JP2001001614A - Printing apparatus and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce outputs of unnecessary pages and eliminate wasting resources, times and labor by setting a receiving means for receiving printing data from an external apparatus, and a printing control means for printing pages of designated page numbers among received printing data and destroying remaining printing data. SOLUTION: A page number to be printed is inputted by a manual operation input device (c), and the data is stored and memorized in an optional area in a cache memory (f). Printing data transmitted from a host computer is received via a host interface (d), and sequentially stored in a receiving buffer memory (e). At the same time, the printing data is analyzed, stored altogether as printing data of one page to the memory (f), and the number of pages of the printing data is counted. The page is printed when the counted number of pages agrees with the designated page number. The printing data stored together as the data of one page in the memory (f) is destroyed when the counted number does not agree with the designated page number.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and its control method for outputting characters, graphics, raster image images, and the like on a medium such as paper or OHP sheet as a peripheral device such as a computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the case where data of various documents and the like are stored not as application software data but as print data in a print server or the like, and are directly provided to a printing apparatus from the print server as needed and printed out. There is. Conventionally, when data once created as print data is directly supplied to a printing apparatus and printed out, all pages are always output.

[0003]

However, even if, once all pages have been printed out, it is necessary to reprint only some of the pages due to loss, damage, etc. Have to be output, which wastes resources and time for printing unnecessary pages.

In order to avoid wasteful use of paper as much as possible, it is necessary for the operator to wait for a printout of a required page beside the printing apparatus and to manually cancel the job after outputting the page. there were. In any case, the pages required to be printed must be printed, which wastes resources and time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problem, and even if print data is once created, unnecessary pages can be specified by outputting a specified page later and outputting only the specified page. Reduce the output of complex pages,
The aim is to reduce waste of resources, time and effort.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following arrangement. That is, a printing device that prints print data in page units, a designating unit that specifies a page number to be printed, a printing unit that prints print data for each page, and a receiving unit that receives print data from an external device. Print control means for causing the printing means to print a page having a designated page number out of the print data received by the receiving means and discarding the remaining print data.

Preferably, the specifying means specifies a page number input from the external device.

[0008] Preferably, the specification means includes an input means for an operator to specify a page number.

[0009] Preferably, the specifying means can specify a plurality of page numbers.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [First Embodiment] A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a printing apparatus according to the present invention, and mainly shows a controller of the printing apparatus.

In FIG. 1, a ROM (read only
The memory (a) is a nonvolatile storage device, and various processing procedures to be described below are all stored in the ROM (a).
It is stored as a program which is a set of control instructions to the MPU (b).

An MPU (microprocessor unit) (b) is an arithmetic processing unit, and various processing procedures to be described hereinafter are all performed by the MPU (b) using the ROM (a).
Is realized by sequentially executing the programs stored in.

The page number to be printed is input by the manual input device (c), and the input page number is stored in the cache memory (f).

The host i / f (host interface) (d) receives print data transmitted from an information processing device such as a computer as a host device, and stores the print data in a reception buffer memory (e).

The reception buffer memory (e) is a RAM (random access memory) for storing print data received by the host interface (d).

The cache memory (f) is a ROM
This is a RAM used to operate the program stored in (a), and stores a page number input from the manual input device (c) or is stored in the reception buffer memory (e). The print data is analyzed and converted into video image data stored in the bitmap memory (g), and used for page control and the like.

The bitmap memory (g) is a RAM for storing video image data generated by analyzing and converting print data stored in the reception buffer memory (e), and is stored here. The video image data is finally transmitted as a video signal to the image display unit.

The video i / f (video interface) (h) video-transfers the video image data stored in the bitmap memory (g) to the image printing unit (i), and prints out.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the basic operation of the present embodiment.

The basic processing procedure of the embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

First, in step S1 of FIG. 2, a page number to be printed is input by the manual operation input device (c), and is stored and stored in an arbitrary area in the cache memory (f).

Next, in step S2, Host i
/ F (d), print data transmitted from an information processing device such as a computer as a host device is received,
The data is sequentially stored in the reception buffer memory (e).

