JP2003118204A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer in which cost related to power supply is reduced, power supply operation is eliminated, and power consumption is reduced at the time of stand-by in energy saving mode. SOLUTION: The printer comprises a power control section 11 for turning a PSU (main power supply) 2 on by connecting a USB interface cable connected with a personal computer under conducting state with a connector provided in the printer. When print processing is not performed for a specified time, the power control section 11 turns the PSU 2 off to bring about a state for waiting reception of a printer language with power being supplied from the personal computer. At a point in time when the printer language is received, the PSU 2 is turned on to execute printing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of a power supply unit of a printing apparatus which is connected to a USB interface cable, an IEEE 1394 interface cable or the like capable of transmitting electric power output from a personal computer to execute a printing process. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a printing apparatus which executes a printing process by connecting to a USB interface cable or an IEEE 1394 interface cable capable of transmitting electric power output from a personal computer.
In this device, the main power source is normally turned on by a mechanical switch provided on the outer surface of the device casing, and the printing process is executed based on the print signal transmitted via the USB interface cable or the IEEE 1394 interface cable. Has become. In addition, this device
Normally, it usually has an energy saving mode function, and if a predetermined time has passed after printing processing is stopped,
The power supply to the print executing unit that consumes a lot of power is stopped, and the power supply to the print executing unit is restarted when the print signal is received again. This is an economically excellent function.

[0003]

By the way, current printing apparatuses are required to be cheaper, more compact, and easier to use. Particularly, the power supply of the printing apparatus is turned on by the mechanical switch as described above, and the mechanical switch is operated each time the printing process is desired, which is troublesome.

Further, considering the recent environmental problems,
More power saving is demanded, and in particular, the power consumption during standby in the energy saving mode is regulated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus in which the cost related to the power supply is suppressed, the power supply operation is eliminated, and the power consumption during standby in the energy saving mode is suppressed.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, the printing apparatus in the present invention has the following technical means. In a printing apparatus having a connector connected to an interface cable capable of transmitting electric power output from a personal computer and an energy saving mode function, the interface cable connected to the personal computer in an energized state is connected to the connector. As a result, a power supply control means for turning on the main power supply unit to make it in a printable state is provided (Claim 1).

In a printing apparatus having a connector connected to an interface cable capable of transmitting electric power output from a personal computer and an energy saving mode function, the interface cable connected to the personal computer is connected to the connector. Power supply control means is provided for turning on the main power supply unit to turn on the main power supply unit using the electric power transmitted through the interface cable as a power source when the personal computer is turned on (claim 2).

The above-mentioned interface cable is U
It is preferably an SB interface cable or an IEEE 1394 interface cable (claims 3 and 4).

When the printing apparatus described above shifts to the energy-saving mode, the power supply control means turns off the main power supply unit and receives the print signal by using the electric power transmitted through the interface cable as the electric power source. ,
By receiving the print signal, the main power supply unit is turned off.
It is preferable that it is configured to return to the printable state by setting it to N (Claim 5).

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
US connected to a powered personal computer 4
By connecting the B interface cable 5, it is preferable to automatically turn on the main power supply of the printing apparatus to make it ready for printing. Hereinafter, the printing apparatus in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The details will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the printing apparatus according to this embodiment includes a controller 1, a PSU 2, and a printer engine image forming unit 3.

The controller 1 comprises a power control unit 11 and a printer control unit 12. The power control unit 11 includes a connector 111 conforming to the USB standard and a 1-chip CPU 112. The connector 111 has a well-known structure configured to be connectable to the USB interface cable 5, and the power supplied from the personal computer 4 via the USB interface cable 5 and the connector 111 and the printer transmitted from the personal computer 4. 1-chip CPU so as to supply the language and the 1-chip CPU 112 described later.
It is connected to 112.

The 1-chip CPU 112 has a ROM in which a predetermined control program for realizing the power supply function and the energy saving mode of the printing apparatus in this embodiment is recorded,
A CPU that controls power supply, which is the gist of the present application, according to a control program stored in this ROM, and a RAM that stores necessary data for enabling setting changes after a standby time for shifting to an energy-saving mode And the well-known U
The SB interface and other required I / O ports and the like are built in, and the power supplied from the personal computer 4 is used as a power source, and the PSU 2 described later has a "CT
The "L signal" is transmitted to the printer control unit 12 in the printer language via a local bus, and the printer control unit 12 is configured to be capable of bidirectional communication. The details of the operation procedure will be described later.

The printer control unit 12 includes a memory 1
21, a CPU 122, and an ASIC 123, and is driven by electric power supplied from a printer engine image forming unit 3 described later. Memory 121
Stores a control program for realizing the printing function. The CPU 122 integrally controls the print function unit according to the control program stored in the memory 121. It should be noted that the above-described one-chip CPU 112 performs the power control of the printing apparatus and the CPU 122 performs the print control, and when the energy saving mode is entered, all the power is turned off except for the power control unit 11.

