JP2001047707A - Printer controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To grasp setting conditions in a printer easily when an internal setting code of the printer is generated and printed on a status sheet by providing a function for encoding a set value being held in the printer, and a function for printing encoded data in the internal test print items. SOLUTION: The CPU 101 in a printer controller 100 controls the entirety based on a program stored in a program ROM 103, a mode setting designated from an operating panel 112, and a command transmitted from a host unit 113. Internal setting parameters of a printer are stored in an NVRAM 102 and that data is reflected on the internal parameters at the time of turn on power or resetting. Mode setting and status sheet information of the operating panel 112 are also generated based on that data. Setting conditions in the printer can be grasped only with the setting code thereof by generating an internal setting code of the printer and printing it on a status sheet.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a printer controller, and more particularly, to a technique relating to an internal set value of a black-and-white and multi-value laser printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Printer information, information on internal parameters set by a user, information on a host PC, OS, and the like are used as information necessary for an analysis for responding to a question from a user of a printer or a printer failure.
Information such as the version of the printer driver is indispensable.

In particular, parameters and versions inside a printer are important information for analysis, but since these parameters and versions have a large number of items, the printer alone has a function of printing parameters as a status sheet.

[0004]

As described above, the printer alone has a function of printing parameters as a status sheet, but when the service maintenance department tries to obtain this status sheet from a user,
There is a problem in that facsimile and mailing require cost and labor. There was also a problem that there were too many items to be communicated by telephone. That is, conventionally, it has been difficult to accurately analyze a failure and take a prompt response.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to easily grasp the setting status inside a printer.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a function for coding a set value held in a printer, and printing the coded data on an internal test print item. And a function of performing

[0007] To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a second aspect.
According to the invention described in the first aspect, the printer controller according to the first aspect has a function of adding a code representing a difference from an initial setting value to a head.

[0008] In order to achieve the above object, a third aspect is provided.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the printer controller according to the first aspect, a function of displaying a coded set value and a function of inputting the coded set value are provided.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, by generating a printer internal setting code and printing it on a status sheet, the setting state inside the printer can be grasped only by the setting code.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since only the changed portion can be encoded, the setting status inside the printer can be grasped by a short setting code.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the setting code can be input, for example, via the operation panel.
It becomes easy to reproduce the setting status of the failed printer. Further, even when the printer is in a printable state, the setting code can be viewed on the display unit of the operation panel.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the status sheet. The setting code generated by the method described below is printed on this status sheet.

FIG. 2 is an internal block diagram of the printer controller. This printer controller 100 has a CP
U101, NVRAM102, program ROM10
3, a font ROM 104, a RAM 105, four interfaces 106, 107, 108, and 109, and a bus 110 for connecting them.

The CPU 101 includes a program ROM 103
Is controlled by a program stored in the OS, a mode setting instructed from the operation panel 112 via the panel I / F 107, a command sent from the host device 113 via the host I / F 108, and the like. IC card 1
It is also possible to take in font data and programs from 15.

A RAM 105 is a work memory of the CPU 101, an input data input buffer, a buffer of an intermediate language description for developing image data, a storage memory of encoded video data, and an output to the engine 111 via an engine I / F 106. And a function as a memory for storing downloaded fonts.

The disk I / F 109 controls connection with an external storage device 114 such as a hard disk. The internal setting parameters of the printer are stored in the NVRAM 102, and this data is reflected on the internal parameters when the power is turned on or reset. The mode setting of the operation panel 112 and the information of the status sheet are also generated based on the data.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a setting code, and FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a first example (corresponding to the first aspect of the present invention) of converting an internal parameter into a setting code. An example in which the internal setting parameters of the printer are set as shown in the figure will be described.

First, regarding the version field, when the system version is “1.0.1”, this is represented as “101” in decimal. Since this system version field is previously assigned to 8 bits,
Hexadecimal is "65h" (h means hexadecimal).
This is the internal setting code of the system version.

