JP2004086927A - Print system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To implement a high performance print system using a low cost dumb printer. <P>SOLUTION: A host 1 divides the print data of one print job into partial data by page and partial data by band and sequentially sends a data transmission command that includes the partial data. Each time the partial data is received, the dumb printer 3 returns status and error information on a current printer to the host 1. The host 1 controls the transmission of subsequent print data based on the status and error information on the partial data received from the dumb printer 3. For example, when an underrun error occurs, all print data on the current print job are discarded, a lower-load print data are recreated, and the recreated data are sent. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

The present invention relates to a printing system.

2. Description of the Related Art A printing system including a host device such as a personal computer and a printer that receives print data from the host device and performs printing is known. The functions and performances required for printing systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Therefore, printers tend to be upgraded with high-performance CPUs, large-capacity memories, and high-speed and high-performance engines. On the other hand, some printers basically have only a minimum function as a printer, typically, only a function of receiving image data expanded into a bitmap from a host device and simply printing the image data. Dumb printers or host-based printers) are also in considerable demand for reasons such as low cost.

(1) The appeal of dumb printers to users is firstly that they are inexpensive, and secondly that they do not require cumbersome operation of the control panel. On the other hand, a drawback of the dumb printer is that it has a low function. Therefore, in designing a dumb printer, in order to make the price as low as possible, it is necessary to use components that are not necessarily high in capacity and completely eliminate the control panel, but achieve the highest possible printing performance and function. You have to work hard.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a high-performance printing system.

The printing system of the present invention includes a printer, and a host device communicably connected to the printer and controlling the printer. The host device includes: a print data creating unit that creates print data; and a plurality of data transmission commands each including the plurality of partial data, dividing the created print data for one print job into a plurality of partial data. Data transmission means for sequentially transmitting a plurality of data transmission commands to the printer, and status acquisition for receiving each response returned from the printer for each data transmission command and acquiring status information included in each response Means. The printer includes a memory used as a reception buffer, reception means for receiving a plurality of data transmission commands sent from the host device in the reception buffer, and a plurality of data transmission commands included in the plurality of data transmission commands received in the reception buffer. A printing unit that performs printing based on print data composed of partial data, a status information unit that grasps the current status and error of the printer, and creates and holds status information representing the grasped status and error, and a status information transmitted from the host device. Response means for responding to each of the plurality of data transmission commands respectively including the plurality of partial data, and generating a response including the currently held status information and returning the response to the host device.

According to this printing system, the host device divides the print data into a plurality of partial data (for example, band data divided for each page and each band), and converts each partial data into each data transmission command to the printer. Each time, the printer receives a response from the printer and can grasp the current status and error status of the printer. The host device uses the grasped status and error status for control of, for example, continuing, refraining, retransmitting, or deleting subsequent data transmission, or displaying appropriate information to the user. You may use it. Therefore, even if the printer itself has an inexpensive and simple structure, the host device can perform considerably high-performance printing control.

In a preferred embodiment, the status information acquired by the status information acquisition means allows the host device to determine that reception of data required by the printing means of the printer is not completed due to a delay in processing on the host device side. If an underrun error is detected, all print data of the current print job is discarded, and the print data of the same print job is sent to the first page or incompletely printed in the transmission mode with less burden on the host device. Page and re-send it to the printer by data transmission means.

In a preferred embodiment, the host device detects the occurrence of a fatal error that cannot return to a state where the printer can correctly process the data transmission command until the power is turned on again, based on the status information obtained by the status information obtaining unit. Prompts the user to power cycle the printer, checks that the user has power cycled the printer and restarted the printer, and periodically confirms that the printer has been restarted. Check whether the fatal error has been resolved, and if it is confirmed that the fatal error has been resolved, the print data saved in the host device from the page that was being printed at the time of the fatal error occurrence To start resending.

FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration of a printing system using a dumb printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

(4) The dumb printer 3 is connected to the host computer 1. The host computer 1 includes a printer driver 5 and a print monitor 9 as program modules for controlling the dumb printer 1.

