JP2005047254A - Output unit, radio communication unit, and output processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To avoid a trouble that a user transmits data from a portable terminal, or the like, regardless of the fact that an output unit is in a data unreceivable state. <P>SOLUTION: When a printer 1 outputs a ready command to a CF type communication card 13 following to initialization processing, the CF type communication card 13 releases interlocked state. After data received from a portable telephone 14 is transferred to the printer 1, the CF type communication card 13 makes a transition to an interlocked state. If the received data is extensions "vnt", "jpg" and "jpeg", the printer 1 outputs the ready command again following to rasterization of that data and the CF type communication card 13 releases interlocked state. During execution of print operation, vCard data of the extension "vcf" is not received by the printer 1 but the data of the extensions "vnt", "jpg" and "jpeg" is received. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  Interlocks for receiving data from mobile terminals such as mobile phones via wireless communication and performing output processing based on the data, wireless communication devices, and output processing systems. Regarding technology.

  In recent years, many mobile phones are equipped with an infrared communication port as standard. The mobile phone stores personal information data such as names of acquaintances entered through the phone book function, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, etc., and image data taken with the camera function, and these data are to be printed on a printer. There is a request.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a technique for connecting a portable personal computer (referred to as a personal computer) and a printer by infrared communication and printing data of the personal computer is known (for example, Patent Document 1). Further, in this Patent Document 1, a printer communication adapter that receives print data from a personal computer or the like by infrared communication and outputs it to a printer controls lighting of a display LED while communicating with the personal computer. When the failure continues for a predetermined time, the display LED blinks.
JP-A-8-300772

  By the way, if the printer is equipped with a plurality of communication units, normally only one communication unit that received the data first is valid, so that other communication units may receive data during the processing of the data received earlier. Even if received, a reception error occurs. However, the operator cannot determine whether or not the printer is ready to receive data, and an error may occur every time data is transmitted. Further, since the data is not accepted on the printer side despite the transmission, there is a problem that the transmission operation is wasted.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an output device and a wireless communication device capable of avoiding the inconvenience that data is transmitted even when the output device cannot receive when transmitting data from a portable terminal or the like to the output device by wireless communication. And providing an output processing unit.

  In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, in an output device including a receiving unit that receives data from a mobile terminal, and an output unit that performs output processing based on the data received via the receiving unit, A determination unit that determines whether or not the output process can be performed by receiving data from the reception unit; and the data from the reception unit when the determination unit determines that the output process cannot be performed. The gist of the invention is that it includes an interlocking unit that prohibits reception and permits data reception from the receiving unit when it is determined that the output process can be performed.

  According to this, the determination means determines whether it is possible to receive data from the receiving unit and perform output processing. The interlock means prohibits data reception from the receiving unit when it is determined by the determining means that the output process cannot be performed. On the other hand, when it is determined that the output process can be performed, the interlock means Allow data reception.

  In the present invention, it comprises a plurality of processing units for sequentially performing a plurality of processes included in the output process on the data received from the receiving unit, and the determination means determines whether or not the first processing unit is processing data. And the interlock means prohibits data reception from the receiving unit when the first processing unit that performs the first processing on the data received from the receiving unit among the plurality of processing units is processing data. On the other hand, the gist is to permit data reception from the receiving unit when the first processing unit has passed the data to the next second processing unit.

  According to this, the interlock means prohibits data reception from the receiving unit when the first processing unit that performs the first process on the data received from the receiving unit among the plurality of processing units is performing data processing. On the other hand, when the first processing unit has passed the data to the next second processing unit, data reception from the receiving unit is permitted.

  In the output device of the present invention, the determination means determines whether a data path for sending data from the first processing section to the second processing section is in use, and the interlock means When it is determined that the data path is in use, reception of data from the receiving unit is prohibited. On the other hand, when it is determined that the data path is not in use, reception from the receiving unit is permitted. Is the gist.

  According to this, the determination means determines whether or not the data path for sending data from the first processing unit to the second processing unit is in use. The interlock means prohibits reception from the receiving unit when it is determined that the data path is in use, and permits reception from the receiving unit when it is determined that the data path is not in use.

  In the output device of the present invention, when the determination unit determines that the data has been sent from the first processing unit to the second processing unit, the determination unit further determines whether the processing in the second processing unit is completed, The interlock means prohibits reception from the receiving unit when the second processing unit is processing data, and from the receiving unit when the second processing unit ends processing. The gist is to allow reception.

  According to this, when it is determined that the data has been sent from the first processing unit to the second processing unit, the determination unit further determines whether or not the processing in the second processing unit has ended. The interlock means prohibits reception from the reception unit when the second processing unit is processing data, and permits reception from the reception unit when the second processing unit has finished processing.

  In the output device of the present invention, the notification unit that notifies the reception unit that the data has been received, and the data received from the reception unit based on the notification from the notification unit until the end of the output process. The gist of the present invention is to provide a reservation unit that secures a transfer path for transferring a plurality of processing units in advance.

  According to this, the notifying means notifies that the receiving unit has received the data. The reservation unit reserves in advance a transfer path through which the data received from the receiving unit is transferred to the plurality of processing units by the end of the output process based on the notification from the notification unit.

  In the output device of the present invention, the receiving unit is configured to be able to receive data via a wireless communication device that is detachably attached to the output device body, and the wireless communication device receives the received data in the output device. When the data is transferred to the receiving unit of the main body, the control unit shifts to an interlock state, and the interlock means sends a release signal for releasing the interlock to the wireless communication device when allowing data reception from the receiving unit. The gist is not to transmit the release signal to the wireless communication device when transmitting and prohibiting data reception from the receiving unit.

  According to this, when the data received by the control unit of the wireless communication device is transferred to the receiving unit of the output device main body, the interlock state is entered. The interlock unit on the output device body side transmits a release signal for releasing the interlock to the wireless communication device when permitting data reception from the receiving unit. On the other hand, when the reception of data from the receiving unit is prohibited, the release signal is not transmitted to the wireless communication device.

  Furthermore, in the output device of the present invention, a notifying unit for notifying whether reception from the receiving unit is permitted or prohibited, and a notifying control unit for controlling the notifying unit based on an input signal from the interlock unit, The interlock means outputs a reception permission signal to the notification control unit when permitting reception from the reception unit, and outputs a reception prohibition signal to the notification control unit when prohibiting reception from the reception unit. And the notification control unit notifies the notification means that reception is possible based on the reception permission signal, and notifies the notification means that reception is not possible based on the reception prohibition signal. To do.

  According to this, the notification means notifies whether reception from the receiving unit is permitted or prohibited. The notification control unit controls the notification unit based on an input signal from the interlock unit. The interlock means outputs a reception permission signal to the notification control unit when permitting reception from the reception unit, and outputs a reception prohibition signal to the notification control unit when prohibiting reception from the reception unit. The notification control unit notifies the notification unit that reception is possible based on the reception permission signal, and notifies the notification unit that reception is not possible based on the reception prohibition signal.

  Further, in the output device of the present invention, the notifying means for notifying whether the reception from the receiving unit is permitted or prohibited, and the control unit is incapable of receiving to the notifying unit when the interlock state is entered. And when the release signal is received from the interlock means via the receiving section, the notifying means is informed that reception is possible.

  According to this, when the control unit built in the wireless communication device shifts to the interlock state because the received data has been transferred to the receiving unit on the output device main body side, it notifies the notification means that reception is impossible. Let On the other hand, when the release signal is received via the receiving unit from the interlock unit on the output device main body side, the notifying unit is notified that reception is possible. Therefore, it is possible to know whether the wireless communication device can receive data or not by the notification means.

  In the output device of the present invention, the control unit performs a first transfer process with the portable terminal and performs a second transfer process with the reception unit, The present invention comprises: a detecting unit that detects a communication abnormality of the control unit via the receiving unit; and a reset unit that resets the control unit in the wireless communication device when the detecting unit detects a communication abnormality. And

  According to this, the control part in a radio | wireless communication apparatus performs a 1st transfer process between portable terminals, and performs a 2nd transfer process between receiving parts. The receiving unit receives data from the portable terminal via the wireless communication device. When the detection unit detects a communication abnormality of the control unit in the wireless communication device, the reset unit resets the control unit in the wireless communication device.

  Further, in the output device of the present invention, in the output device including a communication port that receives data from a portable terminal or the like, and an output unit that performs output processing based on the data received through the communication port, the communication port A determination means for determining whether the output process can be performed by receiving data from the communication port; and, if the determination means determines that the output process cannot be performed, receives the data from the communication port. On the other hand, if it is determined that the output process can be performed, an interlock unit that permits data reception from the communication port, and the interlock unit prohibits data reception from the communication port. If the determination means determines that the reception is newly permitted, the processing of the data already received in the output processing is interrupted, Serial and gist that a interruption means for performing an output process of the new data that is allowed to receive.

  According to this, the output device of the present invention receives data of a portable terminal or the like (a host computer, a terminal compatible with BT (Bluetooth communication), or a device using USB (Universal Serial Bus)) via the communication port. Then, output processing is performed based on the received data. The determination unit determines whether it is possible to receive data from the communication port and perform output processing. The interlock means prohibits data reception from the communication port when it is determined by the determination means that the output process cannot be performed, while the communication port determines that the output process can be performed. Allow data reception from. When reception is permitted by the determination means and the interlock means in this way, the reception and output processing of the data permitted to be received is performed in order (in order). In some cases, it may be desirable to output the subsequent data first even if the processing of the data currently being output is interrupted. For this reason, when the determination means determines that the data to be preferentially output and can be newly received while the reception of data from the communication port is prohibited by the interlock means The interrupt means interrupts the processing of the already received data in the output processing, and preferentially performs the output processing on the newly received data that is permitted to be received. The determination means determines whether the data can be newly permitted to be received (that is, data to be preferentially output), for example, by a signal or command transmitted separately from the data, or a code or command in the header . Therefore, data received later can be output earlier than data received earlier.

  Further, the present invention is a wireless communication device that is detachably attached to the output device main body of the output device, and shifts to an interlock state when data received by the wireless communication device is transferred to the receiving unit. On the other hand, when the release signal is received from the interlock means via the receiving section, the control section that releases the interlock state and the display section as the notification means controlled by the control section are provided. Is the gist.

According to this wireless communication device, it is possible to obtain the same operational effects as the invention of the output device in which the wireless communication device is attached to the output device body.
Further, the gist of the wireless communication device of the present invention is that the control unit is reset by inputting a reset signal from the reset means.

Furthermore, the output processing system of the present invention includes the output device and the wireless communication device, and the wireless communication device is detachably attached to the output device main body.
In this output processing system, the effects of the invention of the output device and the invention of the wireless communication device can be obtained.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the printer 1. In FIG. 1, a printer 1 as an output device is an ink jet printer, and a sheet feeder 4 and a roll paper support 5 of an automatic paper feeder 3 are provided on the back side of a main body 2. A sheet paper (not shown) is set in the sheet feeder 4 and fed into the main body 2. Further, the roll paper P 1 is set on the roll paper support portion 5 and fed into the main body 2. A cover 6 is provided in the center of the main body 2, and a printing mechanism is provided in the cover 6, and a sheet P (cut sheet paper or roll paper) as a printing medium printed by the operation of the printing mechanism. The paper is discharged from the front lower discharge port 7. An operation panel 8 is provided on the right side of the upper surface of the main body 2.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the operation panel 8 includes a display device 9 having a display screen 9a and an operation unit 10 including a plurality of operation switches. The display device 9 is a liquid crystal display device, and displays, for example, a menu for manually selecting a paper type (cut sheet or roll paper), paper size, layout, photo selection, number of prints, and the like on the display screen 9a. .

  The operation unit 10 is also provided with a power switch 10a for powering on the printer 1, a maintenance switch 10b that is pressed when an error occurs, and a roll paper switch 10c that is pressed when operating the roll paper. Further, the operation unit 10 is provided with a print start switch 10d, a cancel switch 10e, an upper switch 10f, a lower switch 10g, a determination switch 10h, and a return switch 10i. The print start switch 10d is pressed when starting to print an image on a cut sheet or roll paper. The cancel switch 10e is pressed when canceling printing that is being executed or when discarding the input content on the display screen 9a when the printer is in a non-printing state. The upper switch 10f and the lower switch 10g are pressed when selecting a menu on the display screen 9a, moving a cursor when selecting various setting items, or increasing / decreasing numerical values to be input. The decision switch 10h is pushed when the display on the display screen 9a is advanced to the next screen or when the setting content input using the display screen 9a is confirmed. The return switch 10i is operated when returning the screen displayed on the display screen 9a to the initial screen or when returning the display of the display screen 9a to the previous screen.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a second display device 11 is attached to the upper right side of the main body 2 of the printer 1. A print image to be printed on the paper P is displayed in advance on the display screen 11 a of the second display device 11.

  A card slot (CF card slot) 12 is provided on the front right side of the main body 2, and the card slot 12 has a CF (compact flash (R)) type card (infrared communication card) (hereinafter referred to as a CF type) with a built-in infrared communication function. (Referred to as a communication card) 13 is set to be insertable / removable. The CF type communication card 13 is an IrDA module having an infrared communication function compliant with IrDA (Infrared Data Association), and is set in the card slot 12 so that the printer 1 has an infrared communication function capable of receiving infrared data. Give. The printer 1 takes in data received from the mobile phone 14 by the CF type communication card 13 and performs a printing process based on the data.

