JP2002154255A - Printer and its controlling method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance print efficiency by reducing the waiting time at the time of large volume printing. SOLUTION: Upon receiving a print processing command from a host computer 101, a printer 100 stores print data in the spool area of each user prepared in an HDD. The printer 100 prints a specified volume of stored print data at a time for each user and repeats the operation for each user. According to the arrangement, print operations following to a large volume print operation is not waited.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus for receiving a print data file or the like created and edited by a host computer and forming and outputting an image, and a control method therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional printer, print data sent from a host computer is temporarily stored in a hard disk or the like, and then printed out from the previously stored data.

[0003]

According to the conventional method, for example, when the first user executes ten prints first and then the second user executes one print, the second user executes the second print. Since the user's printout is the eleventh printout, the user has to wait for eleven printouts for one printout. According to this method, as the number of sheets printed by the first user increases, the waiting time of the second user increases.

As described above, since the printout is performed by the simple first-in first-out method, if there is a print job including a large amount of data, the subsequent processing is delayed, and the processing efficiency of the entire system is reduced. There was a case.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example, and a printing apparatus capable of executing a subsequent print job without completing a preceding print job and improving the efficiency of the entire system. And a control method thereof.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and has the following configuration.

In a printing apparatus for performing print output based on received print data, an area provided for each of a plurality of users who use the printing apparatus is provided with an area corresponding to each user's print data. And storage means for storing the print data that has been printed out before the printout is completed.
And control means for controlling to read and print out print data stored in an area corresponding to another user provided in the storage means.

Preferably, the apparatus further comprises operation means for setting the printing device, wherein the control means controls the printing stored in the area corresponding to the other user based on the setting inputted from the operation means. Control to start reading data is performed.

Preferably, the operation means enables selection of predetermined print data stored in the area corresponding to each user, and the control means starts reading the selected predetermined print data.

Preferably, the operation means is capable of presetting a print output time of print data stored in the area corresponding to each user provided in the storage means, The control unit controls to start reading the print data.

Preferably, the operation means has a function of performing image processing and editing on predetermined print data stored in the area corresponding to each user provided in the storage means.

[0012] Preferably, the setting of the area corresponding to each user provided in the storage means is performed based on setting data transmitted from the information device connected to the printing device to the printing device. .

[0013] Preferably, the setting of the area corresponding to each user provided in the storage means requires input of a password.

[0014]

[Embodiment 1] A first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
A printing apparatus according to the embodiment will be described.

The printer device 100 has a LAN cable 2
13 or the host computer 101.

In the printer 100, the CPU 20
Reference numeral 1 denotes a microprocessor that controls the entire image forming apparatus, and is operated by a real-time OS. A flowchart described below is realized by the CPU 201 executing a program stored in the RAM 203.

The HDD 202 is a large-capacity hard disk that stores a plurality of applications for the operation of the CPU 201 and spools print data from a computer, and is under the control of the CPU 201.

The RAM 203 is a work memory for the operation of the CPU 201 and can be accessed from the CPU 201 at high speed.

The high-speed CPU bus 204 is connected to the CPU 201, H
A bus for connecting the DD 202, the memory 203, and each functional unit to be described later, for transferring data processed by the CPU 201 to each functional unit and for transferring data between each functional unit at high speed (DMA transfer). Things. Generally, a VL bus or a PCI bus is used.

The RIP 205 is a functional unit that receives an image forming command input from an external interface connected to a computer, which will be described later, and converts the command into a bitmap image according to the content of the command. The image forming command is input from the high-speed CPU bus 204 and outputs an image image to a high-speed image bus 216 described later. R
PostScript, PCL, LI
PS, CaPSL and the like.

The image processing 206 is performed by the high-speed image bus 21.
6 is a functional unit that performs filtering processing on the image image, such as smoothing processing and edge processing, on the image image input from 6 according to a processing command instructed by the CPU 201. Other functions of the image processing 206 include a character recognition (OCR) function for an image input from the high-speed image bus 216 and an image separation function for separating a character portion from an image portion.

The compression / decompression 207 is a high-speed image bus 2
MH, M for the image input from
R, MMR, JPEG and other image compression methods are used to compress the data and send the compressed data to the high-speed CPU bus 204 or the high-speed image bus 216 again, or vice versa. It has a function of decompressing data according to the method compressed by this functional unit and sending it to the high-speed image bus 216.