The printer driver 5 performs status setting / display of the printer 3, generation of bitmap developed image data (bit image), generation of print data on the print monitor 5, and the like. The printer driver 5 displays a graphic user interface screen for status setting / display on the display of the host computer 11, and operates in response to a user command from the input device 13 such as a mouse or a keyboard. The printer driver 5 transfers the generated print data to the print monitor 5 to the spooler 7 of the OS.

The dam printer 3 is, for example, a page printer that performs printing by an electronic copying method. The printer 3 does not have a control panel for displaying and setting information (at most, only an LED lamp that blinks during printing). Instead, the printer driver 5 and the print monitor 9 display the user interface screen. In this way, information display and settings relating to the printer 3 can be performed. Items that can be set on the user interface screen of the printer driver 5 include, for example, resetting of a toner counter, resetting of a photoconductor life counter, and selection of printing stop / ignore when a toner-out error occurs. The information displayed on the user interface screen of the pudding driver 5 is mainly the status of the printer 3, and the printer status includes, for example, the remaining amount of toner, the total number of prints, the photoconductor life, and the paper feeder option. There are presence / absence, mounted RAM size, communication mode, power saving mode, remaining amount of paper, paper size of paper feeding device, and the like. Information displayed on the user interface screen of the print monitor mainly relates to errors and warnings. For example, error / warning notification, error cancellation, printer power ON / OFF confirmation when a fatal error occurs, toner None Notification of print stop when an error occurs (when print stop is selected) and its release.

(4) The operation of transmitting a command from the print monitor 9 to the printer 3 and returning a response from the printer 3 to the print monitor 9 is repeated between the print monitor 9 and the printer 3 in accordance with a predetermined communication protocol. Commands and responses are always paired. There are various commands, such as a command for inquiring the status of the printer 3, a command for declaring the start of a print job, a page or a band, and a command for transmitting a bit image of a band to the printer 2. A response can be returned from the printer 3 immediately after the printer 3 completes receiving the corresponding command. The response includes the status and error information of the printer 3 at the time when the response can be returned.

The printer 3 performs a function of receiving a command from the print monitor 9 to a reception buffer in the RAM 23, a function of interpreting the received command, and a preprocessing such as a decompression process and a contour smoothing process on a bit image included in the received command. A function of generating a pulse width-modulated laser pulse signal based on the bit image, a function of printing on paper by electrophotography using the laser pulse signal, a function of checking the status and errors of the printer 3 And a function of sending the checked status and error information to the print monitor 9 in a response to the command. Among these functions, the CPU 21 in the printer 3 mainly performs command interpretation, status error check, and generation / reply of a response to the command. The above-described preprocessing of the bit image and generation of the laser pulse signal are performed by a print preprocessing circuit 27 as dedicated hardware, and printing on paper is performed by a print engine 29 as a dedicated mechanism. The operation of writing the received command to the reception buffer and transferring the bit image in the reception buffer to the pre-print processing circuit 27 is performed by the DMA controller 25 as dedicated hardware.

This printer 3 does not have a function of creating a bit image based on print data written in a higher language. Instead, the printer driver 5 performs the bit image development processing as described above. In addition, the capacity of the RAM 23 used as a reception buffer or a work area by the printer 3 is relatively small, and there is no guarantee that a bit image for one page can be completely stored in the reception buffer. However, even in this case, the print monitor 9 controls transmission of the bit image according to the printer status so that printing can be performed normally. Further, the printer 9 has a flying start function, that is, a function of starting printing processing of a page when image data for a predetermined amount (for example, several bands) is stored even if image data for one page is not stored in the reception buffer. have. In combination with these points, the CPU 21 in the printer 3 may have a low function, and the RAM 23 may have a small capacity. Therefore, the cost of the printer 3 can be reduced.

The commands sent from the print monitor 9 to the printer 3 include, for example, the following.

(1) Job Start Declaration This command declares the start of one print job, sets the bit image resolution (for example, 600/300 dpi) on a job-by-job basis, and fine / coarse (for example, the bit image gradation depth) (3 bits / 2 bits), ON / OFF of contour smoothing processing, ON / OFF of toner save, paper type setting, etc., are designated to the printer 3. The response from the printer 3 to this command includes information on the printer status and error at that time.

(2) Job end declaration This command declares the end of one print job. A job start declaration and a job end declaration always form a pair. The response from the printer 3 to this command includes information on the printer status and error at that time.

