JP2003251894A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the throughput of a printer from lowering as a whole when an end of sheet error occurs and an interpreter interrupts the developing operation of an image until that error is released. <P>SOLUTION: The printer capable of operating a plurality of interpreters 11 simultaneously and having a plurality of host I/F 4 or capable of processing a plurality of network sessions simultaneously is provided with a function (a system controller 6 as a function implementing means) for normally operating only one interpreter 11 at a time and actuating a next interpreter 11 when an interpreter 11 under operation is stopped upon occurrence of any type of error thus processing subsequent print job. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is capable of operating a plurality of interpreters at the same time and a plurality of host I / Os.
The present invention relates to a printer device having F or capable of simultaneously processing a plurality of network sessions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A plurality of interpreters can be operated at the same time, a plurality of host I / Fs can be operated, or a plurality of interpreters can be started in association with a printer device capable of simultaneously processing a plurality of network sessions. The technology exists in JP 2001-150738 A or JP 9-95027 A.

[0003]

As described above, the technique of activating a plurality of interpreters is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-1.
No. 50738 or Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-95027, the purpose is to speed up the job (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-150738) and change the output order of the job (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-95027). ) Is a typical one, and the technology proposed from the viewpoint of improving the throughput when an error occurs is not known.

The present invention is to prevent the throughput of the entire apparatus from decreasing when an error such as a paper outage occurs and the interpreter stops the processing for developing an image until the error is cleared. Is the first purpose.

A second object of the present invention is to release the memory used by the interpreter that is not operating so as to prevent a decrease in speed that would otherwise be possible due to insufficient memory.

A third object of the present invention is to enable the operation suitable for the usage situation by setting the priority order at the time of error cancellation.

[0007]

In order to achieve the first object, the invention according to claim 1 can operate a plurality of interpreters at the same time, and a plurality of host I / Fs can be operated.
In a printer device that has a printer or can process multiple network sessions at the same time, normally only one interpreter operates at the same time. However, when various errors occur and the running interpreter is stopped, The most main feature is a printer device having a function of activating the interpreter and executing the processing of the subsequent print job.

In order to achieve the second object, the invention according to claim 2 can operate a plurality of interpreters at the same time, has a plurality of host I / Fs, or simultaneously processes a plurality of network sessions. Among the printer devices that can be used, when the next interpreter is started, the printer device having the function of saving the interpreter in the stopped state and the image memory and the working memory used by the interpreter to the medium is the most important. Characterize.

In order to achieve the third object, the invention according to claim 3 is the printer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the next interpreter is activated when the operating interpreter is in a stopped state. The main feature is a printer device having a function of setting whether or not to execute a subsequent print job process.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a software configuration diagram of a printer device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the printer device, the system software includes an engine control unit 1, a memory control unit 2, a disk control unit 3, and a host I.
The / F control unit 4, the panel control unit 5, the system controller 6, and the real-time OS 7 are provided. Further, there are a plurality of interpreters 11 in the application layer.

The reception data input from the host I / F control unit 4 is temporarily stored in the reception buffer. The process of the interpreter 11 started by the system controller 6 takes out the data from the host I / F control unit 4 through an appropriate API and develops the image in the image memory allocated by the memory control unit 2. The image is passed to the engine control unit 1 directly or after it is once stored in the disk, and is DMA-transferred to the laser writing unit in synchronization with the timing of the engine. The above is the simple operation of the printer device.

In the above operation, the interpreter 11 is only responsible for developing the image, and when the engine detects an error after the stage of actually printing the image, the system controller 6 including the error display processes. The image expansion itself is not delayed as long as the capacity of the memory or disk allows. Skipping a job in which an error has occurred can be relatively easily realized by a method of storing the developed image on the disk.

However, according to the basic design concept, for example, the state of the paper feed tray is checked at the stage of developing the image, the image is developed with the size of the paper contained in the tray, or an error is displayed when there is no paper. There is also an interpreter 11 that performs the above operation. As an assumption of the present invention, an interpreter 11 that performs such an operation is assumed.