  The mobile phone 14 in the present embodiment includes a telephone function and an infrared communication function, a telephone book function capable of registering and managing personal information including a telephone number, an electronic mail function capable of sending and receiving electronic mails with other mobile phones, It has multiple functions such as a camera function that can capture still images or moving images. The mobile phone 14 manages personal information data (text data) handled by the phone book function and image data handled by the camera function in a file format compatible with infrared communication. Specifically, personal information data is managed in the vCard (TM) file format, and image data is managed in the vNote (TM) file format. Therefore, personal information data in the vCard file format or image data in the vNote file format managed by the mobile phone 14 is received by the printer 1 through the CF type communication card 13 set in the card slot 12. The mobile phone 14 can send and receive e-mails and image data to and from other mobile phones and personal computers through the mobile phone network. If a CF memory card for a digital camera is set in the card slot 12, image data captured by the digital camera can be read from the CF memory card to the printer 1 and printed.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the CF-type communication card 13 is provided with an infrared light receiving / emitting unit 13a and a display unit 13b serving as communication ports on the front surface (front surface). The infrared light emitting / receiving unit 13a includes a light receiving element and a light emitting element, and the light emitting element emits infrared light composed of a pulse signal modulated by a carrier wave having a carrier frequency of, for example, 25 to 50 kHz by turning on / off the light emission. The light receiving element outputs infrared light composed of bit signals expressed in the same manner. The display unit 13b includes a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) having different emission colors, and notifies the data reception state of the CF type communication card 13 by a combination of the emission color, lighting, blinking, and extinguishing. A connector (not shown) is formed on the back surface of the CF-type communication card 13, and this connector is electrically connected to a printer-side connector provided on the back surface of the card slot 12. The CF-type communication card 13 constitutes a communication interface unit for IrDA communication.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the infrared light receiving / emitting unit 13 a and the display unit 13 b provided on the front surface of the CF type communication card 13 are in a position where the CF type communication card 13 is exposed in a state where it is set in the card slot 12. Both are visible from the user (operator) who operates the mobile phone 14. The maximum communicable distance between the infrared light emitting / receiving units 13a and 20 (hereinafter referred to as the maximum communication distance) is, for example, a value within 10 to 50 cm. Since infrared is a communication medium having relatively high directivity, when transmitting data from the mobile phone 14, the infrared light receiving / emitting unit 20 of the mobile phone 14 is directed to the infrared light receiving / emitting unit 13a at a predetermined spread angle (60 degrees in this example). ) It is necessary to keep the state as straight as possible within about 10 seconds to 1 minute required for data transmission. At this time, the display unit 13b and the infrared light receiving / emitting unit 13a are both provided in the CF type communication card 13, so that the user (operator) who operates or holds the mobile phone 14 enters the same field of view. ing.

  FIG. 4A shows the mobile phone viewed from the front. As shown in the figure, the mobile phone 14 includes a plurality of operation buttons 15 (15a to 15c, etc.), a mouthpiece 16, a mouthpiece 17, a display 18, and a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) imaging device 19. .

  While using the camera function, the mobile phone 14 displays an image captured by the CCD imaging device 19 on the display 18 and operates the operation button 15b as a shutter to display the captured image as one image. Can be saved as data.

  In the present embodiment, image data (still image data) captured by the camera function of the mobile phone 14 is stored in the mobile phone 14 as JPEG data, and the mobile phone 14 transmits the image data to the printer 1 by infrared communication. 14 is converted into vNote (TM) format, which is one of the file formats compatible with infrared communication, and transmitted. The printer 1 received in this vNote format encodes (compresses) JPEG data with an encode / decode converter called Base64, and is stored as encoded JPEG image data. In addition, the cellular phone 14 can register the personal information created on the display 18 by operating the operation button 15a using the phone book function.

  FIG. 4B shows an example of personal information registered and displayed on the display using the telephone directory function of the mobile phone. The personal information registration method will be described. First, when the operation button 15 is operated to select the personal information creation mode (new registration mode) of the telephone book function, the personal information creation program built in the mobile phone 14 is activated. . On the display 18, items shown on the left side in FIG. 4B, that is, “name”, “phonetic”, “phone number 1”, “phone number 2”, “phone number 3”, “e-mail address 1” "," E-mail address 2 "," E-mail address 3 "," Address "and" Memo (note) "are displayed. After selecting a desired item by operating the operation button 15c, the corresponding data is input, and this is repeated as many times as necessary to create one piece of personal information as shown in FIG. . Personal information data (text data) created by the telephone directory function is stored in the vCard (TM) format, which is one of the file formats compatible with infrared communication in this embodiment.

  Further, the mobile phone 14 has an infrared communication function compliant with IrDA (Infrared Data Association), and an infrared light receiving / emitting unit 20 (shown in FIG. 1) for performing infrared communication with the CF type communication card 13. ). The cellular phone 14 transmits image data and personal information data to the CF-type communication card 13 by operating the operation buttons 15. The infrared light receiving / emitting unit 20 includes a light receiving element and a light emitting element that can receive and issue the same infrared communication method as the infrared light receiving / emitting unit 13 a provided in the CF type communication card 13.

Next, the electrical configuration of the printer 1, the CF-type communication card 13, and the mobile phone 14 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.
First, the electrical configuration of the mobile phone 14 will be described. The mobile phone 14 includes a control unit 21, a memory 22, a transmission / reception unit 23, a microphone 24, a speaker 25, an operation button 15, a display 18, a CCD imaging device 19, and an infrared light receiving / emitting unit 20.

  In the memory 22, image data and personal information data captured by the CCD imaging device 19 are temporarily stored by the control unit 21. The microphone 24 outputs the voice spoken at the earpiece 16 to the control unit 21 as a voice signal. The speaker 25 converts the sound signal output from the control unit 21 into sound and outputs it from the mouthpiece 17.

  The transmission / reception unit 23 is an input / output interface, and transmits the audio signal, mail, and image data output from the control unit 21 to another mobile phone or personal computer, and also transmits the voice signal, mail from other mobile phone or personal computer. The image data is received and output to the control unit 21.

  The control unit 21 includes a CPU, a ROM, an EEPROM, and the like, and the CPU executes various operations based on a control program and various application programs stored in the ROM and the EEPROM. That is, the control unit 21 executes the processing operation for the above-described call, creation of mail, transmission / reception and storage of data based on the operation of the operation button 15. The control unit 21 executes a processing operation for displaying and storing image data captured by the CCD imaging device 19 based on the operation of the operation button 15.

  At this time, the image data stored in the memory 22 is stored in the JPEG data format by the control unit 21. The control unit 21 executes a processing operation based on the operation of the operation button 15 for creating and storing personal information. At this time, the personal information data (text data) stored in the memory 22 is stored in the business card data format (in this example, the vCard format) by the control unit 21.

  Further, the control unit 21 executes a processing operation for transmitting the stored personal information data and image data to the printer 1 (CF type communication card 13) via the infrared light receiving / emitting unit 20 based on the operation of the operation button 15. To do. When transmitted from the control unit 21 to the CF-type communication card 13, personal information data is transmitted in the vCard file format, and image data (encoded JPEG data) is transmitted in the vNote file format. The control unit 21 transmits these according to the object exchange protocol. In this embodiment, IrOBEX (TM) used for exchanging objects called v format such as a telephone directory (vCard), a schedule (vCalender), and a memo (vNote) is adopted as an object exchange protocol.

Next, the electrical configuration of the CF type communication card 13 will be described.
The CF type communication card 13 includes a card control unit 31, a memory 32, a card side UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) 33, a printer side UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) 34, an infrared light receiving and emitting unit 13a, and a display unit (LED) 13b. Have.

  The card control unit 31 controls the memory 32, the card side UART 33, the infrared light emitting / receiving unit 13a, and the display unit 13b. The card control unit 31 includes a CPU, a ROM, and the like, and the CPU executes various operations based on a control program and various application programs stored in the ROM. When the card control unit 31 receives data from the mobile phone 14 via the infrared light emitting / receiving unit 13a, the card control unit 31 instructs the card-side UART 33 to transfer the object data (personal information data or image data) to the printer 1. . At this time, a part of the memory 32 is used as a buffer for temporarily storing object data.

  The card side UART 33 converts object data (personal information data or image data) into a serial bit stream based on an instruction from the card control unit 31 and outputs the serial bit stream to the printer side UART 34.

  The printer-side UART 34 is controlled by the communication interface 45 on the printer 1 side via a bus 35 that is connected when both connectors are electrically connected with the CF-type communication card 13 set in the card slot 12. When the printer-side UART 34 starts receiving object data from the card-side UART 33, the printer-side UART 34 outputs an interrupt signal to request the printer 1 to read the data. When the printer 1 that receives this interrupt signal opens the input port, reading of object data into the printer 1 is started. At this time, the printer-side UART 34 converts the serial bit stream received from the card-side UART 33 into parallel byte data and outputs the object data to the printer 1 side.

  The printer-side UART 34 outputs various signals input from the printer 1 side to the card control unit 31 via the card-side UART 33. The card control unit 31 monitors various signals input from the printer 1 side, manages the data reception state (communication status), and controls display of the display unit 13b in a lighting mode according to the communication status at that time. Therefore, the data reception state is notified to the user by the lighting mode of the display unit 13b provided on the front surface of the CF type communication card 13. At this time, the card control unit 31 transmits the communication status information to the mobile phone 14 via the infrared light emitting / receiving unit 13a, and the display 18 of the mobile phone 14 displays the data reception state on the printer 1 side as character information or the like. Is done.

Next, the electrical configuration of the printer 1 will be described.
The printer 1 has a CPU 41, ROM 42, EEPROM 43, RAM 44, communication interface 45, ASIC (Application Specific IC) 46, drivers 47 a to 47 d, and user interface 48, which are electrically connected to each other via a data bus 49. Has been.

  The communication interface (I / F) 45 includes a communication interface unit 45a, a parallel communication unit 45b, a Bluetooth (TM) communication unit 45c, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) communication unit 45d, a slot communication unit 45e, and a serial communication unit ( (Not shown). Each of the communication units 45b to 45e has a communication port (input / output port), and the communication interface unit 45a is composed of, for example, a group of communication interfaces provided independently for each of the communication units 45b to 45e. When each of the communication units 45b to 45e receives data, the communication unit 45b to 45e notifies the CPU 41 that manages the priority of communication (data reception). The CPU 41 determines whether the data can be received based on the reception information received from the communication interface unit 45a. For example, when the first data is received after the next data can be received, the communication unit Command to open the input port. The communication interface unit 45 a receives data sent from a predetermined host device by opening one of the input ports of the communication units 45 b to 45 e in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 41, and sends it to a common data bus 49. Output. When data arrives first in any one of the plurality of input ports, the communication interface unit 45a starts taking in data from that port and continues to other ports until the data is taken in. In a busy state, data reception from other ports is prohibited. The communication interface unit 45a performs such processing in accordance with instructions from the CPU 41. When reception of data from one communication port is started, the CPU 41 secures a data transfer path through which the received data reaches the printing process until the end of the printing, and receives data from other communication ports during that time. The communication interface unit 45a is instructed to be prohibited. Further, the CPU 41 performs an interlock process for permitting or prohibiting data reception from the communication port.

  When the communication interface unit 45a receives a reception request from the host device or the CF-type communication card 13, the CPU 41 receives a notification to that effect from the communication interface unit 45a. Based on the communication information, the communication port availability state And the communication port being received.

  In addition, while the CPU 41 is already receiving and performing output processing, an interrupt signal from an interrupt signal button or the like provided on the main body or the like of the printer 1 or an interrupt command that can be determined by the communication interface unit 45a. When new received data including the received data is received via the communication port, the CPU 41 interrupts the output processing of the data that has already been received and subjected to the output processing as an interrupt means. Further, the CPU 41 stores the interrupted data in the work memory 44b and the like, and after the output process based on the interrupt process of the new received data is completed, the interrupted data is read again from the work memory 44b and the remaining data. Continue output processing and output. This interrupt processing as interrupt means is performed between the communication ports, and interrupt processing is similarly performed at each communication port.

  The parallel communication unit 45b can receive data from a host computer (personal computer) HC via a communication cable via parallel communication. The Bluetooth communication unit 45c can receive data from the Bluetooth-compatible mobile terminal BC by short-range wireless communication using radio waves in a predetermined standard frequency band according to a predetermined communication protocol. The USB communication unit 45d can receive data from a USB compatible device (not shown) according to a predetermined communication protocol. The slot communication unit 45e can receive data from the CF type communication card 13 or the CF card (memory card) inserted in the CF card slot 12. Each of the communication units 45b, 45c, 45d, and 45e can transmit predetermined signals or data such as information necessary for communication with the host device and a signal for notifying the state of the printer 1.

  The CPU 41 comprehensively controls the communication interface 45, the ASIC 46, and the drivers 47a to 47c based on a control program stored in the ROM 42 and various application programs stored in the EEPROM 43. The CPU 41 outputs a command signal for operating a part of the printing mechanism to the ASIC 46, and instructs data transfer processing between the ASIC 46 and the RAM 44 and between various processing circuits inside the ASIC 46. The CPU 41 incorporates, for example, a DMA controller for transfer processing. Further, the CPU 41 drives and controls the paper feed motor M1, the carriage motor M2, and the cutter motor M3 of the cutter device that cuts the printed portion of the roll paper into a predetermined size via the drivers 47a to 47c.

  The ASIC 46 performs image processing on the data to generate print data, and drives and controls the plurality of piezoelectric elements PZ via the driver 47c based on a command signal from the CPU 41 and the print data. The RAM 44 includes a reception buffer 44a, a work memory 44b, an output buffer 44c, and the like. Data received through each of the communication units 45b to 45e is temporarily stored in the reception buffer 44a, data for performing a predetermined process is stored in the work memory 44b, and finally generated print data is stored in the output buffer 44c. Is done.

  The paper feed motor M1 is a motor for transporting the cut paper or roll paper P1 set in the automatic paper feeder 3 to the paper discharge port 7 via the printing position. The carriage motor M2 is a motor for reciprocating a carriage mounted with a recording head having a plurality of ejection nozzles in the main scanning direction. The piezoelectric element PZ is an element that is provided for each of a plurality of ejection nozzles provided in the recording head and ejects ink from the nozzles. The cutter motor M3 is a motor that drives the cutter device, and moves the cutting blade in the main scanning direction to cut the roll paper into a predetermined size.

  Further, the CPU 41 reads out menu display data stored in advance in the EEPROM 43 and transfers it to the display processing unit 9 b of the display device 9. The display processing unit 9b displays on the display screen 9a a menu used for manually selecting the paper type, paper size, layout, photo selection, number of prints, and the like based on the menu display data. A “layout” is prepared for the menu item, and this “layout” is printed by designating one or a plurality of images input for printing from a memory card or the like set in the card slot 12 on a sheet. This is a function for creating an image (printed state image). The EEPROM 43 stores a plurality of layout templates used for designating the layout. The display data for the print image created by this layout function is temporarily stored in the RAM 44. When the operation unit 10 is operated before printing, the CPU 41 reads the display data from the RAM 44 and transfers it to the display processing unit 11b. The print image is displayed on the display screen 11a.