(3) Page start declaration This command declares the start of one page, and sets the page size, line number and width of one band, margin, effective line number, effective print width, total number of bands, and the number of multi-copy sheets in page units. Is set to the printer 3. The response from the printer 3 to this command includes information on the printer status and error at that time.

(4) Page end declaration This command declares the end of one page. A page start declaration and a page end declaration are always a pair, and this pair is inserted between a pair of a job start declaration and a job end declaration. The response from the printer 3 to this command includes the printer status at that time and error information.

(5) Band transmission declaration This command transmits to the printer 3 data constituting one band (designation of compression / non-compression, designation of data size, and bit image itself). The band transmission declaration is inserted between a pair of a page start declaration and a page end declaration. The printer 3 accepts the band transmission declaration only when the reception buffer capacity in the RAM 23 is equal to or larger than the data size specified in the band transmission declaration. The response from the printer 3 to this command includes information on the printer status and error at that time.

(6) Request for Configuration Information This command requests the printer 3 for configuration information of the printer 3 (fixed information that does not change while the power of the printer 3 is turned on, such as the total size of the receiving buffer and the mounting state of the sheet feeding device). . The printer 3 can receive this command at any time. The response from the printer 3 to this command includes not only the configuration information but also information on the printer status and error at that time.

(7) Setting Information Request This command requests the printer 3 for setting information of the printer 3 (communication mode established in the immediately preceding communication, current power saving mode, sheet size of the sheet feeding device, etc.). The printer 3 can receive this command at any time. The response from the printer 3 to this command includes not only the setting information but also the printer status and error information at that time.

(8) Status Request This command requests the printer 3 for status and error information of the printer 3. The printer 3 can receive this command at any time. The response from the printer 3 to this command includes information on the printer status and error at that time. As described above, the printer status includes, for example, the remaining amount of toner, the total number of prints, the life of the photoconductor, the presence or absence of a paper feeder option, the installed RAM size, the communication mode, the power saving mode, the remaining paper amount, the paper size of the paper feeder, and the like. There is.

Other than the above, there are commands for setting various statuses in the printer 3, such as resetting and setting of a toner counter, resetting and setting of a photoconductor life counter, setting of a power saving mode, and initialization of a printer.

FIG. 2 shows a communication procedure between the print monitor 9 (host computer 1) and the dumb printer 3 performed when the printing system is started. The print monitor 9 acquires the device ID from the printer 3 and confirms that the printer is compatible with the protocol. Next, the print monitor 9 transmits a configuration information request to the printer 3 and receives a response, and recognizes a reception buffer size, the presence or absence of a sheet feeding device, and the like.

FIG. 3 shows a communication procedure between the print monitor 9 (host computer 1) and the dumb printer 3 at the time of idling when the printing process is not performed. Even during idle time, the print monitor 9 can send a status request to the printer 3 and receive a response as necessary or periodically, and monitor the status of the printer 3. By monitoring the status of the printer even during idle time, if there is an error or a problem (for example, running out of paper, running out of toner, opening the cover, etc.), the user is notified of the error or warning, and even if the user orders printing. Control such as not starting printing can be performed.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show the operations of the printer driver 5 and the print monitor 9 during printing, respectively.

4. As shown in FIG. 4, the printer driver 5 first obtains status information from the printer 3 through the print monitor 9, thereby grasping the size of the RAM 23 of the printer 3 (S1). Next, a transmission mode for transmitting the bit image is determined based on the grasped RAM size (S2). Here, the transmission mode indicates the grade of the resolution (for example, 300/600 dpi) and the gradation depth (for example, fine / coarse) of the bit image. For example, the first mode: 300 dpi-coarse gradation, the second mode : 300 dpi-fine gradation, 3rd mode: 600 dpi-fine gradation, and 4th mode: 600 dpi-fine gradation. From these, for example, if the RAM size is 2 MB, the mode closest to the user's request is selected from the first to third modes, and if the RAM size is 4 MB, the user's request is selected from the first to fourth modes. The closest mode to the user's selection is determined from the modes that can be realized by the RAM size, such as selecting the closest mode.

