JP4032672B2 - Printing system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printing system using a Centronics interface.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Today, a printing system is known that connects a printer device to a network such as a LAN, receives print data from a plurality of host devices, and performs print processing. In such a system, when canceling print processing, a job issued according to a predetermined protocol is used to notify job (JOB) cancellation separately from print data, and the printer apparatus cancels the job. .
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in a system in which a host device and a printer device are connected using a Centronics interface, there is no function for canceling print processing, so it is difficult to cancel print data after sending print data to the printer device. there were. That is, even if a command for canceling print data is issued, it cannot be distinguished from print data, and it is difficult to cancel print processing.
[0004]
The present invention extends the language monitor function provided as part of the OS (operation system) mechanism, transmits a cancel command to the printer device, and prints the print data after it is transmitted to the printer device. The present invention provides a printing system configured to cancel the above.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problem, the invention described in claim 1 is a printing system in which a host device and a printing apparatus are connected via a bidirectional Centronics interface, and the host device transmits the print data, or A table for storing job information including untransferred information, a language monitor for writing the job information in the table and monitoring the job information, and referring to the table based on a print cancel instruction, If there is print data, the untransferred print data is deleted, and conversion means for converting a part of the command code after bidirectional arbitration of the interface into a print data cancel code; and the cancel code A print processing unit for performing a print process on the print data. , Based on the reception of the cancel code, by a transfer already print data indicated in the cancel code, to provide a printing system having a stop means to stop the printing process of the print data during the printing process Can be achieved.
[0006]
Here, the Centronics interface defined by IEEE1284 is bidirectional, and a plurality of commands are prepared to exchange control signals other than print data after bidirectional arbitration. In the present invention, a part of the command is converted into a cancel code of the print data by the converting means, and the code is output to the printer apparatus after bidirectional arbitration, thereby stopping the printing process by the printing apparatus. .
[0009]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a printing system according to the present invention. In the figure, the printing system of the present invention is composed of a personal computer 1 as a host device and a printer device 2, and the personal computer 1 and the printer device 2 are connected by a Centro interface 3 defined by IEEE1284. Here, transmission of print data is performed as follows.
[0010]
That is, first, the print data created by the application 4 is sent to the spooler 5 ((1) shown in FIG. 1). Next, the spooler 5 uses the printer driver 6 to generate a command corresponding to the connected printer device 2 ((2) shown in FIG. 1). At this time, the printer driver 6 adds, for example, specific job information to the head of the print job.
[0011]
The spooler 5 writes the print data to the language monitor 7 (<3> shown in FIG. 1), and the language monitor 7 writes the print data to the hard disk 8 (<4> shown in FIG. 1). When the print job is accumulated, the language monitor 7 reads the print data and transmits the print data to the printer port driver 10 ((6) shown in FIG. 1). The monitoring application 9 is configured to periodically read the information of the printer device 2 to the language monitor 7 and acquire necessary information.
[0012]
The printer port driver 10 uses the Centronics interface 3 to communicate with the transmission / reception unit 11 of the printer apparatus 2 and sends the print data to the printer apparatus 2.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the printer device 2. As described above, the print data transmitted from the printer port driver 10 is input to the transmission / reception unit 11 ((1) shown in FIG. 2), and the print data is written to the command buffer 13 via the transmission / reception buffer 12 (shown in FIG. 2). (2), (3)). Note that a cancel request command after bidirectional communication arbitration transmitted from the host device 1 is also written in the reception buffer 12.
[0013]
The command execution unit 14 reads the command included in the print data from the command buffer 13, executes the command analysis process (4 in FIG. 2), and writes the image data in the image memory 15 (5 in FIG. 2). ▼). For example, when one page of image data is developed in the image memory 15, the image data generated by the transfer task 16 is transferred to the printer engine control unit 17 ((6) and (7) shown in FIG. 2). ).
[0014]
The printer engine control unit 17 sends the transmitted image data to the printer engine unit 18. The transmission / reception unit 11, the transmission / reception buffer 12, the command buffer 13, and the like are disposed in the printer controller 19.
FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a table configuration in the spooler 5. In the figure, the table is composed of a plurality of areas, the job name data is stored in the area 20a, the transmission status information is stored in the area 20b, and the printing status information is stored in the area 20c. The data capacity of the corresponding print data is stored in 20d.
[0015]
FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the process for writing the above information into the table, and explains the spool process. First, the spooler 5 analyzes the print data supplied from the application 4 and determines whether it is the end of the job (step (hereinafter referred to as ST) 1). If the end of the job is reached, the process ends (ST1 is YES). If not the end of the job (ST1 is NO), it is determined whether the job is at the beginning (ST2).
[0016]
If it is the head of the job, the additional information of the job is read (ST3), and the job name is registered in the job list (ST4). That is, by this processing, job name 1 is registered in area 20a shown in FIG. 3 ((1) shown in FIG. 3), and time data is written at the same time. This time data is for identifying even when print data of the same job exists, for example.
[0017]
Thereafter, the print data of the registered job name is written to the hard disk 8 (ST5).
The above processing is performed every time print data is supplied from the application 4, and job name 2, job name 3, job name 4,... Are sequentially registered in the table shown in FIG. ((2), (3), (4),... Shown in FIG. 3). Also, the print data of the registered job name is sequentially written to the hard disk 8 (ST1 to ST5).
