JP2000293328A - Printer, printing system and device for generating print information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a printer, a printing system and a print information generating device capable of reducing costs by making it possible for a hardware circuit to correspond to plural types of machines (kind) of printers while making fast printing possible by allowing the hardware installed in a printer to perform prescribed conversion processing. SOLUTION: A print information generating device 3 receives original image data and a printing command from a host computer 10, converts the data and command into a command format that can be interpreted and processed by a printer A or B, for instance, an ESC/P command and transfers them to the printer A or B. The device 3 is composed of an ASIC(application specific integrated circuit), and when a command pattern switching signal H is inputted to an internal pattern switching state machine 3S, switching is performed between an ESC/P command A pattern and a B pattern.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print command generated by a host computer or a digital camera or the like.
The present invention relates to a print information generation apparatus that converts print information such as data into print information in a command format executable by a printer and generates the print information, and further relates to a control technology of a printer and a print system including the print information generation apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art When a printer is used with a host computer, a digital camera, or the like, original image data generated by an application or externally input is:
It must be converted to a command format that can be interpreted and processed by the printer. Conventionally, such conversion processing is performed by a printer driver which is software installed and used in a host computer, or imaging software in the printer. When the above-described conversion processing is performed by a printer driver, a host computer;
In addition, when the conversion is performed by software in the printer, the printer and the respective CPUs have a heavy burden, and a large amount of time is spent for this conversion process, resulting in a decrease in throughput. Therefore, recently, in order to reduce the load on the CPU and enable high-speed printing, the above-described conversion processing is mainly performed by a hardware circuit A provided in the printer.
SIC [Application Specialized]
IC (application-specific integrated circuit)].

The command format actually supplied to the printer differs depending on the model (type) of the printer. Even when the above-described conversion processing is performed by the printer driver, the command format shown in FIG. As shown, different printer drivers are used for each model (type) of the printer. However, when such conversion processing is performed by the ASIC as described above, it is necessary to recreate the ASIC for each model (type) as shown in FIG. 6B, and development costs are required each time. . The development of one such ASIC requires, for example, a cost of several tens of millions of yen. Therefore, this cost can be reduced to the price of the printer, and a low-cost, high-speed printer can be realized. become unable. An object of the present invention is to enable high-speed printing by performing the above-described conversion processing by a hardware circuit provided in a printer, and to enable the hardware circuit to be compatible with a plurality of types (types) of printers. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a printer, a printing system, and a print information generating device that can reduce costs.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, a print information generation device comprising a hardware circuit or a print information generation means in a printer is provided with an external device such as a printer (type). The function to switch the print information to be generated in accordance with the situation given by the user is provided. This makes it possible to generalize the print information generating apparatus or the print information generating means in the printer. For example, since it is not necessary to develop each printer model (type), the development cost and the price of the printer and the printing system are reduced. Reduction can be achieved. That is, the print information generating apparatus according to claim 1 is a print information generating apparatus that has a plurality of print information generating modes and is implemented by hardware, and generates print information in accordance with an externally provided situation. Is configured to be able to be switched. Here, the situation given from outside is not limited to the situation on the printer side, such as the model (type) of the printer to be connected, but broadly includes whether it is connected to a host computer or a digital camera. It is the purpose. In particular, in the print information generating apparatus according to the present invention, the print information generating apparatus is realized by hardware, and generates print information and transfers the generated print information to a printer. It is configured to be able to switch. It should be noted that, like the print information generating apparatus according to claim 3, the printer ID information is received,
An operation may be performed to automatically switch the mode of the print information based on the ID information. Further, as in the print information generating apparatus according to the fourth aspect, a changeover switch may be provided, and the mode of the print information may be changed by manually operating the changeover switch. Further, the print information generating device may be used by being built in a printer. The print information generating apparatus according to claim 6 is
What is claimed is: 1. A print information generating apparatus that receives first print information from a host, generates second print information based on the first print information, and transfers the second print information to a printer. The mode of the second print information is switched in accordance with the following. The printing system according to claim 7, further comprising: a host computer that instructs printing, and a printer that executes printing based on the command from the host computer, further comprising: a first print information from the host computer. And the first
A print information generating device that generates second print information based on the print information and passes the print information to the printer. The print information generating device is realized by hardware, and is configured by a printer that passes the second print information. It is characterized in that the mode of the second print information can be switched according to the type. In addition, as in the printing system according to the eighth aspect, the print information generating apparatus may be configured as an independent apparatus separate from the host computer and the printer. On the other hand, as in the printing system according to the ninth aspect, the print information generating apparatus is built in the printer and used by being connected to a bus of a printer CPU. In addition, the print information generation device is built in the host computer, and the host C
It may be used by being connected to the bus of the PU. Further, the printer according to claim 14 is provided with a first command from a host computer.
