JP2001147867A - Device and method for releasing error of device in computer system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize the error release of a printer from a host device by a method which can cope with the release by means of an OS or application that is generally used by a host device. SOLUTION: A host device 1 is connected through parallel ports 15 and 33 with a printer 3. When an error is generated in the printer 3, the printer 3 is turned into an error state, and the printer 3 communicates the generating of the error to the host device, and the host device 1 displays the error contents and an error release button on a screen. When a user removes the cause of the error of the printer 3, and clicks a mouse with the error release button displayed on the host device 1, the host device 1 transmits an INIT signal to be used at the time of initializing the printer 3 to the printer 3. When the printer 3 receives the INIT signal while it is in the error state, it releases the error state, and resumes printing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for clearing an error in a peripheral device of a computer system, for example, a digital printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a digital printer (hereinafter, referred to as a printer) is connected to a host device such as a personal computer and performs printing in accordance with an instruction from the host device.
When an error such as a paper jam occurs in a conventional printer, printing is stopped and the control state of the printer becomes an error state.
Thereafter, when the user removes the cause of the error and presses a predetermined button on the operation panel of the printer, the printer cancels the error state and returns to the control state where printing can be performed again. As described above, in the conventional printer, the error is released from the operation panel of the printer.

[0003]

It is convenient for the user if the error of the printer can be cleared not only by (or instead of) the operation panel of the printer but also by a command from a remote host device. Also, in order to provide an extremely low-priced printer to the market, there is also a demand on the manufacturer side to eliminate the operation panel from the printer so that all operations including error cancellation can be performed from the host device.

By the way, in order to be able to release the error state of the printer by a command from the host device, a mechanism for transmitting the error release command to the printer through a communication channel different from the printing command is required. This is because print commands sent to the printer are temporarily stored in a queue in the printer, and are sequentially processed. When an error occurs, the currently unprocessed print instruction remains in the queue.
This is because a subsequent release instruction needs to be interpreted and executed with priority over the print instruction remaining in the queue (that is, without entering the queue).

However, an OS widely used in a personal computer generally used as a host device
Some applications and applications do not support the mechanism of sending an error clearing command on a channel different from the print command (for example, Microsoft's MS-DO).
S and Windows3.1). Such circumstances exist not only for printers but also for other peripheral devices.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a computer system having a host device and a peripheral device capable of coping with an OS and an application generally used in the host device. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to allow an error of a peripheral device to be released from a host device.

[0007]

According to the present invention, in a computer system, a host device such as a personal computer and a device such as a printer are connected to a parallel port. When the device is in an error state when the device is in an error state, in order to release the error state from the host device, the host device uses an error signal using a signal line different from the data transmission line in the interface. Send a release signal to the device. When the device receives a signal from the signal line in a normal state,
It performs the operation according to the original purpose of the signal,
In the error state, when the signal is received from the signal line, the error state is released.

As described above, by transmitting an error release signal from a host device to a device using a signal line different from a data transmission line of a general interface, a special channel for error release can be provided. The device error can be released from the host device.

Preferably, the signal line is a signal line for transmitting a signal that does not need to be transmitted when the device is in an error state. In a preferred embodiment, a printer as a device is connected to a host device via a parallel port, and an INIT signal (initialization signal) of the parallel port is used as an error release signal. Since the INIT signal is a signal that is not used originally when the printer is in an error state, no problem occurs even if the INIT signal is used as an error release signal.

[0010]

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

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown, a digital printer 3 is communicably connected to a host device 1 such as a personal computer. Parallel port (printer port) 15, 3
3 is used.

The host device 1 includes a printer driver 11 for issuing various control commands including a print command for the printer 3, and a BIOS controller for controlling signal input / output with various devices such as the printer 3 connected to the host device 1. 5. It has the parallel port 15 described above. As is well known, the printer driver 5 controls the printer 3 by calling the function of the BIOS controller 5. The printer 3 includes a printing mechanism 35 including a paper transport mechanism, a print head and a carriage mechanism, an operation panel 37 for a user to input various commands and setting data, the parallel import 33 described above, and a parallel port 33 from the printer driver 11. The printer controller 31 controls the printing mechanism 35 based on a print command and a control signal input through the printer and a command input from the operation panel 37.