Further, the CPU 41 is configured to input a signal based on the operation of each switch 10 a to 10 i provided on the operation panel 8 via the user I / F 48.
FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram for explaining data communication performed between the mobile phone and the printer via the CF type communication card and printing processing of the received data. Each functional unit shown in the figure is realized by a hardware circuit including various circuits, and a CPU that executes a communication protocol program, an application program, and the like.

  The card control unit 31 built in the CF type communication card (infrared communication card) 13 includes an IrDA communication circuit 61, an IrDA stack (IrDA protocol stack) 62, a file transfer unit 63, and an object transmission / reception unit 64. The IrDA communication circuit 61 includes hardware including a CPU and a communication circuit (both not shown), and corresponds to a physical layer in the communication layer. The IrDA stack 62 includes an IrDA communication protocol group and corresponds to a data link layer and a network layer. The file transfer unit 63 controls transfer of files received from the mobile phone 14 by infrared communication, and corresponds to a transport layer and a session layer in the communication layer. The object transmission / reception unit 64 performs data transfer control between two communication systems of IrDA communication performed with the mobile phone 14 and serial communication performed with the printer 1, and received data check, etc. Manage the necessary processing. The object transmitting / receiving unit 64 includes a portion corresponding to a presentation layer and an application layer for processing data from the file transfer unit 63, and a portion constituting a presentation layer to a data link layer including a serial communication protocol stack in an upper layer of the UART 33. Become.

  The file transfer unit 63 is a functional part constructed by the CPU in the CF type communication card 13 executing an OBEX (Object Exchange) (TM) program, and controls file transfer based on the OBEX specification. Specifically, a logical communication link with OBEX on the mobile phone 14 side is established and disconnected, and a restoration process for assembling a packet divided and sent in the original file at the time of file transfer is performed.

  The object transmission / reception unit 64 has a corresponding extension storage unit 64a. When the printer 1 detects that the CF type communication card 13 is inserted into the card slot 12 for the first time after the power is turned on, the object transmission / reception unit 64 receives the CF type communication from the printer 1. The extension data sent to the card 13 is stored (set up) in the corresponding extension storage unit 64a. Further, the object transmission / reception unit 64 obtains a file name from the received data, and compares and refers to the extension and extension data in the file name, so that the received data has a print compatible capability for the printer 1. It is determined whether the data is print compatible data. For details, read the file name “aaaa.bbb” in the header of the data, extract the extension “bbb” from the file name, and compare the extension “bbb” with the extension data. Judge whether or not. This comparison reference is not case sensitive. Then, the object transmission / reception unit 64 performs a data selection process that permits the reception of print-compatible data based on the determination result, but rejects the reception of non-print-compatible data. When the object transmission / reception unit 64 is print-compatible data, the object transmission / reception unit 64 transfers the object data and data with the file extension “bbb” (referred to as file extension data) to the printer 1 side.

  On the printer 1 side, a card driver 71, an IrDA UART driver (hereinafter referred to as a UART driver) 72, a data transfer unit 73, an IrDA profile processing unit (IrDA profile unit) 74, a text data raster processing unit 75, an image data raster processing unit 76 and a print engine 77 are provided.

  The card driver 71 and the UART driver 72 are configured by hardware and software including a driver circuit built in the slot communication unit 45e in FIG. The data transfer unit 73 is a functional part realized by the CPU 41 executing the communication protocol program. Further, the IrDA profile processing unit 74, the text data raster processing unit 75, and the image data raster processing unit 76 are functional parts realized by the CPU 41 executing the application program. Further, the print engine 77 is a printing process comprising a software part realized by the CPU 41 executing an application program, an ASIC 46, drivers 47a to 47d, a paper feed motor M1, a carriage motor M2, a piezoelectric element PZ, a cutter motor M3, and the like. It is comprised from the hardware part which implement | achieves.

  When applied to the OSI reference model, the card driver 71 and the UART driver 72 correspond to the data link layer and the network layer. The data transfer unit 73 corresponds to a transport layer and a session layer, and the IrDA profile processing unit 74, the text data raster processing unit 75, and the image data raster processing unit 76 correspond to a presentation layer and an application layer.

  The card driver 71 is a communication driver that exchanges signals and data with the CF-type communication card 13, and issues necessary instructions to the UART driver 72 based on instructions from the CPU 41.

  The UART driver 72 controls the communication operation of the printer side UART 34 built in the CF type communication card 13. For example, the UART driver 72 controls the printer side UART 34 based on instructions from the CPU 41 and the card driver 71. When the UART driver 72 receives an interrupt request from the printer-side UART 34, the printer 1 opens the input port and starts to capture data unless the printer 1 is busy receiving data from the other communication units 45b to 45e.

  Further, the card driver 71 receives extension data from the CPU 41 and stores it in the setup data storage unit 71a during an initialization process executed by the CPU 41 when the printer 1 is powered on. Then, the card driver 71 reads the extension data stored in the setup data storage unit 71a based on an instruction from the CPU 41 that detects the electrical connection between the printer 1 and the CF type communication card 13 for the first time after the power is turned on. It transmits to the communication card 13. In this embodiment, “vcf”, “vnt”, “jpeg”, and “jpg” are set in the extension data as the extension of the print compatible file. The extension data sent to the CF type communication card 13 is set up on the CF type communication card 13 side by being stored in the corresponding extension storage unit 64a by the object transmitting / receiving unit 64. When the UART driver 72 receives a notification such as an error notification detected by the data transfer unit 73 and the IrDA profile processing unit 74, the UART driver 72 transmits a signal to that effect to the card control unit 31. The card control unit 31 manages the communication status indicating the data reception state by monitoring the data and signals received from the mobile phone 14 and the printer 1, and displays the display unit (LED ) Display control of 13b. The CF type communication card 13 notifies the sender of the data reception state by the lighting state of the display unit 13b.

  When the data transfer unit 73 receives the object data and the file extension data sent from the object transmission / reception unit 64 of the CF-type communication card 13, the data transfer unit 73 sends the file extension data to the IrDA profile processing unit 74. Judge whether it was received correctly. This determination is made according to a transmission control procedure in which a procedure for verifying whether or not the object data has been received correctly is programmed. The transmission control procedure 73a includes a basic procedure and an HDLC (High Level Data Link) procedure. In this example, a transmission control procedure in which the basic procedure is simplified is adopted. Note that the error detection method employed for error control is not limited to the CRC detection method, but may be a parity check method, a checksum, or a Hamming code.

  The data transfer unit 73 sequentially sends the data (the message body or the message division block) to the next IrDA profile processing unit 74 when the data can be correctly received by the transmission control procedure 73a, and when the data cannot be correctly received. The object transmission / reception unit 64 is requested to retransmit the data. Receiving this retransmission request, the object transmission / reception unit 64 retransmits the data transmitted to the data transfer unit 73 immediately before. The data transfer unit 73 instructs the UART driver 72 to transmit an error notification signal to the object transmission / reception unit 64 when a timeout occurs without being retransmitted after the retransmission request.

  The IrDA profile processing unit 74 includes an extension identification unit 81, a number determination unit 82, a note analysis unit 83, a division processing unit 84, a text data format conversion unit 85, a template storage unit 86, an image data decoding unit 87, and a determination. A portion 88 is provided. The IrDA profile processing unit 74 is realized based on program data and various data stored in the ROM 42 or the EEPROM 43.

  The extension identifying unit 81 identifies the file format of the object data from the file extension data input from the data transfer unit 73. That is, it identifies the extension of personal information data (vCard file format), attached format image data (vNote file format), or image data (JPEG file). That is, if the file extension data is “vcf”, it is identified as “vCard file”, if “vnt”, it is identified as “vNote file”, and if it is “jpeg” or “jpg”, “JPEG file”. Identify. The extension identifying unit 81 distributes the processing path of the object data sent from the data transfer unit 73 thereafter according to the identified extension. That is, if the extension is “vcf”, the extension identifying unit 81 sends the vCard file (personal information data) to the number determination unit 82, and if the extension is “vnt”, the vNote file (image data). Is sent to the image data decoding unit 87. Further, if the extension is “jpeg” or “jpg”, the JPEG data is sent to the image data raster processor 76.

  The number determination unit 82 determines whether the vCard file is a “single case” file including one piece of personal information or an “all case” file including a plurality of pieces of personal information. If it is determined that the file is a “single case” file, the vCard file is sent to the note analysis unit 83. If it is determined that the file is “all cases”, the vCard file is sent to the division processing unit 84. The determination result of the number determination unit 82 is “N = 0” for “single case” and “N = 1” for “all cases”, and the determination value N is sent to the text data format conversion unit 85. Sent.

  The note analysis unit 83 extracts and analyzes the text described in the Note area of the vCard file. When printing a single piece of personal information, it is possible to specify a print layout by describing a predetermined designated character in the note area, and whether or not the print layout is designated by the designated character is determined. Therefore, the description contents of the note area are analyzed. In the present embodiment, numbers (numbers) are adopted as designated characters. The reason why numbers are used is that the number of characters to be written is small and the identification is easy. In addition to numbers, alphabets (for example, A, B, C,...) Can be adopted as designated characters. The note analysis unit 83 sends the designated character information M (for example, the number M = 1, 2,... N) obtained as an analysis result to the text data format conversion unit 85.

  When the division processing unit 84 starts to sequentially input all the case files in units of message division blocks, the division processing unit 84 examines the contents of the data while storing them in a buffer (not shown), and divides them by a predetermined number of times by extracting a delimiter for each case. To do. Then, the personal information data is sent to the text data format conversion unit 85 for the next processing for each of the divided predetermined number of cases. In this embodiment, the predetermined number of cases is set to one, and all data in the vCard file is sequentially divided into individual information for each case, while the division processing unit 84 converts the text data format for the next processing one by one. Sent to the unit 85.

  The text data format conversion unit 85 converts personal information data (text data) from the vCard format to the XHTML (Extensible Hyper Text Markup Language) format. However, before performing format conversion, whether the object data is in vCard format is analyzed to verify that the data is in vCard file format. For example, the presence or absence of properties (“BEGIN VCARD”, “N”, “SOUND”, etc.) that should be provided for data in the vCard file format is confirmed. If the data is not in the vCard file format, the data is discarded and the CF type communication card 13 is notified through the UART driver 72 that the data is incorrect. On the other hand, if the data is in the vCard file format, the object data is subjected to format conversion processing. The vCard file can also be of a type with an image attachment function by a mobile phone manufacturer. When it is analyzed that it is a vCard file with an image attachment function type, the encoded JPEG image data attached is extracted and transferred to the image data decoding unit 87. As described above, the text data format conversion unit 85 analyzes and verifies in advance whether the extension is “vCard” but the contents of the data are also correctly in the vCard format. When the image data decoding unit 87 accepts a vNote file of a type including text data described by the memo pad function, the text data format conversion unit 85 accepts only the text data from the image data decoding unit 87. At this time, the contents of the data have already been verified by the image data decoding unit 87 and are not analyzed again.

  When performing the format conversion process, the text data format conversion unit 85 first reads a print layout template (hereinafter referred to as a template) described in the XHTML format from the template storage unit 86. In the template, a layout frame is specified by a tag description so that the value (text data) of each item (property) constituting the object data can be assigned to a predetermined position. By incorporating the value (text data) of the corresponding item (property) in the layout frame, the personal information in the vCard format is converted into the XHTML format with a template. In other words, the vCard file is originally a file format that does not have the concept of layout, but the format is converted from a file format (vCard) that cannot be layout defined to a file format (XHTML) that can be layout defined so that it can be printed with a predetermined layout when printing. To do. A layout is defined by tags by using a template described in the XHTML format at the time of format conversion. The text data format conversion unit 85 sends XHTML data in which personal information is embedded in the template to the text data raster processing unit 75.

  On the other hand, the image data decoding unit 87 receives the object data in the vNote file format from the extension identifying unit 81, analyzes the contents of the object data, and verifies whether the data is in the vNote file format. For example, the presence or absence of a property or the like that should be provided in the case of vNote file format data is confirmed. If the data is not in the vNote file format, the data is discarded and the CF communication card 13 is notified through the UART driver 72 that the data is incorrect. On the other hand, if the data is in the vNote file format, the attached encoded image data is extracted, and if it is analyzed that the text data described by the memo pad function is included, the text data is transferred to the text data format conversion unit 85. To do. Then, a decoding program (Bese64) prepared in advance is activated to decode the encoded JPEG image data into JPEG image data.

  In this manner, the image data decoding unit 87 analyzes and verifies in advance whether the extension is “vnt” but the contents of the data are also correctly in the vNote format. The image data decoding unit 87 sends the decoded JPEG image data to the image data raster processing unit 76.

  The text data raster processing unit 75 performs raster processing on the XHTML data received from the text data format conversion unit 85. This raster processing includes XHTML analysis processing, layout setting processing, color conversion processing, and binarization processing. First, in the XHTML analysis process, XHTML data is analyzed and decomposed into layout template information described in the XHTML language and personal information described in text. Then, the description contents (layout template information) described in the XHTML language (tag) are analyzed to calculate the allocation area of the personal information text (value of each property), and the calculated position coordinate data (address data) of each allocation area ) To get. In the layout setting process, the character code of the personal information text is converted into character data, and the obtained character data is developed as dot data of a predetermined character size at an address determined from the allocation area specified by the template. A color conversion process and a binarization process are performed on the expanded dot data, and then the binarization data is subjected to a process of rearranging in the dot formation order at the time of printing.

  As a result of the XHTML analysis process, if the XHTML data includes an image (only address designation), a transfer request is issued to designate the address data of the image and transfer the image data to the mobile phone 14, and respond to this transfer request. When the image data is transferred from the mobile phone 14, layout setting processing is performed for the entire image and text. Therefore, when text and an image are included, a layout in which the text and the image are arranged at predetermined positions is determined. Here, when an image is included in the vCard data, it is necessary to decode the encoded image data (Base64). In the present embodiment, the image data acquired from the mobile phone 14 is temporarily stored in the image data decoding unit 87. The JPEG data after being sent and decoded by the image data decoding unit 87 is returned to the text data raster processing unit 75 to indirectly perform the decoding process. When the vCard data includes an image as described above, a configuration in which only image address data is embedded in the vCard data as in this embodiment may be used, or a configuration in which image data is embedded in the vCard data from the beginning may be used. In the case of this latter configuration, it is possible to eliminate the transfer process for transferring only the image data later.