Next, the printer driver 5 receives the print job data from the graphic device interface of the OS, converts the print job data into print data in a data format required by the print monitor 9, and passes the print data to the spooler 7 (S3). ). The print data of one print job is divided into page resource data for each page, and each page resource data is divided into band data for each band. The print data passed to the spooler 7 is input from the spooler 7 to the print monitor 9.

As shown in FIG. 5, the print monitor 9 inputs print data classified into each job, each page, and each band from the spooler 7 (S11), and puts the data in a queue to change the input print job order. , The page resource order within the job and the band order within the page resource are clearly managed (S12). These sequences are used when erasing page source data when printing of a page is completed, retransmitting page resource data or band data when an error occurs, or deleting data when a job is canceled. Subsequently, the print monitor 9 converts the managed print data into a format conforming to the communication protocol with the printer 3, and communicates with the printer 3 to send it to the printer 3 (S13).

FIG. 6 shows a communication operation with the printer 3 performed by the print monitor 9 in step 13 of FIG. 5, and shows a case of single page printing (one copy printing). FIG. 7 shows a communication procedure between the print monitor 9 (host computer 1) and the printer 3 when printing is normally performed in this case. FIG. 8 shows a communication procedure between the print monitor 9 (host computer 1) and the printer 3 when buffer full is detected in this case.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the print monitor 9 first sends a job start declaration to the printer 3 and receives the response (S21). Next, by sending the setting information request and receiving the response, the paper size of each paper feeding device of the printer 3 is grasped (S22), and the grasped paper size and the page to be transmitted from now on are determined. It is checked whether the paper size matches (S23). If the paper sizes do not match, a request is made to the user through the user interface screen for replacing the paper or selecting an appropriate paper supply device (S24).

If the paper sizes match, then a page start declaration is sent to the printer 3 to receive a response (S25), and then a band transmission declaration for the first band in the page is sent to the printer 3 to receive the response (S25). S29).

When receiving the band transmission declaration, the printer 3 compares the band size (the size of the band data to be transmitted) indicated in the declaration with the free space of the reception buffer. Information indicating that the reception buffer is full (buffer full) is entered in the printer status and returned in the response. The print monitor 9 determines whether or not the buffer is full based on the response (S26). If the buffer is full, the print monitor 9 periodically sends a status request to the printer 3 and receives a response (S27). (That is, the free space of the receiving buffer has become larger than the band size to be sent next) (S26) (see FIG. 8).

If the buffer is not full, the print monitor 9 sends the next band transmission declaration to the printer 3, and similarly checks whether or not the band is full (S26). This operation is repeated until the last band data in the page resource (S31). When transmission of all band data of one page resource is completed, a page end declaration is sent to the printer 3 and a response is received (S32). The operations of steps S22 to S32 are repeated up to the last page resource in the job (S33). When the transmission of all page resource data is completed, a job end declaration is sent to the printer 3 and a response is received (S34). This completes the communication processing for one print job.

(4) In the above process, the printer 3 asynchronously executes the command reception and the bit image printing process in parallel. Therefore, the print monitor 9 may transmit pages (or jobs) one after another without waiting for the completion of printing of the previously transmitted pages (or jobs) as long as the reception buffer has a space corresponding to the band size.

The printer 3 starts receiving data of one print job, and then receives a predetermined amount of data in the receiving buffer (for example, when receiving data of a predetermined number of bands, or even when the number of bands is less than the predetermined number of bands). When the receiving buffer becomes full), the print engine is activated at that time to start printing. As a result, printing can be performed normally even with a small reception buffer capacity. When printing of each page is completed, the printer sends a print completion notification to the print monitor 9 (for example, by including it in a response to the command). The print completion notification is kept being notified until it is received by the print monitor 9, and has a counter that increments when the print is completed and decrements when the notification is completed, thereby avoiding a print completion notification being missed.

The print monitor 9 retains the data of a page even after all the data constituting the page has been transmitted to the printer 3 until a print completion notification of the page is received. Since the printing of pages by the printer 3 is always executed in the order of transmission, every time the completion of printing of a page is recognized, the data of the page at the head of the above-described queue is discarded so that only the page data for which printing has been completed is performed. Is destroyed.

