JP2002007084A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device which secures an idle memory and can continue printing processing by saving data in another computer on a network when the memory required for the printing processing cannot be secured. SOLUTION: When the capacity of the memory becomes smaller during the processing with a printer language processing part 3, a control part 4 detects the state. A memory block which is not recently accessed in a memory 5 is searched and the block is transmitted to a computer 6 through a network 2. The computer 6 preserves data. In a printer device 1, a memory content transmitted to the computer 6 can be deleted and a printer language processing part 3 can use the memory block as the idle memory. When saved data are accessed again, the control part 4 requests the restoration of the memory content to the computer 6. The computer 6 transmits the requested memory content. The control part 4 receives data and the processing of the printer language processing part 3 can be continued.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a printer connected to a network or an image forming apparatus having a printer function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Along with the remarkable progress of OA in recent years, recent printer apparatuses have been improved in function, image quality and color. Therefore, the memory required for performing the printing process is very large. For example, if the resolution of the printer is doubled, the page memory that must be held to create one page will be quadrupled simply. Also, the colorization of the printer increases the page memory that must be held for printing 256 colors at the same resolution by eight times. On the other hand, although the price of the memory is also decreasing, the price of the printer is continuing to decrease, so that a sufficient amount of memory is not necessarily provided as a standard in the printer.

Therefore, in the invention described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-325675, when the printer runs out of memory capacity during the printing process, it sequentially deletes low priority information in the memory and receives new information. Has been proposed to secure the memory. Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-2513
In the invention described in No. 57, a method is disclosed in which, when the printer runs out of memory capacity during print processing, information of low priority in the memory is saved to another computer.

[0004]

Therefore, if there is not enough memory for the print processing during the print processing by the printer, the print processing is interrupted or the resolution or the number of colors is reduced. Therefore, there is a problem that the intended print result cannot be obtained. By the way, in the invention described in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-325675, information is only deleted, and the content is not used to save the contents to another computer, for example. In the invention described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-251357, the computer to be saved is limited to a directly connected computer that exchanges print data, and is assumed to be saved to any computer. Not something.

Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to secure a free memory by saving data to another computer on a network when a memory required for a print process cannot be secured. Is to be able to continue. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of reading data from a evacuated computer when the evacuated memory contents are needed again. A second object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of selecting a part of a page image created by a printing process at a time when selecting data to be saved in a memory. A third object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of selecting a printer having the same function and not currently performing a print process as a destination for saving data in a memory.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus which is connected to another computer via a network and prints received print data.
A memory for holding the received print data; a detecting means for detecting a shortage of the memory used for the print processing during the processing of the print data; and a memory when the detecting means detects the shortage of the memory. Transmission means for transmitting the contents of the copy to a specific computer connected to the network, and after transmitting by this transmission means, continues processing of the print data using the vacant memory;
When the contents of the memory transmitted by the transmitting means are needed again, the first object is achieved by receiving the contents of the memory again and continuing the print processing.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a printer description language is output so that a page memory is divided and used when creating print data on a computer which has issued a print request. When the detecting means detects that the memory capacity is insufficient, the transmitting means transmits a part of the page image after the image generation when the transmitting means transmits a part of the contents of the memory. Achieve the objectives.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the transmitting means uses a printer connected to a network and not performing a printing process as a destination to which the memory contents are transmitted. Thereby, the third object is achieved.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a printer device 1 is connected to a network 2. Further, another computer 6 and a printer device 7 are connected via the network 2. The printer device 1 includes a printer language processing unit 3, a control unit 4, and a memory 5. First, in the first embodiment, the printer 1 can receive print data from any computer via the network 2. The received data is converted into an image by the printer language processing unit 3 and stored in the memory 5.

Here, when the available memory decreases during the processing of the printer language processing unit 3, the control unit 4 detects this state. The control unit 4 searches the memory 5 for a memory block that has not been accessed most recently, and transmits the block to the computer 6 via the network 2. This computer 6 can be selected independently of the computer that transmitted the print data. The computer 6 stores the received data in a memory or a secondary storage device in preparation for a request again. Since the printer 1 can delete the memory content transmitted to the computer 6, the printer language processing unit 3 can use this memory block as a free memory.

