JP2001113795A - Print data processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To sufficiently exhibit the effect of shortening the parallel data processing time of an operation system having multitask function by enhancing print data processing efficiency. SOLUTION: Processing time/memory use capacity of a CPU required for each processing of print data (various processing for receiving print data from a host computer, interpreting language depending on the type of print data, font processing, graphics processing, transmission processing of processed data) is allotted to each data processing (ST 4) depending on the type of print data (text data, graphics data, phorographic data, etc.) and then each data processing is carried out (ST 5) by the multitask function of an operation system.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print data processing apparatus for performing various data processing on print data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of print data processing apparatus has
For example, it is provided in a printer. The printer is usually connected to a host computer via a network or a parallel port.

A document created by an application program of a host computer is written in a printer language (PCL, PostS) which can be understood by the printer by the application program of the host computer or the printer device.
The print data is transmitted to the printer via a network or the like as the print data described above by “cript” or the like.

Then, in the printer, the print data processing device receives the print data from the host computer by the microprocessor constituting the control section main body, and prints the received data in the printer language according to the type of the data. , And performs various processing such as font processing, graphics processing, color conversion processing, and halftone processing, and transmits the processed data to a printer engine including a print head. Thereby, the printer engine performs printing by sucking the paper, driving the print head, and the like based on the data from the print data processing device.

There are various types of print data received by the printer, such as text data, graphics data, and photographic data, and various types of necessary processing are performed for each type.
For example, text data is subjected to language interpretation processing, font processing, etc., but is not subjected to graphics processing, among the analysis processing described above. The graphics data is subjected to language interpretation processing, halftone processing, graphics processing, etc., but is not subjected to font processing.
In addition, language interpretation processing is performed on photo data,
No font processing or graphics processing is performed.

[0006] Each data processing of such print data is performed in parallel by a plurality of jobs (JOB) by a microprocessor based on an operation system having a multitasking function. Thus, the data processing time can be reduced, and the printing speed can be improved as a whole.

[0007]

Generally, print data received by a printer depends on its type (text data, graphics data, photographic data, etc.) depending on the type of data processing (reception processing and print data to be performed). Processing, transmission processing, etc.), the data processing time of the microprocessor differs, and the used capacity of the memory used for performing the data processing also differs.

For example, since photographic data has a large data amount and requires halftone processing, it takes a lot of time for reception processing and halftone processing. On the other hand, in the case of graphics data, since the data amount is small, the reception processing takes relatively little time, but the graphics processing takes time.

However, conventionally, even if the type of print data is different, the data processing time of the microprocessor and the used capacity of the memory allocated to each data processing are fixed, so that the data processing may be dependent on the type of print data. In some cases, the efficiency of printing is reduced, and the printing speed is rather reduced.

In this case, even if data processing is performed by parallel processing by an operation system having a multitasking function, the effect of reducing the data processing time cannot be sufficiently exhibited depending on the type of print data.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an operation system having a multitasking function by appropriately assigning the processing time of a microprocessor and the used capacity of a memory in accordance with the type of print data, thereby increasing the efficiency of data processing. An object of the present invention is to provide a print data processing apparatus capable of sufficiently exhibiting the effect of shortening the data processing time of parallel processing by the printer.

