JP2004181769A - Printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To check by a simple circuit of hardware that the printing speed is decreased due to the detection by software whether or not the whole of one page is blank data after printing data received from a host is developed to a BMM (bit map memory) data form. <P>SOLUTION: A check circuit is set on an interface that transfers BMM form data of one page to a printer engine, which is connected in parallel to monitor (SNOOP) whether or not the whole of one page is blank data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus such as a network printer which is connected to a personal computer or the like via a network and prints out one page at a time.
[0002]
[Prior art]
3, reference numeral 11 denotes a personal computer as an upper host, 12 denotes a local network, 13 denotes a printer controller, 14 denotes a central controller, 15 denotes a print data buffer, 16 denotes a BMM data buffer, and 17 denotes a printer engine. . Normally, a printer used by connecting to a personal computer or the like performs a printing operation in the following order.
[0003]
1) The print data generated by the driver inside the personal computer 11 is sent to the printer controller 13 and is temporarily sent to the print data buffer unit 15.
Is stored in
2) The central control unit 14 of the printer controller 13 accesses the print data buffer unit 15 in which print data is stored, and stores the BMM data 1 in the BMM data buffer unit 16 in a bit map memory (hereinafter abbreviated as BMM) area. Expand by pages.
[0004]
3) When a function of detecting a blank page error is provided, software determines whether or not one page of BMM format data developed in the BMM data area is blank page information.
4) If one page of BMM format data expanded in the BMM data area is not blank page information, it is transferred to the printer engine unit 17 and printed.
[0005]
Here, the bit map memory refers to a memory in which one virtual page or a part thereof is formed in a memory area where one bit corresponds to one dot and image information is recorded. Is a mechanical part for forming an image using print image data output from the shift register.
As described above, in the conventional page printer or the like, when the paper is discharged, when the print data becomes full one page or when a paper discharge command and a page break command are received from the personal computer, the printing is performed and the paper is discharged. I have. However, in the conventional printer, if the print data of the entire page stored in the print buffer is blank data or if there is no data in the print buffer and a discharge command is received, the printing is not actually performed on the paper. And eject the blank paper. Therefore, as a method for preventing useless blank paper from being ejected, conventionally, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-270080, a mechanism for determining whether or not transmitted data is valid data is configured by software. Has taken. That is, while the printer controller receiving the data from the host computer is transferring the data of one page of the BMM, the software determines whether the data on the memory is white or black, and by the end of the data transfer of one page. If black data is detected, it is determined that the print data is normal, and a bit is set. If no black data is detected, control is performed so that blank paper is not discharged even if a paper discharge command is received.
[0006]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-5-270080 (pages 2 to 4, FIGS. 2 and 3)
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The location where the valid print data is checked in this manner may be a place where the print data transmitted from the host computer is received, or a place where the BMM data area in the memory is converted and expanded into the BMM data format after reception. It was not the final stage to send to the printer engine. Therefore, if valid print data is successfully transferred to memory, but valid data is transferred as blank data due to a control or processing error in the printer controller, etc. Method cannot prevent blank paper discharge, and the host computer is not notified to that effect.Therefore, in a system that is connected to a plurality of personal computers such as a network printer and prints out, a remote It was extremely inconvenient when the floors were different.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a print data receiving means for receiving print data, and a bit map memory data for converting received print data into bit map memory format data and storing the data in a bit map memory area. Conversion / storage means, bitmap memory data sending means for sending bitmap memory format data in a bitmap memory area storing bitmap memory data for one page to the printer engine unit, and bitmap memory data sending means A blank page data detecting means for monitoring the contents of the bit map memory data for one page transmitted by the above, and detecting that all the pages are blank data; Blank data notification means for outputting detection.
[0009]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 is an operation explanatory diagram of the embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the flow of a normal printing operation will be described with reference to FIG.
A host computer (hereinafter abbreviated as host PC) 1 transmits print data including a control command and a print data command to an interface control unit 4 (hereinafter abbreviated as an I / F control unit) of the printer controller unit 2. When the data receiving unit of the I / F control unit receives a predetermined amount of transmitted data, the I / F control unit interrupts the CPU 3 in the printer controller unit 2 to notify the data reception. Upon receiving the data reception notification by the interrupt, the CPU 3 issues a data reception / transmission command to the I / F control unit to transmit the data received in the I / F control unit to the print data storage area 6, and then issues an internal local The raw data is stored in a predetermined print data receiving area 6 of the memory unit 5 by the DMA operation via the bus.
[0010]