The ASIC 123 is connected to the printer engine image forming unit 3 so as to be capable of bidirectional communication, and is also connected to the C.
Under the control of the PU 122, the printer language received from the personal computer 4 is decoded and converted into a bitmap,
Bitmap data is transmitted to the printer engine image forming unit 3 in synchronization with the Video interface.

The PSU 2 is a power supply unit, which converts a household power supply into a DC or AC power supply required by each unit of the printing apparatus, and each unit of which power consumption differs depending on a "CTL signal" from the power control unit 11. It is configured to supply and stop power to the printer engine and is connected to a printer engine image forming unit 3 described later. In addition, PS
The "CTL signal" that controls U2 is the CTL "High
"h": 1 turns on the power, CTL "Low": 0 turns off the power
It is a digital signal that becomes F. The printer engine image forming unit 3 is configured to execute printing based on the bitmap data from the power control unit 11 using the power source from the PSU 2 as a power source.

Next, the operation of the printing apparatus having the above-described configuration according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, when the USB interface cable 5 connected to the personal computer in the energized state is connected to the connector 111 provided in the printing apparatus (step 1), the USB interface Vbu is set.
The power-on reset is applied by the electric power supplied from s (Max.
Booting of 2 starts (step 2).

When the predetermined initialization is completed, the 1-chip CPU 112 changes the "CTL signal", which is a PSU control signal, to "Hi".
gh (1) ”and transmits to the connected PSU2. On the other hand, the PSU 2 which has received the "CTL signal: 1" converts the household power supply to supply a predetermined amount of power to the printer engine image forming unit 3 to make the printing apparatus ready for printing (step 3).

Then, the printer language transmitted from the personal computer 4 is received by the controller 1, decoded, converted into a bit map, and printed by the printer engine image forming section 3. When the printing work is completed, the time count for shifting to the energy saving mode is 1 chip CPU1.
It is started by 12, and it is judged whether the time is up (step 4).

Before the time is up (step 4: No),
The USB interface is always controlled to accept the printer language (step 5), but when the time is up (step 4: Yes), immediately "CTL
The signal is set to “Low (0)” and the signal is transmitted to the connected PSU. On the other hand, PSU2 that received "CTL signal: 0"
Converts the household power supply to stop the supply of predetermined power to the printer engine image forming unit 3 and shifts the printing apparatus to the energy saving mode (step 6).

At this time, the power control section 11
Power is supplied from the USB interface even in the energy saving mode, and the printer is in an operating state, and the printer language transmission from the personal computer 4 is monitored (step 7: No loop). When the printer language is received (step 7: Yes), the "CTL signal" is set to "High."
h (1) ”, and transmits again to the connected PSU2. The received PSU 2 supplies predetermined power to the printer engine image forming unit 3 to return the printing apparatus to the printable state (step 3).

The interface cable 5 used in the printing apparatus in this embodiment is a USB interface cable, but any interface cable can be used as long as it can be powered by a personal computer.
For example, it may be an IEEE 1394 interface cable.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a compact and inexpensive printing apparatus with improved convenience because it eliminates the need for mechanical switch operation unique to the printing apparatus.
Further, since the power of the apparatus itself can be turned on by interlocking with the connection of the interface cable or the turning on of the power of the personal computer, the operability can be improved.

Further, since the minute power supply in the energy saving mode is supplied from the secondary power supply of the personal computer rather than the PSU of the device itself, energy loss due to voltage conversion in the PSU is prevented, and the total view is made. It can be expected to improve efficiency, which in turn can contribute to energy saving. Further, for example, it is not necessary to mount a separate power source for energy saving, and it is possible to design a compact and inexpensive power source.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a hardware block diagram of a printing apparatus according to this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a series of operations.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 controller 11 Power control section 111 connector 112 1-chip CPU 12 Printer control section 2 PSU 3 Printer engine image forming unit 4 personal computer 5 USB interface cable

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus having a connector connected to an interface cable capable of transmitting electric power output from a personal computer and an energy saving mode function, wherein the interface cable connected to the personal computer in the energized state is A printing apparatus provided with a power supply control means for turning on a main power supply unit to be in a printable state by connecting to the connector. 2. A printing apparatus having a connector connected to an interface cable capable of transmitting electric power output from a personal computer and an energy saving mode function, wherein the interface cable connected to the personal computer is connected to the connector. Power supply control means is provided, which is connected and turns on the personal computer to turn on the main power supply unit by using the electric power transmitted through the interface cable as a power source. Printing device. 3. The interface cable is US
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing apparatus is a B interface cable. 4. The interface cable is IE
The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the printing device is an EE1394 interface cable. 5. When shifting to the energy-saving mode, the power supply control unit turns off the main power supply unit, receives the print signal using the power transmitted through the interface cable as a power source, and prints the print signal. The printing apparatus according to claim 3 or 4, wherein when the signal is received, the main power supply unit is turned on to return to the printable state.