In step S3, the print data stored in the reception buffer memory (e) is analyzed, and
Cached as print data for pages
Stored in the memory (f), the number of pages of the print data is counted.

In step S4, it is determined whether or not the counted page number matches the specified page number. If not, control is transferred to step S5, and if matched, control is transferred to step S6.

In step S5, the print data collected in one page and stored in the cache memory (f) is discarded, and control is passed to step S2.

In step S6, print data collected in one page and stored in the cache memory (f) is image-developed, stored in the bitmap memory (g), and stored in the video i / f (video interface)
The video is transferred to the image printing unit via (h).

In step S7, the remaining print data transmitted from the information processing apparatus such as a computer as the host device is received, and all of the print data are discarded.

According to the above procedure, the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment prints out only the page specified in advance among the print data received from the host. Therefore, unnecessary pages can be prevented from being output, and resources and time can be wasted.

Further, even when the host transmits print data for all pages, printing on pages other than the designated page can be prevented on the printer side. For this reason, there is no need to change the host-side application program and the like, and it is possible to cope with only the printer.

The engine unit for printing may be of any kind, but includes, for example, an ink jet system shown in FIG. 6 and an electrophotographic system shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of an ink jet recording apparatus IJRA used as the image printing section (i) of FIG. In the figure, the carriage HC that engages with the spiral groove 5004 of the lead screw 5005 that rotates via the driving force transmission gears 5011 and 5009 in conjunction with the forward and reverse rotation of the drive motor 5013 has a pin (not shown). Then, it is reciprocated in the directions of arrows a and b. An ink jet cartridge IJC is mounted on the carriage HC. The paper pressing plate 5002 presses the paper against the platen 5000 in the moving direction of the carriage. The photo plastics 5007 and 5008 are provided with a carriage lever 5006.
Is a home position detecting means for confirming the existence in this area and switching the rotation direction of the motor 5013. The support member 5016 supports a cap member 5022 that caps the front surface of the recording head. Suction means 50
Reference numeral 15 performs suction recovery of the recording head via the opening 5023 in the cap. The member 5019 is a member that enables the cleaning blade 5017 to move in the front-rear direction, and these members are supported by the main body support plate 5018. It goes without saying that the blade 5017 is not limited to this form, and a well-known cleaning blade can be applied to this embodiment. The lever 5021 is a lever for starting suction for recovery of suction, and moves with the movement of the cam 5020 that engages with the carriage, and the driving force from the driving motor moves by a known transmission means such as clutch switching. Controlled.

The capping, cleaning, and suction recovery are configured so that desired operations can be performed at the corresponding positions by the action of the lead screw 5005 when the carriage comes to the area on the home position side. If a desired operation is performed at a timing, any of the examples can be applied.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of a laser beam printer (hereinafter abbreviated as LBP) used as an image printing section (i). Can be printed.

In the figure, reference numeral 740 denotes an LBP main body,
An image is formed on recording paper, which is a recording medium, based on the supplied character pattern and the like. Reference numeral 700 denotes an operation panel on which a switch for operation, an LED display, and the like are arranged, and corresponds to the manual operation input device (c). A printer control unit 701 controls the entire LBP 740 and analyzes character pattern information and the like. The printer control unit 701 mainly converts character pattern information into a video signal and outputs the video signal to the laser driver 702.

The laser driver 702 is a semiconductor laser 70
And a laser beam emitted from the semiconductor laser 703 in response to an input video signal.
04 is turned on / off. The laser beam 704 is swung right and left by a rotary polygon mirror 705 to scan on an electrostatic drum 706. Thus, an electrostatic latent image of a character pattern is formed on the electrostatic drum 706. This latent image is developed by a developing unit 707 around the electrostatic drum 706,
Transferred to recording paper. A cut sheet is used as the recording paper. The cut sheet recording paper is stored in a paper cassette 708 mounted on the LBP 740, is taken into the apparatus by a paper feed roller 709 and transport rollers 710 and 711, and is supplied to the electrostatic drum 706. Is done.