  The image data raster processing unit 76 performs raster processing on the JPEG image data. However, for the JPEG data sent directly without going through the image data decoding unit 87 before raster processing, the contents of the data are analyzed to verify whether the data is in JPEG file format. For example, the presence or absence of information that should be provided in the case of JPEG file format data is confirmed. If the data is not in the JPEG file format, the data is discarded and the CF type communication card 13 is notified through the UART driver 72 that the data is incorrect. On the other hand, if the data is in JPEG file format, the process proceeds to raster processing. As described above, the image data raster processing unit 76 analyzes and verifies in advance whether the extension is “jpeg” but the data contents are also correctly in the JPEG format.

  The raster processing includes JPEG analysis and decoding processing, layout setting processing, color conversion processing, and binarization processing. In JPEG analysis and decoding processing, since JPEG image data is compressed image data, this is first expressed using the YCbCr color system (luminance (Y), blue color difference (Cb), and red color difference (Cr). Decompress to color-based (uncompressed) image data. The YCbCr color system multi-value image data obtained by decompression is further converted into RGB color system multi-value image data. In the layout setting process, an allocation area in which RGB color system multi-value image data is allocated on a sheet is calculated, and the image is assigned to an address on the work memory (image buffer) 44b determined from the calculated allocation area. Expand as dot data. After the developed image data (dot data) is subjected to color conversion processing and binarization processing, the binarized data is subjected to processing for rearranging in the dot formation order at the time of printing. The same processing is performed for the raster processing of the JPEG image after the layout setting processing in the text data raster processing section 75 described above. When text is included in the vNote data, the image data raster processing unit 76 performs layout setting processing for the entire text and image. The second determination means is constituted by the text data format conversion unit 85, the image data decoding unit 87, and the image data raster processing unit 76 that analyze and verify the contents of the object data in each file format (vCard, vNote, JPEG). Is done.

  The print engine 77 sets the CMYK binary image data (raster data) after raster processing developed on the work memory 44b as a set with a print command header to be a printer print command, and prints the print mechanism by the engine controller based on the printer print command. Is driven to print on the paper.

  Note that the text data raster processing unit 75 and the image data raster processing unit 76 receive a CF type communication card in the printer 1 so that data in file formats (XHTML format and JPEG format) handled by the Bluetooth-compatible mobile terminal BC can also be printed. It is an existing one that was provided before the system was adopted. In this example, the function part that needs to be added is diverted to minimize the function part that needs to be added so that even the file data of the cellular phone compatible format received via the CF type communication card 13 can be printed. That is, by adding to the IrDA profile processing unit 74 a function part for converting data in a cellular phone compatible format (vCard format and vNote format) into a Bluetooth compatible format, each raster processing unit 75 , 76 is diverted.

  FIG. 7 shows a schematic configuration of an image processing apparatus that includes two raster processing units and a part of a print engine, and generates print data from data in XHTML format and JPEG format. This image processing apparatus mainly includes a CPU 41, an ASIC 46, a ROM 42, an EEPROM 43, and a RAM 44. However, part of the processing is realized by software that the CPU 41 executes a program. Of course, most of the processing is not realized by a hardware circuit, but more than half of the processing can be realized by software.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the ASIC 46 includes an interpretation processing unit 90, a JPEG decompressor 91, a YCbCr / RGB converter 92, a memory controller 93, an image processing unit 46a, and a print processing unit 46b. The image processing unit 46 a includes a color conversion processing unit 94 and a binarization processing unit 95. The print processing unit 46 b includes a command encoder 96 and an engine controller 97. A character generator 98 is built in the ROM 42. The EEPROM 43 includes a template storage unit 86 in a part of the storage area and stores a color conversion table 99.

  The memory controller 93 is a circuit that manages image processing for expanding dot data including at least one of character data and image data on the work memory 44b and rearranging the pixel order of the expanded dot data to the raster scan order. .

  Further, the buffers 75a and 76a included in the raster processing units 75 and 76 in FIG. 6 are respectively secured as dedicated storage areas in the RAM 44. Of course, those dedicated storage areas may be secured in, for example, SDRAM other than RAM.

  First, the processing of the text data raster processing unit 75 that performs raster processing on XHTML data will be described. The text data raster processing unit 75 includes an interpretation processing unit 90, a memory controller 93, a character generator 98, a first buffer 75a, and the like.

  The ROM 42 stores character generator data (CG data) indicating a pattern of characters (characters, symbols, etc.) such as Japanese and English fonts, and converts the character code (character code) into CG data using the CG data. A character generator 98 is constructed. When a character code is given to the designated address, the character generator 98 reads CG data necessary for specifying the dot configuration (character dot pattern) of various characters. CG data is vector data. Here, the vector data is data representing the outline of the character or figure to be drawn. More specifically, the coordinates of the main points of the character or figure and the equation of a curve (for example, a Bezier curve) connecting the coordinates are expressed. It is described by the parameters that it contains.

  The XHTML data sent to the text data raster processing unit 75 is first transferred to the interpretation processing unit 90. The XTMHL data includes character data that is a body in which personal information is described, and a template tag that describes a place where the body of the personal information is to be laid out.

  The interpretation processing unit 90 analyzes the description content of the XHTML data, and layout data (address) that is interpreted from character data corresponding to characters (characters) of the text body and a template tag that describes a place where the character string should be laid out. (Coordinate data in space) and the corresponding correspondence is converted. The character data includes a character code (for example, ASCII code) that specifies the type of character or symbol, and modification information such as a font. The interpretation processing unit 90 passes the character data and layout data decomposed and converted from the XHTML data to the memory controller 93 together with information associated with each correspondence.

  The memory controller 93 performs vector font expansion processing for converting CG data (vector data) read by supplying character data to the character generator 98 into character dot pattern data (character dot data) having a predetermined character size. Further, the memory controller 93 expands the character dot data obtained by the vector font expansion processing to the vertical position and the horizontal position designated by the layout data (coordinate data on the address space) in the work memory 44b. The memory controller 93 rearranges the developed pixel order into the raster scan order, stores it in the first buffer 75a, and transfers it to the print processing unit 46b. Here, since the first buffer 75a is used for raster processing of XHTML data, its buffer capacity is relatively small (for example, 30 to 100 kilobytes).

  Next, processing of the image data raster processing unit 76 that performs raster processing on JPEG image data will be described. The image data raster processing unit 76 includes a JPEG decompressor 91, a YCbCr / RGB converter 92, a memory controller 93, a second buffer 76a, and the like.

The JPEG decompressor 91 is a circuit that decompresses JPEG image data and converts it into YCbCr color system multi-value image data. The YCbCr / RGB converter 92 is a circuit for color-converting the YCbCr color system multi-value image data from the YCbCr color system to the RGB color system RGB multi-value image data. The following conversion formula is used for this color conversion.
R = Y + 1.40200 × Cr
G = Y-0.34414 × Cb-0.71414 × Cr
B = Y + 1.77200 × Cb
The memory controller 93 is a circuit that manages the RGB multi-valued image data received from the YCbCr / RGB converter 92 in the work memory 44b and performs image processing for rearranging the developed pixel order into the raster scan order. Here, in JPEG compression processing, the original image is divided into block regions of 8 pixels × 8 pixels, and predetermined calculation processing is performed in units of block regions. For this reason, the original RGB multivalued data converted from JPEG data passed from the YCbCr / RGB converter 92 is also arranged in the form of pixel data divided into 8 pixel × 8 pixel block areas. The memory controller 93 converts the array of pixel data sorted into the block area of 8 pixels × 8 pixels into a raster scan suitable for print processing (that is, for example, horizontal scan in the row direction from the left end to the right end of the image). , Scans that are repeated downward from the top row one row at a time). The memory controller 93 performs this rearrangement by developing each pixel data of the RGB multi-valued image received from the YCbCr / RGB converter 92 and writing it in the second buffer 76a according to the raster scan order. As a result, RGB multilevel image data in which pixels are arranged in the raster scan order is stored on the second buffer 76a. The memory controller 93 transfers the RGB multilevel image data in which the pixels are arranged in the raster scan order to the image processing unit 46a. Here, since the second buffer 76a is used for raster processing of JPEG image data, its buffer capacity is relatively larger than that of the first buffer 75a (for example, 3 to 10 megabytes).

  The RGB multilevel image data transferred to the image processing unit 46 a is first sent to the color conversion processing unit 94 and then transferred to the binarization processing unit 95. The color conversion processing unit 94 is a circuit that performs color conversion of RGB multilevel image data to CMYK multilevel image data. Further, the binarization processing unit 95 is a circuit that binarizes the CMYK multilevel image data into CMYK binary image data.

  The color conversion processing unit 94 reads the color conversion table 99 for color conversion from the RGB color system to the CMYK color system stored in the EEPROM 43, and refers to this to convert the RGB multi-value image data into the CMYK multi-value image. Convert to data. The CMYK multivalued image data is transferred to the binarization processing unit 95.

  Next, the binarization processing unit 95 performs binarization processing (for example, error diffusion processing or dither processing) on the CMYK multilevel image data, and converts this into CMYK binary image data. The CMYK binary image data is transferred to the print processing unit 46b. Note that when the data transferred to the image processing unit 46a is subjected to predetermined processing such as enlargement, reduction, and rotation, the data is transferred to the CPU 41, and the predetermined processing is performed by software processing.

  Character dot data or CMYK binary image data rearranged in the raster scan order is transferred to the print processing unit 46b. These data are transferred to the command encoder 96.

  The command encoder 96 sets the character dot data or CMYK binary image data together with the command header of the printer print command from the CPU 41 as print data, and sends it to the engine controller 97. The engine controller 97 outputs a command signal for driving and controlling the piezoelectric element PZ to the driver 47d based on the print data.

  FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating the flow of data processing from when data received by a printer using a plurality of communication methods is converted into print data to printing. As the communication method, only the memory card reading method, the Bluetooth communication method, and the infrared communication (IrDA) method are listed. The data received by these communication methods is handled in different file formats depending on the type of the transmission source device, but the printer 1 is capable of printing regardless of the difference in the file formats handled by each communication method. The memory card reading method is based on the premise that the image data captured by the digital camera is read from the memory card and printed, and thus the read data is JPEG data generally adopted by the digital camera. Data received by the Bluetooth communication method is XHTML data and JPEG data that are frequently used in a Bluetooth-compatible mobile terminal BC such as a PDA. Data received by the infrared communication (IrDA) method is vCard format data and vNote format data adopted by the mobile phone 14. If the file format of the received data is different as described above, different data processing is required for each file format before printing into print data and printing.

  The printer 1 of the present embodiment receives a print processing function that handles print data received from a printer driver in a host computer, a print processing function that processes image data (JPEG) read from a memory card, and a Bluetooth communication method. And a print processing function for processing XHTML data. In this embodiment, when the infrared communication method is adopted, the IrDA communication module is provided in the form of the CF communication card 13 by using the card slot 12 originally provided for the memory card so that it can be mounted in the card format. I have to. Accordingly, it is not necessary to change the shape design of the casing (main body case) of the printer 1, and the casing of the printer 1 can be used before and after the introduction of the infrared communication method. There is no need. In addition, the printer 1 only needs to add / change software such as the IrDA communication protocol and application. As a result, the IrDA communication function is added in such a manner that the existing circuit is shared without changing the existing circuit.

Hereinafter, a characteristic configuration of a printer in which only a simple configuration is added by sharing an existing configuration when introducing an infrared communication method will be described with reference to FIG.
What was added when the infrared communication system was introduced was an IrDA communication comprising a CF-type communication card 13 set in the card slot 12 and an IrDA communication chip, a communication protocol, an application, and the like provided in the main body 2. It is the processing unit 120.

  As already described, the CF-type communication card 13 includes the infrared light emitting / receiving unit 13a, the IrDA communication circuit 61, the IrDA stack 62, the file transfer unit (IrOBEX) 63, the object transmission / reception unit 64, and the UARTs 33 and 34. The cellular phone 14 that transmits data to the CF-type communication card 13 by infrared communication has a similar communication layer structure, and includes an infrared light emitting / receiving unit 20, an IrDA communication circuit 121, an IrDA stack 122, a file transfer unit (IrOBEX) 123, and An application 124 is provided. The IrDA communication processing unit 120 includes drivers 71 and 72, a data transfer unit 73, and an IrDA profile processing unit 74. The IrDA profile processing unit 74 is constructed by software that converts data handled by the mobile phone 14 into a file format or data handled by another communication method.

  On the other hand, the components for realizing the memory card reading method include an image selection process including a slot communication unit 45e, an image data raster processing unit 76, a UI (user interface) for selecting image data stored in the memory card MC, and the like. Part (not shown). The image data raster processing unit 76 has a function of raster processing JPEG image data, and includes a decompressor 91, a YCbCr / RGB converter 92, and the like.

  Further, the components that realize the Bluetooth communication system are a BT communication unit 45c, a text data raster processing unit 75, and an image data raster processing unit 76. The BT communication unit 45c includes a Bluetooth communication circuit (hereinafter referred to as BT communication circuit) (physical layer) 125, a Bluetooth communication protocol stack (hereinafter referred to as BT stack) 126, a file transfer unit (OBEX) 127, BPP128, and BIP129 ( Both have an application layer). The portable terminal BC that transmits data to the BT communication unit 45c also has a similar communication layer structure. The BT communication circuit (physical layer) 131, the BT stack 132, the file transfer unit (OBEX) 133, the BPP 134, and the BIP 135 (both applications) Layer). The text data raster processing unit 75 has a function of raster processing text data in XHTML format, and includes an interpretation processing unit 90 and a character generator 98. The JPEG image data received by the BT communication unit 45c is transferred to the image data raster processing unit 76 and subjected to raster processing. That is, since the Bluetooth communication method and the memory card reading method handle image data in the same file format, the image data raster processing unit 76 is shared for raster processing.

