JP2000289295A - Printer apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer which allows a user to continue printing without being aware of a failure by making use of a function of the printer at present to a maximum and combining the other function even when a part of functions of the printer fails. SOLUTION: Whether or not a function for carrying out the process is present in the printer is judged (S10). When the function is present, the process using the function is continued (S13). When the function is not present, it is judged (S11) whether or not a function which can emulate the whole or part of a function of a device not connected in an actual hardware construction by the other function or a combination of other functions is present. When the function is present (S11; Y), the emulation is executed (S12) to continue the process (S13). According to this example, a user can realize a usage equal to a usage or a usage of part of a printer equipped with the function by executing the emulation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer device that combines various functions and combines them into one virtual device so that many functions of the printer can be used without the user's awareness.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the progress of OA in recent years, word processors,
2. Description of the Related Art Printing documents, images, and the like created on a personal computer by a printer connected to a network is widely performed.
Under such an environment, there is a demand to collect a lot of data created and processed by the host computer and quickly print the data in various forms by a printer. On the other hand, for example, in the technique described in JP-A-5-540,
2. Description of the Related Art There has been proposed a printer that can easily sort printed materials by printing a partition page to be printed in a color different from the ground color of another page using one type of paper tray.
According to this technique, the efficiency of the printing process is improved by making it possible to perform what is conventionally performed using two trays with one tray.

[0003]

By the way, when some functions of the printer are out of order, the printing operation has to be stopped due to the failure even though the other functions are normal. Also, if a tray is broken in a printer to which many clients are connected, printing cannot be performed on another tray unless the settings are changed. Further, in the conventional printer, the designation of the tray can be easily performed, but the designation of the form cannot be performed, or when there is an application that is difficult to use, the printing process is complicated and the process is troublesome.

Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to make the most of the functions that the printer has at present, and to allow the user to combine other functions even if some of the functions of the printer fail. An object of the present invention is to provide a printer that can continue printing without being conscious of a failure. Second embodiment of the present invention
It is an object of the present invention to provide a printer capable of performing a normal printing process even when a tray of the printer is broken, without changing settings of a client. A third object of the present invention is to provide a printer that allows the user to use the functions of the printer simply by specifying a tray.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, in a printer capable of realizing various functions in response to a command from a user, it is determined whether or not a function according to a command from the user is a function that can be actually realized. Means for determining
When it is determined that the function cannot be realized by this determination means,
The emulation means that all or some of the functions of the device that are not connected in the actual configuration can be emulated by other functions or a combination of other functions, and the details of the emulation means used by the user are described by the user. The first object is achieved by providing setting means for setting.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tray designating means for allowing a user to designate a tray to be output, and when a certain tray is designated by the tray designating means, the setting means is used. The second object is achieved by being able to set other trays as specified.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, when another tray is designated by the setting means, a predetermined form to be used for printing can be designated at the same time. As a result, the third
Achieve the objectives.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer used in the present embodiment. The user creates an image to be printed by the host computer 1 and designates a printer for printing,
Issue a print instruction for the created image. When a print command is issued, the host computer 1 converts the image data into a command code system that can be interpreted by the printer controller 2 using printer driver software that matches the connected printer. The image data converted by the printer driver software is output to the host interface 3 of the connected printer.

In the printer controller 2, when the host interface 3 starts receiving transmission data from the computer, a CPU (central processing unit) 4 identifies a control command and image data in the transmission data (see FIG. 1). Command analysis) using a working area of a RAM (random access memory) 5 according to a program stored in a ROM (read only memory) 9. Then, the CPU 4 draws and develops the image data in the RAM 5 according to the code information written in the ROM 9. In FIG. 1, a combination of the printer controller 2 and the printer engine 6 is a printer.

[0010] An image is drawn by the printer controller 2,
At the time of development, a system called a partial bitmap system has become mainstream. In this partial bitmap method, an image to be printed is divided into a plurality of bands of the same width in the sub-scanning direction, and a free area on the work RAM that can accommodate the band is assigned to each band.
Draw an image. By using the partial bitmap method in this manner, it is not always necessary to store one
Even if a continuous free RAM area for pages cannot be secured, image development can be performed.

Next, after the CPU 4 develops the image in the RAM 5, the CPU 4 issues a print start command to the printer engine 6 to start printing, and the developed image data is transmitted to the printer engine 6 via the engine interface 8. The output is made to the engine 6 and printing is executed. here,
Upon receiving the print start instruction, the printer engine 6 starts and stops the rotation of each motor for driving the paper feed roller and the transport roller and the like, and drives each solenoid for driving the transport path switching claw and the like by a sequence control unit provided therein. The on / off timing of the printer is controlled, a predetermined sheet is fed and conveyed from a sheet feed tray designated by the printer controller, and image formation by an electrophotographic method or the like is completed, and the sheet is discharged.

