JP2001080137A - Printer and recording medium having recorded program foe controlling printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce paper excessively used for a delimiting page. SOLUTION: At first, printing data is received from the computer on a network (A1) and, succeedingly, a delimiting page control part checks whether there is the printing request of a delimiting page from a user with respect to the printing data (A2). When there is the printing request of the delimiting page, it is checked whether the printing data is single-side printing data (A3). In the case of no single-side printing, that is, double side printing data, one delimiting page is printed (A7) and, thereafter, the received printing data is printed (A8). When the received printing data is single-side printing, it is printed (A4) and the delimiting page is printed on the rear surface of the final page of the received printing data to complete printing (A5). When there is no printing request of the delimiting page from a user, the received printing data is printed to complete printing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer and a recording medium on which a printer control program is recorded, and more particularly, to a printer for printing and outputting a separator page between print jobs and a recording medium on which a printer control program is recorded.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional printing in a network environment,
Since many people use one printer, prints of multiple people are discharged to the same tray. At this time, a printed sheet such as a “banner page” or a “separator page” such as a user name is output during each print job, thereby distinguishing which printed matter is output by whom. In this case, the number of separator pages is output as many as the number of print jobs, and if printing with a small number of pages is repeated, the ratio of separator pages to all print pages increases, and the amount of paper and printing consumables increases.

In a printer directly connected to a higher-level device, not in a network environment, a separator page is output between print jobs in order to separate print jobs. In such a case, the same phenomenon occurs.

[0004] As a method of distinguishing a break without outputting a break page, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-272873 discloses a method of printing a break mark in a color different from normal printing.

[0005]

The above-mentioned conventional printer has a problem in that the number of used sheets and printing consumables increases because the number of separator pages is output by the number of print jobs.

In addition, the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-272873 has a problem that it cannot be used in a monochrome printing printer because a delimiter mark is printed in a color different from normal printing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a printer and a recording medium on which a printer control program is recorded, in which extra paper used for a separator page is reduced as much as possible.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a printer comprising: a main processing unit for receiving print data and a page break request from a host device; and a printer engine for printing out the print data received by the main processing unit. The main processing unit determines whether there is a break page print request for the received print data, and if there is a break page print request, the break page is printed on the back of the last page of the print data by the printer. A separator page control unit for causing the engine to print.

The printer according to the present invention comprises: a main processing unit for receiving print data and a page break request from a host device;
When the print data is one-sided printing, a break page control unit that prints the break page on the back side of the last page of the print data when the break page print request is issued may be provided.

The printer according to the present invention comprises: a main processing unit for receiving print data and a page break request from a host device;
If there is a request to print the separator page, the printer prints the separator page on the back side of the last page of the print data if the print data is single-sided printing, and prints the separator page if the print data is double-sided printing. And a separation page control unit for printing the print data after the printing.

The printer according to the present invention comprises: a main processing unit for receiving print data and a page break request from a host device;
If there is a request to print the separator page, if the print data is single-sided printing, the printer prints the separator page on the back side of the last page of the print data, and if the print data is double-sided printing, the print data is When the number of odd pages is used, the separator page is printed on the back side of the last page of the print data. When the number of pages of the print data is even, the separator data is printed after printing the separator page. May be provided.

The printer according to the present invention comprises: a main processing unit for receiving print data and a page break request from a host device;
If there is a request to print the separator page, if the print data is single-sided printing, the printer prints the separator page on the back side of the last page of the print data, and if the print data is double-sided printing, the print data is When the number of pages is odd, the separator page is printed on the back side of the last page of the print data, and when the number of print data is even, the separator page is printed on the back side of the next sheet after printing the print data. A separator page control unit may be provided.

[0013] The printer according to the present invention may further include a tray for storing printed sheets, and discharge the sheets to the tray by a face-down system.

The printer according to the present invention may be characterized in that the printer is connected to the host device via a network.

The recording medium according to the present invention includes a process for receiving print data and a delimiter page print request from a host device, and determining whether or not there is a delimiter page print request for the received print data. If there is, a program for causing the printer to execute the process of printing the separator page on the back side of the last page of the print data is recorded.

[0016] The recording medium of the present invention comprises a process for receiving print data and a delimiter page print request from a higher-level device, and, when the delimiter page print request is received, the print data if the print data is one-sided printing. A program for causing a printer to execute the process of printing the separator page on the back side of the last page may be recorded.

[0017] The recording medium of the present invention includes a process for receiving print data and a delimiter page print request from a host device, and, when the delimiter page print request is received, the print data if the print data is one-sided printing. A program for causing the printer to execute the process of printing the separation data on the back side of the last page and printing the print data after printing the separation page if the print data is double-sided printing. May be a feature.