The bus bridge 208 is a high-speed CPU bus 20
4 is a bus bridge controller for connecting a low-speed CPU bus 209 to be described later, and absorbs a difference in processing speed between the buses. Through the bus bridge 208, the CPU 201 operating at a high speed can access a functional unit operating at a low speed connected to the low-speed CPU bus 209.

The low-speed CPU bus 209 is connected to the high-speed CPU
This bus has a bus configuration with a lower transfer speed than the bus 204, and is a bus for connecting functional units having a relatively low processing capacity. Generally, an ISA bus or the like is used.

The LAN interface 212 is a functional unit for connecting the image forming apparatus to the local area network (LAN) 213, and is for transmitting and receiving data to and from the local area network 213. In general,
Ethernet (registered trademark) and the like.

The panel interface 215 is connected to the operation unit 2
When various control signals are exchanged with the CPU 21, signals of input switches such as keys disposed on the operation unit 221 are transmitted to the CPU 201, the RIP 205, the image processing unit 2, and the like.
06, a unit that performs resolution conversion for displaying the image data created by the compression / decompression unit 207 on the liquid crystal display unit in the operation unit 221.

A high-speed image bus 216 is a bus for interconnecting image input / output buses in various image generation units (RIP 205, image processing 206, compression / decompression 207) and a scanner interface 217 and a printer interface 219 described later. is there. The control of this bus is not under the control of the CPU 201, and is controlled by a bus controller (not shown) to perform data transfer.

A scanner unit 218 is a visible image reading device provided with an automatic document feeder, and includes a RGB three-line CCD color sensor or a one-line monochrome CCD.
It has a line sensor. The image data read by the scanner unit 218 is transmitted to the high-speed image bus 2 by the scanner interface unit 217.
16.

In the scanner interface unit 217, the image data read by the scanner unit 218 is subjected to the optimal binarization according to the contents of processing in the subsequent process, and serialized in accordance with the data width of the high-speed image bus 216. -Perform parallel conversion,
The read RGB 3 primary color data is converted to CMYBk
It has a function to convert to data of the same.

The printer unit 220 prints image data received from a printer interface unit 219 described later on a recording sheet as visible image data. The printer unit 220 includes a bubble jet printer that prints on recording paper using a bubble jet (registered trademark) method, and an electrophotograph that forms an image on a photosensitive drum using a laser beam and forms an image on recording paper. There is a laser beam printer using technology.
Laser beam printers include a monochromatic printer and a CMYBk color laser beam printer.

The printer interface unit 219 transfers the image data sent from the high-speed image bus 216 to the printer unit. The printer interface unit 219 has a bus width corresponding to the gradation of the printer to be output from the high-speed image bus 216 bus width. It has a bus width conversion function for conversion and a function for absorbing the difference between the printing speed of the printer and the transfer speed of the high-speed image bus 216 and image data.

The operation unit 221 has a liquid crystal display unit, a touch panel input device attached on the liquid crystal display unit, and a plurality of hard keys. The signals input by the touch panel or the hard keys are transmitted to the panel interface 21 described above.
5, the liquid crystal display unit displays the image data sent from the panel interface 215. The liquid crystal display displays a function display, image data, and the like in the operation of the image forming apparatus.

With the above configuration, the operation of the printing apparatus when outputting the transferred data in FIG. 3 when transferring data from the computer 101 in FIG. 2 will be described with a flowchart.

(Data Transfer (FIG. 2)) S1-Creates and edits a document on a specific computer and executes a print operation on the printer apparatus 100.

S2--Print data sent from the computer is sent from the I / F 212 or 214 to the bus 2
09, the bus bridge 208, and the HDD 204 via the bus 204.
02 is transferred to a spool area provided on the file system 02. At this time, the CPU 201 identifies the user who sent the print data, and selects an area (described later) for spooling.

S3--Transfer the print data to a spool area corresponding to the user.

The print data spooled by the above procedure is output by the following processing.

(Operation of Printing Apparatus (FIG. 3)) S4—The inside of the HDD 202 is divided into a predetermined number of areas. The division number at this time is the number of users registered in the printing apparatus. Alternatively, it is the number of users who have a license to use the printing apparatus. That is, in the present embodiment, the user is used as the attribute of the print job as a reference for dividing the spool file.

S5--The number of prints per process in each spool area is set. For example, a person who always prints a large number of sheets is 3 to 4 sheets, and the other person is one sheet. Note that this amount may be time instead of data amount. However, in the case of a page printer, it is necessary to divide each page, so that the point at which printing of the printed page is completed after a predetermined time has elapsed is set as the break.