[0012]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an operation system having a multitasking function capable of performing various types of data processing in parallel. A data type that stores information indicating the type of print data in a print data processing device that performs various types of processing such as font processing and graphics processing performed according to the type, and data transmission processing such as data transmission processing after these types of processing. Information storage means, and data type information storage control means for storing information indicating the type of print data before receiving the print data, storing the information in the data type information storage means;
A processing time allocation information data table for storing information in which the processing time of the microprocessor required for each data processing is allocated according to the type of print data; and a type of print data based on the information stored in the print data type information storage means. Control means for allocating the processing time of the microprocessor in each data processing from the information of the processing time allocation information data table, and performing each data processing by the multitask function of the operation system. It is.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a print data receiving process is performed by a microprocessor based on an operation system having a multitasking function capable of performing various data processes in parallel, and a font is performed in accordance with the type of print data. In a print data processing device that performs various types of processing such as processing and graphics processing, and data transmission processing such as data transmission processing after the processing, a memory used when the microprocessor performs each data processing includes A data type information storage unit for storing information indicating the type, and a data type information storage control unit for storing the information indicating the type of the print data before receiving the print data and storing the information in the data type information storage unit And information that memory usage capacity required for each data processing is allocated according to the type of print data. And a memory use capacity allocation information data table that stores the information on the memory use capacity allocation information data table according to the type of print data based on the information stored in the print data type information storage means. Control means for allocating and performing each data processing by a multitasking function of an operation system.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print data receiving process by a microprocessor based on an operation system having a multitasking function capable of performing various data processes in parallel, and a font performed in accordance with the type of print data. In a print data processing device that performs various data processing such as various processing such as processing and graphics processing, and transmission processing of data after these processing, the processing time of a microprocessor required for each data processing is determined according to the type of print data. The processing time allocation information data table storing the allocated information and the identification information of the user who uses the apparatus are associated with usage frequency information for each type of print data that has been subjected to data processing by use of the user. A usage frequency information data table to be stored, and a data to store information indicating the type of print data. Data type information storage means, identification information input means for inputting user identification information, and when user identification information is input by the identification information input means, usage frequency information related to the identification information is used as usage frequency information. A data storage information storage control unit that searches the data table and stores the type of print data most frequently used in the data type information storage unit based on the searched usage frequency information; and information stored in the print data type information storage unit. And control means for allocating the processing time of the microprocessor in each data processing from the information of the processing time allocation information data table according to the type of print data based on the multi-task function of the operation system. A print data processing apparatus.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a print data receiving process is performed by a microprocessor based on an operation system having a multitasking function capable of performing various data processes in parallel, and a font is performed in accordance with the type of print data. In a print data processing device that performs various data processing such as various processing such as processing and graphics processing and transmission processing of data after these processing, a memory used when the microprocessor performs each data processing, Memory use capacity allocation information data table for storing information that allocates the use capacity of the memory necessary for the type of print data, data type information storage means for storing information indicating the type of print data, and user identification The identification information input means for inputting information and the identification information of the user who uses the device A usage frequency information data table that stores usage frequency information for each type of print data that has been subjected to data processing by the user in association with each other, and when the identification information of the user is input by the identification information input means, the identification information is displayed. A data storage information storage control unit that searches the usage frequency information data table for usage frequency information related to the data type, and stores the type of print data having the highest usage frequency in the data type information storage unit based on the searched usage frequency information; The memory usage capacity in each data processing is allocated from the information in the memory usage capacity allocation information data table according to the type of print data based on the information stored in the print data type information storage means, and each data is processed by the multitask function of the operation system. And a control means for performing processing. .

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an ink jet printer will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of an ink jet printer according to the present embodiment. Reference numeral 1 denotes a housing, and 2 is disposed at substantially the center of the housing 1 so as to be rotatable in the direction of the arrow in FIG. The drum 3 is provided with a plurality of ink chambers, and the ink discharge ports of these ink chambers are provided to face the drum 2. Is a paper feed cassette, 6 is a manual feed tray, 7 is a paper discharge port, 8 is a paper feed cassette 5
Alternatively, the drawing illustrates a transport path of the sheet fed from the manual feed tray 6.

In the vicinity of the paper feed cassette 5, there is provided a pick-up roller 9 for picking up the sheets of the paper feed cassette 5 one by one and introducing them into the transport path 8. An aligning roller 11 for aligning and adjusting the paper from the paper feed cassette 5 or the manual feed tray 6 is provided in the transport path 8.
A transport roller 12 that transports the sheet along the transport path 8 is provided.

The paper from the paper feed cassette 5 or the manual feed tray 6 is wound around a drum that rotates in the direction of the arrow in FIG.
In this state, ink is output from the inkjet head 3 and printing on paper is performed.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the ink jet printer according to the present embodiment. Reference numeral 21 denotes an MPU (microprocessor unit). The MPU 21 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 22 constituting the control unit main body,
A ROM (Read Only Memory) 23 in which U22 stores program data and the like for controlling each unit;
A RAM (random access memory) 24 having a memory area used by the PU 22 is provided. This CPU2
2 is capable of performing parallel processing based on an operation system (OS) having a multitasking function.