By the way, the timing at which the printer 3 starts the print engine can be determined solely by the printer 3, but the printer driver 5 or the print monitor 9 of the host computer 1 uses the communication mode, the resolution, the data amount, and the gradation depth. Alternatively, the engine start timing for each page resource may be determined based on the above, and the instruction may be given to the printer 3. When the printer 3 exclusively determines the engine start timing, the engine start timing is set to the safest numerical value (that is, the latest time) in order to prevent an underrun error (an error in which the print data required by the print engine has not been received yet). ) Tends to be adopted. However, this may unnecessarily delay the engine start timing, resulting in reduced performance. Moreover, it is necessary to experimentally search for numerical values for each model. Therefore, if the host computer 1 determines the earliest engine start timing at which no underrun error occurs based on the communication mode on the host side, the resolution of the page resource, the data amount, the gradation depth, and the like, and instructs the printer 3 to do so. , Can optimize performance. This is because, for example, a rough start timing is determined in accordance with the communication mode on the host side and the resolution and gradation depth of the page resource, and then the engine start timing for each page resource is banded in consideration of the volume of the data amount of the entire page. The number can be determined and sent to the printer 3. An example of the specific procedure is shown in the following (1) to (3).

(1) The printer driver 5 or the print monitor 9 can control the resolution (for example, 300/600 dpi) and gradation depth (for example, fine / coarse) of each page resource, and the communication mode of the host computer 1 (for example, COMPATIBILITY / ECP). ), A start timing coefficient for each page is determined, for example, as shown in Table 1.

　（２）　プリンタドライバ５又はプリントモニタ９は、各ページリソースのデータサイズにスタートタイミング係数を掛け算して、各ページに関するエンジンスタートタイミングに相当する受信データサイズを決定する。

(2) The printer driver 5 or the print monitor 9 multiplies the data size of each page resource by the start timing coefficient to determine the received data size corresponding to the engine start timing for each page.

{(3)} The printer driver 5 or the print monitor 9 divides the reception data size for each page by the band size of each page to determine the number of reception bands at the engine start timing for each page. The number of received bands is notified to the printer 3 in a page start declaration of each page.

(4) The printer 3 may start the print engine at the time of receiving the band data of the number of bands equal to the notified number of received bands. As a result, an optimum start timing can be obtained, and both underrun error prevention and high performance can be achieved.

FIG. 9 shows a communication operation with the printer 3 performed by the print monitor 9 in step 13 of FIG. 5, and shows a case of multi-copy printing (multi-copy printing). FIG. 10 shows a communication procedure between the print monitor 9 (host computer 1) and the printer 3 when the multi-copy fails in this case. Since many steps in FIG. 9 are the same as those in FIG. 6 described above, the same steps are denoted by the same reference numerals as in FIG. 6 and duplicate explanations are omitted.

As shown in FIG. 9, before issuing a page start declaration (S25), the print monitor 9 checks how many pages are copied (the number of copies) (S41). In the page start declaration, the multi-copy mode is turned ON, the number of copies is set (S42), and the page start declaration is transmitted to the printer 3 (S25).

When the print monitor 9 transmits a page end declaration to the printer 3 and receives a response to each page (S32), the print monitor 9 determines from the response whether multicopy is successful or unsuccessful (S43). Here, the multi-copy success means that all page resource data for one page can be stored in the reception buffer of the printer 3 (that is, the total capacity of the reception buffer is larger than the size of the page resource data). Multi-copy failure indicates that only a part of the page resource data for one page could be stored in the reception buffer of the printer 3 (that is, the total capacity of the reception buffer is smaller than the size of the page resource data). . If the multi-copy is successful, the printer 3 executes the multi-copy for the number of copies by repeatedly using the page resources stored in the reception buffer. Therefore, the print monitor 9 starts the transmission operation of the next page resource.

On the other hand, in the case of multi-copy failure, since the printer 3 cannot perform multi-copy, the print monitor 9 must repeatedly send page resources of the same page to the printer by the number of copies. Therefore, the print monitor 9 performs an operation of issuing a page start declaration with the multi-copy mode turned off and resending the page resources of the same page to the printer 3 (the transmission of the first copy has already been completed). Therefore, the process is repeated “the number of copies−1” times (S44). Thereby, even if the RAM capacity of the printer 3 is small, the multi-copy function can be realized.