Although not shown, a program, a print data command, a page description language, and the like are stored in an arbitrary address in the memory unit 5 in addition to the print data reception area 6 and the BMM data area 7. If a detection circuit is provided in the data receiving unit by the conventional method, all of these data and commands are monitored, only the print data is determined from the monitoring data, and the timing of starting and stopping the detection circuit is also determined. It is necessary to determine whether or not the print data is blank by a method such as controlling the print data by software.
[0011]
The print data stored in a predetermined area of the memory unit 5 is successively accessed by the CPU 3 and stored in a predetermined BMM data area 7 while being converted into BMM data in a data format to be transferred to the printer engine 9. When one page of data in the BMM data format is prepared in the BMM area of the memory, the CPU 3 issues an instruction to the BMM data DMA transfer unit 8 via the local bus, and transfers the BMM data in the designated BMM data area to the printer. The data is transferred to the engine 9, and the printer engine 9 performs the printing operation for one page as it is based on the received data.
[0012]
Here, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1. In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, a line of a data transfer interface from the BMM data DMA transfer unit 8 to the printer engine 9 is connected in parallel. A blank circuit determination circuit 10 to be connected is provided, and a hardware circuit for monitoring the data (SNOOP) and checking whether all data is blank data is added. As described above, since the detection circuit is provided at the output end of the data transfer unit, the final print data of characters and images output to the printer engine 9 (referred to as rasterized data) can be monitored. Therefore, the blank page determination is performed by using the property of the rasterized data (the print data has a fixed value of Hi if it is white and has a fixed value of Low if it is black) and only monitors whether the rasterized data is fixed to Hi or Low. Therefore, the circuit becomes significantly simpler.
[0013]
In the present invention, when blank print data is generated for one page due to an error or the like, for example, selection of printability described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-35037 and a print stop function using software described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H5-127449 are provided. Although it does not have any effect, it is possible to realize blank sheet judgment with a very small scale circuit and notify the detection without affecting the printing speed, so that the information detected by software can be sent to the host personal computer etc. If a means for notifying is added, even if a blank printer is used due to an error using a remote printer in a network environment, etc., the operator does not need to go to the printer installation location to check the print result, You can know the error from.
[0014]
By using the present invention, a situation where a print result cannot be immediately confirmed in a remote place such as a network environment (printing on a printer or the like which is located at another business office and has nobody to check the print result) Also, when blank printing is performed during printing, the detection can be performed immediately, and the reprinting of the data can be automatically performed. The use example of the present invention is shown below.
1) The host PC, which has received the notification of blank page error detection from the circuit according to the present invention, has a function of displaying an error on a monitor (such as "blank page printed") (this is called a printer status monitor). Is added, even if blank printing is performed due to an error or the like, the user can know in advance that blank printing has been performed on the host PC before confirming the printing result at the printer installation location. The printing can be completed normally by performing the reprinting.
2) When the circuit according to the present invention detects blank page printing, if software having a function of automatically reprinting the page is added, even if the user does not check the blank page error and re-executes printing of the blank page, Printing can be completed normally.
[0015]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the print data actually sent to the printer engine is monitored in parallel (SNOOP), so that the print speed of the printer is not affected and a circuit of a very small scale is provided. Thus, a blank sheet determination unit can be realized. In the present invention, blank page determination is performed while transferring data to the printer engine, and it does not stop or prevent blank page output even if the data is blank, but this type of error is detected even after the fact. By using a printer at a remote location in a network environment, etc., it is possible to confirm that a blank page has been printed due to an error before going to the printer installation location and checking the print result. You can know the error with
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of an embodiment of the present invention (detection by hardware).
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the operation of a conventional device (detection by software).
FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of the configuration of a conventional device.
1 Host PC (personal computer)
2 Printer controller 3 CPU
4 I / F (interface) control unit 5 Memory unit 6 Print data storage area 7 BMM data area 8 BMM data DMA transfer unit 9 Printer engine 10 Blank page determination circuit 11 Upper host 12 Local network 13 Printer controller 14 Central controller 15 Print data Buffer unit 16 BMM data buffer unit 17 Printer engine unit

Claims (1)

Print data receiving means for receiving print data,
Bitmap memory data conversion / storage means for converting received print data into bitmap memory format data and storing the data in a bitmap memory area;
Bitmap memory data sending means for sending bitmap memory format data of a bitmap memory area in which bitmap memory data for one page is stored to a printer engine unit;
Blank data detecting means for monitoring the contents of the bit map memory data for one page transmitted by the bit map memory data transmitting means and detecting that the data is all blank data;
A blank data notifying unit that outputs an all blank data detection when all blank data is detected;
A printing device having:

Images