  The XHTML data sent from the BPP 128 of the BT communication unit 45c is interpreted by the interpretation processing unit 90, whereby a character code and layout data are extracted. Among them, the character code is converted into a dot-structured character pattern by the character generator 98, and the layout data is used to determine the arrangement position of the character pattern when developing the image.

  On the other hand, the IrDA profile processing unit 74 of the IrDA communication processing unit 120 includes a text data processing unit (vCrad processing unit) 141 that mainly performs data format conversion processing from the vCard format to the XHTML format, and data from the vNote format to the JPEG format. An image data processing unit (vNote processing unit) 142 that performs format conversion processing. The text data processing unit 141 includes a number determination unit 82, a note analysis unit 83, a division processing unit 84, a text data format conversion unit 85, and a template storage unit 86. On the other hand, the image data processing unit 142 includes an image data decoding unit 87.

  The text data processing unit 141 converts the vCard text data into XHTML text data in a template embedded description format. That is, the text data processing unit 141 converts the vCard text data, which is a cellular phone compatible format, into XHTML text data, which is a Bluetooth compatible format, so that the text data raster processing unit 75 prepared for the Bluetooth compatible format data processing is displayed. Use. The image data processing unit 142 converts (decodes) the encoded image data in the vNote attached format into JPEG image data. In other words, the image data processing unit 142 is prepared for processing data corresponding to the Bluetooth compatible format and the memory card compatible format by converting (decoding) the encoded image data in the vNote attached format which is a format compatible with the mobile phone into JPEG image data. The image data raster processing unit 76 is used. As described above, the raster processing units 75 and 76 are commonly used for raster processing of data in a Bluetooth compatible format and a mobile phone compatible format.

  The image data received by any of the above three communication methods is sequentially processed by the image processing unit 46a and the print processing unit 46b after raster processing, and print data based on the image data is generated. Also, after raster processing of text data received by any of the three communication methods, the image processing unit 46a and the print processing unit 46b sequentially process the print data based on the text data. Then, the print mechanism 145 is driven and controlled by the print processing unit 46b based on the print data.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the printer 1 includes an authentication code storage unit 151 and an authentication code management unit 152. The mobile terminal BC or the mobile phone 14 has a function of requesting an input of an authentication code on the display 18 when a transmission operation is performed to transmit relatively confidential information such as personal information. At this time, if the same authentication code as that registered in the data transmission destination device is input, authentication is performed when the communication link is established, and data transmission becomes possible. In the printer 1, when an authentication code is input by operating the operation unit 10 while the authentication code registration menu is selected on the operation panel 8, the authentication code is stored in the authentication code storage unit (in this example, a predetermined recording area of the EEPROM 43) 151. Remembered. The authentication code management unit 152 reads and manages the authentication code from the authentication code storage unit 151 when the printer 1 is turned on and whenever the authentication code is input by the operation unit 10 for updating, and the authentication code is also stored. The data is sent to the BT communication unit 45c and stored in the storage unit 153 provided in the BT stack 126. The authentication code management unit 152 transmits the authentication card to the object transmission / reception unit 64 in the CF type communication card 13 and stores it in the storage unit 154 when the CF type communication card 13 is detected for the first time after the printer 1 is turned on. To do.

Next, IrDA communication performed between the mobile phone 14 and the CF type communication card 13 will be described.
FIG. 8 shows the data structure of the OBEX specification used at the time of file transfer. The setting data DA includes an operation code OP, a header HD, and a data body DB. The operation code OP describes a command related to communication. “Connect”, “Disconnect”, “PUT”, “FPUT”, “GET”, “FGET”, “Abort”, and “Response” are prepared as commands.
“Connect” means a connection request, and “Disconnect” means a disconnection request. “PUT” is a data reception request, “FPUT” is a final data reception request (including the end of transmission data), “GET” is a data extraction request, and “FGET” is a final data extraction request (indication of reception data end). Means). “Abort” means abort and “Response” means response.

  In the header HD, information on the data body DB is described. The data body DB is data itself to be transmitted / received (transferred) and is usually divided into packets (blocks) having a predetermined size or less. In the case of this example, the object data transmitted from the mobile phone 14 to the printer 1 is divided into a plurality of parts and transferred when the data size exceeds a predetermined size. "Name", "Authentication", "filesize", "Bodylength", etc. are prepared. “Name” means a file name, “Authentication” means verification of qualification to access information, “filesize” means file size, and “Bodylength” means body data length. Since “Name” is described in the form of “file name.extension”, the “extension” of the file can be acquired by looking at the value of “Name”. Also, “Authentication” describes an authentication code (pin code) that can verify the qualification to access information when it is set. The mobile phone 14 is set to require the input of an authentication code when transmitting all items of personal information registered in the phone book function or all items of personal information in a specified group. When all such data is transmitted, an authentication code is input to an input field required on the display 18 after the transmission button is operated. The input authentication code is described in “Authentication” of the header HD.

  As already described with reference to FIG. 7, the printer 1 has an authentication code registration function. When all data is directly transmitted from the mobile phone 14 to the printer 1 for printing, the printer 1 is previously set on the operation panel 8. An authentication code is registered in the printer 1 by operating the operation unit 10.

FIG. 9 shows a transfer processing sequence for transferring data in the flow of mobile phone → infrared communication card (CF type communication card) → printer.
When a data transmission operation is performed with the mobile phone 14, an IrDA connection (physical connection) is first performed between the IrDA communication circuits 61 and 121 which are physical layers. An IrDA connection request is issued from the mobile phone 14, and the IrDA connection is established in such a manner that the CF communication card 13 responds to the request. Next, OBEX connection (logical connection) is performed. The mobile phone 14 requests OBEX connection (logical connection) by transmitting data having “Connect” as the operation code OP, and the CF communication card 13 responds to this with data having “Response” as the operation code OP. An OBEX connection (logical connection) is established.

  When the logical connection is established, the file transfer unit 123 divides the file data into data lengths within the maximum allowable data length of the body DB, and transfers the divided data in multiple times in units of the divided blocks (frames). At this time, “PUT” is used as an operation code OP, and data DA in which a block is inserted in the body BD is created and transmitted. Thereafter, after waiting for reception of data having “Response” as the operation code OP, the next data DA having “PUT” as the operation code OP is transmitted.

  The file transfer unit (IrOBEX) 63 on the CF-type communication card 13 side assembles sequentially received blocks to restore the data, and the restored data is transferred to the object transmitting / receiving unit 64. The object transmitting / receiving unit 64 transmits data to the printer 1 in units of blocks (frames) within a predetermined data size according to a transmission control procedure (basic procedure). At this time, the object transmitting / receiving unit 64 transmits “name.extension” acquired from “Name” of the header HD together with the data.

  Thus, when the data transfer process proceeds and the last block (data) is transferred from the mobile phone 14, “FPUT” is described in the operation code OP, so the file transfer unit 63 sets the operation code OP of the received data to “FPUT ”Is recognized as the last block, that is, a data reception completion notification. In response to this, the disconnection request with “Disconnect” as the operation code OP is sent from the mobile phone 14 to disconnect the OBEX connection (logical connection), and then the IrDA connection (physical connection) to disconnect the communication link. Blocked. Thereafter, the printer 1 generates print data from the received data, and printing is executed based on the print data.

  Note that if the cellular phone 14 is interrupted during data transmission, data having the operation code OP of “Abort” is transmitted to the CF-type communication card 13. In this case as well, the communication link is cut off through the same sequence of IrDA disconnection and OBEX disconnection.

  In this example, the file transfer function from the printer 1 to the mobile phone 14 is not provided. However, when data having the operation code OP of “GET” is sent from the mobile phone 14 to the CF type communication card 13, the printer The printer 1 may be provided with a transfer function for transferring a file stored in one memory to the mobile phone 14.

  Next, lighting control of the display unit 13b that notifies the data reception state will be described in detail. The display unit 13b of the CF type communication card 13 notifies the user of the data reception state from the mobile phone 14.

FIG. 10 shows the display control device of the display unit, and FIG. 11 shows the relationship between the communication status and the display mode (lighting mode).
As illustrated in FIG. 10, the display control device 158 includes a CPU 159 and a lighting drive control circuit 160 built in the card control unit 31, and lighting control (display control) 2 by the CPU 159 via the lighting drive control circuit 160 2. Two LEDs 161 and 162 are provided. The two LEDs 161 and 162 have different lighting colors (display colors), and in this example, the LED 161 can be lit green and the LED 162 can be lit red.

  The lighting control of the display unit 13b is controlled by the CPU 159 in the card control unit 31. The CPU 159 communicates with the mobile phone 14, the data check result determined by itself in the CF type communication card 13, a signal for informing the data reception state determined on the printer 1 side, and the like The communication status is grasped based on the current reception status. The CPU 159 writes the grasped communication status (bit data) in the register 159a. When the signal S corresponding to the communication stator is input from the CPU 159, the lighting drive control circuit 160 controls lighting of the two LEDs 161 and 162 based on the signal S.

  As shown in FIG. 11, there are five types of communication statuses: “reception not possible”, “reception possible”, “receiving”, “reception completed”, and “error occurred”. The setting data SD indicating the relationship between the communication status and the lighting control content is stored in a predetermined storage area of the memory 32. The CPU 159 controls lighting of the two LEDs 161 and 162 in any one of five lighting modes while referring to the setting data DA based on the current communication status written in the register 159a. In this example, five lighting modes of “off”, “green lighting”, “green flashing”, “orange lighting”, and “red flashing” are set as lighting modes corresponding to five types of communication statuses. The orange color is generated by lighting the green and red LEDs 161 and 162 simultaneously.

  The relationship between the communication status and lighting status is “off” when “reception not possible”, “green” when “reception is possible”, “blinking green” when “reception”, “reception complete” The lighting control details are set so that “Orange light” is sometimes displayed, and “Error occurrence” is “Red blinking”.

  FIG. 12 explains how the communication status changes. As shown in the figure, the display mode (lighting mode) of the display unit 13b (LEDs 161 and 162) changes due to the transition of the communication status.

  First, referring to FIG. 12, the transition of communication status from “reception impossible” to “reception completion” will be described. When the printer 159 of the card control unit 31 does not receive a ready command output from the UART driver 72 when the printer 1 is in the initialization processing state or when the infrared communication is interlocked, “Reception” is received. Communication status A of “impossible” is set. In other words, the CPU 159 writes the bit data “cannot be received” to the register 159a. Here, when the ready command is not output, when the CPU 41 is in the initialization process performed immediately after the printer 1 is turned on and when data reception by the other communication method is performed first, data reception by the infrared communication method is performed. Is during interlocking that is prohibited. When the communication status A is “unreceivable”, all the LEDs 161 and 162 are turned off, and the display unit 13b is turned off.

  Here, when the printer 1 is powered on with the CF type communication card 13 set in the card slot 12, the card driver 71 is expanded with respect to the CF type communication card 13 detected during the initialization process of the printer 1. Set up child data. On the other hand, when the CF type communication card 13 is set in the card slot 12 after the printer 1 is turned on, the card driver 71 detects the CF type communication card when the CF type communication card 13 can be detected for the first time after the power is turned on. Set up extension data in the card 13. The CPU 41 starts the first interlock process only after both the initialization process and the setup process are completed. As a result of the interlock process, when the CPU 41 releases the interlock, the UART driver 72 outputs a ready command to the card control unit 31.

  When the CPU 159 of the card control unit 31 accepts a ready command from the UART driver 72 after completion of reception preparation on the printer 1 side in this way, the value of the register 159a is rewritten from “unreceivable” to “receivable” bit data. When the initialization process of the printer 1 is completed or the interlock is released, the communication status A shifts from “reception impossible” communication status A to “reception possible” communication status B. When the communication status B is “receivable”, only the green LED 161 is lit, and the display unit 13b is in the “green lit” state. When the display unit 13b is lit green, the user is notified that the CF type communication card 13 is receivable.

  The CPU 159 maintains the communication status B of “receivable” while inputting the ready command. Then, when a PUT request is received from the mobile phone 14 while the display unit 13b is lit in green, a logical connection (OBEX connection) is established. When the CF communication card 13 starts to receive data, the CPU 159 rewrites the value of the register 159a from “receivable” to “receiving” bit data. The CPU 159 maintains the communication status C of “receiving” while executing the object data reception and transfer processing.

  The timing of switching to the “receiving” communication status C is when a physical connection (IrDA connection), a logical connection (OBEX connection (Connect)), or a data transmission (OBEX PUT) starts. One of these. When the status C is “receiving”, only the green LED 161 blinks, and the display unit 13b enters the “green blinking” state.

  When the reception of the object data from the mobile phone 14 is completed, the CPU 159 rewrites the value of the register 159 a from “receiving” to “receiving complete” bit data. When the CF type communication card 13 finishes receiving data, the communication status D shifts to the “reception completed” communication status D. The transition timing includes when the last PUT (FPUT) is received from the mobile phone 14, when the response (Responce) is transmitted to the last PUT (FPUT), or when the OBEX is disconnected (logically connected). Either when receiving (disconnection) data or when receiving IrDA disconnection (disconnection of physical connection). When the communication status D is “reception completed”, the green and red LEDs 161 and 162 blink simultaneously, and the display unit 13b is in the “lit orange” state.

  When the CPU 159 detects that an error has occurred in the communication state in which data is received from the mobile phone 14, the CPU 159 rewrites the value of the register 159a to the bit data of “error occurrence”. When the communication status E is “Error occurrence”, the red LED 162 blinks and the display unit 13b blinks red.

Next, the error contents when the communication status A, B, C, D is shifted to the communication status E of “error occurrence” will be described.
First, when shifting from the communication status A of “unreceivable” to the communication status E of “error occurrence”, initialization failure of the CF communication card 13 and failure of transmission of the initialization command to the CF communication card 13 And the case of. Examples of the initialization command include “Configuration”, “Setup”, and “Ready”.

  When transitioning from “Receivable” communication status B to “Error occurrence” communication status E, physical connection or logical connection failure, unsupported file reception (extension check error), Setup command And failure cases.