The processing up to this point is not performed every time printing is performed, but may be performed whenever it becomes necessary to allocate a spool file. The print data from the host computer is sent to the printer 100 after the above steps are completed.

S6--Initialize X = 1. X is the number of the spool area, and indicates the spool area for executing the print processing. X repeats from 1 to the division number N of the spool area. Each time X exceeds N, the process returns to step S6,
Set X to 1.

S7—Confirm that print data exists in the X-th spool area. If there is no print data,
The process moves to S13. If there is print data, continue as follows.

S8- Assume that Y = 1. Y is used as a counter for the number of prints.

S9—One page of PDL data from the X-th spool area is expanded into raster image data necessary for image formation by the RIP 205. At this time, if necessary, the image processing unit 206 and the compression / decompression unit 207 also perform processing.

S10- The raster image data developed in step S9 is image-formed on a medium such as printing paper by the printer unit 220 via the bus 216 and the I / F 219. At this time, charging is counted for the number of prints, image size, data size and the like.

S11-Increment Y by one.

If the value of S12-Y does not exceed the number of prints per process (Px) set in step S5, the process returns to step S9 to develop spool data for the next one page. If Y> Px, the process proceeds to the following process.

S13—X is incremented by one.

If the value of S14-X does not exceed the number N divided in step S4, the process returns to step SS7 to check for the presence or absence of the next spool data. If X> N, the process returns to step SS6, and the above processing is performed from the first spool area.

According to the above-described procedure, printout is performed while switching the spool area by the number of sheets predetermined for each user, so that even if a user prints a large amount of data,
Printing can be performed without the printer being exclusively owned by the user.

[Embodiment 2] Hereinafter, the operation of the printer device of the present embodiment 2 will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG. 2 showing the operation of a computer as in the first embodiment, and FIG. . However, the contents of the steps in FIGS. 2 and 3 are different.

(Data Transfer (FIG. 2)) S1--Creates and edits a document on a specific computer and executes a print operation on the printer device 100.

S2--Print data sent from the computer is sent from the I / F 212 or 214 to the bus 20.
9, HDD 20 via bus bridge 208 and bus 204
2 is transferred to the spool area. At this time, C
The PU 201 identifies the PDL of the print data and selects an area for spooling. That is, in the present embodiment,
The type of PDL is used as an attribute of a print job as a reference for dividing a spool file.

S3--Transfer the print data to a spool area corresponding to the PDL.

(Operation of Printing Apparatus (FIG. 3)) The data thus transferred is output as follows.

S4—The inside of the spool area is divided into a predetermined number of areas. The number of divisions at this time is the number of print modules registered in the printing apparatus. At this time, a fee or a maintenance fee is also counted for the registered print module. Each print module is held for each type of PDL. Therefore, the spool area is divided for each PDL.

S5--The number of prints per process in each spool area is set. For example, the spool area of the print module with fast data development is 3-4.
And the spool area of the print module whose data development is slow is one. Also determine the frequency of use.

The above steps are performed when dividing the spool area, and need not always be performed. The print data from the host computer is sent to the printer 100 after the above steps are completed.

S6—Set X = 1. X is the number of the spool area, and indicates the spool area for executing the print processing. X repeats from 1 to the division number N of the spool area. Each time X exceeds N, the process returns to step S6, and X
To 1.

S7—Confirm that print data exists in the X-th spool area. If there is no print data,
The process moves to step S13. If there is print data, continue as follows.

S8—Set Y = 1. Y is used as a counter for the number of prints.

S9—PDL data for one page from the X-th spool area is expanded into raster image data required for image formation by the corresponding print module and RIP 205. At this time, if necessary, the image processing unit 206 and the compression / decompression unit 207 also perform processing.

S10—The raster image data developed in step S9 is image-formed on a medium such as print paper by the printer unit 220 via the bus 261 and the I / F 219.

S11-Increment Y by one.

If the value of S12-Y does not exceed the number of prints per process (Px) set in step S5, the process returns to step S9 to expand the spool data for the next one page. If Y> Px, the process proceeds to the following process.

S13-X is incremented by one.

If the value of S14-X does not exceed the number N divided in step S4, the process returns to step S7 to check for the presence or absence of the next spool data. If X> N, the process returns to step S6, and the above processing is performed from the first spool area.