6 and 9, every time the print monitor 9 sends a command such as a band transmission declaration to the printer 3 and receives a response, the print monitor 9 checks whether an error has occurred from the response. Check (S28). If an error has occurred, a process corresponding to the type of the error is performed (S30). Errors can be broadly classified into the following three types.

(1) Printer error The printer cover is open, there is no paper, there is no toner, etc. The printer 3 cannot print until these errors are resolved, but it is not possible to receive band data until the reception buffer becomes full. After the error is eliminated, the printing of the succeeding band can be started after the printed band. When the print monitor 9 knows the occurrence of these errors, it notifies the user of the occurrence of the error through a user interface screen.

(2) Print result errors Paper jamming, underrun (that is, an error in which the processing on the host 1 side is delayed and reception of data required by the print engine is not completed) and the like. Cannot be printed until the error is resolved, and after the error is resolved, it is necessary to print the same page again from the beginning. The print monitor 9 informs the user of the occurrence of the error through the user interface screen when the occurrence of the error is detected. When the error is resolved, the print monitor 9 starts with the oldest data remaining in the host 1 without being deleted. Resend the data. However, at the time of multi-copy, the printer 3 performs the reprinting process without discarding the buffer contents.

(3) Fatal error A data decompression error, a video transfer error, a print engine error, a communication protocol error, etc., and the printer 3 cannot return to a state where it can correctly process commands until the power is turned on again. It is necessary to print the same page again from the beginning after the error is resolved after the input and the processing is returned to the processable state. When the print monitor 9 recognizes the occurrence of these errors, it prompts the user to turn on the printer power again through the user interface screen, and does not transmit data until the error is confirmed after the power is turned on again. When the confirmation button is pressed, the print monitor 9 resends all data from the oldest data remaining in the host 1 without being deleted. After the retransmission, if a fatal error occurs again, the print monitor 9 notifies the user of the service call error via the user interface screen.

FIG. 11 shows the flow of error processing performed by the print monitor 9 when a printer error occurs. FIG. 12 shows a communication procedure between the print monitor 9 (host computer 1) and the printer 3 when a printer error occurs.

Upon detecting the occurrence of a printer error based on the response from the printer 3, the print monitor 9 periodically sends a status request to the printer 3 to receive a response (S51), and determines whether the printer error has been resolved from the response. Is checked (S52). When the error has been resolved, the process proceeds to step S29 in FIGS. 6 and 9, and the transmission of the subsequent untransmitted band is restarted (S53).

Even if a printer error occurs, the printer 3 can receive the band data until the buffer becomes full. Therefore, before the step S51 in FIG. 11, a step of continuously transmitting the subsequent band data until the buffer becomes full is performed. You may put in. In this case, when the buffer becomes full, the process proceeds to step S51. If the printer error is resolved before the buffer becomes full, the process proceeds to step S29 shown in FIGS. 6 and 9 as if nothing had happened, without proceeding to steps S51 and S52. Is executed.

FIG. 13 shows the flow of error processing performed by the print monitor 9 when a print result error occurs. FIG. 14 shows a communication procedure between the print monitor 9 (host computer 1) and the printer 3 when a printing result error occurs.

When the print monitor 9 detects the occurrence of a print result error in response to the printer 3, the print monitor 9 transmits a page end declaration (S61), and subsequently transmits a job end declaration (S62), thereby stopping the current print job. I do. Thereafter, a status request is periodically transmitted (S63), and it is checked from the response whether or not the print result error has been resolved (S64). If the printing result error has been resolved, a job start declaration is transmitted again (S65), and the oldest page resource stored in the host 1 (that is, the page resource that was being printed at the time of occurrence of the error) is renewed. The retransmission of the print data stored in the host 1 is started as a proper job (S66). Although not shown, if the error is detected in response to the page end declaration and the job end declaration in steps S61 and S62, the process skips steps S63 and S64 and immediately proceeds to step S65.

Also, in the case of multi-copy, if a print result error occurs during printing of a page for which multi-copy has succeeded, the error of the page is completely stored in the reception buffer of the printer 3. After the cancellation, the multi-copy is completed on the printer 3 side, and the print monitor 9 resumes the transmission from the next page resource in step S66.

