JPS61173351A - Printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute the effective printing without printing the data when the data to printed is same as the previous data by providing a circuit comparing the output data which exists in last one line with the output data at a printing device. CONSTITUTION:To the interface 100 of the printing device 20, the command having an usual printing mode or a data comparing mode is outputted from a host device 10, and the output data are stored to a command register 30 and an output data dubber 21. The output of the register 30 is decoded by a decoder 31, a control circuit 33 is cotrolled, at the time of a comparing mode, the mode is set to the circuit 33, a comparing circuit control signal line 201 is turned on and a comparing circuit 23 is driven. At the circuit 23, the output data of the buffer 21 and the output data of a line output data buffer 22 immediately before are compared with each other, the circuit 33 is controlled by the coincident output, and the printing data are processed by a selector 34 and a line buffer 24. When the printing data are the same as the previous data, the printing data are the same as the previous data, the printing is effectively executed without printing the data.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing device for an information processing system, and more particularly to a labor-saving control circuit for the printing device.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a failure occurs in a computer system, a so-called memory dump has been used as an important means to output the contents of a storage device included in the computer system for failure analysis. However, in recent years, the capacity of storage devices has increased and various nodes have become necessary for failure analysis! Due to the increase in the scale of control data, the amount of printing required by printing devices has become enormous. Especially when the content is the same, such as consecutive 0s, etc.
There is a disadvantage in that printing a large amount of the same content results in unnecessary output. This drawback can be resolved by incorporating a function to omit consecutive identical data in the editing routine of the memory dump program, or by implementing a similar function in another program that does not have this function. If the same function was to be implemented using a different computer system, a new editing routine would have to be developed.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention The purpose of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, that is, if the memory dump program does not have a function to omit consecutive identical data in the editing routine, the amount of printing by the printing device becomes enormous. Another object of the present invention is to provide an efficient printing device that solves the problem of wasteful output.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is connected to a higher-level device, receives at least a print instruction command and a labor-saving mode setting/cancellation command from the higher-level device, and receives these commands from the higher-level device. A command register that stores commands, an output data buffer that stores print data from the host device corresponding to this print instruction command, a decoder that analyzes commands stored in the command register, and a labor-saving mode setting with this decoder. Labor-saving features include a control circuit that performs labor-saving mode control when a command is detected, and normal mode control when detecting a labor-saving mode release command, a previous row output data buffer for storing the data output the previous time, and a control circuit. A comparison circuit that compares the contents of the mode control output data buffer and the immediately preceding row output data buffer, and a code output circuit that outputs a specific code to indicate that printing has been omitted when both data match. , a gate circuit for sending the contents of the output data buffer to the immediately preceding row output data buffer when there is a mismatch in the comparison circuit, and a gate circuit for sending the contents of the output data buffer to the immediately preceding row output data buffer. a selector that selects the data from the output data buffer 7 when there is a mismatch, and also selects data from the output data buffer 7 when the control circuit is in normal mode control, and stores the output of this selector;
This system employs a configuration consisting of a line buffer that issues a printing suppression instruction when a specific code is sent out in succession, and a printing section that prints the data in the line buffer when there is no suppression instruction in the line buffer.

Operation Since the present invention is constructed as described above, when a command from a host device is in normal mode, it is transferred to the decoder via this command register, and the decoder detects that it is not in power-saving mode.

In this case, the control circuit does not work and does not send signals to the comparison circuit, selector line buffer, etc. therefore,
Output data from the host device is transferred in this order to the output data buffer, selector, line buffer, and print section, and is printed as is.

Next, when a labor-saving mote command is received, the labor-saving mote command expansion control circuit sent from the command register to the decoder is operated, and the comparator circuit, immediate output data buffer, gate circuit, code output circuit, selector, and line buffer are sent to the decoder. is activated to perform labor-saving printing, and when the output data from the host device is the same, a special printing pattern is printed, and if the data is the same the second time, printing is omitted.

