JP2003118206A - Printer with function for detecting missing of print page - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer in which an abnormality in the number of outputted pages, e.g. missing of a page, can be detected as incorrect print at the time of processing print data in a printer controller. SOLUTION: A printer controller counts the number of pages of received data according to print format information. The received data is developed and transmitted as bit map data in units of page to a print mechanism section and the number of transmitted pages is counted. The number of received pages is then compared with the number of transmitted pages in response to a specific command and if they do not match each other, abnormal print is expressed clearly by printing mismatch in the number of pages following to the last print.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer control device of a print system in which a printer control device receives print data from a higher-level device, transmits the data to a printer print mechanism section in page units, and obtains a print result. In particular, the present invention relates to a printing system process for monitoring page missing in print data processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a printing device for printing with a laser beam, a printer control device receives print data such as character characters transmitted from a higher-level device and develops it into a bitmap inside the printer control device. , To the printer print mechanism to obtain the print result.

Conventionally, in a printing job in which a printed matter such as an invoice is expected to be printed out for 100 pages, when the final print result is only 99 pages and a page skip occurs, the cause of missing pages is In the print data creation stage in the print data creation unit in the host device, the print data may be created by mistake for only 99 pages.
Despite the fact that 0 pages have been correctly transmitted, there is an error in the processing within the printer control device, and it is possible that only 99 pages have been processed. It was difficult to identify whether the mechanical section could not print.

A conventional printing apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-1984.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 94, a page number is added to print data sent from a higher-level device by a print information generation source or the like on the higher-level device side, and the page number is recognized at the processing stage in the printing device. It was supposed to monitor for abnormalities such as missing pages.

[0005]

In such a conventional printing system, as a method for detecting an abnormality such as a page omission, a process of adding a page number to print data by application software or the like on the upper device side, and a printing device Therefore, it is necessary to recognize the page number added to the print data and monitor the number of printed pages. Regarding the application software on the higher-level device side, it is impossible to change the application software on the higher-level device side and add page numbers to the print data, such as the programs created by other companies or the program source at the time of development disappeared. Therefore, it has been difficult to apply a means for detecting an abnormality such as a missing page to an existing print system.

It is an object of the present invention to detect abnormalities relating to the number of printed pages such as page-missing printing by changing / adding processing on the printing device side while leaving the application software and print data of the host device unchanged. To do.

[0007]

To achieve the above object, the printer control device is provided with a process of counting the number of pages received from a host device and a process of counting the number of pages transmitted to a printer printing mechanism section. By using a print mode switching command that discharges print data in the printer control device, etc., the numbers of both pages are compared, and it is possible to detect a failure such as a page omission in the processing process in the printer control device. is there.
Further, by storing the number of pages received from the higher-level device and the number of pages transmitted to the printer printing mechanism unit together with the above comparison result in the printer control device, the printing result is taken out from the printing device by the printing operator. After that, when an abnormality in the number of printed pages is found, the input page and the output page of the printer controller are clarified, so that the cause of the page omission can be easily identified.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The flow of the entire printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. The print data created by the data creation unit 2 in the host device 1 is transmitted from the data transmission / reception unit 3 to the printing device 4.
The data creation unit 2 is composed of application software and creates print data that can be recognized by the printing device 4.
The print data includes control data for setting page format information such as the number of lines per page and the size of a margin, a control command for switching the printing mode such as double-sided / single-sided, and a character code. The printer control device 5 in the printing device 4 receives the print data by the data transmitting / receiving unit 6. The print data is interpreted by the data control unit 7, and the control data such as page format information is set in the memory in the data control unit 7. The character data is expanded into bitmap data based on the page format information data. The created bitmap data is transmitted from the data transmission / reception unit 8 to the printer printing mechanism unit 11, the printer printing mechanism unit 11 receives the bitmap data, prints it on a printing medium, and discharges the printing result. The printer control device 5 is provided with a status display section 9 capable of displaying that printing is in progress and an abnormality has occurred, and a data storage section 10 for storing various information such as failure information. .