(4) When an underrun error occurs particularly among the printing result errors, the burden on the host 1 is too large, and therefore, even if the transmission is restarted, there is a high possibility that the underrun error will occur again. Therefore, the print monitor 9 discards all the data of the job without resending the page and instructs the printer driver 5 to reduce the load, that is, lower the grade (for example, change the resolution from 600 dpi to 300 dpi). In the transmission mode, the print data of the same job is re-created from the first page (or from an unprinted page) in the transmission mode (dropped or the gradation depth is reduced from 3 bits to 2 bits), and this is sent to the printer 3. You may make it resend.

FIG. 15 shows the flow of error processing performed by the print monitor 9 when a fatal error occurs. FIG. 16 shows a communication procedure between the print monitor 9 (host computer 1) and the printer 3 when a fatal error occurs.

Upon detecting the occurrence of a fatal error in the response from the printer 3, the print monitor 9 displays on the user interface screen a message prompting the user to turn on the printer power again, and a message for notifying the print monitor 9 that the user has restarted. A start confirmation button is displayed (S71), and it is checked whether the restart confirmation button has been pressed by the user (S72). When the button is pressed, a status request is periodically transmitted to the printer 3 (S73). It is checked from the response whether the fatal error has been resolved (S74). When the error is resolved, a job start declaration is transmitted to the printer 3 again (S75), and the oldest page resource stored in the host 1 as a new job (that is, the page that was being printed at the time of occurrence of the error). ), Retransmission of the print data stored in the host 1 as a new job is started (S76).

Although an embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the above embodiment is merely an example for describing the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention only to the above embodiment. Therefore, the present invention can be implemented in various modes other than the above-described embodiment.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a printing system using a dumb printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a communication procedure between the print monitor 9 (host computer 1) and the dumb printer 3 when the printer driver 5 is started.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a communication procedure between the print monitor 9 (host computer 1) and the dumb printer 3 during idle time.

9 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the printer driver 5 during printing.

9 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the print monitor 9 during printing.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a communication operation with the printer 3 performed by the print monitor 9 in step 13 of FIG. 5 in the case of single page printing (single copy printing).

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a communication procedure between the print monitor 9 (host computer 1) and the printer 3 when printing is normally performed in the case of single page printing.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a communication procedure between the print monitor 9 (host computer 1) and the printer 3 when a buffer full is detected.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a communication operation with the printer 3 performed by the print monitor 9 in step 13 in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a communication procedure between the print monitor 9 (host computer 1) and the printer 3 when multicopy has failed.

9 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of an error process performed by a print monitor when a printer error occurs.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a communication procedure between the print monitor 9 (host computer 1) and the printer 3 when a printer error occurs.

9 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of an error process performed by a print monitor when a print result error occurs.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a communication procedure between the print monitor 9 (host computer 1) and the printer 3 when a printing result error occurs.

9 is a flowchart showing a flow of error processing performed by the print monitor 9 when a fatal error occurs.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a communication procedure between the print monitor 9 (host computer 1) and the printer 3 when a fatal error occurs.

Explanation of reference numerals

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Host computer 3 Dumb printer 5 Printer driver 7 Spooler 9 Print monitor 11 Display 13 Input device 21 CPU
23 RAM
25 DMA controller 27 print preprocessing circuit 29 print engine

Claims (6)