  When transitioning from the communication status C of “receiving” to the communication status E of “error occurrence”, the file transfer from the mobile phone 14 to the CF type communication card 13 (IrDA communication) and the CF type communication card 13 And the case of object data transfer failure (transmission control procedure) from the printer to the printer 1. Furthermore, when the data of the corresponding file is abnormal (file data check error) and when receiving data from another communication unit is being printed (interlock has been released but other data is still being printed) ). For example, when a time-out occurs without receiving an FPUT, the CPU 159 (object transmission / reception unit 64) disconnects the connection with the mobile phone 14. When the printer 1 side times out without receiving the next packet, an error is issued and the connection with the mobile phone 14 is disconnected. After this connection is cut off, there is no way to notify the mobile phone 14 of the error, so the display unit 13b of the CF-type communication card 13 is flashed red to notify the user of data transmission failure.

  When shifting from the communication status D of “reception completed” to the communication status E of “error occurrence”, data transmission failure (transmission control procedure) from the CF type communication card 13 to the printer 1 and data error in the corresponding file Time (file data check error). When the communication status E is reached, when a predetermined time (for example, 3 seconds) elapses, the communication status A is entered. Therefore, when an error occurs, the display unit 13b “flashes red” for 3 seconds and then turns off. Note that when the communication status B → E, C → E, D → E transitions, an error has occurred while the mobile phone 14 and the CF-type communication card 13 are establishing communication. Notification is made and an error is displayed on the display 18. If an error is displayed on the display 18 of the mobile phone 14, it is assumed that the error notification by the display unit 13b is not necessary, and the communication status A is entered to turn off the display unit 13b. Only when an error occurs in status D, a method of blinking the display unit 13b in red can be adopted. Also, without setting the flashing time of red flashing, the interlock process is performed while status E is flashing red. When the interlock is released, the status E changes to B, and the red flashing turns green. Different implementations are possible.

  When the cancel operation is selected on the mobile phone 14, “Abort” is transmitted to the CF-type communication card 13. When this “Abort” is received, the reception of data is interrupted at that time, so that only halfway data exists and correct printing cannot be performed, so the data received so far is discarded. When this interruption is received, the display unit 13b may be turned off from blinking green, or may be blinked red as an error.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a data transfer path reservation process and an interlock process using a conceptual model.
The figure shows the processing after the data received by the communication units 45b to 45e of the communication interface 45 from the host device (mobile phone 14, mobile terminal BC, host computer (HC)) finally reaches the print engine 77. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a mechanism for determining a transfer path for sequentially transferring the units, in which a stream pipe 149 realizes a switching function in which the CPU 41 exclusively selects one transfer path. The status of the processing units 74 to 76, etc., in which the data received by the communication units 45b to 45e is sequentially transferred until finally reaching the print engine 77, for example, the execution state of data processing (RUN), standby state (WAIT), ready state (READY), etc. The state of managing the current state of each processing unit 74-76, etc. Processing section 150 are provided.

  When the stream pipe 149 receives a transfer request from any of various processing units on the upstream side (reception unit side) including the IrDA profile processing unit 74, the stream pipe 149 manages the downstream side ( It is determined whether or not the transfer path can be secured based on the state of each of the processing units 75 and 76 located on the transfer destination side) and the print engine 77, and the transfer path is connected or disconnected according to the determination result. Switches SW11 and SW12 are provided. The switch SW11 selects one of the plurality of transfer paths prepared for sending the XHTML data to the text data raster processing unit 75, which received the transfer request first, while the switch SW12 is the image data raster processing unit. One of the plurality of transfer paths prepared for sending JPEG data to 76 is first selected for receiving the transfer request. However, when referring to the management contents of the status management unit 150, the various processing units 75 and 76 and the print engine 77 located on the downstream side including the raster processing unit 75 or 76 that is the transfer destination perform the data processing execution state (RUN ) (In other words, data processing is in progress) When the information indicating that the data processing is in progress, it waits without connecting the transfer path, and transfers when the data processing execution status (RUN) has been acquired. Connect routes.

  In other words, in the present embodiment, in principle, the setting is made such that the reception and transfer of the next data is not permitted unless the preceding data has been completely processed by the print engine 77. For this reason, when the stream pipe 149 accepts a transfer request for XHTML data, not only the text data raster processing unit 75 that is the transfer destination but also the print engine 77 is determined, and in principle, the status management unit 150 Only when information indicating that the print engine 77 has completed all the processing of the preceding data is obtained, the connection of the switch SW11 is permitted to secure the transfer path of the next data. Similarly, when the stream pipe 149 accepts a JPEG data transfer request, not only the image data raster processing unit 76 that is the transfer destination but also the print engine 77 is determined, and in principle, the status management unit Only when information indicating that the print engine 77 has completed all the processing of the preceding data is obtained at 150, connection of the switch SW11 that secures the transfer path of the next data is permitted. However, exceptional processing is provided that permits the connection of the switch SW11 or SW12 exceptionally even when the print engine 77 is executing the processing. This exception processing will be described later.

  In addition, a module indicated by a switch SW21 in the figure is prepared, and the switch SW21 prints raster data obtained as a result of processing in each of the raster processing units 75 and 76 or obtained from the outside. It controls the selection (connection) of the transfer path when transferring to the engine 77. The switch SW21 is activated when one of the two switches SW11 and SW12 of the stream pipe 149 is connected, and data in which a transfer path to the raster processing unit 75 or 76 is secured by the connection of the switch SW11 or SW12. Then, a switching process (connection process) is performed to secure the transfer path so that it can be transferred to the print engine 77. The switch SW21 is configured to perform transfer path connection suitability determination and connection processing based on the management contents of the state management unit 150 when a raster data transfer request is received from the parallel communication unit 45b or the HCRP 156.

  The exception processing performed by the stream pipe 149 is performed as follows in consideration of the connection state of the switch SW21. In the following description, the case where the stream pipe 149 receives a transfer request for JPEG data and the case where a transfer request for XHTML data is received will be described separately. First, when a JPEG data transfer request is received, the stream pipe 149 determines whether the downstream switch SW21 located on the downstream side is connected to a state in which raster data from the image data raster processing unit 76 can be transferred. That is, it is determined whether or not a transfer path from the image data raster processing unit 76 to the print engine 77 is connected. When the switch SW21 is connected to a state in which raster data from the image data raster processing unit 76 can be transferred, only the image data raster processing unit 76 has finished data processing (for example, ready state (READY)). ) Even if the print engine 77 is executing (RUN), the switch SW12 is exceptionally permitted to connect the next data transfer path.

  Next, when an XHTML data transfer request is received, the stream pipe 149 is connected to a state where the downstream switch SW21 located on the downstream side is capable of transferring raster data from the text data raster processing unit 75. That is, it is determined whether or not a transfer path from the text data raster processing unit 75 to the print engine 77 is connected. When the switch SW21 is connected to a state in which raster data from the text data raster processing unit 75 can be transferred, even if the text data raster processing unit 75 has finished data processing (for example, ready state (READY)). ) Even if the print engine 77 is executing (RUN), the switch SW11 is exceptionally permitted to connect the next data transfer path.

  In this way, when the stream pipe 149 receives a transfer request for XHTML data from any one of the IrDA profile processing unit 74, BPP128, HCRP 156, and OPP (Object Push Profile) 157, the text data raster processing unit 75 and the print engine in the state management unit 150. If the management contents of 77 are not in the process of data, the transfer path by the switch SW11 is connected. When the stream pipe 149 receives a JPEG data transfer request from any one of the IrDA profile processing unit 74, the BIP 129, and the OPP 157, the management contents of the image data raster processing unit 76 and the print engine 77 in the state management unit 150 are data. If processing is not in progress, a transfer path by the switch SW12 is connected. However, at this time, the stream pipe 149 also refers to the connection state of the switch SW21 in the state management unit 150, and if the switch SW21 is connected to a state where the raster data from the raster processing unit 75 or 76 can be transferred, raster processing is performed. If the processing of the section 75 or 76 has been completed, the switch SW12 is exceptionally connected to secure a transfer path for the next data even if the print engine 77 is executing processing.

  Note that the “transfer request” is a command used to secure a transfer path when receiving data. On the other hand, it is periodically determined whether or not the data can be received from the communication unit 45e. For this purpose, a “request command” is also prepared separately that is used when asking the stream pipe 149 whether or not the transfer path of the data from the communication unit 45e can be secured. When the transfer path of the received data cannot be secured, this request command is used in the interlock process described later, which is executed on the printer 1 side for the interlock that disables reception on the CF type communication card 13 side. It has become.

  The transfer path of data received by the communication units 45a to 45d of the communication interface 45 is uniquely determined by the type (vCard, vNote, XHTML, JPEG, etc.). For example, when receiving via IrDA communication, a transfer path that sequentially passes through the processing units 74 and 75 and the print engine 77 is selected for vCard data, and the processing units 74 and 76 and the print engine 77 are selected for vNote data. A transfer path that passes sequentially is selected. In the case of reception via Bluetooth communication, a transfer path that sequentially passes through BPP128, processing unit 75, and print engine 77 is selected for XHTML data, and BIP129, processing unit 76, and print engine 77 are sequentially selected for JPEG data. The transfer path through is selected.

First, a reservation process for securing a data transfer path will be described.
The stream pipe 149 reserves (reserves) a transfer path up to printing at the start of data reception so that the data received by the communication units 45b to 45e can be processed smoothly without being interrupted by other data.

  The securing of the transfer path is represented as a connection of switches SW11, SW12, and SW21 for selecting a path to the processing units 75 and 76 and the print engine 77 shared by a plurality of types of data in FIG. However, the switches SW11, SW12, and SW21 are modules that are realized by the CPU 41 executing a program prepared for securing a transfer path. When any of the communication units 45b to 45e receives data, the communication interface unit 45a notifies the CPU 41 of the fact, and opens a port of the communication unit when receiving a permission for reception from the CPU 41 as a response. Next, any one of the upper-layer processing units of the communication unit, that is, the IrDA profile processing unit 74, BIP129, BPP128, or HCRP156, analyzes the data received from the receiving unit and, for example, determines the data type from the extension ( Data type) is specified, and the specified data type is notified to the stream pipe 149. The stream pipe 149 secures a transfer path that matches the notified data type. The rule for securing the transfer path can be explained by switching the switches SW11, SW12, and SW21. The switches SW11, SW12, and SW21 are connected so as to secure a data transfer path at the start of data reception, and the connection is not blocked in principle until the printing of the data is completed. For this reason, if one transfer path is occupied by a certain data, the transfer path is continuously occupied until the printing of the data is completed, and even if other data is temporarily received, a reception error is generated in principle. The switches SW11, SW12, and SW21 are connected only when it is necessary to secure a transfer path, and are disconnected when it is not necessary to secure a transfer path. For this reason, when both the switches SW11 and SW12 are in the disconnected state, it can be determined that the data can be received from the communication unit.

  Interlock processing means that if the transfer path is occupied by the previously received data and it is determined that the transfer path cannot be secured even if the next data is received, reception is not permitted and the next data If it is determined that a transfer path can be secured, this is a process of permitting reception. This interlock process is a process for determining whether or not the printer 1 can receive data from the mobile phone 14 without causing an error, and is periodically executed by the IrDA profile processing unit 74. When the IrDA profile processing unit 74 determines that the data cannot be received as a result of the interlock processing, the IrDA profile processing unit 74 determines that the data can be received without outputting a ready command to the CF-type communication card 13 via the UART driver 72. At this time, a ready command is output to the CF type communication card 13 via the UART driver 72. The CF-type communication card 13 releases the interlock state by input of a ready command, shifts to a receivable state, and lights the display unit 13b in green to notify that “reception is possible”. Further, when the CF type communication card 13 completes the reception of the data started to be received from the mobile phone 14 in the receivable state, the IrDA profile process is performed almost simultaneously with the transfer of the received data to the printer 1 side. Since there is no longer any ready command input from the unit 74, the state shifts to the interlock state and the display unit 13b is turned off to notify that “reception is impossible”. For this reason, the user knows that the data cannot be transmitted from the mobile phone 14 because the display unit 13b is turned off until the printing of the preceding data is completed. Nevertheless, the frequency of receiving errors decreases. The CPU 159 executes control of transition and release of the interlock state in the CF type communication card 13.

Here, there are the following rules for selecting a transfer route.
(1) Only the CPU 41 (including the stream pipe 149) secures the transfer path according to the requested data type. When any one of the communication units 45b to 45e is opened, any of the upper layer processing unit 74, BPP128, BIP129, HDRP156, and OPP157 identifies the data type from the extension of the received file, In order to perform necessary processing on the data specifying the data type, the stream pipe 149 is requested to transfer to the upper layer processing units 75 and 76 and the print engine 77. The stream pipe 149 secures a transfer path for data received from the port in order to transfer the data of the data type requested to be transferred from the request processing unit to the upper layer processing unit. In FIG. 13, a path is selected for each processing stage by the switches SW11, SW12, and SW21.

  (2) Once the CPU 41 secures the transfer path, in principle, the CPU 41 occupies the path until the end of printing the data. However, connection and disconnection of the route are performed in stages. That is, at the time of connection, the CPU 41 connects the transfer path in stages from the upstream side (communication unit side) to the downstream side (print engine side) as data is transferred. First, the first-stage switch SW11 or SW12 is connected, and then the second-stage switch SW21 is connected. On the other hand, when the transfer path is cut off, the second-stage switch SW21 is cut off after the print engine 77 finishes printing. Waiting for the release of the connection of the second-stage switch SW21, the connection of the first-stage switches SW11 and SW12 is released.

  (3) For the first-stage switches SW11 and SW12, the processing section (next processing section) immediately downstream of the switches finishes the process, and the connection of the second-stage switch SW21 is maintained. Switching is permitted on condition that the transfer path of the next data can be secured. That is, only when this condition is established, the next data transfer path is secured and reception is permitted even before the end of printing of the previous data.

