JP2003280839A - Printer driver and print controller with the same mounted thereon - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make achievable a power saving of print task by automatically changing the setting of a printer driver when an error has occurred. <P>SOLUTION: This printer driver is provided with a converting function 20 for converting print origin data by a plurality of different kinds of PDL (page description language) codes; memory functions 21a-21c for temporarily storing code data outputted by each PDL into a memory; and a PDL selecting function 22 for transmitting one kind of code data stored in the memory to a printer controller 3, and for selecting another code data stored in the memory when acquiring print error information from the printer controller 3, and for re- transmitting the code data of any kind to the printer controller. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer driver, which is a program for supplying print data to a printer controller, and a print control device equipped with the printer driver.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A printer driver uses print original data generated from an application as a specific printer language P.
Convert to DL (Page Description Language). The converted code is quickly analyzed by the printer controller,
It is converted into printout image data and printed by the printing mechanism of the printing apparatus.

[0003]

Depending on the application, the code converted into PDL by the printer driver may be a complicated sequence for the printer controller, or the code capacity may become huge. When such a code is processed by the printer controller, an image error may occur or a PDL error report may be output.

Conventionally, when an image error occurs or an error report is output, the operator goes to the installation location of the printing apparatus, confirms the error content, and then
The error was avoided by manually changing the settings of the printer driver or changing the content of the print document of the application. Therefore, it takes time and effort for the operator, and the settings can be changed automatically.
There is a demand for a printer driver and a print control device equipped with the printer driver, which can save labor in printing work.

[0005]

The printer driver of the present invention temporarily converts the code data output by each PDL, and the conversion function of converting the print original data by a plurality of different PDL codes. If the memory function to store in the memory and any type of code data stored in the memory is sent to the printer controller and print error information is acquired from the printer controller, other code data stored in the memory will be displayed. Is selected and retransmitted to the printer controller. The print control apparatus of the present invention is a printing system equipped with the printer driver.

According to the present invention, a plurality of different types of PD
Any of the above-mentioned printer driver that can output at L and PD
Bidirectional communication is performed with a printer controller that can handle L. When an error image occurs, the printer controller recognizes the PDL in error and notifies the printer driver. Since the printer driver has a function of outputting a plurality of different PDL codes, it gives a PDL switching command based on the PDL selection function.

As a result, the printer driver can output a code converted by a PDL different from the PDL in which the error has occurred. As a result, when an error occurs in the printer, reprinting can be performed automatically, so that it is not necessary to deal with the operator involved in printing, and work efficiency can be improved.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a print control apparatus including a printer driver and a printer controller according to the present invention. The print control device is an application of a personal computer (PC) (for example, Word which is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation,
A printer driver 2 for acquiring print document data from Excel 1 and converting the code into PDL, and a printer controller 3 for analyzing the converted code and converting the code into print output image data for output. Reference numeral 4 denotes a line for bidirectional communication between the printer driver 2 and the printer controller 3.

The functions of the printer driver 2 and the printer controller 3 are realized by the computer executing a predetermined program stored in a storage medium such as a hard disk in the print control apparatus. The printer driver 2 is a conversion unit 2 that converts print document data with three different types of PDL codes A, B, and C.
0, storage units 21a to 21c that temporarily store the code data converted by each PDL in the memory, and any type of code data stored in the memory are transmitted to the printer controller 3, and the printer controller 3 When the print error information is acquired from the PDL selection unit 22, the PDL selection unit 22 selects another accumulated code data and retransmits it to the printer controller 3.

The operation of the above configuration is as follows. When the print manuscript data is acquired, the conversion unit 20 of the printer driver 2 performs code conversion of the print manuscript data using three types of PDL. The PDL selection unit 22 has, by default, a priority order of printing order among the three codes. The operator may manually change the priority order. PDL selector 22
Sends the highest priority code (denoted as Code A) to the printer controller 3. During this time,
The codes B and C not transmitted are also stored in the storage units 21a to 21.
It is stored in c respectively.

If an image error such as an overrun or an error depending on the PDL occurs during the processing by the printer controller 3, the printer controller 3 notifies the PDL selection unit 22 of error information through the line 4.
As the error depending on the PDL, it is conceivable that there are too many commands and the printer controller 3 runs out of memory. PDL selector 2 notified of error information
2 switches to a PDL different from the PDL in which the error has occurred, for example, the PDLB having the next priority, and transmits the code data again to the printer controller 3.

As described above, when an error occurs during printing, the PDL can be automatically switched and the printing can be performed again, so that the operator can save the trouble. The PDL selection unit 22 uses the P
It is preferable to have a learning function such as lowering the DL priority. By this learning, it becomes possible to always preferentially apply the PDL that causes the least number of errors.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the above-described embodiments. For example, a PD installed in the printer driver 2 is used.
The type of L may be three, two, four or more. Besides, various changes can be made within the scope of the present invention.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of software of a print control apparatus including a printer driver and a printer controller of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 application 2 Printer driver 3 Printer controller 4 internal communication lines 20 Converter 21a to 21c storage unit 22 PDL selector

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A printer driver for supplying print data to a printer controller, which has a conversion function of converting print original data into a plurality of different PDL codes and temporarily stores code data output from each PDL. Memory function to store in the memory, and if any kind of code data stored in the memory is sent to the printer controller and print error information is acquired from the printer controller, other code stored in the memory A printer driver, comprising: a PDL selection function for selecting data and retransmitting it to the printer controller. 2. A print control device equipped with a printer driver for supplying print data to a printer controller, wherein the printer driver has a conversion function for converting print original data into a plurality of different PDL codes. A memory function to temporarily store the code data output from each PDL in the memory, and send any type of code data stored in the memory to the printer controller, and obtain print error information from the printer controller. For example, the print control apparatus is provided with a PDL selection function of selecting another code data stored in the memory and retransmitting it to the printer controller.