[0018]
As described above, the job name data and the time data are registered in the table, and the hard disk 8 stores the print data of the job name registered in the table.
After the registration process, the printing process is executed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, it is determined whether there is a print job in the spooler 5 (step (hereinafter referred to as S) 1). This determination is executed by confirming the transmission state of the table shown in FIG. 3 described above, and an untransferred print job is transmitted (S1 is YES, S2). In this case, the corresponding print data is read from the hard disk 8 and transmitted to the printer apparatus 2 via the Centronics interface 3.
[0019]
The printer apparatus 2 performs a printing process according to the supplied print data, and outputs a print result to a paper discharge unit (not shown). Then, it is determined whether printing of the print job is finished. If the printing is not finished (NO in S3), the print job transmission process is continued (S2, S3). On the other hand, if printing of the print job is completed (S3 is YES), it is determined whether printing is completed (S4). In this case, it is a process for determining whether or not another untransferred print job remains in the table shown in FIG. 3. If there is still an untransferred print job (S4 is NO), printing is performed from the hard disk 8 as described above. Data is read and printing processing is performed.
[0020]
Thereafter, when the printing process is completed (YES in S4), the print job is deleted and the deletion process from the job list is performed (S5). That is, the printing state of the table shown in FIG. 3 is changed from printing not completed to printing completed.
By processing in this way, the table shown in FIG. 3 is rewritten sequentially, and the latest printing state is always registered. A process for canceling the printing process in the printer apparatus 2 in this state will be described.
[0021]
FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining this process. First, when there is an instruction to cancel printing, a spooler job list is referred to (step (hereinafter referred to as STP) 1). That is, it is determined whether there is an untransferred job with reference to the table shown in FIG. If there is an untransferred job, the job is deleted from the spooler 5 (YES in STP2, STP3). Also, the job is deleted from the job list (STP4).
[0022]
On the other hand, if there is no untransferred job (STP2 is NO), it is determined whether negotiation is possible (STP2 is YES, STP5). Here, the negotiation is a timing check at the time of transmitting print data using the Centronics interface 3 and is a timing adjustment of bidirectional communication. If the negotiation is possible (YES in STP5), a cancel request command Is transmitted (STP6, STP7).
[0023]
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a cancel request command. In this example, “7Fh” shown in the figure is used as the cancel request command. This cancel request command is sent from the host device 1 to the transmission / reception unit 11 of the printer apparatus 2 as described above. When the transmission / reception unit 11 determines the input of the cancel request command, the transmission / reception unit 11 sets a mode in which the fixed byte print information transmitted next is handled as job information to be canceled.
[0024]
Next, fixed byte data is sent from the host device 1, but since the transmission / reception unit 11 of the printer apparatus 2 is in a mode for handling as job information, it does not move from the transmission / reception buffer 12 to the command buffer 13. The transfer task 16 is notified of cancellation and job information to be canceled.
[0025]
The printer device 2 searches the print information for the cancel request from the job information, finds the image image of the corresponding print job, and controls not to transfer the image image to the printer engine unit 18 and to perform printing.
By configuring in this way, in the system using the Centronics interface, the command after bi-directional communication arbitration is expanded, the cancel request command is negotiated with the printer controller side in advance, and the job can be canceled without being confused with the print data. In addition to notification, job information can be notified.
[0026]
It should be noted that the same job management can be performed regardless of the difference between the LAN printer and the Centro printer by using the same management table for the LAN job management and the printing system of the present invention capable of realizing equivalent processing.
[0027]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, a printing system using a Centronics interface cancels printing processing by sending a cancel request command to the printer device even for print data sent to the printer device. can do.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a printing system according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer apparatus.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration in a hard disk.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process for writing information to a table, and illustrates a spool process.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating print processing.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating cancel processing based on a cancel request command.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a cancel request command.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Personal computer 2 Printer apparatus 3 Centro interface 4 Application 5 Spooler 6 Printer driver 7 Language monitor 8 Hard disk 9 Monitoring application 10 Printer port driver 11 Transmission / reception part 12 Transmission / reception buffer 13 Command buffer 14 Command execution part 15 Image memory 16 Transfer task 17 Printer engine Control unit 18 Printer engine unit 19 Printer controllers 20a to 20d Area

Claims (1)

In a printing system in which a host device and a printing device are connected via a bidirectional Centronics interface,
The host device is
A table for storing job information including transferred or untransferred information of the print data;
A language monitor for writing the job information to the table and monitoring the job information;
Based on the print cancel instruction, the table is referred to. If there is untransferred print data, the untransferred print data is deleted and a part of the command code after bidirectional arbitration of the interface is printed. Conversion means for converting to a data cancellation code;
Transmitting means for transmitting the cancellation code to the printing apparatus,
The printing apparatus includes:
Print processing means for performing print processing of the print data;
Canceling means for canceling the print processing of the print data that has been transferred and instructed by the cancel code based on the reception of the cancel code;
A printing system comprising:

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