In general, when an image is output to the printer engine 6 (video output), an enormous amount of data must be transferred in a short period of time.
The A controller 7 performs a DMA process to increase the speed. Further, in the case of the partial bitmap method, the DMA operation for the set number of transfers is performed by designating the start address of the DMA of the band to be printed and the number of transfers to the video DMA controller 7. In addition, video DMA
When the DMA transfer is completed, the controller 7
Then, an interrupt for terminating the video DMA is issued to 4 to notify the end. The CPU 4 sets the DMA parameters of the next succeeding band in the video DMA controller 7 again, and completes the output to the printer engine 6 by performing the same video DMA operation.

Further, in a color printer engine and a digital color copying machine engine, printing is performed in comparison with a monochrome printer engine and a digital copying machine engine.
Since the electrophotographic processes such as image formation, development, and transfer are required for four colors of CMYK, it is necessary to spend four times as much time. In order to perform high-speed printing, the photoconductor has four colors, and the photoconductor is used. Are serially arranged, and a tandem type color printer engine for continuously feeding paper has been proposed. Also,
In a color inkjet printer, printing is performed by ejecting ink from ejection nozzles arranged in each nozzle row of CMYK while the print head is moving in the main scanning direction. Further, in order to improve the resolution, it is necessary to make the nozzles smaller to narrow the pitch between the nozzles.
An ink jet engine of a type in which the nozzle rows of colors are displaced in the sub-scanning direction, the print head is enlarged, and the head itself is moved to perform printing to improve the resolution has been devised.

As a technique for outputting data to the printer engine 6 at a high speed by the video DMA controller 7, the address cycle of the CPU bus is made only one cycle, and reading and writing of the memory are performed by burst processing in which data cycles are continuously performed. This is realized without the overhead of the cycle related to. By performing the above operation, the printing of the image created by the user is performed by the video DM.
High-speed output can be performed using the A controller 7. Further, by using a partial bitmap method for memory management, it is possible to print an image by dividing the image into bands in the sub-scanning direction.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure according to the first embodiment. First, in the printer,
It is determined whether there is a function for performing the process (step 10). If the function exists (step 10; Y), the process using the function is continued (step 13). If the function does not exist (step 10;
N), it is determined whether there is a function capable of emulating all or a part of the function of the device not connected on the actual hardware configuration by another function or a combination of other functions (step 11). As a result, if the function exists (step 11; Y), emulation is executed (step 12) and the process is continued (step 1).
3). If the function is not available (step 1
1; N), error processing is performed. In this embodiment, by executing the emulation, the user can realize a usage equivalent to or a part of a printer having the function.

Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The print command processing section of the printer controller performs the following processing when a command for specifying a tray comes. First, a tray is specified (step 20). Then, the virtual tray is converted to a real tray with reference to the conversion table (step 21), and normal printing processing is performed (step 22). The table in FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the virtual tray and the real tray. As shown in this table, in the case of the virtual tray 3, the data is output to the real tray 1. In this embodiment, when a tray that cannot be used is specified, another print tray can be set as specified, so that normal print processing can be performed without changing client settings. .

Next, a third embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The print command processing section of the printer controller performs the following processing when a command for specifying a tray comes. First, a tray is designated (step 30). Then, the virtual tray is converted to a real tray by referring to the conversion table, and if a form (for example, one having a frame line) is specified, it is assumed that a form execution command is included (step 31). Thereafter, normal processing is performed (step 32). FIG. 5 shows the relationship between the virtual tray, the real tray, and the form. As shown in this table, in the case of the virtual tray 3, the output is performed in the real tray 2 and the form 1. In the third embodiment, by preparing a tray in which a form is registered in a printer, printing intended by the user can be obtained.

[0018]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a part of the function of the printer fails, a part of the function is emulated by combining the other functions, thereby preventing the business from being stopped due to the failure. can do. Also, by combining various functions and combining them into one virtual device,
Many functions of the printer can be used up without the user's awareness. According to the second aspect of the present invention, if the tray is broken, the setting can be performed on another tray without changing the client setting.
The user can perform the printing process as usual. According to the third aspect of the present invention, the tray can be easily specified,
When there is an application that cannot specify a form or is difficult to use, by preparing a tray in which the form is registered in a printer, the user can use the form without being aware of it.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer used in the present embodiment according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a table showing a relationship between a virtual tray and a real tray.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a table showing a relationship among a virtual tray, a real tray, and a form.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Host computer 2 Printer controller 3 Host interface 4 CPU 5 RAM 6 Printer engine 7 Video DMA controller 8 Engine interface 9 ROM

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A printer device capable of realizing various functions in response to a command from a user, a judging means for judging whether or not a function according to a command from the user is a function that can be actually realized, and a function not realizable by the judging means. When it is determined,
The emulation means that can emulate all or part of the functions of the device that are not connected in the actual configuration by another function or a combination of other functions, and the details of emulation by this emulation means are provided by the user. A printer device, comprising: setting means capable of setting. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: tray designation means for allowing a user to designate a tray to be output. When a tray is designated by the tray designation means, setting can be made as if another tray were designated by the setting means. The printer device according to claim 1, wherein 3. The printer device according to claim 2, wherein when the setting unit sets another tray as specified, a predetermined form used for printing can be specified at the same time.