The recording medium according to the present invention includes a process for receiving print data and a delimiter page print request from a higher-level device, and, when the delimiter page print request is received, the print data if the print data is one-sided printing. The separator page is printed on the back side of the last page, and if the print data is double-sided printing, when the print data is an odd number of pages, the separator page is printed on the back side of the last page of the print data, When the print data has an even number of pages, a program for causing a printer to execute the process of printing the print data after printing the separator page may be recorded.

The recording medium according to the present invention includes a process for receiving print data and a delimiter page print request from a host device, and, when the delimiter page print request is received, the print data if the print data is one-sided printing. The separator page is printed on the back side of the last page, and if the print data is double-sided printing, when the print data is an odd number of pages, the separator page is printed on the back side of the last page of the print data, When the print data has an even number of pages, a program for causing a printer to execute the process of printing the separator page on the back surface of the next sheet after printing the print data may be recorded.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the first embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, a computer 2 and a printer 3 are connected to a network 1.

The printer 3 includes a controller 11, a printer engine 12 for performing print output on paper, and an operator panel 13 for allowing a user to operate the printer 3 and to display a status of the printer 3 to the user.
And a paper feed hopper 14 and a discharge tray 15. The paper is fed from a paper feed hopper 14 and the printer engine 12
And is discharged and stored in the discharge tray 15.
The printer engine 12 is capable of duplex printing. In the case of single-sided printing, a face-down discharge method is used in which the print surface is discharged with the print side down.

The controller 11 includes a video interface 21, a network interface 22, and a main processing unit 2.
3 and RAM (random access memory) 24 and ROM (re
ad only memory) 25 and a separator page control unit 26. The controller 11 is connected to the printer engine 12 via the video interface 21 and to the network 1 via the network interface 22.

The main processing unit 23 includes a video interface 2
1, connected to the network interface 22 and the operator panel 13, and furthermore, a RAM 24, a ROM 2
5. Connected to the separator page control unit 26.

The RAM 24 is used as a storage location for temporarily storing print data for processing. ROM25
Stores a program for controlling each unit. The separator page control unit 26 controls the output of the separator page and controls how the separator page is output.

Next, the operation will be described. In FIG. 1, print data output from a computer 2 connected to a network 1 is sent to a main processing unit 23 via a network interface 22 for processing and conversion into video data.
To the printer engine 12 via The separation page control unit 26 determines whether the received print data is single-sided printing or double-sided printing, and in the case of single-sided printing, prints a separation page on the back side of the last page of the print data.

Next, this process will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, in step A1, print data is received from the computer 2 on the network 1. Subsequently, in step A2, the separator page control unit 26 checks whether there is a print request of the separator page for the data from the user. If there is a request to print a separator page, it is checked in step A3 whether the print data is data for single-sided printing. If the data is not single-sided printing, that is, data for double-sided printing, one page of the separator page is printed in step A7, and the received data is printed in step A8. (The method of printing the separator page in steps A7 and A8 is the same as the conventional one.) If the received data is single-sided printing, the received data is printed in step A4 and the last page of the received data is printed in step A5. Prints a separator page on the back side of, and ends. If there is no print request for the separator page from the user, the received data is printed in step A6, and the process ends.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the second embodiment.

The difference between the second embodiment and the first embodiment is that even when the received data is double-sided printing and is odd-numbered print data, a separator page is printed on the back of the last page of the print data. Is to be printed. If it is determined in step B3 that the received data is double-sided printing data, it is further checked in step B7 whether the data is data of an odd number of pages. If the data has an odd number of pages, a separation page is printed on the back side of the last page in step B5 as in the case where the received data is one-sided printing, and the process is terminated. If the data is not an odd page number, that is, if the data is an even page number, one page of the separator page is printed in step B8, and then the received data is printed in step B9.

In the second embodiment, an example has been described in which a separator page is printed first when duplex printing is performed and the received data has an even number of pages. However, the separator page is printed on the back side of the final sheet. It may be. In other words, after printing the received data, the front side of the next sheet is blank, and the separator page is printed on the back side. In this case, the separator page is always the back side of the final sheet, and the job can be easily distinguished.

In order to increase the printing throughput (speed), the separation page control unit 26 may be provided with a means for changing the order in which the data of the separation page is processed. If the other side of the separator page is complex print data,
By exchanging the order of data processing with a delimiter page having a small processing amount, throughput may be improved.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the third embodiment. In the third embodiment, a network 1,
It includes a computer 2, a printer 3, and a recording medium 4. The recording medium 4 records a printer control program.
The recording medium 4 may be a magnetic disk, a semiconductor memory, an optical disk, or another recording medium.

The printer control program is read from the recording medium 4 into the printer 3, and performs the same processing as that of the main processing section 23 and the separation page control section 26 in the first embodiment.

