JP2003001882A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To take out data necessary for printing directly from a magnetic medium by a magnetic storage device built in a printer and to print without data input from the outside. SOLUTION: When print data are read out of a magnetic medium 7 by an operation panel 3 or a control command and a mode for printing is selected, a control signal is sent to a controlling portion 6 of floppy (registered trademark) disk drive by a print data controlling portion 5, a file name is read out of the magnetic medium 7, the file name is specified by displaying it on a display portion 8, printer data are read out of the magnetic medium 7 without connecting to a host computer and the printer data are printed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer capable of printing from print data stored in magnetic storage means and storing print data in the magnetic storage means. Here, the magnetic storage means is composed of a magnetic storage medium and a magnetic storage device for reading and writing the magnetic storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Control data and print data for a printer are input from a host computer through a parallel or serial interface. Therefore, the host computer is always required when the printer prints.

While the host computer side hardly needs to perform mechanical operation, the printer side processes data received from the host computer into data for actual printing, and then mechanical operation is performed. Since the printing is performed by the printer, most of the time required for the printing is consumed by the printer.

On the currently widely used single-task OS, most of the application software is inefficient because the host computer cannot perform other processing when sending data to the printer.

As a remedy for this, a printer spooler is provided on the host computer side to temporarily store print data to reduce the time, but the printer spooler depends on the hardware configuration on the host side, and the printer side does not. there is nothing to do.

On the other hand, the print data sent from these host computers disappears after the printing is completed, and the same print data must be sent again from the host computer in order to print the same again.

[0007]

The problems to be solved are that the print data required by the printer must be input from the outside by the host computer and once input from the outside. That is, the print data disappears when the printing is completed.

[0008]

In order to solve such a problem, a printer according to claim 1 of the present invention comprises an interface unit for inputting print data from the outside, and a magnetic unit for storing the print data. Storage means, and control means for reading out the written print data and printing based on the print data when the writing of the print data input via the interface means to the magnetic storage means is completed. And

A printer according to a second aspect of the present invention includes an interface unit for inputting print data from the outside, a magnetic storage unit for storing print data, and a print data input via the interface unit. Upon completion of writing to the magnetic storage means, a mode in which the written print data is read out and printing is performed based on the print data, and the print data input via the interface means is stored in the magnetic storage means without printing. Means for selecting a printing mode based on the data.

[0010]

The print data is read out from the magnetic storage device built in the printer by performing a setting on the operation panel, or by sending a control command from the host computer, and printing is performed by an external device such as a parallel interface, a serial interface, or a floppy disk. The input source of print data is selected by selecting whether to write the data sent through the interface for the (registered trademark) disk drive to the magnetic medium.

If no particular setting is made, the printer operates in the same manner as a normal printer and prints with the data sent from the host computer, but the data sent from the host computer at this time is not saved.

When the print data is taken out from the magnetic medium and printed, the file name displayed on the display is selected on the operation panel or a control command is sent from the host computer to write the same in the same medium. You can select any file from the existing data files.

On the other hand, when storing print data in a magnetic medium, the printer recognizes the file name and the end of a series of print data by sending a control command from the host computer, and the print data is written and stored in the medium.

[0014]

FIG. 1 is a perspective sectional view of the device of the present invention.

Since the magnetic storage device 2 is built in the printer 1 as described above, in addition to the conventional data input from the host computer, a mode is selected by the operation panel 3 or a control command is sent from the host computer. This allows the printer to read the data from the magnetic medium and print independently.

FIG. 2 is an internal block diagram showing the operation panel 3
When the print data is read from the magnetic medium 7 by and the mode for printing is selected, the control signal is output to the data bus 3a, the print data control unit 5 enables the data bus 5a, and the floppy (registered trademark) disk drive control is performed. A control signal for requesting the unit 6 to read the file name stored in the magnetic medium 7 is output to the data bus 5b.

The file name data read from the magnetic medium 7 by the floppy (registered trademark) disk drive control unit 6 is sent to the print data control unit 5 through the data bus 5a and displayed on the display unit 8. After that, the above process is repeated until the desired file name is displayed, and the file name is displayed. The target file name is displayed,
When print execution is selected on the operation panel 3, the print data control unit 5 outputs a control signal requesting print data to the data bus 5b.