Example Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1 showing an embodiment of the present invention, a printing device 20 is connected via an interface 100 to a host device 10 that sends commands, data, etc. to the printing device 20. a command register 30 that holds commands, and a host device 10
The contents of the output data buffer 21 that holds the output data from the output data buffer 21, the immediately preceding output data buffer 22 that holds the output data output one time before, and the contents of the output data buffer 21 and the immediately preceding output data buffer 22 are compared. Comparison circuit 2
3, a decoder 31 that interprets the command stored in the command register 30 and notifies the control circuit 33 if it is an output data comparison mode setting command, which is a labor-saving command; an output data buffer 21; A code output circuit 32 that sends out a print pattern indicating that the contents of the data buffer 22 are equal and that printing is omitted; a selector 34 that selects one of the outputs of the output data buffer 21 and the code output circuit 32; and a comparison circuit 23. When the comparison result match signal line 202 is off, the output data buffer 21
a gate circuit 35 that transfers the data to the immediate output data buffer 72, a printing section 25 that prints one line at a time, and a printing section 2.
Line buffer 24 that holds output data for one line of 5.
, ratio V circuit 23, code output circuit 32, and selector 34
and a control circuit 33 that controls the line buffer 24.

The operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

First, to explain the conventional printing operation, there is a program in the host device 10 that sends commands to the printing device 20 to print, and this program prints output data. Normal output data printing commands and output data are sent to the printing device 20 via the interface 100. These output data print commands and output data are stored in the command register 30 and output data buffer 21 of the printing device 20, and stored in the command register 30 by the decoder 31, where the large command is deciphered. If this command is in the normal mode, the output data comparison mode, which is the main technology of the present invention, has not been set, so the comparison circuit control signal line 201 sent from the control circuit 33 is in the off state.
If the comparison circuit 23 is not functioning and the selector control signal @204 sent from the control circuit 33 is in an off state, and the selector 34 selects the output data line 101 from the output data buffer 21, the control circuit 33 The print inhibit signal line 205 sent from the line buffer 24 is also in an off state, and output data is sent to the print unit 25 via the print unit input data line 106 to print the contents of the line buffer 24.
Ru. Therefore, the output data stored in the output data buffer 21 is transferred to the selector 34 via the output data line 101 from the output buffer 21, and is stored in the line buffer 24 via the line buffer input data line 105.
Furthermore, output data is sent to the printing section 25 via the printing section input data line 106, and the output data sent from the host device 10 is printed by the printing section 25.

Next, the printing operation in the output data comparison mode, which is the main technique of the present invention, will be explained. Output data comparison mode is a mode that suppresses printing of output data and reduces the amount of print output when the contents of the output data output before and the contents of the output data to be output next match. The desired mode is specified by the output data comparison mode setting command from the main mode line host device 10. That is, the output data comparison mode setting command sent from the host device IO through the interface 10G is stored in the command register 30, and is sent to the decoder output signal line 2 by the decoder 31.
An output data comparison mode setting command detection signal is sent to 00, and the output data comparison mode is set in the control circuit 33. When the output data comparison mode is set in the control circuit 33, the comparison circuit control signal line 2 is used to compare the contents of the output data buffer 21 and the immediately preceding output data buffer 22.
01 is turned on, the comparison circuit 23 is made to function.

If the comparison result in the comparison circuit 23 does not match, the comparison result match signal @202 is turned off, the selector control signal line 204 is turned off, and the print suppression signal line 205 is turned off under the control of the control circuit 33. become a state. When the selector control signal line 204 is in the off state, the selector 34 selects the output data line 101 from the output data buffer 21, and the output data is stored in the line buffer 24 via the line buffer input data line 105. Print suppression signal line 205
When the line buffer 24 is in an off state, output data of the contents of the line buffer 24 is sent to the printing section 25 via the printing section input data line 106, and the printing section 25 prints the data. In addition, when the comparison result match signal @202 is in the off state, the output data buffer 2
The contents of 1 are input to the gate circuit 35 via the output data line 101 from the output data buffer 21, and are further stored in the immediately preceding output data buffer 22 via the 1 gate circuit output data line 103.

