JP2001290612A - Print system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a print system capable of photographing by means of a digital camera corresponding to a key input from the operator panel of a printer and capable of printing, while selecting any one of a photographed image file, an image file photographed by the digital camera in the past and an image file stored in a mass storage. SOLUTION: For this print system, the printer has the USB(universal serial bus) interface of mass storage class, so that the device of mass storage class can be connected and the image file can be directly printed out by the printer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing system, and more particularly to a printing system, in which a digital camera can be used for photographing by key input from an operator panel of a printer. The present invention relates to a printing system characterized in that an image file stored in a storage can be selected and printed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-252489, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-252489, when an image photographing apparatus such as a digital camera is directly connected to a printer to transfer an image, the printer side transmits the image. Since the power can be supplied to the image photographing device, there is no need to connect two AC adapters to the power line, so that the cords around the power supply can be easily arranged, and when image data is being transferred, the display means of the image photographing device can be displayed. To prevent the power supply capacity from becoming insufficient.

A digital camera is connected to a USB (Universal).
When the digital camera is connected to a printer via an Al Serial Bus cable, a power supply line included in the USB cable supplies power to the digital camera from the printer connected to the AC adapter.

[0004]

The first problem with the conventional printing system is that the conventional printing system can print out to a printer only by an operator operation from a camera.

A second problem is that, in the prior art, when a mass storage device is connected, data cannot be printed out directly to a printer.

An object of the present invention is to enable photographing with a digital camera by key input from an operator panel of a printer,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing system characterized in that a photographed image file, an image file photographed in the past by a digital camera, and an image file stored in mass storage can be selected and printed.

[0007]

According to the printing system of the present invention, a mass storage class device can be connected by providing a printer with a mass storage class USB interface, and image files can be directly printed out to the printer. it can.

Further, in the printing system of the present invention, in order to connect the printer and the device of the mass storage class, a USB interface of the printer and a USB interface of the device are connected by a USB cable, The USB interface has a parallel interface connector and a BU from the host computer connected to the host computer.
USB series B that sends data to the host computer in response to an LK request or an interrupt request
A plug connector, connected to the device, performs the same operation as the host computer, and issues a BULK request,
U that makes a request to the device using a rrupt request
The printer includes an SB series A plug connector and an operator panel having keys for outputting various instructions and an LCD panel for displaying the contents of the instructions.

Further, the print system according to the present invention, when connected to the device, sends a CA instruction to the device.
A PTURE key, an LCD panel for displaying an image file name stored in the device and a status of the device, an up key for scrolling up the LCD display and a down key for scrolling down the LCD display, And an operator panel of the printer including a SELECT key used for selection and mode selection.

Further, in the print system according to the present invention, the device is a digital camera.

Further, the printing system of the present invention is characterized in that the device is a removable desk.

Further, in the print system according to the present invention, the device is a hard disk.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The print system of the present invention is characterized in that a mass storage class device can be connected to a printer by providing the printer with a mass storage class USB interface, and image files can be directly printed out to the printer. And

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a connection diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a printer interface of this embodiment, and FIG. 3 is an example of an operator panel of the printer of this embodiment. FIG. 1, 2, and 3
The configuration of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

A case where a digital camera is used as a mass storage class device will be described below.

In order to connect the printer 10 and the digital camera 11, the USB interface 1 of the printer 10
2 and the USB interface 13 of the digital camera 11 are connected by a USB cable 14.

A USB interface 12 of the printer is connected to a parallel interface connector 20 of a conventionally used printer interface and a personal computer serving as a host computer, and a BULK which is a data transmission or reception request from the host computer. A USB series B plug connector 21 that sends data to a host computer in response to a request or an interrupt request, and a digital camera 11 corresponding to a device, which performs the same operations as the host computer to perform a BULK request and an interrupt request. And a USB series A plug connector 22 that issues a request to the device by using a USB connection. Further, the printer 10 has keys 30, 31, 32, and 33 for outputting various instructions and an LCD (Liquid Crystal Disp) for displaying the instruction contents.
lay) panel 34 and an operator panel 15.

When the digital camera 11 is connected to the operator panel 15 of the printer 10, the digital camera 11
A CAPTURE key 30 for giving an instruction to release the shutter of the camera; an LCD panel 34 for displaying the name of the image file contained in the digital camera 11 and the state of the camera;
Up key 31 and LC to scroll LCD display up
It comprises a down key 32 for scrolling down the D display, and a SELECT key 33 used for selecting an image file and selecting a mode.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the operation of the printer.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a signal flow between the printer and the digital camera. The operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5 in addition to FIGS.

A description will be given from the state where the printer 10 is connected to the digital camera 11 and the printer 10 is in a mode for directly accessing the digital camera 11.

When the digital camera 11 is connected to the USB series A plug connector 22 via the USB cable 14 and a mode for directly accessing the digital camera 11 is entered, the LCD panel 34 displays a file name as shown in FIG. 3 ( S40).

Next, a CAPTURE for instructing the operator panel 15 to release the shutter of the digital camera 11 is provided.
When a key is input with the E key 30, the digital camera 1
1 is sent a Capture Command 50. The digital camera 11 performs a photographing process 59 (S4).
1). The printer 10 sets the status at regular intervals.
s Send Command51.