The MPU 21 includes an external interface 26 to which the host computer 25 can be connected via a network or a communication cable, and various processes performed by the CPU 22 for print data from the host computer 25 according to the type of print data received. Processing (language interpretation processing, font processing, color conversion processing, halftone processing, graphics processing, etc.), a data processing memory including a RAM used when performing data processing such as transmission processing to the printer engine 29, etc. (Memory according to claims 1 to 4) 27, an operation panel 28 provided with keys and a liquid crystal display for the user to perform various operations, the drum 2, the ink jet head 3, etc., and a motor (not shown) for driving these Such as drive mechanism, ASIC for controlling the drive mechanism (application specific IC) Video interface 31 is connected via a system bus connected to the printer engine 29 comprising a composed controller, etc. due mainly.

The system bus includes a data type information storage section (data type information storage means) 32 constituted by a nonvolatile memory or a hard disk device, an allocation information data table (processing time allocation information data table, Capacity allocation information data table) 33 is connected.

The data type information storage section 32 stores information on the type of print data (object) (text data, graphics data, photo data, etc.) received from the host computer 25. As the information on the type of the print data, the information received from the host computer 25 is stored.

As shown in FIG. 3, the allocation information data table 33 stores various processings (language interpretation processing, font processing, color conversion processing, halftone processing, graphics processing) to be performed according to the type of reception processing and print data. Etc.) Information in which the processing time of the CPU 22 in the MPU 21 required for each data processing such as the transmission processing to the printer engine 29 and the used capacity of the data processing memory 27 are preliminarily stored so as to change according to the type of print data. Keep it. FIG. 3 shows the processing time of the CPU 22 and the data processing memory 27.
Is used as a total, and the ratio allocated to each data processing is shown by a numerical value. Here, CPU2
2, the processing time and the ratio of the used capacity of the data processing memory 27 are the same. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the processing time allocation information data table that stores the processing time ratio of the CPU 22 and the data processing Memory 27
May be provided separately from the memory use capacity allocation information data table that stores the use capacity ratio.

The type of the print data in the host computer 25 may be determined at the time when the print data is created by a user interface of an application program or a printer driver. You may make it select from a menu screen.

When the CPU 22 of the MPU 21 receives a print command from the host computer 25,
The processing shown in FIG. 4 is performed. That is, the CPU 22 first initializes each unit such as the data processing memory 27, the data type information storage unit 32, and the video interface 31 in ST (step) 1.

Next, in step ST2, print data reception permission (print ready signal) is transmitted to the host computer 25, and in step ST3, reception of print data type information is awaited. When the type information of the print data is received in ST3, the information is stored in the data type information storage unit 32 (data type information storage control means).

Subsequently, in ST4, the processing time of the CPU 22 and the ratio of the used capacity of the data processing memory 27 according to the type of print data (text data, graphics data, photograph data, etc.) from the data type information storage unit 32 are determined. A search is made from the assignment information data table 33, and the processing time / data processing memory 27 of the CPU 22 is determined based on the ratio.
Analysis processing (language interpretation processing, font processing, color conversion processing,
It is assigned to each data process such as a transmission process to the printer engine 29, such as a halftone process and a graphics process.

Then, the CPU 2 assigned in ST5
The data processing required for the print data is executed for each job using the processing time and the used capacity of the data processing memory 27 (control means in claims 1 and 2). In this case, the CPU 22 processes each job in parallel based on an operation system having a multitask function as shown in FIG.

For example, the first job is received from the host computer 25 from the external interface 26 via a network or a communication cable, and various processes such as a language interpretation process are sequentially performed. ) Is transmitted to the printer engine 29 via the video interface 31. While the first job is being executed, the second job is sent to the host computer 25.
And executes the data processing in parallel.

When the printer engine 29 receives the data (video data) subjected to each data processing, the printer engine 29 controls the ink jet head 3 based on the data to perform printing on paper.

In the first embodiment having such a configuration, each data processing is executed by the CPU in accordance with the type of print data received from the host computer 25.
The processing time 22 and the used capacity of the data processing memory 27 are allocated, and each data processing is executed in parallel for each job.

As a result, C is set according to the type of print data.
The processing time of the PU 22 and the used capacity of the data processing memory 27 are appropriately allocated, and the efficiency of data processing can be improved. Therefore, the effect of shortening the data processing time of the parallel processing by the operation system having the multitask function can be sufficiently exhibited.

In the first embodiment,
Although the case where the information of the type of the print data is received from the host computer 25 has been described, the present invention is not necessarily limited to this.
Before transmitting print data from the
May be input.

