermal type printer B are shown in the same figure as an example. The printer selection unit 12 on the host device 12 can acquire the configuration information of both the device A and the device B.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the hardware resources of the printer device 20. Each input / output unit 22, 2
4 is configured as input / output interfaces A and B. The printing unit 28 is a printer engine, and the printer engine 28 performs monochrome printing on a page basis by laser scanning.

The developing unit 26 stores an R (Registered Program) storing various operation command programs (firmware) such as a developing process in advance.
An OM 26B, a CPU 26A that performs various operations in accordance with programs stored in the ROM 26B to realize the function of the expansion unit 26, and a RAM 26C are provided.

The storage area of the RAM 26C includes a buffer A (reference numeral 23) for temporarily storing the received print data,
An image buffer 28B in which image data developed by the CPU 26C is drawn, a buffer B (reference numeral 25) for temporarily storing print data divided by the CPU 26C and transmitted to the external printer device 30, and a work area 26D for various processes. Assigned to.

The image buffer 28B is provided with an engine control interface 28A for controlling the operation of the printer engine 28.

Printer configuration information of the external printer device 3 is stored in a work area 26D in a RAM 26C via an input / output interface B (reference numeral 24) and a buffer B (reference numeral 25). Further, the printer configuration information stored in the ROM 12 or the like is first transmitted to the work area 26D by the CPU 26A functioning as the configuration information transmitting unit 29.
Buffer A (reference numeral 23), the input / output interface B (reference numeral 2)
It is transmitted to the host device 10 via 2). By the operation of the configuration information transmitting unit 29, the host device can acquire the printer configuration information of the printer connected to the host device.

Next, the printing process according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing steps of the print data division function 27A and the division data output function 27B of the host device.

The host device 10 creates print data for each page. For all the printer devices 20 and 30, whether or not each page has a print request, for example, a function such as color printing, is searched based on the respective printer configuration information. A specific coefficient (selection coefficient) as shown in FIG. 3 is added as a penalty (selection coefficient calculation function).

Referring to FIG. 5, first, a print request is obtained from application software or the like of a higher-level device (step S1). Next, the number of printer devices usable for printing is confirmed based on the printer configuration information transmitted from the configuration information transmission unit 29 of the printer devices 20 and 30 (step S2).

Further, a certain page is compared with the printer configuration information of each printer (step S3).
The print request and the configuration of the printer are checked for each item (step S4). If the print request is not satisfied, a penalty is added (step S5).

In the example shown in FIG. 3, since the printer A does not satisfy the printing request for the resolution Reso and the color print Color, the penalty coefficient 500 for the resolution Reso and the penalty coefficient 1 for the color print Color
10500 obtained by adding 0000 is the penalty (total selection coefficient) of the device A.

Similarly, device B has a penalty of 610.
Is calculated. The printer device having the smallest penalty calculated in this way is selected as the printing unit (step S6), and the print data is created for the selected printer device (step S7).

In the example of the request for printing a certain page shown in FIG. 3, the penalty of the printer B is smaller than the penalty of the printer A, so that the printer B is selected. Then, the printer selection setting unit 14 sets this selection result in the print data as a printer selection command.

FIG. 6 shows an example of print data 10a. The print data 10a includes a print job identification number Job, a printer selection number Sel, a page number Page, and document data Data. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the printer selection command is the printer selection number Sel.

The print data 10a is stored in the work area 26D in the RAM 26C via the input / output interface A and the buffer A. Here, when the printer selection number Sel of a certain page matches the identification number Id stored in the ROM 26B, the data document Data is
After being developed into image information (image data) by the PU 26A and stored in the image buffer 28B, it is printed by the printer engine 28 via the engine control interface 28A15.

On the other hand, in the printer device, Sel
If the print data does not match the identification number Id stored in B, the print data is transmitted to the external printer 30 via the buffer B and the input / output interface B and printed (divided data output function 27B). Here, when the external printer device 30 is a printer having the control unit 1 similarly, the above processing is repeated. That is, when another external printer is connected to the external printer device 30, the external printer device 30 divides the print data and outputs the divided data.

[0039]

According to the present invention, the print data division function divides print data in page units based on a printer selection command and outputs divided data. The function is to output the print data of the page whose external printer device is selected by the printer selection command to the external printer input / output unit in the divided print data, so that the printing of the portion where the external printer device is selected is performed. The data is output from the printer device to the external printer device. Therefore, a plurality of printer devices can be connected in series to the host device, and the print data can be printed out in parallel. Therefore, it is not necessary to use a network or the like, and it is not necessary to divide print data in a higher-level device and transmit the divided print data to each printing device, and parallel high-speed printing according to the type of print data can be performed. In this way, even for print requests of the same print size, distributed processing can be performed by a plurality of printer devices, and processing time can be shortened. Also, for example, in response to a print request in which color data and monochrome data are mixed, a page including color data is printed in color, so that the overall processing time can be reduced. Also, by connecting a plurality of printer devices in series, the interface of the host device occupied by the printer device can be saved, and the print data can be created and transmitted by the host device collectively. As described above, it is possible to provide an unprecedented superior printer system that divides print data according to the configuration of a plurality of printer devices and prints out the data in parallel.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of a developing unit shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of printer configuration information transmitted by a configuration information transmission unit illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of hardware resources of the printer device shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing one method of a printer selection process by the configuration shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of print data generated by the printer selection processing shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 10 host device 12 printer selection unit 14 printer selection setting unit 20 printer device 22 host device input / output unit (input / output interface A) 24 external printer input / output unit (input / output interface B) 26 developing unit 27A print data division function 27B Divided data output function 28 Printing unit (printer engine) 29 Configuration information transmission unit 30 External printer device

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A higher-level device that outputs color or monochrome print data such as a document or a figure, a printer device that prints out print data transmitted from this higher-level device, and an external printer device connected to this printer device. The printer device controls the data transfer to and from the host device, the host device input / output unit, and the expansion unit that expands the print data received by the host device input / output unit into image data. And a printing unit for printing the image data expanded by the expansion unit, the external device input / output unit for controlling data transfer with the external printer device is provided side by side with the host device input / output unit, and the expansion unit Divides the print data into page units based on a printer selection command according to predetermined printer configuration information specified in the print data in page units. A print data dividing function for outputting the print data of the page selected by the external printer device according to the printer selection command among the print data divided by the print data dividing function to the external printer input / output unit A printer system having a data output function. 2. The printer device includes a configuration information transmission unit that transmits printer configuration information indicating configurations of the expansion unit and the printing unit to the higher-level device via the higher-level device input / output unit. The printer system according to claim 1. 3. A printer selection unit, wherein the higher-level device selects a printer device corresponding to the print data in page units based on the external printer device and printer configuration information of the printer device transmitted by the configuration information transmission function. 3. The printer system according to claim 2, further comprising: a printer selection setting unit configured to set a selection result of the printer selection unit as a printer selection command in the print data. 4. The configuration information transmission function is configured to transmit resolution information of the printing unit, emulation information of the expansion unit, and the like, and the printer selection unit sets the resolution specified by the print data. For an item that compares a print request such as emulation with the printer configuration information and does not match, a selection coefficient calculation function that adds a predetermined coefficient to the item and the selection coefficient calculation function for each printer configuration information 4. The printer system according to claim 3, further comprising a selection function for each total coefficient that selects the printer device based on the calculated selection coefficient.