With the above processing, the print data is printed out by a predetermined number in accordance with the type of PDL in which the print data is described. For this reason, even if there is a large amount of print data described using the PDL that requires a very long time to develop an image, it is possible to prevent output of other print data from being delayed due to the data.

[Embodiment 3] Hereinafter, a setting operation from the host computer to the printing apparatus in the printing apparatus according to the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 4, and a printing output operation will be described with reference to FIG.

(Setting Operation by Computer (FIG. 4)) S15- Various settings of the spool area to be used in the printing apparatus are made. If you do not enter a password at this time,
Cannot be set or changed.

S16—Transfer the spool area setting file created on the computer to the printing device.

S17—The print data sent from the computer is sent from the I / F 212 or 214 to the bus 2
09, the bus bridge 208 and the bus 204 to transfer to the spool area. At this time, the CPU 201 identifies the user who sent the print data, and selects an area to spool.

(Operation of Printing Apparatus (FIG. 5)) S19—The CPU 201 sets conditions for interruption.
The time and the spool area number at the time of periodic printing, the capacity or the number and the spool area number at a fixed capacity or the number of sheets, the editing image processing, etc. are interrupted from the operation unit.
This setting is performed by the panel 221 in FIG.

S20- When the conditions for setting each spool area are satisfied by the CPU 201, an interrupt is generated and the following processing is performed. Until then, the same processing as in the first and second embodiments is executed. At this time, the number of spool areas is the number of registered users.

S21—Confirmation of interrupt. Wait until there is an interrupt.

S22—Determine what the interruption is.
If an interrupt is received from the operation unit, the process proceeds to S24.

S23- At the time of periodic printing or printing based on the capacity or the number of sheets, the data in the corresponding spool area is printed.

S24—Pressing the F key on the operation unit of the printing apparatus and entering a password registered in advance displays files in the assigned spool area and function keys for image processing, editing, preview, etc. . When each function and file are selected, processing is performed, and the OK key is pressed, each setting is executed. Then, printing is performed in S23.

S25—Return each setting to the setting before interruption.

The printer described in the embodiment has a function of starting image formation after print data reaches a predetermined capacity or number of pages, a function of starting printing at a preset time, A function of printing by operation from the operation unit of the printing apparatus, a function of performing image processing and editing from the operation unit of the printing apparatus, and the like may be provided.

As described above, each time the data in the spool file is printed, the function of the printer device such as image processing can be selected to be executed. Therefore, the print output is simply performed by a predetermined amount for each spool area. In addition to the above, print settings can be changed for each spool and output.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing an internal structure of a laser beam printer (hereinafter abbreviated as LBP) which forms an image by an electrophotographic system, which is an example of an engine used as a printer unit 220 of the printer apparatus 100. The LBP can be input on character pattern data or the like and printed on recording paper.

In the figure, 740 is an LBP main body,
An image is formed on recording paper, which is a recording medium, based on the supplied character pattern and the like. Reference numeral 700 denotes an operation panel on which a switch for operation, an LED display, and the like are arranged.
Is a printer control unit for controlling the entire LBP 740 and analyzing character pattern information and the like. The printer control unit 701 mainly converts character pattern information into a video signal and outputs the video signal to the laser driver 702.

The laser driver 702 is a semiconductor laser 70
And a laser beam emitted from the semiconductor laser 703 in response to an input video signal.
04 is turned on / off. The laser beam 704 is swung right and left by a rotary polygon mirror 705 to scan on an electrostatic drum 706. Thus, an electrostatic latent image of a character pattern is formed on the electrostatic drum 706. This latent image is developed by a developing unit 707 around the electrostatic drum 706,
Transferred to recording paper. A cut sheet is used as the recording paper. The cut sheet recording paper is stored in a paper cassette 708 mounted on the LBP 740, is taken into the apparatus by a paper feed roller 709 and transport rollers 710 and 711, and is supplied to the electrostatic drum 706. Is done.