Print information generating means, which is a hardware circuit capable of receiving the first print information and generating second print information in a plurality of predetermined modes based on the first print information, and the print information generating means A print execution unit that executes printing based on the second print information of any one of the plurality of modes;
A switching unit that switches the second print information generated by the print information generation unit between the plurality of modes. Further, in the printer according to the fifteenth aspect, the print information generating means is manufactured in advance and used by connecting to a bus of a printer CPU in the printer.
It is an IC (integrated circuit for specific use).

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a basic configuration of the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the present embodiment includes a print information generating device 3 that generates print information and passes it to a printer.
Is configured to be able to switch the mode of the generated print information between the A pattern and the B pattern according to whether the printer that passes the print information is the printer A or the printer B. That is, the print information generating device 3 receives, for example, original image data and a print command from the host computer 10 and transmits the data and the command to the printer A.
Or a command format that B can interpret and process, for example, ES
It is converted into a C / P command and passed to the printer A or B. The print information generating device 3 is configured by the ASIC described above, and has a pattern switching state machine 3S therein. In the present embodiment, when the command switching signal H is input to the pattern switching state machine 3S, switching is performed between the ESC / P command A pattern and the B pattern. Hereinafter, the print information generation device 3 of the present embodiment will be described in more detail. The print information generation device 3 exists between the host computer 10 and the printers A and B. This print information generation device 3
For example, it is a hardware logic circuit such as the ASIC described above, and is not a computer that executes software by a CPU. This print information generation device 3
Upon receiving the control command 14 as the first print information from the host computer 10, it creates a printer command 17 for the printer A or B as the second print information and sends it to the printer A or B. The image data included in the control command 14 as the first print information sent from the host computer 10 to the print information generating device 3 is, in principle, 25
An 8-bit value capable of expressing six gradations is full-color RGB raster data composed of a set of pixel values that are each color component. On the other hand, a printer command 17 as second print information sent from the print information generating device 3 to the printer A or B
Is, in principle, binary CMYK raster data composed of a set of pixel values each of which is a one-bit value indicating whether or not to print a dot. Therefore, the print information generating device 3 has a function of converting full-color RGB raster data into binary CMYK raster data, that is, a color conversion function and a halftoning function. On the other hand, software in the host computer 10 (for example, a printer driver) and software in the printer A or B do not need to have the function. The printer command 17 is generally quite complicated and has a long bit number for various reasons.
The control commands 14 can be designed to be simpler and shorter. As a result, printing can be performed at high speed,
The release of the host is quick, and the overall price of the system is low. (By the way, the print information generating device 3 made of ASIC is cheaper than a high-performance CPU that can perform comparable high-speed processing.) As shown in FIG. 1, the print information generating device 3 is connected to the printer connection port of the host computer 10 via the interface cable 23, and the host side port of the print information generating device 3. The external form is such that the printer A or B is connected to the printer-side port of the device 3 via the interface cable 25. The cables 23 and 25
Can be replaced by a communication network.
The printer A or B is connected to the host computer 10 via the cable 25, the print information generation device 3, and the cable 23.
Is connected to enable bidirectional communication with the printer A or B,
The ID information of the printer is transmitted to the host computer 10. As described above, the pattern switching state machine 3S is provided in the print information generating device 3. On the other hand, the host computer 10 has a printer I
A recognition unit 10R for D is provided. This printer ID
Of the pattern switching state machine 3
S, and as described above, recognizes the printer ID information sent from the printer A or B to the host computer 10 and, at the same time, recognizes the recognized printer ID.
Is transmitted to the pattern switching state machine 3S for instructing switching to the printer command pattern corresponding to. The print information generation device 3
Inside, a command storage unit 3C is provided as described later. In the present embodiment, for example, E, which has been generated by a printer driver in a host computer,
Since a printer command such as an SC / P command sequence has a certain pattern, a new technology for automatically generating such a printer command by hardware (ASIC) as described above uses, for example, an ESC. By providing a / P command sequence switching signal input, the generation pattern of the ESC / P command is switched, and this ASIC can be used in either printer A or B. Below, such ESC
A method of switching the / P command sequence will be described with reference to the state transition diagram of FIG. First, when printing is started (S201), it is determined whether the connected printer is A or B based on the ID information of the printer (S202). If the printer is A, the process branches to the left in the figure, and the ESC / ＠ command [initialization command] (S203), ESC / G [graphics mode selection command] (S204),.
..., ESC / C [page format command] (S205) and ESC / i [raster data command] (S206), and the printing ends (S207).