Normally, since there is locality in memory reference, by creating an empty memory in this manner, the printer language processing unit 3 can proceed with the processing.
When the data saved in the computer 6 is accessed again, the control unit 4 requests the computer 6 to restore the memory contents, and the computer 6 transmits the requested memory contents. The control unit 4 receives the data from the computer 6 and returns the data to the original position in the memory so that the processing of the printer language processing unit 3 can be continued. At this time, computer 6
Can be created by saving the contents of the least recently accessed memory block described above in the computer 6. According to the above-described method, it is possible to print a high-resolution multicolor image regardless of the memory capacity mounted in the printer device.

Next, a second embodiment will be described. The printer 1 has the same configuration as that of the first embodiment, but outputs a printer description language such that a page memory on the printer is divided and used on a computer that sends print data to the printer 1. Keep it.
Here, the divided page memories are called "bands". The printer device 1 receiving the print data from the computer 6 creates an image from the print data received by the printer language processing unit 3. First, an image (band image) of only a part of the page memory is created by the processing of the printer language processing unit 3. When the free memory is insufficient, the control unit 4 transmits the data of the band image to the computer 6, and makes the memory usable as a free memory. An image can be created by repeating the same process until the entire image is created.

In this embodiment, when the amount of mounted memory is large, the amount of image data sent to the computer 6 can be reduced. However, when the amount of mounted memory is small, the amount of image data sent to the computer 6 increases. However, even if the image data to be sent to the computer 6 is large, the image data can be transferred at once in a large unit called a band, so that the image data can be executed more efficiently than in the small unit as in the first embodiment.

Next, a third embodiment will be described. The printer device 1 has the same configuration as the first embodiment,
The place where the contents of the memory are transferred to the computer 6 is transferred to another printer 7.
In addition, by adding the method of the second embodiment,
By transferring all the image data to another printer device 7, it is possible to perform printing on actual paper on the other printer 7. It can be used effectively. In the above embodiments, since the memory is accessed via the network, the speed of the network greatly affects the overall efficiency. However, since the transfer speed of the network is increasing year by year, the transfer speed of the network is high. If a certain speed is exceeded, a sufficiently practical speed can be achieved.

[0015]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, free memory is secured by saving data to another computer on the network, regardless of the memory capacity installed in the image forming apparatus, and a large amount of memory is saved. Necessary image data can be printed. According to the second aspect of the present invention, a part of a page image is efficiently saved to another computer by localizing a memory reference required for a print process in a printer from the time of creating a printer description language. This makes it possible to perform print processing at higher speed. According to the third aspect of the present invention, the memory of a printer that is not currently performing print processing can be used as a temporary save area for memory contents, and a special save computer is not required. And claim 2
It is possible to obtain the function and effect of the above. In addition, the memory of the unused printer can be effectively used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printer device 2 Network 3 Printer language processing part 4 Control part 5 Memory 6 Computer 7 Printer device

Claims (3)

[Claims] An image forming apparatus that is connected to another computer via a network and prints received print data, a memory that holds the received print data, and a memory that is used for print processing during processing of the print data. Detecting means for detecting the memory capacity shortage, and transmitting means for transmitting a part of the memory content to a specific computer connected to the network when the detecting means detects the memory capacity shortage, After transmission by the transmission unit, the processing of the print data is continued using the empty memory, and when the content of the memory transmitted by the transmission unit becomes necessary again, the content of the memory is received again and the printing process is performed. The image forming apparatus. 2. A computer which has issued a print request, outputs a printer description language so that a page memory is divided and used at the time of print data creation, so that the detecting means detects that the memory capacity is insufficient. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when the transmitting unit transmits a part of the contents of the memory, the transmitting unit transmits a part of the page image after the image is generated. 3. The printer according to claim 1, wherein said transmitting means uses a printer connected to a network and not performing a printing process, as a destination to which the memory contents are transmitted.
Alternatively, the image forming apparatus according to claim 2.