That is, the process of receiving the print data and the separation page print request from the computer 2, and if there is a separation page print request, if the print data is one-sided printing, the separation page is printed on the back of the last page of the print data. Is printed, and if the print data is double-sided printing, the print data is printed after the separator page is printed.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described. The configuration of the fourth embodiment is the same as the third embodiment described with reference to FIG. The printer control program is read from the recording medium 4 to the printer 3, and is stored in the main processing unit 23 and the separation page control unit 2 in the second embodiment.
6 is performed.

That is, the process of receiving the print data and the separation page print request from the computer 2 and, if there is a separation page print request, if the print data is one-sided printing, the separation page is printed on the back of the last page of the print data. If the print data is two-sided printing, print the separator page on the back side of the last page of the print data when the print data has an odd number of pages, and print the separator page if the print data has an even number of pages. After that, the print data is printed.

As described in the second embodiment, the separator page may be printed on the back side of the last sheet in the case of double-sided printing and the received data has an even number of pages.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention, by printing information such as a user name serving as a separator page on the back side of a page to be printed, it is not necessary to use paper only for the separator page. This has the effect of eliminating the need for extra paper.

Further, since the separator page is printed on the back side, if the printer is a face-down paper discharge printer, the separator page will be on the upper side, and the separator page can be seen even in the discharged state. Has the effect of being easy to distinguish.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a first embodiment.

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

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

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 network 2 computer 3 printer 4 recording medium 11 controller 12 printer engine 13 operator panel 14 paper feed hopper 15 discharge tray 21 video interface 22 network interface 23 main processing unit 24 RAM 25 ROM 26 separator page control unit

Claims (12)

[Claims] A main processing unit that receives print data and a page break request from a host device; a printer engine that prints out the print data received by the main processing unit; Determining whether there is a break page print request for print data, and if there is a break page print request, a break page control unit that causes the printer engine to print the break page on the back side of the last page of the print data. A printer comprising: 2. A main processing unit for receiving print data and a break page print request from a higher-level device, and, if the break page print request is received, the last page of the print data if the print data is single-sided printing. And a separator page control unit for printing the separator page on the back surface of the printer. 3. A main processing unit for receiving print data and a separator page print request from a higher-level device, and, if the separator page print request is received, the last page of the print data if the print data is single-sided printing. And a separator page control unit for printing the print data after printing the separator page if the print data is double-sided printing. 4. A main processing unit for receiving print data and a break page print request from a host device, and, when the break page print request is received, the last page of the print data if the print data is single-sided printing. If the print data is double-sided printing,
When the print data has an odd number of pages, the print data is printed after the separator page is printed on the back side of the last page of the print data, and when the print data has an even number of pages, the print data is printed after printing the separator page. A printer comprising: a separator page control unit. 5. A main processing unit for receiving print data and a separator page print request from a higher-level device, and, when the separator page print request is received, the last page of the print data if the print data is single-sided printing. If the print data is double-sided printing,
When the print data is an odd number of pages, the separator page is printed on the back side of the last page of the print data, and when the print data is an even number of pages, the print data is printed on the back side of the next sheet. A printer comprising: a separator page control unit for printing a separator page. 6. The printer according to claim 1, further comprising a tray for storing printed sheets, wherein the sheets are discharged to the tray by a face-down method. 7. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the printer is connected to the host device via a network. 8. A process of receiving print data and a break page print request from a host device, and determining whether there is a break page print request for the received print data. A recording medium on which a program for causing a printer to execute the process of printing the separator page on the back surface of the last page of the print data is recorded. 9. A process of receiving print data and a break page print request from a higher-level device, and, if the break page print request is received, if the print data is single-sided printing, the back side of the last page of the print data. A program for causing a printer to execute the process of printing the separator page. 10. A process of receiving print data and a separator page print request from a higher-level device, and, if the separator page print request is received, if the print data is single-sided printing, the back side of the last page of the print data. Recording a program for causing a printer to execute the process of printing the print data after printing the separator page if the print data is double-sided printing. Medium. 11. A process for receiving print data and a separator page print request from a higher-level device, and, if the separator page print request is received, the back surface of the last page of the print data if the print data is single-sided printing. If the print data is a two-sided print, if the print data has an odd number of pages, the print data is printed on the back side of the last page of the print data, and the print data is an even number of pages. A recording medium for recording a program for causing a printer to execute a process of printing the print data after printing the separator page when the number is a number. 12. A process of receiving print data and a break page print request from a higher-level device, and, if the break page print request is received, the back side of the last page of the print data if the print data is single-sided printing. If the print data is a two-sided print, if the print data has an odd number of pages, the print data is printed on the back side of the last page of the print data, and the print data is an even number of pages. And recording a program for causing a printer to execute the process of printing the separator page on the back side of the next sheet after printing the print data.