Output data buffer 21 and immediate output data buffer 2
When the contents of 2 are compared and the results match, the comparison result match signal line 202 is turned on (under the control of the control circuit 33, the selector control signal line 204 is turned on), and the selector 34 is turned on. The code output data line 104 is now selected. If the special printing pattern code indicating that the contents of the output data buffer 21 and the immediate output data buffer 22 are equal and printing is omitted has not been printed yet, the control circuit 33 turns on the code output circuit control signal line 203. , K so that the code output circuit 32 outputs the special print pattern code. Further, the control circuit 33 turns off the printing inhibit signal line 205, thereby transmitting the special printing pattern code of the code output circuit 32 to the line buffer 24 via the code output data line 104 and the line buffer input data line 105. Store and print section input data line 1
The special pattern is outputted by the printing section 25 via 06.

Furthermore, if the contents of the output data buffer 21 and the immediately preceding row output data pad 7a 22 match, and the special printing pattern code has already been printed, the control circuit 33 turns off the code output circuit control signal line 203. The control circuit 33 turns on the print inhibit signal line 205 to prevent the output data buffer 21 from outputting the code.
The printing of the print pattern indicating that the contents of the immediately preceding output data buffer 22 are equal is suppressed, and the printing operation is omitted.

Effects of the Invention As explained above, according to the present invention, the printing device is provided with a circuit that compares the output data with the output data of the previous line, and if the data to be printed is the same as the data of the previous line, By configuring the printer so that no printing is performed, it is possible to print effectively and economically.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. 10... Host device, 20... Printing device, 21... Output data buffer, 22...
... Immediate output data buffer, 23... Comparison circuit, 24... Line buffer, 25...
...Printing section, 30...Command register, 31
...decoder, code output circuit for 32...,
33...Control circuit, 34...Selector, 35...Gate circuit, 100...Interface, 101...Output from output data buffer Output data line, 102...Output data line from the immediate output data buffer, 103...
Gate circuit output data line, 104... Code output data line, 105... Line buffer input data line, 106... Printing section input data line, 20
0...Decoder output signal line, 201...
Comparison circuit control signal line, 202... Comparison result match signal line, 203... Code output circuit control signal line, 204... Selector control signal line, 205...
...Printing suppression signal line.

Claims (1)

[Claims] a command register that is connected to a higher-level device, receives at least a print instruction command and a labor-saving mode setting/cancellation command from the higher-level device, and stores the command; and print data from the higher-level device corresponding to the print instruction command. an output data buffer that stores the command, a decoder that analyzes the command stored in the command register, and a decoder that is connected to the decoder to control the labor-saving mode when the decoder detects the labor-saving mode setting command, and to control the labor-saving mode when the labor-saving mode cancellation command is detected. A control circuit that performs control, a previous row output data buffer that stores data output one time before,
A comparison circuit that compares the contents of the output data buffer and the immediately preceding row output data buffer when the control circuit is in power-saving mode control; and a code that outputs a specific code indicating that printing is omitted when there is a match in the comparison circuit. an output circuit;
A gate circuit for sending the contents of the output data buffer to the immediately preceding row output data buffer when there is a mismatch in the comparison circuit; and a gate circuit for sending the contents of the output data buffer to the immediately preceding row output data buffer; and a gate circuit for sending the contents of the output data buffer to the immediately preceding row output data buffer; and a selector for selecting data from the output data buffer when the control circuit is in normal mode control, and storing the output of the selector. , comprising a line buffer that issues a print suppression instruction only when a specific code is sent out in succession, and a printing section that prints the data in the line buffer when there is no suppression instruction in the line buffer. Printing device.