Next, a second embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an ink jet printer will be described with reference to FIGS. The same parts as those in the above-described embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. A sectional view showing the configuration of the ink jet printer according to the present embodiment and an assignment information data table 33 are the same as those shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, respectively.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the ink jet printer according to the present embodiment. The difference from the one shown in FIG. 2 is that the identification information of the user who uses the ink jet printer includes Is that a usage frequency information data table 41 is stored in which usage frequency information for each type of print data subjected to data processing is stored in association with each other. This usage frequency information data table 41
Is a user I which is identification information of the user as shown in FIG.
For each D number, the number of use frequencies is stored for each type of print data, such as the use frequency of text data, the use frequency of graphics data, and the use frequency of photo data.
These usage frequencies can be updated by a process shown in FIG. 8 described later.

The use frequency information data table 4
Reference numeral 1 denotes, for example, a read / write nonvolatile memory or a hard disk device.

CPU of MPU 21 in the present embodiment
When the print command is received from the host computer 25, the process shown in FIG. That is, the CPU 22 first initializes each unit such as the data processing memory 27, the data type information storage unit 32, and the video interface 31 in ST11.

Next, in step ST12, print data reception permission (print ready signal) is transmitted to the host computer 25, and in step ST13, reception of information on the user ID number (user identification information) is awaited (identification information). Input means). ST13
When the information of the user ID number is received at, a processing subroutine of the usage frequency information of the user is executed.

The processing subroutine for the use frequency information is as follows.
As shown in FIG.
The use frequency information of the user ID number obtained from the user ID number is retrieved from the use frequency information data table 41, and it is determined whether or not the use frequency information of the user is ten or more.

In ST21, if it is determined that the total number of all print data types in the user's usage frequency information is not more than 10, the process proceeds to ST25. A part of the print data is received from the host computer 25.

Subsequently, the type of the print data is determined in ST23, and the information in the usage frequency information data table 41 of the user is updated based on the determination result in ST24. That is, the number of cases of the frequency of the determined print data type is incremented.

Then, in step ST25, based on the information in the use frequency information data table 41, the type of print data having the highest frequency of use by the user is determined and stored in the data type information storage unit 32. The process moves to ST15 in the main routine shown.

In ST15, the processing time of the CPU 22 and the ratio of the used capacity of the data processing memory 27 according to the type of print data from the data type information storage unit 32 are searched from the allocation information data table 33, and the CPU is determined based on the ratio.
The processing time 22 and the used capacity of the data processing memory 27 are allocated to each data processing.

Then, the CPU assigned in ST16
The data processing necessary for the print data is executed for each job with the processing time of 22 and the used capacity of the data processing memory 27 (control means in claim 3 and claim 4). In this case, the CPU 22 processes each job in parallel based on an operation system having a multitask function as shown in FIG.

In the second embodiment having such a configuration, information on the frequency of use of each type of print data is stored based on the usage status of each user. When a certain user uses the ink jet printer, the processing time of the CPU 22 and the used capacity of the data processing memory 27 for each data processing are set in accordance with the type of print data most frequently used by the user. Assigned and each data processing is executed in parallel for each job.

As a result, the processing time of the CPU 22 and the used capacity of the data processing memory 27 are appropriately allocated in accordance with the type of print data that the user tends to use, and the efficiency of data processing can be improved. it can. Therefore, the effect of shortening the data processing time of the parallel processing by the operation system having the multitask function can be sufficiently exhibited.

In the second embodiment,
In the process of FIG. 8, the usage frequency information data table 41
Even if the use frequency information of 10 or more is accumulated in total, the number of print data processed is a predetermined number, for example, 10
It may be reviewed and updated for each case.

In the second embodiment,
The case where the user ID number, which is the identification information of the user, is received from the host computer 25 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The user can use the user ID number before transmitting the print data from the host computer 25. The user ID number may be input from the operation panel 28.

In the first and second embodiments, the case where the present invention is applied to an ink jet printer has been described. However, the present invention may be applied to any printer such as a thermal printer and a laser printer.