Although the laser beam printer has been described as an example of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to an ink jet printer described below.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of an ink jet recording apparatus IJRA applicable as the printer unit 220. In the figure, the carriage HC that engages with the spiral groove 5004 of the lead screw 5005 that rotates via the driving force transmission gears 5011 and 5009 in conjunction with the forward and reverse rotation of the drive motor 5013 has a pin (not shown). Then, it is reciprocated in the directions of arrows a and b. An ink jet cartridge IJC is mounted on the carriage HC. Reference numeral 5002 denotes a paper pressing plate, which presses the paper against the platen 5000 in the moving direction of the carriage. 50
Reference numerals 07 and 5008 denote photocouplers, which confirm the presence of a carriage lever 5006 in this area, and
This is a home position detecting means for switching the rotation direction of the camera. A member 5016 supports a cap member 5022 for capping the front surface of the recording head.
Is suction means for sucking the inside of the cap, and performs suction recovery of the recording head via the opening 5023 in the cap. 50
Reference numeral 17 denotes a cleaning blade. Reference numeral 5019 denotes a member that allows the blade to move in the front-rear direction. It goes without saying that the blade is not limited to this form, and a well-known cleaning blade can be applied to this embodiment. Reference numeral 5021 denotes a lever for starting suction for recovery of suction, which moves with the movement of the cam 5020 which engages with the carriage, and controls the movement of the driving force from the drive motor by a known transmission means such as clutch switching. Is done.

The capping, cleaning, and suction recovery are configured so that desired operations can be performed at the corresponding positions by the action of the lead screw 5005 when the carriage comes to the area on the home position side. If a desired operation is performed at a timing, any of the examples can be applied.

[0088]

[Other Embodiments] Even if the present invention is applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), an apparatus (for example, a copying machine) Machine, facsimile machine, etc.).

Further, an object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium (or a recording medium) in which a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is recorded to a system or an apparatus, and a computer (a computer) of the system or the apparatus. Alternatively, this can be achieved by a CPU or an MPU) reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the program code itself and the storage medium storing the program code constitute the present invention. Become.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the operating system (OS) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. ) Performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into the memory provided in the function expansion card inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the program code is read based on the instruction of the program code. This also includes the case where the CPU provided in the function expansion card or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0093]

As described above, the printing apparatus and the control method thereof according to the present invention can use a printer even when a print job with a large amount of print output is being executed, without waiting for the end of the entire print. Can be. Therefore, the efficiency of the entire system including the printer can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an internal configuration diagram of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the first and second embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the first and second embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a third embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a third embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an operation unit and a display unit used in a third embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the laser beam printer.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the ink jet printer.

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus for performing print output based on received print data, wherein print data of each user corresponds to an area provided for each of a plurality of users who use the printing apparatus. Storage means for storing in an area to be printed, and before the print output of the print data being printed out is completed, read out the print data stored in an area corresponding to another user provided in the storage means and print out And a control unit for performing control of the printing. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an operation unit configured to set the printing apparatus, wherein the control unit stores print data stored in an area corresponding to the other user based on a setting input from the operation unit. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein control is performed to start reading of data. 3. The operation means enables selection of predetermined print data stored in the area corresponding to each user, and the control means starts reading of the selected predetermined print data. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein 4. The operation means enables a print output time of print data stored in the area corresponding to each user provided in the storage means to be set in advance, and the print time is set at the set time. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a control unit controls to start reading the print data. 5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operation unit has a function of performing image processing and editing on predetermined print data stored in the area corresponding to each user, provided in the storage unit. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein 6. The setting of the area corresponding to each user provided in the storage unit is performed based on setting data transmitted from the information device connected to the printing device to the printing device. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein: 7. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the setting of the area corresponding to each user provided in the storage unit requires input of a password. 8. A control method for a printing apparatus for performing print output based on received print data, the print data of each user being provided in an area provided for each of a plurality of users who use the printing apparatus. Storing the print data stored in the area corresponding to the other user in the storage step before the print output of the print data that has been printed out is completed. And a control step of controlling the printing apparatus. 9. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a setting step of setting the printing apparatus, wherein the control step includes the step of: setting the print data stored in an area corresponding to the other user based on the setting input in the setting step. The control method for a printing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein reading of the printing apparatus is started. 10. The setting step enables selection of predetermined print data stored in the area corresponding to a user, and the control step starts reading of the predetermined print data selected in the setting step. The method of controlling a printing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein: 11. The setting step enables a print output time of print data stored in the area corresponding to a user to be set, and the control step starts reading of the print data at the set time. The method of controlling a printing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein: 12. The printing method according to claim 9, wherein in the setting step, image processing and editing can be set for predetermined print data stored in the area corresponding to a user. How to control the device. 13. The setting step, wherein the setting of the area provided for each of a plurality of users is performed based on setting data transmitted from the information device connected to the printing device to the printing device. The control method for a printing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein 14. The control of the printing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein setting of the area provided for each of a plurality of users, which is input in the setting step, requires input of a password. Method.