Further, since the firmware version of the engine is "1.4", this is represented as "14" in decimal. Since the firmware version field of this engine is assigned to 4 bits, it is represented as "Eh" in hexadecimal, and the internal setting code of the firmware version of the engine is this value.

Next, when the printer ID field is "804129", the printer ID field is divided into meaningful values and coded to give a setting code of "8400081h".

Next, regarding the setting field, since the mounted memory capacity is 48 MB in the embodiment, if the coding is performed in the same manner, the internal setting code becomes “30h”.

The job timeout and the wait timeout of the embodiment are coded similarly. In the setting of the paper feed tray, if “Tray 1” is determined to be “0” and “Tray 2” is determined to be “1”, in the embodiment, the tray is set to “Tray 1”. Becomes "0".

The setting of the reception buffer size is 16 Kbytes: “0”, 32 Kbytes: “1”, 64 Kbytes:
"2", 128 Kbytes "3": 256 Kbytes:
"4", 512K bytes: If you decide "5",
256 Kbytes is a setting code of “4”.

When the internal setting code is sequentially converted into the internal setting code for each item in this manner, the internal setting code in this embodiment becomes “65E648400130000” as shown in FIG.
012C04 ". This code is printed on the status sheet shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a second example (corresponding to the second aspect of the present invention) of converting an internal parameter into a setting code. A description will be given based on the example described in FIG. First, regarding the version field, when the system version is “1.0.1”, this initial setting value is “1.0.0”, so that it is considered that there is a change. Therefore, the change code of the system version is “1”.
The default value of this version field means the version of the first lot.

Since the engine version in the next version field is "1.4" and is the same as the initial setting value, the change code (binary) is represented as "0". The setting field is converted into a change code in the same manner. The initial setting value of this setting field means a setting value at the time of factory shipment. In this way, change codes for all items are created.

A method for creating a setting code according to the second aspect of the present invention will be described. First, set the change code to the top,
After that, the setting code of the changed field is set. Fields with a change code of "0" are not coded.

In this embodiment, since the change code (hexadecimal) is "862" and the system version is different from the initial value, if a setting code of a field different from the initial value follows the change code, it becomes "6500081304". The setting code (with a change code) shown in the second aspect of the invention is “862650081304”, and can be expressed by a shorter code than the setting code of the first aspect of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an operation panel for inputting a setting code, and FIG. 7 is a state transition diagram of a setting code input method. These figures are used to explain the contents of the invention described in claim 3, and allow the setting code created above to be input from the operation panel 120. Specifically, as shown in FIG. Enter the code using.

The setting code input here has a function of converting the setting code into an internal setting value after exiting this menu. In addition, this setting code can be viewed when the status sheet cannot be printed (the operation is stopped due to an engine error but the controller is normal).

[0031]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, by generating a printer internal setting code and printing it on a status sheet, the setting status inside the printer can be grasped only by the setting code.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, only the changed portion can be coded, so that the setting status inside the printer can be grasped by a short setting code.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the setting code can be input, for example, via the operation panel, it is possible to easily reproduce the setting status of the failed printer. Further, even when the printer is in a printable state, the setting code can be viewed on the display unit of the operation panel.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a status sheet.

FIG. 2 is an internal block diagram of a printer controller.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a setting code.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for describing a first example of converting an internal parameter into a setting code.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a second example of converting an internal parameter into a setting code.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an operation panel for inputting a setting code.

FIG. 7 is a state transition diagram of a setting code input method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 100 printer controller 101 CPU 102 NVRAM 103 program ROM 104 font ROM 105 RAM 106 engine I / F 107 panel I / F 108 host I / F 109 disk I / F 110 bus 111 engine 112 operation panel 113 host device 114 external storage device 115 IC card

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A printer controller having a function of coding a set value held in a printer and a function of printing coded data on an internal test print item. 2. The printer controller according to claim 1, further comprising a function of adding a code representing a difference from an initial setting value to a head of the printer controller. 3. The printer controller according to claim 1, further comprising a function of displaying a coded set value and a function of inputting the coded set value.