[0051]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the processing time of the MPU and the use capacity of the memory are appropriately allocated according to the type of print data, and the efficiency of data processing can be improved. it can. Therefore, the effect of shortening the data processing time of the parallel processing by the operation system having the multitask function can be sufficiently exhibited.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of an inkjet printer according to a first embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the inkjet printer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of an assignment information data table shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view showing processing performed by a CPU of the MPU shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing parallel processing based on a multitask function according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an inkjet printer according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing processing of a main routine performed by the CPU of the MPU in the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing processing of a subroutine performed by the CPU of the MPU in the present embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a configuration of a use frequency information data table shown in FIG. 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 21 MPU 22 CPU 23 ROM 24 RAM 25 Host computer 27 Data processing memory 28 Operation panel 29 Printer engine 32 Data type information storage unit 33 Assignment information data table 41 Usage frequency information data table

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A print data receiving process by a microprocessor based on an operation system having a multitasking function capable of performing various data processes in parallel, a font process and a graphics process performed in accordance with a type of print data, and the like. A data type information storage means for storing information indicating the type of print data; and When information indicating the type of the print data is obtained, a data type information storage control unit that stores the information in the data type information storage unit, and a processing time of the microprocessor required for each data processing is determined according to the type of the print data. A processing time allocation information data table for storing information allocated by The processing time of the microprocessor in each data processing is allocated from the information of the processing time allocation information data table according to the type of print data based on the information stored in the data type information storage unit, and the multitask function of the operation system is used. A print data processing apparatus, comprising: a control unit for performing each data processing. 2. A print data receiving process by a microprocessor based on an operation system having a multitasking function capable of performing various data processes in parallel, a font process and a graphics process performed according to a type of print data, and the like. In a print data processing apparatus that performs various data processing such as various types of processing and transmission processing of data after these processing, a memory used when the microprocessor performs each data processing, and information indicating the type of print data are stored. A data type information storage unit for storing, and information indicating the type of the print data before receiving the print data, a data type information storage control unit for storing the information in the data type information storage unit, Information that allocates the used capacity of the memory required for processing according to the type of print data A memory use capacity allocation information data table to be stored, and use of the memory in each data processing from information in the memory use capacity allocation information data table in accordance with a type of print data based on information stored in the print data type information storage means. Control means for allocating a capacity and performing each data processing by a multitasking function of the operation system. 3. A print data receiving process by a microprocessor based on an operation system having a multitasking function capable of performing various data processes in parallel, a font process and a graphics process performed in accordance with the type of print data, and the like. In a print data processing apparatus that performs various data processing such as various kinds of processing and transmission processing of data after these processings, information in which a processing time of the microprocessor required for each data processing is allocated according to a type of print data is stored. Processing time allocation information data table and usage frequency information for storing identification information of a user who uses the apparatus in association with usage frequency information for each type of print data subjected to data processing by the use of the user A data table and a data type information record that stores information indicating the type of print data. Storage means; identification information input means for inputting user identification information; and when the identification information of the user is input by the identification information input means, use frequency information related to the identification information is stored in the use frequency information data. A data storage information storage control unit that stores the type of print data most frequently used in the data type information storage unit based on the usage frequency information searched from the table; and a print data type information storage unit that stores the type of print data. Control means for allocating the processing time of the microprocessor in each data processing from the information of the processing time allocation information data table according to the type of print data based on the information, and performing each data processing by a multitasking function of the operation system; , A print data processing device. 4. A receiving process of print data by a microprocessor based on an operation system having a multitasking function capable of performing various data processes in parallel, a font process and a graphics process performed in accordance with a type of print data, and the like. In a print data processing apparatus that performs various data processing such as various processings, transmission processing of data after these processings, a memory used when the microprocessor performs each data processing, and a memory used for each data processing. A memory usage capacity allocation information data table for storing information in which usage capacity is allocated according to the type of print data; a data type information storage means for storing information indicating the type of print data; and input of user identification information The identification information input means and the identification information of the user who uses the device A usage frequency information data table that stores usage frequency information for each type of print data that has been subjected to data processing in association with the identification information input means; A data storage information storage control unit that retrieves the used frequency information from the use frequency information data table, and stores the type of print data having the highest frequency of use in the data type information storage unit based on the retrieved use frequency information; Allocating the used capacity of the memory in each data processing from the information of the memory used capacity allocation information data table according to the type of print data based on the information stored in the print data type information storage means, And control means for performing each data processing by a function. Print data processing device.