The printer A is an ink jet printer of six colors of C, M, Y, K, LC (light cyan) and LM (light magenta). On the other hand, if the printer is B in S202, it branches to the right in FIG.
Command [initialization command] (S208), ESC / G
[Graphics mode selection command] (S209),
..., ESC / k [monochrome print command] (S211) is output after ESC / C [page format command] (S210), and then ESC / k [monochrome print command] is output.
/ I [raster data command] (S212), and the printing ends (S213). This printer B is C,
This is a case of an inkjet printer of four colors of M, Y, and K. FIG. 3 shows the command storage unit 3C of the print information generation device 3.
FIG. In the command storage unit 3C, storage areas 1, 2,..., 11, 12, 13,.
SC / ＠ command, ESC / G command, ...
・, ESC / C command, ESC / k command, ESC
/ I command... Are stored. S202 of FIG.
In the case where the printer is B, the storage areas 1 and
... 11, 12, and 13 are sequentially output in succession. On the other hand, when the printer is A, the storage areas 1, 2,. After successively outputting the commands stored (stored) in the
The commands stored (stored) in the storage area 12 are omitted (skipped), and the commands stored (stored) in the storage area 13 are subsequently output. As described above, although the manner of outputting the ESC / P command sequence differs depending on whether the printer is A or B, as is clear from FIG. 2, there is some pattern commonality (ESC / ＠). Command, ESC / G command, ..., ESC /
Common up to C command). Therefore, when an ESC / P command sequence switching signal is input to an ASIC that holds (stores) them in advance, an ESC /
The pattern of the P command sequence is switched. FIG.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a basic configuration of a second embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, as briefly shown in FIG. 4, a print information generation unit 33 is provided in the printer 30. The printer 30 includes C, M, Y,
K, LC (light cyan), and LM (light magenta) ink jet printers of six colors, and the print execution unit 35 of the printer A described above in terms of software such as image processing and hardware such as an ink ejection mechanism.
It is similar to that of In the present embodiment, the printer 30 is provided with the dip switch 37, and by switching the dip switch 37 to “A”, the pattern switching state machine 33S of the print information generation unit 33
A command pattern switching signal H is input and generated E
The SC / P command switches to the A pattern. In the present embodiment, an apparatus corresponding to the print information generation apparatus of the first embodiment is built in the printer 30 and has a CP
It is used by being connected to a bus (not shown) of U (not shown). Note that also in the present embodiment, the print information generation unit 33
Receives the control command 14 as the first print information from the host computer 10 and sends the printer command 17 (pattern A) as the second print information to the print execution unit 35 as in the first embodiment. It is. Also according to the second embodiment, the print execution unit 35 of the printer 30
As described above, it is sufficient to use the ASIC that can be used for both the printers A and B in the printer 30 without manufacturing an ASIC specialized for the application, without increasing the development cost. Costs can be reduced.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a basic configuration of the third embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, the present embodiment includes a print information generating device 43, and a host port of the print information generating device 43 is connected to a printer connection port of the host computer 10 via the interface cable 23. Then, the printer A or B is connected to the printer-side port of the print information generating device 43 via the interface cable 25 in the same manner as in the first embodiment. Further, the print information generation device 43 of the present embodiment includes:
It also has a function of receiving image data captured by the digital camera 18 via the FD, generating a command based on this data, and sending it to the connected printer C. Further, the print information generating device 43 of the present embodiment is configured to be able to support even when the host computer 10 uses not the control command of the first embodiment but the conventional printer driver 10a that sends a printer command. I have. That is, if the received command cannot be understood (that is, is not a control command), the print information generating device 43 sends the entire command (all from the command code to the data) to the printer A, for example. Therefore, the conventional printer driver 10a
Is sent to the printer A as it is, bypassing the print information generation device 43, so that the printer A can be driven as in the related art. However, in this case, the predetermined conversion processing is performed by the printer driver 10a by the CPU of the host computer 10.
Is executed, the throughput is reduced accordingly, and the time until the host computer 10 is released is also increased. In the present embodiment, the print information generating device 43 includes a dip switch 47, and by manually switching the dip switch 47 between “A”, “B”, and “C”, the pattern of the print information generating device 43 is changed. The command pattern switching signal H is input to the switching state machine 43S, and the generated command pattern is switched. According to the third embodiment, as described above, an ASIC that can be used for all of the printers A, B, and C can be used without previously manufacturing an ASIC specialized for each of the printers A, B, and C.