A printer, and a host device communicably connected to the printer and controlling the printer,
The host device includes:
Print data creation means for creating the print data;
The print data for one created print job is divided into a plurality of partial data, a plurality of data transmission commands each including the plurality of partial data are created, and the plurality of data transmission commands are sequentially transmitted to the printer. Data transmission means for transmitting to
Status receiving means for receiving each response returned from the printer for each data transmission command, and obtaining status information included in each response,
The printer is
A memory used as a reception buffer;
Receiving means for receiving the plurality of data transmission commands sent from the host device in the reception buffer,
A printing unit that performs printing based on the print data including the plurality of partial data included in the plurality of data transmission commands received by the reception buffer,
Status information means for grasping the current status and error of the printer, creating and holding status information representing the grasped status and error,
In response to each of the plurality of data transmission commands each including the plurality of partial data sent from the host device, a response including the status information currently held is created and the host device is prepared. Response means for sending back to
A printing system having: The print data creation unit of the host device,
According to the status information obtained by the status information obtaining means, the processing on the host device side is delayed, and an underrun error which means that reception of data required by the printing means of the printer has not been completed. If the occurrence is detected, the print data of the current print job is discarded, and the print data of the same print job is re-created from the first page or the unprinted page in the transmission mode in which the load on the host device is lighter. 2. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein said data transmission means sends said data to said printer again. The host device,
According to the status information obtained by the status information obtaining means, when the occurrence of a fatal error in which the printer cannot return to a state in which the printer can correctly process the data transmission command until power is turned on is detected, Restart confirmation means for prompting a power-on of the printer, and checking that the user has restarted the printer by power-on of the printer;
When the restart confirmation unit confirms the restart of the printer, the printer further includes an error resolution check unit that periodically checks whether the fatal error has been resolved,
When the error resolution check unit confirms that the fatal error has been resolved, the data transmission unit starts with the page that was being printed at the time of the occurrence of the fatal error, and stores the page stored in the host device. 2. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein retransmission of the print data is started. A printer connected to a host device, wherein the host device comprises:
Print data creation means for creating the print data;
The print data for one created print job is divided into a plurality of partial data, a plurality of data transmission commands each including the plurality of partial data are created, and the plurality of data transmission commands are sequentially transmitted to the printer. Data transmission means for transmitting to
In the case of receiving each response returned from the printer for each data transmission command and having status acquisition means for acquiring status information included in each response,
A memory used as a reception buffer;
Receiving means for receiving the plurality of data transmission commands sent from the host device in the reception buffer,
A printing unit that performs printing based on the print data including the plurality of partial data included in the plurality of data transmission commands received by the reception buffer,
Status information means for grasping the current status and error of the printer, creating and holding status information representing the grasped status and error,
In response to each of the plurality of data transmission commands each including the plurality of partial data sent from the host device, a response including the status information currently held is created and the host device is prepared. Response means for sending back to
Printer with A host device for controlling a printer, wherein the printer is:
A memory used as a reception buffer;
A receiving unit that receives a plurality of data transmission commands each including a plurality of partial data divided from one print data sent from the host device to the reception buffer,
A printing unit configured to perform printing based on the print data including the plurality of partial data included in the plurality of data transmission commands received by the reception buffer,
Status information means for grasping the current status and error of the printer, creating and holding status information representing the grasped status and error,
In response to each of the plurality of data transmission commands each including the plurality of partial data transmitted from the host device, a response including the status information currently held is created to generate the response. Response means for sending back to
In the case of having the host device,
Print data creation means for creating the print data;
The print data relating to the created one print job is divided into a plurality of partial data, a plurality of the data transmission commands including the plurality of partial data are created, and the plurality of data transmission commands are sequentially transmitted. Data transmission means for transmitting to the printer,
Status acquisition means for receiving each response returned from the printer for each data transmission command, and acquiring status information included in each response;
A host device comprising: A computer-readable recording medium recording a program for causing a computer to function as a host device that controls the printer, wherein the printer is
A memory used as a reception buffer;
A receiving unit which receives a plurality of data transmission commands each including a plurality of partial data divided from one print data sent from the host device, to the reception buffer,
A printing unit that performs printing based on the print data including the plurality of partial data included in the plurality of data transmission commands received by the reception buffer,
Status information means for grasping the current status and error of the printer, creating and holding status information representing the grasped status and error,
In response to each of the plurality of data transmission commands each including the plurality of partial data sent from the host device, a response including the status information currently held is created and the host device is prepared. Response means for sending back to
In the case of having, in the recording medium,
Print data creation means for creating the print data;
The print data relating to one created print job is divided into a plurality of partial data, a plurality of the data transmission commands including the plurality of partial data are created, and the plurality of data transmission commands are sequentially transmitted. Data transmission means for transmitting to the printer,
Status acquisition means for receiving each response returned from the printer for each data transmission command, and acquiring status information included in each response;
A recording medium storing a computer program that causes a computer to function as a host device including

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