JPH11143666A - Method for recognizing printer sheet of paper exchange - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To recognize correct/error in sheets of paper to be set in a printer without giving burden on an operator by deciding correspondence between sheets of paper name and a bar code, inputting the bar code which is printed on the sheets of paper box with the sheets of paper name designated at the time of printing by means of a bar code reader and comparing the code. SOLUTION: The operator executes sheets of paper exchange work after receiving the instruction of the display device 7 of a printer connection computer 1. The operator selects the sheets of paper 12 based on the sheets of paper name where exchange is instructed and goes to the printer 3 where sheets of paper exchange is required. Then, the bar code printed on the sheets of paper box is inputted through the use of the bar code reader 13 which is connected to a sheets of paper recognizing computer 2 at a printer 3 side. It is judged whether the sheets of paper 12 is correct or not by the sheets of paper recognizing computer 2 and the selected sheets of paper 12 is set in the printer 3 at the time of display showing that the sheets of paper 12 are correct. Besides, the work is repeated in order to select the sheets of paper 12 to be set at the time of display showing that they are wrong.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for changing paper in a printer connected to a computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when printing is performed on a printer connected to a computer using specific paper, in a small-scale system in which the person who requests printing and the operator who hangs paper on the printer are the same, This has been dealt with by placing paper on the printer before issuing a print request.

In a large-scale system, a spooling system has been developed along with an increase in the amount of printing to a printer, and it has become general that a printing request and an actual printing to a printer are asynchronously performed. When printing is performed using a specific paper such as preprinted paper with a style printed, specify the paper name indicating the paper type at the time of the print request, and specify the actual paper name. Sometimes, a necessary paper name is displayed on a display device of a computer, and a change of paper is instructed to change the paper for each print request.

Japanese Patent Application No. 4-85638 discloses a combination of a printer and a barcode reader.
By incorporating a parcode reader in the printer,
This is for checking the print quality of reading barcodes printed by a printer, and is not applicable.

[0005]

However, if printing is not actually performed only by designating the paper name, it is not possible to determine that the replaced paper is correct, and misprinting due to misplacement of paper has occurred.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve this problem, and can be represented by a paper name unique to the unit of paper to be printed and a general barcode such as JAN or CODE39. Determine the correspondence of the code, print the barcode representing the code on the box packed with the paper to be printed, enter the barcode printed on the paper box with the paper name specified at the time of printing with the barcode reader, The gist of the present invention is to confirm the correctness of a sheet to be applied to a printer without imposing a burden on an operator by comparing codes.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for realizing confirmation of sheet change according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the system for confirming the paper change is divided into a printer connection computer 1 and a paper confirmation computer 2, and the printer connection computer 1 is connected to a printer 3 for changing the paper at the time of printing. For example, by JCL of general-purpose computer, etc.
Execution of a program for generating print data and a print request 4 for making a print request having a paper name to be used (the name given to the paper used for printing), a program for receiving and printing the print request, and executing a program for printing, the print data and the paper name 6 to output to the spool file 5, print data is sequentially extracted from the spool file, and before printing, the paper name specified in the print request is displayed on the display device 7 to prompt the user to change the paper, and the change is completed. The printing process includes a printing process 8 for performing post-printing, and a paper name notification process 9 for monitoring a paper changing instruction to the display device from the printing process and notifying the paper name to the paper checking process 10 on the paper checking computer 2.

Next, the paper confirmation computer 2 is installed on the printer side for changing the paper, and a paper table 11 indicating a correspondence between a predefined paper name and a code that can be represented by a bar code, and a bar code printed thereon. A barcode reader 13 for reading a barcode from the paper 12 and a paper confirmation process 10 for comparing the code corresponding to the paper name received from the paper name notification process with the code input from the barcode reader to confirm the paper, and to replace the paper. The display device 14 is configured to display the result of correctness of the sheet.

The printer connection computer 1 and the paper confirmation computer 2 may be the same computer depending on the scale of the system.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a procedure for changing sheets by an operator who changes sheets.

The operator who changes the paper receives the instruction to change the paper to the pair of display devices 2 of the computer 1 connected to the printer in FIG.

In FIG. 2, the operator selects a sheet based on the sheet name instructed to change sheets, and goes to a printer that requires changing sheets (step 21).

Next, a barcode printed on a paper box is input using a barcode reader connected to a paper confirmation computer installed on the printer side (step 22). The paper confirmation computer determines whether the paper is correct (step 23), and if there is an indication that the paper is correct, hangs the selected paper on the printer (step 2).
4).

If there is a display indicating that the paper is invalid, the flow returns to step 21 to select the paper to be replaced again, and the operation is repeated.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a paper table.

The paper table is defined before starting the printing operation. The contents include a paper name 31 specified at the time of a print request, an alphanumeric code 32 that can be represented by a barcode such as general JAN, CODE39, and a Japanese name 33 for easy identification by an operator. Is defined so that all sheets to be printed can be uniquely identified.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a bar code printing format to be printed on a paper box.

The format is an example in which the paper name 31, the bar code 32, and the Japanese name 33 described in FIG. 3 are printed on a paper box.

It is also conceivable to use preprinted paper.

FIG. 5 shows a follow chart of the paper confirmation process.

In the paper confirmation process, the paper name is received from the paper name notification process described with reference to FIG. 1 and started, and the paper is confirmed in the flow shown in FIG. First, a predefined paper table is input (step 51). A code corresponding to each paper name received at the time of startup is searched for in the paper table (step 52). A message prompting the user to input the code of the paper box by the barcode reader is displayed on the display device, and the barcode input is waited (step 53). When the operator inputs a paper barcode using a barcode reader, the input code is compared with the code retrieved in step 52 (step 54). If the compared codes are different, a warning is displayed on the display device that the paper to be replaced is different, and the process returns to step 53 (step 55). If the compared codes are the same, display a message that the paper to be replaced on the display device is correct,
The user is prompted to change sheets (step 56).

[0023]

According to the present invention, the correctness of the paper to be replaced by the printer is checked by the barcode reader, so that the correctness of the paper to be replaced by the printer can be confirmed without imposing a burden on the operator, and the content to be printed can be confirmed. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent a mistake in the operation of the operator who changes the sheets of the printer, to improve the work efficiency of changing the sheets, and to prevent erroneous printing caused by misplacing the sheets.

This is particularly effective when printing is performed using a large-scale computer to which a plurality of high-speed printers are connected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration for confirming paper change.

FIG. 2 shows a procedure of a paper changing operator.

FIG. 3 is an example of a paper table.

FIG. 4 is an example of a bar code printing format to be printed on a print box.

FIG. 5 is a follow chart of a paper confirmation process.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Computer connected to printer, 2: Computer to check paper, 3: Printer, 4
... print request, 5 ... spool file, 6
... Program execution processing, 7 ... Display device,
8: print processing, 9: paper name notification processing,
10: paper confirmation processing, 11: paper table,
12 ... paper, 13 ... barcode reader,
14 display device, 31 paper name,
32 ... code.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Toshimasa Nakahara 5030 Totsuka-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Software Development Division, Hitachi, Ltd. Hitachi, Ltd. Information Systems Division

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a system in which a printer connected to a computer needs to change paper, a bar code of a box with a paper name designated by the computer is input by a bar code reader at the time of changing paper to the printer, and the paper to be mounted on the printer is changed. And determining whether the printer has been replaced.