FIG. 2 illustrates the flow of processing in the printer controller of the present invention. In step 201, it is determined whether the print data received from the host device has page format information. If there is page format information data, the page format information received in step 202 is set in the memory in the printer controller data controller. If there is no page format information data, step 203
Continue to use the page format information used in the previous print data. If there is no previous print data, the predetermined default page format information is set in the memory in the printer control device. In step 204, print data is received from the host device, and in step 205, print data reception is repeated until data for one page is completed. 1
When the print data for the pages is completed, in step 206, the received page number counter is incremented by + in the data control unit in the printer control device.
Then, the print data for one page received in step 207 is expanded into bitmap data by the data control unit. When the expansion processing is completed, in step 208 the data transmission unit 8
Is transmitted to the printer print mechanism unit as bitmap data. When the data transmission unit has transmitted one page of bitmap data to the printer printing mechanism unit, in step 209, the transmission page number count is incremented by 1 in the data control unit. 1
The page data completion means that the page is completed by the page completion command received from the higher-level device or the number of print lines exceeds the number of lines for one page specified by the page format information data. In step 210, it is determined whether the command when the page is completed is the print mode switching command. If the command is the print mode switching command, the number of pages received from the host device counted in step 206 in step 211 and the printer counted in step 209. The number of pages transmitted to the printing mechanism unit is compared. If it is determined in step 210 that the command is not the print mode switching command, the process returns to step 204 to receive the print data of the next page. If the number of received pages and the number of transmitted pages in step 211 are compared and the number of received pages and the number of transmitted pages do not match, printing of the subsequent data is stopped and error processing is performed in step 212. For error processing, when the end of the print mode switching command is reported, by adding error information such as an error that occurred during processing in the printing device and responding to the higher-level device, it is notified that an error has occurred in the printing device. To do. By including information such as the number of pages that need to be reprinted (the number of pages from the previous format switching command) in the content to be reported to the host device, it is possible to notify the number of pages that is required for retry printing. Also, by printing a mark on the print medium indicating that an error of page number mismatch has occurred, the boundary between the print result printed by retry printing and the print medium in which the error occurred is clarified, and It is possible to facilitate the work of taking out the abnormal page and reduce the work error in handling the print medium. Furthermore, by displaying error information on the status display section in the printer control device, the print operator is notified of the occurrence of an error, and the memory status at the time of the error occurrence in the data storage section in the printer control device is displayed. Store the contents. When the number of received pages and the number of transmitted pages match in step 211, the number of received pages and the number of transmitted pages, the time when the comparison is performed, and the like are stored in the data storage unit and the processing result is accumulated. After that, if there is print data in step 213, the process returns to the beginning and the above process is repeated.

[0010]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to detect an abnormality such as a page omission by the printer control device alone, and it is possible to obtain a more reliable printing result by applying the present invention to the existing printing system. Will be possible. In addition, by storing the number of printed pages in the printer control device, even if an abnormal number of pages such as missing pages is found after the printed matter is taken out from the printing device, the actual number of printed pages and the printer control device are stored. By comparing the stored page numbers, it becomes possible to prove the number of pages printed by the printing device.If there is an error in the print data from the host device, the page is lost after being taken out from the printing device. It is easy to distinguish whether or not it is done, and there is an effect that the time required for investigating the cause can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an entire printing system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a flow of processing in the printing apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Host device, 2 ... Print data creation unit, 3 ... Data transmission / reception unit, 4 ... Printing device, 5 ... Printer control device, 6 ... Data transmission / reception unit, 7 ... Data control unit, 8 ... Data transmission / reception unit,
9 ... Status display section, 10 ... Data storage section, 11 ... Printer printing mechanism section

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 2C061 AQ06 AS02 HK11 HK23 HN15                       HN22 HV01 HV35 HV60                 2C087 AB05 AC08 BA03 BA05 BC04                       BC07 BD46 CB02 DA11                 5B021 AA01 AA02 NN16

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus that prints print data transmitted from a higher-level device on a print medium according to page format information data in the print data, counts and stores the number of pages of print data received from the higher-level device. And a means for counting and storing the number of transmission pages transmitted as bit map data to the printer printing mechanism section, and a means for comparing the numbers of both pages. 2. A printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising information displaying means for displaying information to the outside, and reporting the presence or absence of an abnormality such as a page omission based on the comparison result of claim 1. . 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the comparison result of the number of received pages received from the higher-level device and the number of transmitted pages transmitted to the printer printing mechanism section, the number of both pages, and the comparison are performed. A printing apparatus characterized in that the time is stored in a storage means and can be read out after printing.