Can be used as it is in the print information generation device 43, so that the cost can be suppressed without increasing the development cost. As described above, the present invention has been described with respect to the specific embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to these, and may be applied to other embodiments within the scope described in the claims. For example, in the above embodiment, the print information generation device (unit) is connected to the print information generation device (unit) according to the type of printer (print execution unit) or host (first print information generation unit). As the second print information generated by
Although the example in which the command pattern such as ESC / P is switched has been described, the content of the second print information is not limited to the above. The processing is quicker, and includes a wide range of print information whose contents vary depending on the type of printer (print execution means), host, etc. (first print information generation means).

As described above, according to the present invention, a print information generating device or a print information generating means in a printer, which is constituted by a hardware circuit, is provided with an external information such as (type) of the printer. The function of switching the print information to be generated according to the situation is provided, so that the print information generating apparatus or the print information generating means in the printer can be generalized. For example, it is necessary to develop for each printer model (type). As a result, development costs and, consequently, printer and printing system prices can be reduced. Therefore, by performing a predetermined conversion process using a hardware circuit provided in the printer, high-speed printing is enabled, and the hardware circuit is adapted to be compatible with a plurality of types (types) of printers. It is possible to provide a printer, a printing system, and a print information generation device capable of reducing costs.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an outline of a configuration of a print information generating apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a method of switching an ESC / P command sequence according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a command storage unit of the print information generation device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an outline of a configuration of a printer according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an outline of a configuration of a printing system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are diagrams showing a method of conversion into a command format to be supplied to a conventional printer, wherein FIG. 6A shows a case where the conversion is performed by a printer driver, and FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Print Information Generation Device A Printer B Printer 10 Host Computer 3S Pattern Switching State Machine H Command Pattern Switching Signal 14 Control Command 17 Printer Command 23 Interface Cable 25 Interface Cable 3R Printer ID Recognition Unit 3C Command Storage Unit 1, 2,. .. 11, 12, 13 storage area 30 printer 33 print information generation unit 37 dip switch 33S pattern switching state machine 35 print execution unit 43 print information generation device 18 digital camera C printer 10a printer driver 47 dip switch 43S pattern switching state machine

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. A print information generation apparatus having a plurality of print information generation modes and implemented by hardware, wherein a mode of print information to be generated can be switched according to a situation given from outside. Print information generation device. 2. A print information generation apparatus which is realized by hardware and generates print information and transfers the print information to a printer, wherein the print information generation apparatus is capable of switching the mode of the generated print information according to the type of the printer. apparatus. 3. A print information generating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said print information generating apparatus operates to receive printer ID information and automatically switch the mode of said print information based on said ID information. Generator. 4. The print information generation apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a changeover switch, wherein the changeover switch is manually operated to change the mode of the print information. apparatus. 5. The print information generating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said print information generating apparatus is used by being incorporated in a printer. 6. Receiving first print information from a host,
A print information generation device that generates second print information based on the first print information and transfers the second print information to a printer, wherein the second print information is generated according to a type of the printer that transfers the second print information. A print information generating apparatus characterized in that the mode is switched. 7. A host computer for instructing printing,
A printing system comprising: a printer that executes printing based on an instruction from the host computer; and further receives first print information from the host computer, and generates second print information based on the first print information. A print information generation device that transfers the second print information to the printer according to the type of the printer that transfers the second print information.
A print system configured to switch the mode of the print information. 8. The printing system according to claim 7, wherein
The printing system, wherein the print information generating device is configured as an independent device separate from the host computer and the printer. 9. The printing system according to claim 7, wherein
The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the print information generating apparatus is built in the printer and is used by being connected to a bus of a printer CPU. 10. The printing system according to claim 7, wherein said print information generation device is built in said host computer and used by being connected to a bus of a host CPU. 11. A hardware circuit capable of receiving first print information from a host computer and generating a plurality of predetermined second forms of second print information according to the type of printer based on the first print information. A printer control device comprising: a print information generating unit; and a switching unit that switches the second print information generated by the print information generating unit between the plurality of modes. 12. The printer control device according to claim 11, wherein the switching means is configured to receive printer ID information and automatically switch the mode of the second print information based on the ID information. A printer control device. 13. The printer control device according to claim 11, wherein said switching means is a changeover switch configured to be capable of switching the mode of said print information by manually operating. Printer control device. 14. A print information generating means, which is a hardware circuit capable of receiving first print information from a host computer and generating a plurality of predetermined second forms of second print information based on the first print information. A print execution unit that executes printing based on the second print information of any one of the plurality of modes that can be generated by the print information generation unit, and a second print information generated by the print information generation unit And a switching unit for switching between the plurality of modes. 15. The printer according to claim 14, wherein
The print information generating means is an ASIC which is manufactured in advance and is used by being connected to a bus of a printer CPU in the printer.
(Integrated circuit for specific use).