The interlock process is performed according to the following rules.
The interlock process is periodically performed by the determination unit 88 of the IrDA profile processing unit 74 at predetermined time intervals (for example, several tens of milliseconds). The determination unit 88 determines whether or not the path is connected to the raster processing units 75 and 76 of the upper layer, that is, one of the switches SW11 and SW12 is connected to somewhere. When neither of the switches SW11 and SW12 is connected (that is, when both are disconnected), it is determined that the interlock should be released. On the other hand, when one of the switches SW11 and SW12 is connected, it further asks both the raster processing units 75 and 76 whether or not the raster processing is being performed. As a result of receiving the response, if neither of the raster processing units 75 and 76 is performing the raster processing, it is determined that the interlock should be released. In other cases, it is determined that the interlock should be performed. Specifically, the determination unit 88 sends a request command to the stream pipe 149 to obtain a determination result as to whether or not the transfer path from the IrDA profile processing unit 74 can be connected as a response. When the determination unit 88 obtains a response indicating that the transfer path can be connected from the stream pipe 149, the IrDA profile processing unit 74 instructs the UART driver 72 to output a ready command. The IrDA profile processing unit 74 is instructed not to output a ready command when a response indicating that the connection is not possible is obtained from the stream pipe 149. The determination unit 88 sends the determination result to the UART driver 72 via the data transfer unit 73. When the UART driver 72 receives a notification (ready command output stop instruction) indicating that it should be interlocked from the IrDA profile processing unit 74 (determination unit 88), the UART driver 72 should cancel the interlock without outputting a ready command. When a notification is received, a ready command is output.

  However, since the interlock process is performed according to such a rule, the reception status of raster data that is not monitored by the stream pipe 149, for example, received from the host computer HC through the communication unit 45b is not monitored. . For this reason, for example, even if raster data has already been received from the host computer HC and data processing is in progress, the interlock may be released because this is not subject to monitoring. In this case, even if data is transmitted from the mobile phone 14 on the basis that the display unit 13b is lit in green, a reception error occurs on the printer 1 side. For this reason, it cannot be said that the interlock function is sufficient, but reception errors can be considerably reduced.

  For example, even if the first-stage switches SW11 and SW12 to be determined by the determination unit 88 are disconnected at the timing after the preceding data print processing is completed, the received data from the other communication unit 45b is already at that time. In some cases, the transfer path is already occupied by switching the second-stage switch SW21. In this case, although the interlock is released, the transfer path cannot be secured. If one of the first-stage switches SW11 and SW12 to be determined by the determination unit 88 is connected, the second-stage switch SW21 is also connected to the side that can secure the same path, and usually the print engine. The transfer route up to 77 should be secured. However, even if one of the switches SW11 and SW12 in the first stage is connected and the raster processing of the raster processing units 75 and 76 is completed, if the print processing of the print engine 77 has already been completed, In some cases, other data has already secured a new transfer path first and the connection of the switch SW21 at the second stage has been switched. Even at this time, the interlock is released, but the transfer path cannot be secured. In these cases, the interlock is released and the display unit 13b is lit green, but a reception error occurs when the user transmits data. This is constructed by diverting the interlock function to the previous function by adopting a configuration that adds the IrDA communication function without changing the hardware (circuit) and software originally provided in the printer 1 as much as possible. Due to that. Of course, it is also possible to adopt a configuration that realizes an interlock function with no leakage that targets all communication methods. Conversely, the interlock process can be further simplified, and for example, the determination unit 88 can be an interlock process that only determines whether one of the switches SW11 and SW12 is on the connection side.

  According to the rule for securing the transfer path of the present embodiment, the first switch SW21 that secures the transfer path for the preceding data is maintained while the connection of the first switch is maintained even before the previous data is printed. When the next data transfer path can be ensured only by switching the switches SW11 and SW12 at the stage, the next data can be received. For example, when the raster processing in the image data raster processing unit 76 of the previously received vNote data is finished and all the raster data is stored in the buffer (storage unit) 76a, the interlock is released at that time. When the JPEG data is received from the communication unit 45c after the display unit 13b is lit in green by the interlock release, at this time, one of the switches SW11 and SW12 in the first stage is connected and the raster processing is completed. Furthermore, since the condition for securing the transfer path of the next data is satisfied while maintaining the connection of the switch SW21 at the second stage, the stream pipe 149 permits the reception of the JPEG data. That is, a transfer path for the JPEG data is secured. Therefore, the next JPEG data can be received and processed even before the end of printing, in which the previous vNote data is just buffered in the buffer (storage unit) 76a after the raster processing. In this way, the combination of data types that allows the next data to be received and transferred before the preceding data print process is completed is not limited to the above example. For example, after receiving vCard data, the next XHTML data is received. It is the same even when the reception order of these two data is reversed. Further, if the conditions are met, the next data can be sequentially received before the printing of the preceding data is completed. The number of the next data that can be received at this time is the storage capacity of each of the buffers 75a and 76a corresponding to the raster processing units 75 and 76. And can receive a plurality of data as long as it can be buffered within its storage capacity.

  Normally, when a user wants to print a plurality of data, it is natural that the plurality of data is continuously transmitted. However, in this printer 1, the buffering capacity of the print engine 77 is limited. Thus, in principle, only one print is permitted, and the CPU 41 does not permit the reception of the next data until the end of one print. However, since the reception of the next data may be permitted even before the printing of the preceding data is exceptional, the interlock processing content (that is, the stream pipe 149) is matched to the condition when the exceptional reception is permitted. Setting details) is set. The interlock is not released under conditions where reception is not permitted, and the interlock is released under conditions where reception is likely to be permitted. Therefore, although the display unit 13b may be lit in green, a reception error may occur. However, if reception can be permitted even before the previous data is printed, the display unit 13b is lit in green and can be received. By avoiding the display unit 13b from turning off, the number of reception opportunities is increased as much as possible. When the user knows that the signal can be received by the green lighting of the display unit 13b, the user transmits the next data. At this time, the combination of the previous data and the next data that can be permitted to be received even before the printing of the preceding data is completed is selected from three combinations selected from the vNote and JPEG formats, and the vCard and XHTML formats. There are a total of six types of combinations with three combinations selected by two parties.

  Here, normally, the user can know that the next data can be transmitted when the printer 1 finishes printing. However, even when the data can be received due to the internal processing, the user can know by the green lighting of the display unit 13b. Can do. Therefore, since there is a notification by the display unit 13b, it is possible to avoid a situation of waiting for the end of the printing operation although it can be received.

  FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a program executed by the CPU 41 on the printer 1 side when a CF type communication card is inserted (set) into the card slot. Hereinafter, the processing content executed when the CPU 41 detects the CF type communication card 13 will be described.

  First, in step (hereinafter simply referred to as “S”) 10, it is determined whether or not the CF type communication card 13 has been inserted into the card slot 12 (that is, whether or not the CF type communication card 13 has been detected). If it is detected that the CF-type communication card 13 has been inserted into the card slot 12, the process proceeds to S20, and if it is not detected that the card has been inserted, the process is terminated.

  In S20, it is determined whether the card whose insertion has been detected is the CF communication card 13 or the memory card MC. If it is the CF type communication card 13, the process proceeds to S30, and if it is a memory card, the memory card is recognized and the process is terminated.

  In S30, the CF type communication card 13 is set up. That is, the card driver 71 is instructed to read extension data (reference data) from the setup data storage unit 71 a and transmit it to the object transmission / reception unit 64. As a result, the card driver 71 transmits the extension data to the object transmission / reception unit 64, and the object transmission / reception unit 64 that has received the data stores the extension data in the storage unit 64a.

Next, in S40, an interlock process is performed. That is, the process described above with reference to FIG. 13 is executed.
In S50, it is determined whether or not the interlock can be released. If it is OK to release the interlock, the process proceeds to S60. If the interlock cannot be released, the process returns to S40 again.
When the process returns to S40, the interlock process is executed every predetermined time until the interlock can be released.

  In S60, a ready command for releasing the interlock is output. Upon receiving this ready command, the card control unit 31 (CPU 159) sets a communication status A of “Receivable”, and the display unit 13b of the CF type communication card 13 is lit in green. The user grasps that the CF type communication card 13 is in a state capable of receiving data by looking at the green lighting of the display unit 13b.

  15 to 19 are examples showing a sequence of the interlock process. Note that FIGS. 15 to 17 also illustrate unacceptable data reception prohibition processing performed by the CF communication card.

  In the following description of the interlock process, transfer of XHTML data is performed for the exception process described in FIG. 16, that is, for the exception process in which the print engine 77 permits the reception of the next data even before the process of the previous data is completed. An example will be described in which the present invention is not applied to the switch SW11 activated when requested, but only the switch SW12 activated when requested to transfer JPEG data.

  For this reason, when the data received first by the printer 1 is vCard data and when it is vNote data or JPEG data, the interlock release method for permitting reception of the next data is different. FIG. 15 is an example in which vCard data is transmitted first, and FIGS. 16 and 17 are examples in which vNote data or JPEG data is transmitted first. FIG. 17 shows an example in which reception is possible if the next data is vNote data or JPEG data even during printing of the previous data. 18 and 19 illustrate other interlock processing.

First, based on FIG. 15, an interlock process and an unsupported data acceptance prohibition process when vCard data is received first will be described.
First, when the printer 1 is powered on, extensions (extension data) “vcf”, “vnt”, “jpeg”, and “jpg” corresponding to the CF type communication card (infrared communication card) 13 are set up from the printer 1. Thereafter, the printer 1 performs a process for determining whether or not reception from the CF-type communication card 13 is permitted (hereinafter referred to as an interlock release process), and may permit the reception (that is, the interlock state is changed). If it is determined that it can be canceled, a ready command is output from the printer 1 to the CF-type communication card 13. When the CF type communication card 13 receives a ready command, the CF type communication card 13 is released from the interlock state and becomes ready for reception. The display unit 13b that has been extinguished until the interlock state is released lights up in green.

  Then, it is assumed that vCard data having an extension of “vcf” is transmitted from the mobile phone 14 as corresponding data. Then, the CF communication card 13 that has received this compares the extension “vcf” of the data with the set-up extension data “vcf” “vnt” “jpeg” “jpg”. Since there is a combination that matches both, the CF communication card 13 receives the data and transfers it to the printer 1. While this data is being received, the display unit 13b blinks in green. When the data reception is completed over several tens of seconds to one minute, the display unit 13b turns orange, and a notification of reception completion (reception completion signal) is sent from the CF type communication card 13 to the mobile phone 14. The CF type communication card 13 enters the interlock state. In this example, since communication between the mobile phone 14 and the CF communication card 13 and communication between the CF communication card 13 and the printer 1 are asynchronous, reception from the printer 1 to the CF communication card 13 is completed after a while. Is notified. Thereafter, the printer 1 performs printing.

  When the printer 1 receives vCard data, the printer 1 outputs a ready command after printing. Therefore, since the CF type communication card 13 is in the interlock state when the printer 1 is executing printing, an error signal is transmitted from the CF type communication card 13 to the mobile phone 14 even if the corresponding data is sent from the mobile phone 14. Is done.

  Thereafter, when printing is completed and a ready command is output from the printer 1 to the CF type communication card 13, the interlock state is released. When unsupported data having an extension other than “vcf”, “vnt”, “jpeg”, and “jpg” is transmitted from the mobile phone 14, the CF type communication card 13 that has received the data transmits the extension and extension data of the data. Compare with reference. For example, in the case of unsupported data having unsupported extensions such as “txt” and “mpeg”, as a result of the reference comparison, all combinations of the two do not match. And an error signal is transmitted to the mobile phone 14. At this time, the display unit 13b blinks red. In this way, unsupported data is discarded in the CF type communication card 13 and is not transferred to the printer 1. Therefore, the unsupported data does not occupy the communication port of the slot communication unit 45e used when data is transferred to the printer 1, so that it is possible to avoid the reception of data at the communication port of another communication method.

Next, based on FIG. 16, an interlock process and an unsupported data reception prohibition process when vNote or JPEG data is received first will be described.
Corresponding extensions (extension data) “vcf”, “vnt”, “jpeg”, and “jpg” are set up from the printer 1 to the CF type communication card (infrared communication card) 13. The communication card 13 is released from the interlock state and can be received. As a result, the display unit 13b that has been extinguished until then lights up in green.

  Then, it is assumed that vNote or JPEG data having extensions “vnt”, “jpeg”, and “jpg” is transmitted from the mobile phone 14 as corresponding data. Then, the CF type communication card 13 that has received the data sets the extension “vnt” (or “jpeg” “jpg”) of the data and the extension data “vcf” “vnt” “jpg” “jpg” set up. Compare reference. Since there is a combination that matches both, the CF communication card 13 receives the data and transfers it to the printer 1.

  While this data is being received, the display unit 13b blinks in green. When the data reception is completed over several tens of seconds to one minute, the display unit 13b turns orange, and a notification of reception completion (reception completion signal) is sent from the CF type communication card 13 to the mobile phone 14. The CF type communication card 13 enters the interlock state. After a while, the printer 1 notifies the CF type communication card 13 that the reception has been completed. If the printer 1 receives vNote or JPEG data having any of the extensions “vnt”, “jpeg”, or “jpg” after notifying that the reception is completed, the CF 1 is processed when the raster processing of the corresponding data is completed. A ready command is output to the communication card 13. That is, the ready command is output after the end of printing when vCard data described in FIG. 15 is transmitted, whereas the ready command is output at the end of raster processing when vNote or JPEG data is transmitted. Thereafter, the printer 1 performs printing.

  Therefore, when the printer 1 is executing printing, the CF communication card 13 is released from the interlock state and is in a communicable state. However, only vNote or JPEG data is permitted to be received during execution of printing. For example, when vCard data is transmitted from the mobile phone 14, the CF type communication card 13 that receives the vCard data refers to and compares the extension “vcf” of the data with the extension data. As a result of the reference comparison, there is a combination in which both match, so the vCard data is received and transferred to the printer 1. When the printer 1 receiving the vCard data recognizes that it is vCard data from the extension “vcf”, it outputs an error signal to the CF type communication card 13 because it is an unacceptable data type.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 17, when vNote or JPEG data having any of the extensions “vnt”, “jpeg”, and “jpg” is received during the execution of printing, the printer 1 receives this. The process according to the data type is advanced. When receiving the vNote or JPEG data, the printer 1 transmits a reception completion message to the CF-type communication card 13, and then outputs a ready command to the CF-type communication card 13 when the raster processing of the received data is completed. . However, since the IrDA profile processing unit 74 that performs the interlock processing in the printer 1 can manage only a part of the communication units that receive the data processed by the raster processing units 75 and 76, the data received from the other communication units May already be accepted even if it is vNote or JPEG data.