When the floppy (registered trademark) disk drive control unit 6 receives a print data request signal,
The print data is read from the magnetic medium 7 through the data bus 6a, and the data is sent to the print data controller 5 through the data bus 5a. The print data received by the print data control unit 5 is sent to the printing unit 9 through the data bus 5c, and thereafter, the same processing as that of an ordinary printer is performed and printing is performed.

Similarly, when the mode for printing the print data input from the host computer and storing it in the magnetic medium is selected by the operation panel 3, a control signal is output to the data bus 3a. The print data control unit 5 that has received the request requests the floppy (registered trademark) disk drive controller 6 to prepare for writing on the magnetic medium 7, and the floppy (registered trademark)
When the preparation is completed, the disk drive controller 6 outputs a signal to the data bus 6c to inform that the preparation is completed. When this signal is received by the print data control unit 5, the control signal is sent to the parallel interface 10 or the serial interface 11 selected at that time by the data bus.
Output through 5d.

When data is sent from the host computer, it is received by the parallel interface 10 or the serial interface 11 and output to the data bus 10a or the data bus 11a, respectively. Or
The print data is judged, and if it is a file name, it is sent to the floppy (registered trademark) disk drive control unit 6 through the data bus 5a and written in the magnetic medium 7.

Next, in the case of print data, when the print data is received by the print data control unit 5, it is first sent to the floppy (registered trademark) disk drive control unit 6 and written to the magnetic medium 7 for each processing unit, and the writing is completed. Then,
A control signal indicating that writing has been completed is output to the data bus 6c, and print data is sent to the printing unit 9 through the data bus 5c and printed.

When each of the above processing modes is selected by sending a control command from the host computer,
When the print data control unit 5 receives the control command received by the parallel interface 10 or the serial interface 11, the command is interpreted, and thereafter, the same processing as when each processing mode is selected by the operation panel is performed.

However, regarding which file in the magnetic medium 7 is to be used for printing, the control command sent from the host computer is interpreted by the print data control unit 5, and the floppy (registered trademark) disk drive control unit is used. The floppy (registered trademark) disk drive controller 6 searches the magnetic medium 7 for a corresponding file by sending a control signal to the data bus 6 via the data bus 5b and then sending a file name via the data bus 5a.

The subsequent processing is the same as the processing by the operation panel 3.

When used as an external magnetic storage device of the host computer, by selecting the mode with the operation panel 3, control signals sent from the host computer through the floppy (registered trademark) disk drive interface 12 and In the case of receiving the data and receiving the control signal, the data passes through the data bus 6d and the data bus 6e, and the floppy (registered trademark) disk drive control unit 6
And the writing or reading process for the magnetic medium 7 is performed through the data bus 6b.

[0026]

The printer with magnetic storage means of the present invention is
When printing the input data from the external parallel or serial interface, by storing the print data in the magnetic medium at the same time, when printing the same one again, it is necessary to input the data from the outside. Instead, it is possible to obtain the desired print result by performing all the processes inside the printer.

Once the print data is stored in the magnetic medium, no processing by the host computer is required, so the host computer can perform other processing while the printer is printing. Becomes

When the printing is not performed, the magnetic storage device in the printer can be used as an external magnetic storage device of the host computer.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective sectional view of a printer of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an internal block diagram of the printer of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Printer Housing 2 Magnetic Storage Device 3 Operation Panel 5 Print Data Control Section 6 Floppy (Registered Trademark) Disk Drive Control Section 7 Magnetic Medium 8 Display Section 9 Printing Section 10 Parallel Interface 11 Serial Interface 12 Floppy (Registered Trademark) Disk Drive Interface

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An interface unit for inputting print data from the outside, a magnetic storage unit for storing the print data, and writing of the print data input via the interface unit to the magnetic storage unit is completed. And a control unit that reads out the written print data and performs printing based on the print data. 2. An interface unit for inputting print data from the outside, a magnetic storage unit for storing the print data, and writing of the print data input via the interface unit to the magnetic storage unit is completed. At the same time, a mode in which the written print data is read and printing is performed based on the print data and a mode in which the print data input through the interface unit is not stored in the magnetic storage unit and printing is performed based on the print data are selected. And a printer. 3. The printer according to claim 2, wherein the mode is selected based on the control command.