When the digital camera 11 is in the process of image processing 60, an image processing status 52 is returned to the printer. During image processing, “Processing” is displayed on the LCD panel 34.
ng ”is displayed (S42).

In the status command 53, when the camera is not performing the image processing 60, the idle status 54 is returned to the printer 10. The printer 10 is Idl
When the e-status status 54 is received, it is recognized that the image processing has been performed, and the LCD panel 34 changes to a file name display in the digital camera 11 as shown in FIG. 3 (S43).

Next, the operator of the printer selects an image file with the up key 31 and the down key 32 of the scroll keys displayed on the LCD panel 34 and presses the SELECT key to read a command to the digital camera 11.
Send 55. The Read Command 55 includes a cylinder, a header, a sector, and the number of sectors of image data (in order to select a memory area of the device, there are cylinders, headers, and sectors due to the configuration of the mass storage device, and the read position is determined. In this case, for example, the number of cylinders, the number of headers, and the number of sectors are set to 3, and the size read out therefrom is set to the number of cylinders. Digital camera 11
Indicates to the printer 10 that the image data selection 62 has been completed.
ad Command ACK (Acknowledg
e) 56 is returned (S44). In this process, in a mode in which photographed data is immediately printed, image data selection processing is automatically performed. Next, the printer 10 transmits an image data request to a USB bulk (to a port that performs USB data transfer).
Give 7 out. The digital camera 11 enters the image data transfer 63 state, and sends the image data 58 to the printer 10. Read Command until the end of the selected file
Returning to 55, the reception of the image data is repeated. If the received data is an image file, the printer 10 converts the image file into print data in the format selected by the operator panel 15 or the default setting from the beginning, and prints out (S45). Then, S41, S
Returning to step 44, the processing can be continued. The operation of the other embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 and FIGS. 4 and 5. By using the printer 10 and a mass storage class device of the USB interface (the digital camera 1 of FIG. 1).
1 will be described from the state in which the direct access mode is set. The device refers to a removable desk, a hard disk, or the like.

A mass storage class device is connected to the USB series A plug connector 22 via the USB cable 14, and a file name is displayed on the LCD panel 34 as shown in FIG. After that, the operation becomes available from the operation of S44. Next, S44 will be described.

The up key 31 and the down key 3 of the scroll keys on the operator panel 15 of the printer 10
2 Select an image file and press SELECT key 33 to read command to mass storage device.
Send 55. The Read Command 55 is for selecting a cylinder, a header, a selector, a sector, and the number of sectors of data. When the selection 62 of the image data is completed, the mass storage device
Command ACK (Acknowledge) 5
6 is returned (S44).

Next, the printer 10 sends a Data R signal to a port for transferring USB data as an image data request.
issue request57. The mass storage device enters the image data transfer 63 state, and sends the image data 58 to the printer 10. Rea until the end of the selected file
d Return to Command 55 and repeat the reception. When the received data is an image file, the printer 10 converts the image file into print data in the format selected by the operator panel 15 or the default setting from the beginning, and prints out (S45). After that, S44
And the processing can be continued.

[0030]

As described above, the effect of the present invention is as follows.
Printer and digital camera can be directly connected,
The remote operation of the digital camera from the printer can be performed by being able to issue a shooting instruction to release the shutter of the digital camera, to be able to select an image in the digital camera from the printer, and to be able to print out an image file. By doing so, a printing system can be easily realized.

Further, since the printer can be directly connected to the mass storage device of the USB interface, the file can be selected from the printer, and the image file can be printed out, the image file of the mass storage device can be transferred without a personal computer. It is possible to print out to a printer.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a connection diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of an interface of the printer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operator panel provided in the printer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a printer operation according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a signal flow between the printer and the digital camera according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Printer 11 Digital Camera 12 USB Interface 13 USB Interface 14 USB Cable 15 Operator Panel 20 Parallel Interface Connector 21 USB Series B Plug Connector 22 USB Series A Plug Connector 30 CAPTURE Key 31 Up Key 32 Down Key 33 SELECT Key 34 LCD Panel

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A mass storage class US printer.
A printing system characterized by having a B (Universal Serial Bus) interface to connect a mass storage class device and to directly print out an image file to the printer. 2. In order to connect the printer and the device of the mass storage class, a US
B interface and the USB interface of the device with a USB cable,
The SB interface includes a parallel interface connector, a USB series B plug connector that connects to a host computer and sends data to the host computer in response to a BULK request or an interrupt request from the host computer, Connect and perform the same operation as the host computer
A USB series A plug connector for issuing a request to the device using an LK request or an interrupt request; a key for outputting various instructions;
The print system according to claim 1, further comprising the printer including an operator panel having a CD panel. 3. A CAPTURE key for giving an instruction to the device when connected to the device, an LCD panel for displaying an image file name stored in the device and a status of the device, and scrolling up the LCD display. 3. The operator panel of the printer, comprising: an up key for performing a selection, a down key for scrolling an LCD display down, and a SELECT key for selecting an image file and selecting a mode.
Print system as described. 4. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein said device is a digital camera. 5. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the device is a removable desk. 6. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein said device is a hard disk.