JP2002082793A - Printer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer device which can improve its total printing speed by using an engine I/F that can transfer data at a high speed with no special expanding device required. SOLUTION: This printer device 20 has a printer engine 2, a printer controller 3 and an engine interface 4 set between the engine 2 and the controller 3. The interface 4 includes a two-way communicable control line 4a which can transfer various types of control signals between the engine 2 and the controller 3 and a single-way data line 4b which performs the single-way communication to transmit the image data from the controller 3 to the engine 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer including a color printer, and more particularly to a printer having an improved engine interface (I / F).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 1, a general printer 1 has a printer engine (hereinafter referred to as "engine") 2, a printer controller (hereinafter referred to as "controller") 3, and a printer 3 (hereinafter referred to as "controller"). (Hereinafter referred to as an engine I / F) 4. The engine I / F 4 exchanges various control signals between the controller 3 and the engine 2 as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-146413, and The image data is transmitted to the engine 2. In the figure, reference numeral 5 denotes a host computer. The controller 3 includes an engine control unit 6, a CPU 7, an R @ M8, a RAM 9, a host I
/ F10.

However, while the resolution of the printer 1 is improved and the color of the printer 1 is increased, the transfer amount of the image data increases, but the data transfer through the conventional engine I / F 4 becomes a bottleneck in the speed of the entire printer 1. The problem has arisen. For this reason, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 08-33275
In the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 1 (1999) -2000, although high speed is achieved by transferring compressed image data, a special decompression device is required on the engine side.

The present invention has solved the above-mentioned conventional problems and provided an engine I / F capable of high-speed data transfer without requiring a special decompression device, thereby improving the printing speed of the entire device. It is an object to provide a printer device.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer apparatus including at least a printer engine, a printer controller, and an interface between the printer engine and the printer controller. A printer device, wherein the interface includes a control line capable of bidirectional communication for exchanging various control signals between the printer engine and a printer controller, and a one-way communication for transmitting image data from the printer controller to the printer engine. And a data line for performing the following.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, in the printer apparatus of the first aspect, the printer engine has a plurality of output mechanisms corresponding to each color component for color, and the data of the interface is provided. The line is composed of a plurality of data lines corresponding to each color component for color.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, in the printer device of the second aspect, the plurality of data lines are provided with four engine output mechanisms as the respective color components for color, and 4 corresponding to the engine output mechanism
It is characterized by two data lines.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following, description will be made by assigning common reference numerals to parts common to the related art. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the printer device according to the present invention. The illustrated printer device 20 also has an engine 2, a controller 3, and an engine I / F which is an interface between the controller 3 and the engine 2, similarly to a conventional printer device. And, as shown in FIG. 2, the engine I / F is
A control line 4a capable of bidirectional communication for exchanging various control signals between the controller 3 and the engine 2;
And a data line 4b for performing one-way communication for transmitting image data to the engine 2.

In this embodiment, a control line 4a for exchanging various control signals and a data line 4b for transmitting image data are provided.
, It is possible to exchange control signals even during image data transmission. Conversely, since there is no need to exchange control signals between image data transmissions, high-speed image data transmission is possible. Further, since the data line 4b for performing one-way communication is used for image data transmission, transmission using a simpler protocol than in bidirectional communication is possible, and an inexpensive transmission / reception module can be used.

For example, an LVDS (Low Voltage) is connected to the I / F.
In the case of using Differential Signaling, a control line is formed by an LVDS bus module for exchanging control signals, and an LVDS transceiver is used for the controller 3 and an LVDS receiver is used for the engine 2 for data transmission. Becomes possible. Here, data line 4
b may be a single physical line or a set of a plurality of lines as long as the desired transfer speed is achieved.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the printer device according to the present invention. The illustrated printer device 3
Reference numeral 0 denotes a printer having a plurality of output mechanisms corresponding to each color component for the color printer engine 31. The engine I / F enables bidirectional communication for exchanging various control signals between the controller 3 and the engine 2. A control line 4a and a plurality of data lines 4c, 4m, 4y, and 4k corresponding to color components for one-way communication for transmitting image data from the controller 3 to the engine 2.

As described above, in the conventional printer device, a plurality of data corresponding to each color component is sequentially transmitted by one I / F. However, in the present embodiment, since the data can be transmitted in parallel, high-speed transfer is performed. Is possible. Also in this case, an inexpensive one-way transmission / reception module can be used, so that an increase in cost due to parallelization of data lines can be minimized.

The printer shown in the figure has four engine output mechanisms, generally cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K), which correspond to the respective color components for color. It consists of four data lines.

[0014]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, as described above, the interface between the printer engine and the printer controller is capable of bidirectional communication for exchanging various control signals between the printer engine and the printer controller. Since it consists of a control line and a data line that performs one-way communication that sends image data from the printer controller to the printer engine, the control line that exchanges various control signals and the data line that sends image data can be separated. Since there is no need to exchange control signals between transmissions, high-speed image data transmission is possible.Since image data transmission uses a data line that performs one-way communication, it can be used compared to two-way communication. In addition to being able to transmit using a simple protocol, an inexpensive transceiver module can be used. There is an effect that.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, as described above, in the printer of the first aspect, the printer engine has a plurality of output mechanisms corresponding to each color component for color, and the printer engine and the printer controller are connected to each other. Since the data line of the interface between the two comprises a plurality of data lines corresponding to each color component for color, in addition to the same effect as the device of claim 1, a plurality of data corresponding to each color component are transmitted in parallel. This has the effect of enabling high-speed transfer.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, as described above, in the printer of the second aspect, a plurality of data lines of an interface between the printer engine and the printer controller have four data lines as color components for each color. Since there are four data lines corresponding to one engine output mechanism, in addition to the same effects as the printer device of claim 2,
In particular, in a printer having four engine output mechanisms of general cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) as each color component for color, a plurality of data corresponding to each color component are processed in parallel. This has the effect of enabling transmission and high-speed transfer.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a conventional printer device.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a printer device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the printer device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 20, 30 Printer device 2 Printer engine 3 Printer controller 4 Engine interface 4a Control line 4b, 4c, 4m, 4y, 4k Data line 5 Host computer 6 Engine control unit 7 CPU 8 RОM 9 RAM 10 Host I / F 31 Color Printer engine

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A printer device having at least a printer engine, a printer controller, and an interface between the printer engine and the printer controller, wherein the interface exchanges various control signals between the printer engine and the printer controller. And a data line for performing one-way communication for transmitting image data from the printer controller to the printer engine. 2. A printer engine having a plurality of output mechanisms corresponding to each color component for color, wherein the data line of the interface comprises a plurality of data lines corresponding to each color component for color. 1 printer device. 3. The printer device according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of data lines are four engine output mechanisms as the respective color components for the color, and four data lines corresponding to the engine output mechanisms. .