When the developed toner image is transferred onto a sheet, the toner image is thermally fixed by the fixing unit 712, and is discharged from the upward discharge port 714 or the downward discharge port 715 by the flap 713.

[Second Embodiment] Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

The block diagram showing the basic configuration of the printing apparatus according to the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the basic operation of the present embodiment. Hereinafter, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3, a flow of a basic processing procedure of the present embodiment will be described.

First, in step S11 of FIG. 3, a page number to be printed, which is transmitted from an information processing device such as a computer as a host device, is received and temporarily stored in a reception buffer (e). Thereafter, when it is interpreted that the print page is designated, the value is stored in an arbitrary area in the cache memory (f).

Next, in step S12, Host
Print data transmitted from an information processing device such as a computer as a host device is received by i / f (d), and is sequentially stored in the reception buffer memory (e).

In step S13, the print data stored in the reception buffer memory (e) is analyzed.
One page of print data is collected and stored in the cache memory (f), and the number of pages of the print data is counted.

In step S14, it is determined whether or not the counted page number matches the designated page number. If not, control is transferred to step S15, and if so, control is transferred to step S16.

In step S15, the print data stored in the cache memory (f) for one page is discarded, and control is passed to step S12.

In step S16, the print data stored in the cache memory (f) for one page is image-developed, stored in the bitmap memory (g), and stored in the video i / f (video The video is transferred to the image printing unit via the interface (h).

In step S17, the remaining print data transmitted from the information processing device such as a computer as the host device is received, and all of the data is discarded.

According to the above procedure, the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment prints out only the page specified in advance among the print data received from the host. Therefore, unnecessary pages can be prevented from being output, and resources and time can be wasted. In addition, since the page to be printed can be specified from the host, the page can be easily specified.

[Third Embodiment] Hereinafter, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

The block diagram showing the basic configuration of the printing apparatus according to the third embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment.

First, in step S21 of FIG. 4, a plurality of page numbers to be printed are input by the manual input device (c), and are stored in an arbitrary area in the cache memory (f).

Next, in step S22 of FIG.
The print data transmitted from the information processing device such as a computer as the host device is received by st i / f (d), and is sequentially stored in the reception buffer memory (e).

In step S23, the print data stored in the reception buffer memory (e) is analyzed.
One page of print data is collected and stored in the cache memory (f), and the number of pages of the print data is counted.

In step S24, it is determined whether or not the counted page number matches the designated page number. If not, control is transferred to step S25, and if matched, control is transferred to step S26.

In step S25, the print data collected in one page and stored in the cache memory (f) is discarded, and control is passed to step S22.

In step S26, the print data collected in one page and stored in the cache memory (f) is image-developed, stored in the bitmap memory (g), and stored in the video i / f (video / video). The video is transferred to the image printing unit via the interface (h).

In step S27, the next designated page number among the plurality of designated page numbers is set as a search target (comparison in step S24).

In step S28, the presence of the next designated page number among the designated designated page numbers is confirmed, and if the next designated print page exists, control is transferred to step S22. If not, step S2
Transfer control to 9.

In step S29, the remaining print data transmitted from the information processing device such as a computer as the host device is received, and all the print data is discarded.

According to the above procedure, the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment prints out a plurality of pages specified in advance from the print data received from the host. Therefore, unnecessary pages can be prevented from being output, and resources and time can be wasted.

[Fourth Embodiment] Hereinafter, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

The block diagram showing the basic configuration of the printing apparatus according to the fourth embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment.

First, in step S31 of FIG. 5, a plurality of page numbers to be printed transmitted from an information processing device such as a computer as a host device are received and temporarily stored in a reception buffer (e). Thereafter, when it is interpreted that a plurality of print pages are specified, the value is stored in an arbitrary area in the cache memory (f).

Next, in step S32 in FIG.
The print data transmitted from the information processing device such as a computer as the host device is received by st i / f (d), and is sequentially stored and stored in the reception buffer memory (e).