In this system, of the commands and signals transmitted and received between the host device 1 and the parallel ports 15 and 33 of the printer 3, an error of the printer 3 is transmitted from the host device 1 by using a device initialization signal called an INIT signal. Release can be done. Hereinafter, this point will be described in detail.

FIG. 2 shows a physical transmission line of commands and signals transmitted and received between the host device 1 and the parallel ports 15 and 33 of the printer 3.

As is well known, the parallel ports 15 and 33 have a data bus 41 for transmitting and receiving “data” between the host device 1 and the printer 3, and a busy signal for transmitting a “Busy (busy) signal” from the printer 3 to the host device 1. Signal line 4
3, an Error signal line 45 for sending an “Error (error) signal” from the printer 3 to the host device 1;
A INIT signal line 47 for sending a "T (initialization) signal" from the host device 1 to the printer 3, "Ack (acknowledge)"
Ack signal line 49 for sending a signal from printer 3 to host device 1, Strobe signal line 5 for sending a “Strobe (strobe) signal” from host device 1 to printer 3
1, a power supply line 53 to which a DC voltage of “5 V” is applied and a GND line 55 held at the ground level.

The printer driver 11 of the host device 1
When printing is performed, a series of print commands including print image data, print format data, a paper feed command, and the like are output. The print command is sent as “data” to the data bus 41.
Through the printer 3. The controller 31 of the printer 3 queues the received print commands, reads and interprets them from the queue in the order received, interprets the print image into a memory in a bitmap based on the interpretation result, and controls the printing mechanism 35 to perform a printing operation. Do. If an error such as a paper jam or a colorant shortage occurs while the printer 3 is performing a printing operation, the printer controller 3
Stops the printing operation, shifts the control state from the printing state to the error state, transmits "data" indicating what kind of error has occurred to the host device 1 through the data buzzer 41, and generates an error signal. Is set to a predetermined level and the host device 1 is notified of the error state. Printer driver 1 of host device 1
When the printer 1 knows the error state of the printer 3, it displays an error notification window, which will be described later, on a display screen (not shown) of the host device 1 to notify the user of the error.

The printer driver 1 of the host device 1
1 sends an INIT signal to the printer 3 when initializing the printer 3 before starting printing or the like. The printer driver 11 also sends an INIT signal to the printer 3 when trying to clear the error state of the printer 3. Printer
When receiving the INIT signal in a state other than the error state (typically, an idle state waiting for a print command), the controller 31 performs an initialization operation of the controller 31 and the printing mechanism 35. However, when an INIT signal is received in the error state, the printer controller 31 returns from the error state to the original printing state or the idle state, and returns the Error signal to the original level. When this recovery is performed, if the cause of the error has not been eliminated yet, the printer controller 31 returns to the error state and repeats the above-described operation at the time of error. Restarts the remaining print processing or returns to the idle state.

Next, the operations of the printer controller 31 and the printer driver 11 when an error occurs in the printer 3 will be described in detail with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. FIG. 3 shows a flow of processing performed by the printer controller 31 when an error occurs. FIG. 4 shows a flow of an operation performed by the printer driver 11 that has received the error notification from the printer 3.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the printer controller 31 detects an error such as a paper jam or a shortage of a coloring agent during the printing process (S1), the host controller 1 executes the process.
And sends error data to inform the type of error (S2), stops the printing operation, and sets the Error signal to a predetermined error level (S3). Thereafter, the printer controller 31 sends the I
It waits until the NIT signal comes or the error release button on the operation panel 37 is pressed (S4, S5).