When there is no paper in the paper feed tray, the interpreter 11 displays an error by the API of the panel controller 5 and stops the operation. In this state, the apparatus is in an almost idle state until paper is loaded in the paper feed tray, which causes a decrease in throughput. Normally, the data of the next job is not returned to the printer device because the host I / F control unit 4 returns busy.

The host I / F control unit 4 is made to be able to receive a plurality of sessions at the same time, and a separate reception buffer (whether on the memory or on the disk) is allocated for each session. Consider a configuration that passes information to an interpreter.

With this configuration, a plurality of interpreters 11 can be executed at the same time, but basically, a plurality of interpreters 11 operating within limited memory and CPU resources is a waste of task switching. It is not a good idea considering the frequent occurrence and complicated control of paper feeding and discharging.

However, in the state where the expansion of the interpreter 11 is stopped as described above, the next job does not always select the same paperless tray, so another one is not selected. Interpreter 11
If the process of (1) is started and the processing is performed, the possibility that the entire device will operate becomes extremely high.

When the second interpreter 11 that has been activated also stops due to an error, operation is performed so that printing is not stopped as much as possible by activating the next interpreter 11 as long as the process control of the memory or the real-time OS 7 permits.

When a plurality of interpreters 11 are activated, consumption of memory for operating the interpreters 11 is unavoidable. Further, when the interpreter 11 is stopped due to an error during operation, it is considered that the memory allocated for image expansion and work is reserved in vain. Have an adverse effect.

Therefore, in this case, it is better to consider releasing the memory reserved in vain. If the interpreter 11 allocates the memory by a normal method, there is a method of swapping to the disk by using the function of the real-time OS 7. However, the memory used for the image is collectively allocated by the memory control unit 2. However, since it may be passed to the interpreter 11 for an image, the memory controller 2 needs to be involved in swapping that portion.

Further, the fact that the process is switched to the interpreter 11 which is stopped when it is not necessary causes frequent access to the disk and causes a decrease in the performance, so that the cause of the error is removed. The interpreter 11 which is detected by the system controller 6 and stopped by the judgment of the system controller 6
Need to start.

The main purpose of the multiple startups of the interpreter 11 described above is to skip when an error occurs, but depending on the environment of use and the preference of the user, it is better to simply stop with an error (in order. There may be good cases (because of the bad effects such as going crazy). Therefore, the adverse effect is avoided by providing a mode in which the job is not skipped when an error occurs and allowing the user to select it.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the first operation example. In steps 1 to S7, the operation of the interpreter 11 from the data reception to the print instruction is executed.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the second operation example. In steps 11 to S16, the operation of the system software shown in the figure is executed.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the third operation example. Interpreter 1 continues in steps 21 to S30
The process branches from the judgment of 1 and executes the illustrated operation.

[0026]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, by starting a plurality of interpreters, jobs can be skipped regardless of the design of the interpreters and throughput can be improved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the efficiency of memory use is improved, and a decrease in throughput can be suppressed even when a plurality of interpreters are running.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, by providing the function of suppressing the skip of the job, the convenience of the user can be achieved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a software configuration diagram of a printer device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a first operation example.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a second operation example.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a third operation example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Engine control unit 2 Memory controller 3 Disk controller 4 Host I / F control unit 5 Panel control unit 6 System Controller (Function Realization Means) 7 Real-time OS 11 interpreter

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G06F 9/46 340 G06F 9/46 340A

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A printer apparatus capable of operating a plurality of interpreters at the same time, having a plurality of host I / Fs, or capable of simultaneously processing a plurality of network sessions, normally operates only one interpreter at a time. However, when various kinds of errors occur and the interpreter in operation is in a stopped state, it has a function of activating the next interpreter and executing the processing of the subsequent print job. 2. A printer apparatus capable of operating a plurality of interpreters at the same time, having a plurality of host I / Fs, or capable of processing a plurality of network sessions at the same time, is stopped when the next interpreter is activated. A printer device having a state interpreter and a function of saving the image memory and the working memory used by the interpreter to a medium. 3. The printer device according to claim 1, wherein
A printer apparatus having a function of activating a next interpreter and setting whether or not to process a subsequent print job when the interpreter in operation is stopped.