In step S33, the print data stored in the reception buffer memory (e) is analyzed.
One page of print data is collected and stored in the cache memory (f), and the number of pages of the print data is counted.

In step S34, it is determined whether or not the counted page number matches the designated page number. If not, control is transferred to step S35, and if so, control is transferred to step S36.

In step S35, the print data collected in one page and stored in the cache memory (f) is discarded, and the control is passed to step S32.

In step S36, print data collected in one page and stored in the cache memory (f) is image-developed, stored in the bitmap memory (g), and stored in the video i / f (video The video is transferred to the image printing unit via the interface (h).

In step S37, the next designated page number among the plurality of designated page numbers is set as a search target (comparison in step S34).

In step S38, the presence of the next designated page number among the designated designated page numbers is confirmed, and if the next designated print page exists, the control is transferred to step S32, and the existence of the next designated page number is determined. If not, step S3
Transfer control to 9.

In step S39, the remaining print data transmitted from the information processing device such as a computer as the host device is received, and all the print data is discarded.

According to the above procedure, the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment prints out a plurality of pages designated in advance from among the print data received from the host. Therefore, unnecessary pages can be prevented from being output, and resources and time can be wasted. In addition, since the page to be printed can be specified from the host, the page can be easily specified.

[Other Embodiments] In the first to fourth embodiments, the first steps S1, S1
One or a plurality of print designation page numbers input in 1, S21, S31 are automatically deleted in the next step after the last step S7, S17, S29, S39, respectively, so that subsequent printing is performed. You can also prevent it from being reflected in the data.

Steps S1, S11, S21, S
The print designation page number input at 31 may be left without being deleted, and may be reflected in subsequent print data until a clear instruction is given again.

It is also possible to receive the print data received one page at a time from the host device before the reception buffer can receive the print data, and analyze and count the pages later.

Even if the present invention is applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), an apparatus (for example, a copying machine, a facsimile, etc.) Device).

Further, an object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium (or a recording medium) in which a program code of the procedure shown in FIGS. It is also achieved by a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. By executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an operating system (OS) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. This also includes a case where some or all of the actual processing is performed and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion card inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the program code is read based on the instruction of the program code. This also includes the case where the CPU provided in the function expansion card or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0080]

As described above, according to the present invention, even for print data once created, unnecessary pages are output by designating necessary pages later and outputting only the specified pages. And waste of resources, time and effort.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a basic configuration of a printing apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a basic operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a basic operation of the second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a basic operation of the third embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a basic operation of the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a mechanism of the ink jet printer.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a mechanism of the laser beam printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

a ROM (read only memory) b arithmetic processing unit such as MPU (microprocessor unit) c manual input device d Host i / f (host interface) e RAM (random access memory) as reception buffer ) F RAM as cache memory g RAM as bitmap memory h Video i / f (video interface) i Image printing unit

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A printing device for printing print data on a page basis, a designating unit for designating a page number to be printed, a printing unit for printing print data on a page basis, and receiving print data from an external device. A printing apparatus comprising: a receiving unit; and a print control unit configured to cause the printing unit to print a page having a designated page number out of the print data received by the receiving unit, and to discard the remaining print data. . 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the specifying unit specifies a page number input from the external device.
A printing device according to claim 1. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the designation unit includes an input unit for an operator to designate a page number. 4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the specifying unit can specify a plurality of page numbers. 5. A method for controlling a printing apparatus for printing print data in page units, comprising: a designation step of designating a page number to be printed; a reception step of receiving print data from an external device; And a print control step of causing the printing unit that prints the print data page by page to print the print data of each of the specified print data, and discarding the remaining print data. Control method. 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the specifying step is capable of specifying a plurality of page numbers. 7. A computer-readable storage medium for storing a program for controlling a printing apparatus that prints print data in page units, the program comprising: a specifying step of specifying a page number to be printed; A receiving step of receiving print data; and, of the print data received by the receiving means, causing a page having a designated page number to be printed by a printing means for printing the print data page by page, and discarding the remaining print data. And a print control step.