If an INIT signal is received from the host device 1 (YES in S4) or if an error release button on the operation panel is pressed (YES in S5), the printer controller 3 releases the error state and returns to the original state. After returning to the printing state, the printing operation is started again (S6), and at the same time, the error signal is returned to the original level to notify the host device 1 of the cancellation of the error state (S7). In step S6, the reason for returning to the original print state after the release of the error state is that the cause of the error such as a paper jam can be easily removed, and the print image remaining in the printer 3 after the error release and the subsequent print instruction. On the other hand, on the other hand, an error such as an overrun error or an underrun error for which normal printing cannot be performed unless a proper print command is sent from the host device 1 again. In this case, the state returns to the idle state after the error is released.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the printer driver 11 of the host device 1 receives an error notification from the printer 3 in S2 of FIG. 3 (S11), an error notification window showing the content of the error is displayed on the display screen. (S12). FIG. 5 is an example of an error notification window when a paper-out error occurs, and its window 61 is shown.
, A message indicating the error content and a method of coping with the error message "Sorry, paper has been exhausted. Please replenish the paper to the printer and then click the release button below" and an error release button 63 are displayed. After displaying such an error notification window, the printer driver 11 waits for the user to click an error release button in the window (S13).

After the user performs the work of removing the cause of the error according to the message in the error notification window, the user clicks the error release button in the window with a mouse or the like. Then, the printer driver 11 sets the INI
The BIOS controller 13 is instructed to output the T signal to the printer 3 (S14), and the error notification window is closed (S15). Then, the state returns to the state immediately before receiving the error notification. If it is, it is sent to the printer 3 (S16). In S16, if the content of the error is such that the printer 3 returns to the idle state, the printer driver 11 returns to the state at the time of startup or ends.

As described above, since the error is instructed to the printer using the INIT signal (initialization signal) of the parallel port which can be used by almost all OSs, a channel different from the print command is specially provided. Even without this, the error of the printer can be released from the host device. Since the INIT signal of the parallel port is originally used to initialize the printer, it is not originally used when an error occurs in the printer. Therefore, even if this INIT signal is used as an error release signal of the printer, it does not adversely affect the state or operation of the printer.

When a host device and a printer are connected by an interface other than the parallel port, for example, a USB or serial interface, there is a signal line for device initialization corresponding to the INIT signal line of the parallel port. The initialization signal can be used as an error release signal. If a signal other than the initialization signal that does not cause any problem even when used for error cancellation is prepared as a standard in the interface, it can be used as an error cancellation signal.

The embodiment described above is an example for explaining the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention. . For example, since the error can be released from the host device, the error release button may be removed from the printer. The present invention is applicable not only to printers but also to error cancellation of other devices.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a signal configuration of a parallel port.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a process performed by a printer controller when an error is detected.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process performed by a printer driver of a host device when an error is detected.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of an error notification window displayed on the host device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Host apparatus 11 Printer driver 13 BIOS controller 15, 33 Parallel port 3 Printer 31 Printer controller

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for canceling an error state of a device in a computer system including a host device and a device connected to the host device, an interface connecting the host device and the device, and the host In the apparatus, means for transmitting an error release signal to the device using a signal line different from a data transmission line in the interface in order to release the error state of the device; and Means for receiving an error cancellation signal and canceling the error state. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the signal line is for transmitting a signal having a different purpose from the error cancellation. 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the signal of different purpose is a signal that need not be transmitted when the device is in an error state. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an initialization signal for initializing the device is used as the error cancellation signal. 5. The device according to claim 1, wherein the device is a printer.
The described device. 6. An interface according to claim 1, wherein said interface is a parallel port, and said initialization signal is an INIT signal of said parallel port.
The device of claim 1, which is a signal. 7. A method for clearing an error state of a device in a computer system including a host device and a device connected to the host device via a predetermined interface, comprising: Transmitting an error release signal to the device by using a signal line different from a data transmission line in the interface to release the error, wherein the device receives the error release signal when in an error state, and Canceling the state. 8. A device connected to a host device of a computer system, comprising: an interface for connecting to the host device; and an error release signal through a signal line different from a data transmission line in the interface when in an error state. Receiving the error state. 9. A host device of a computer system to which a device is connected, an interface for connecting to the device, means for inputting an instruction to release an error state of the device by a user, and receiving a release instruction from the user. Receiving the error cancellation signal to the device using a signal line different from the data transmission line in the interface. 10. A user inputting an instruction to cancel an error state of the device to cancel an error state of a device connected to the computer via a predetermined interface; and receiving a cancellation instruction from the user. Transmitting an error cancellation signal to the device using a signal line different from a data transmission line in the interface; and causing the computer to execute the program.