  When communication from the CF-type communication card 13 to the printer 1 occurs, the CF-type communication card 13 automatically shifts to the interlock state when the data reception is completed. However, if the connection process between the CF-type communication card 13 and the printer 1 fails, no transition is made. Hereinafter, this type of example will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 18, when the correspondence data is transmitted from the mobile phone 14, the CF communication card 13 transmits the transfer end control code “EOT” to the printer 1 when the data is completely transferred to the printer 1. To do. The data link is released by receiving an affirmative response “DLE ACK0” from the printer 1 in response to this “EOT”. If a time-out occurs without receiving an affirmative response “DLE ACK0” from the printer 1 for “EOT” as shown in the figure, the CF communication card 13 transmits an error signal to the mobile phone 14. Thus, only when the data link is not correctly released due to timeout, the communication state is maintained instead of the interlock state. Therefore, if data reception fails due to time-out, the data is received by the CF-type communication card 13 by subsequently retransmitting the data from the mobile phone 14.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 19, when a positive response “DLE ACK0” to the transfer end control code “EOT” is received from the printer 1, after the communication is completed (data link is released), the CF type communication card 13 Transition to the interlock state.

  20A to 20C show notification images for displaying the communication state on the screen 9a of the operation panel 8 of the printer 1. FIG. The communication status information is displayed on the screen 9 a of the operation panel 8 in addition to the display unit 13 b of the CF type communication card 13.

  The CPU 41 manages the communication status, and the communication status is displayed on the screen 9 a of the operation panel 8. The user can check the data reception state on either the display unit 13b of the CF-type communication card 13 or the screen 9a of the printer 1. There are five types of communication statuses notified by the lighting control on the display unit 13b: reception is impossible, reception is possible, reception is in progress, reception is terminated, and reception errors. On the other hand, the character information is displayed on the screen 9a. In addition to the display, the reception error is notified in a manner that distinguishes up to the error contents (by error cause).

  As shown in the screen 9a of FIG. 9A, when the communication status A is “reception not possible”, the CPU 41 displays a notification image AG1 indicating that reception is impossible. In the notification image AG1, for example, a text TX1 “Data cannot be received” is displayed.

Further, as shown in the screen 9a of FIG. 9B, when the communication status B is “receivable”, the CPU 41 displays a notification image AG2 indicating that reception is possible.
In the notification image AG2, for example, a text TX2 “data cannot be received” is displayed.

  Further, as shown in the screen 9a of FIG. 9C, when the communication status C is “receiving”, the CPU 41 displays a notification image AG3 indicating that it is being received. In the notification image AG3, a moving image MG1 indicating that data is being received and a text TX3 indicating “data is being received”, for example, are displayed. Each data of the texts TX1 to TX3 and the moving image MG1 is stored in the EEPROM 43.

  Further, when the communication status is a reception error, for example, on the screen 9a shown in FIG. 20, “data with this extension cannot be handled.”, “Data does not match the extension”, “ Identify and notify the error content (cause) such as “Communication was interrupted”. In addition, when printing is started, the CPU 41 displays on the screen 9a a notification image that includes text for notifying the printing status such as “Printing in progress, the remaining three sheets”. Instead of managing the communication status by itself, the CPU 41 may employ a configuration in which a notification image is displayed on the screen 9a based on the communication status information received from the CPU 159 on the CF type communication card 13 side.

  Next, processing of data transferred from the CF type communication card 13 to the main body 2 side of the printer 1 will be described. The processing on the printer side mainly includes (A) sorting processing according to the type of data, (B) processing for determining whether individual information data is single or all data, and (C) dividing all data of personal information. There are each processing of sending processing, (D) business card layout printing of personal information data, and (E) phone book layout printing of personal information data.

  First, a process from conversion of received data into a file format that can be handled by a processing circuit such as an ASIC to generation of data with a designated layout will be described. First, the data structure of the vCard file will be described.

FIG. 21 shows an example of personal information data in the vCard file format.
As shown in the figure, the single data MD1 in the vCard format starts with “BEGIN: VCARD” and ends with “END: VCARD”. Each item of the following personal information is described in the “property: value” format between the “BEGIN: VCARD” and the “END: VCARD” using the property and the value. A property points to an item, and a value points to the specific content that should be placed in that item. Properties include “N (name)”, “SOUND (phonetic)”, “TEL (phone number)”, “EMAIL (email address)”, “ADR (address)”, “NOTE (memo)”, etc. Provided (however, parentheses are descriptions of properties).

  First, the name of another person is described in the value of the property “N”. For example, when starting a vCard compatible phone book application (new registration) and entering “Taro Yamada” in the name input field displayed on the screen, “N: Taro Yamada” is described. Similarly, the name of the name is described in the value of the property “SOUND”.

  Although the telephone number is described in the property “TEL”, the following can be specified by adding a command (hereinafter referred to as TYPE designation). The office telephone number is described in the value of “TEL; WORK; VOICE:”, and the office FAX number is described in the value of “TEL; WORK; FAX:”. When “WORK” is replaced with “HOME”, a home phone number is described. A mobile phone number is described in the value of “TEL; CELL:”. In addition, various TYPE designations can be made by selecting a cellular phone number registration icon, and thus various telephone numbers can be designated. The telephone number of “representative” is described in the value of “TEL; X-ABC-MAIN; VOICE:” on the seventh line in FIG. There is also a property that describes the phone number of “School”. In addition, various identification TYPE commands are prepared.

  An e-mail address is described in the value of the property “EMAIL”. Similarly to the “TEL” command, the “EMAIL” command can specify a plurality of e-mail addresses by specifying “TYPE” after “EMAIL”. In the example of FIG. 21, the value of “EMAIL; WORK:” is the company's e-mail address, the value of “EMAIL; CELL:” is the e-mail address of the mobile phone, and the value of “EMAIL: INTERNET:” is set. Is an Internet e-mail address.

  An address is described in the value of the property “ADR”. “ADR” can also specify a company address, a home address, etc. by specifying TYPE such as “WORK” and “HOME”.

  The value of the property “NOTE” describes the contents of the memo. In the present embodiment, a function for setting a print layout for the printer 1 is provided by inputting a designated character into a memo and describing the designated character in a “NOTE” value.

  Note that all vCard data includes a plurality of pieces of personal information, and each piece of personal information starts with “BEGIN: VCARD” and ends with “END: VCARD”. Each item constituting one piece of personal information is described in the “property: value” format between “BEGIN: VCARD” and “END: VCARD”. Therefore, “END: VCARD” is described every time one piece of data ends. When transmitting personal information data from the mobile phone 14, the user can select “single” or “all”. The printer 1 determines a print layout to be applied depending on whether the received vCard file is “single” or “all”. In this embodiment, in order to identify whether a vCard file is “single” or “all”, the number of commands or properties that are always described in personal information data and only one is described for each case is determined. Adopt as a child. In the present embodiment, “END: VCARD” is adopted as the number discriminator CS. The number determination unit 82 of the IrDA profile processing unit 74 determines whether the personal information data is a single case or all cases (including all cases in the group in the case of group designation). Specifically, the CPU 41 counts the number discriminator “END: VCARD” included in the data by the counter, and determines whether the received vCard file is “single” or “all” based on the counted value. That is, when the count value is “1”, the determination value (for example, flag) N is reset to “N = 0”, and when the count value is “2 or more”, the determination value N is set to “N = 1”. .

  In the case of all files, the IrDA profile processing unit 74 does not receive all the data and then sends it to the text data format conversion unit 85. The data is sent to the text data format conversion unit 85 of the next processing unit by a predetermined number. This processing is performed by the division processing unit 84. The delimiter for each item in the data is determined by looking at the category identifier DS. In this example, “END: VCARD” is adopted as the classification identifier DS.

  After the data transfer unit 73 checks whether or not the data is correctly received in the transmission control procedure 73a, the CPU 41 uses the counter to determine “END: VCARD” (same as the number discriminator CS in this example), which is the segment identifier DS for the data. Count and count the number of personal information received from the count. Each time a predetermined number of pieces of personal information are buffered in the reception buffer 44a of the RAM 44, the CPU 41 sends the data in the reception buffer 44a to the text data format conversion unit 85 for the next process. Specifically, every time a predetermined number of pieces of data are buffered, the CPU 41 executes the next text data format conversion process on the predetermined number of pieces of data. The classification identifier DS may be the last property for each case.

FIG. 22 shows an example of print layout template data applied when personal information data is printed.
The print layout (print format) of the vCard file depends on the template data stored in the EEPROM 43 (template storage unit 86) in the printer 1. The template data is layout data described in the XHTML format. The XHTML data is divided between the <body> and </ body> into three areas of fields, comment tags, and properties for each item (each line in the figure).

  The field is a data area such as a character string printed as a title on a business card such as “name” and “phone number” in FIG. Prescribed titles necessary for business cards such as “name” and “telephone number” are described in advance in the field of the template data LT.

  The comment tag is an instruction for designating the print position, font, character size, etc. of each property value in the vCard format file (for example, if the property is “N”, that value is “Taro Yamada”). The value is embedded immediately after the comment tag "<!-->". There is also a method of replacing the comment tag “<>” with a value.

  The property is data in vCard format, and is an instruction for designating the print position, font, character size, etc. of the data designated by TYPE. Immediately after the property “<>”, data specified by TYPE, for example, a character string such as “WORK” or “CELL” is incorporated. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 21, only one comment is included in data that is not subject to TYPE designation, such as a name or reading, for each piece of personal information. On the other hand, a property is added to the comment tag in an area in which data that can be specified by TYPE such as a telephone number or an e-mail is described. Note that the font and character size are not specified in the comment tag and property in FIG.

  FIG. 23 shows the XHTML data after the personal information data of FIG. 21 is applied to the template of FIG. In the personal information data of FIG. 21 (personal information displayed as shown in FIG. 4B on the mobile phone display), specified values (and properties) are incorporated in the template of FIG. 22, and the XHTML shown in FIG. Template format data consisting of data. The conversion process from the personal information data to the template format data is performed by the text data format conversion unit 85. The template format data converted by the text data format conversion unit 85 is transmitted to the text data raster processing unit 75. The CPU 41 performs text data format conversion processing as follows. When the template data LT is read, the property value (“Name”, etc.) described in the comment tag is used as a clue, the property value (“Taro Yamada”, etc.) is extracted from the vCard file, and the comment in the template data is extracted. Incorporate the retrieved value immediately after the tag. Further, the CPU 41 takes the property immediately after “TYPE” in the property (such as “TELNO1”) as a clue, extracts the TYPE (such as “WORK”) from the vCard file, and immediately after that property in the template data LT. Incorporate the extracted TYPE. The embedding process according to this rule is performed by the CPU 41 executing a text data format conversion process program. In this way, template format data shown in FIG. 23 is created. As described above, in the present embodiment, the layout is assigned by converting the format from the vCard format where the layout cannot be defined to the XHTML format where the layout can be defined, and flowing the value of the personal information into the layout frame of the template at the time of the format conversion.

  FIG. 24 shows an example of a business card format print layout. This figure shows a template PL1 of a print layout designated by the template data LT. In the figure, layout frames (allocation areas) A1 to A9 surrounded by a square frame are places where the values of each item of personal information are arranged, and the designation of these places is designated by a comment tag in the template data LT. Yes. Then, corresponding values are arranged in the layout frames A1 to A9 designated by the comment tags. The titles given in the layout frames A1 to A9 are described in advance in the template data LT, and values are arranged on the right side of each title. In the same figure, each of the layout frames A1 to A9 is shown in parentheses (for example, “(ORG1)” etc.) is a property in the vCard data, and the value of the property is arranged in the layout frame. means. For example, the value “Taro Yamada” of the property “N” in FIG. 21 is arranged on the right side of “Name” in the layout frame A4 in FIG. Note that the business card print template of FIG. 22 and the print layout of FIG. 24 do not correspond to each other, but the template data of FIG. 25 is shown as a template example of a simple description content for easy explanation. In this example, XHTML data that can specify the business card printing layout shown in FIG. 24 is stored in the EEPROM 43 as one of the template data. In this case, as personal information, necessary data such as a company name, a department, a title, a company telephone number, a company FAX number, and a company e-mail are input and used.

  In each item in the figure, vCard format property values are inserted into the template layout frames A1 to A9, and converted into XHTML data that can be printed with a predetermined font type, font size, font style, and the like. . For example, in the case of a company name, in the vCard format, a specific company name is described as a value in the property “ORG”, and the company name is inserted into the layout frame A1.

  20A and 20B show print layout templates. FIGS. 20A to 20C are business card layout template examples, and FIG. 20D is a phone book layout template example. In the figure, the templates PL1 to PL4 and PL10 are shown as a layout diagram in which the property value (text) of the vCard file is incorporated. Templates PL1 to PL4 and PL10 are composed of XHTML data in which tags for designating an allocation position and an area size (allocation area) in which the value (text) is incorporated for each property are described. A plurality of types of business card layout template data (XHTML data) including those shown in FIGS. 19 and 20A to 20C are stored in the EEPROM 43.

  Here, the types of business card layouts will be described briefly. FIG. 20A shows a horizontal business card layout template PL2 having the same character size. FIG. 4B shows a horizontal business card layout template PL3 in which the name character size is printed larger than the other, and FIG. 5C shows a vertical business card layout template PL4 in which the name character size is printed larger than the other. It is. FIG. 6D shows a telephone directory layout template PL10 used when printing all personal information. This telephone directory layout template data (XHTML data) is also stored in the EEPROM 43.

  In the present embodiment, when the personal information is a single case, it is printed with a business card layout, and when it is all (a plurality of cases), it is printed with a phone book layout. When the vCard file is “all cases” including a plurality of pieces of personal information, the CPU 41 uniquely designates the phone book layout template PL10 of FIG. On the other hand, when the vCard file is “single case” containing only one piece of personal information, the user can select and specify a business card layout from the mobile phone 14.

  Next, a method for importing text into the layout frame will be described. The ROM 42 includes character generator data (CG data) indicating a pattern of characters (text, symbols, etc.) such as Japanese and English fonts, and stores a character generator 98 that converts character codes into CG data. When a character code is given to the designated address, the character generator 98 reads data of a text dot pattern indicating a dot configuration of various texts. The read text dot pattern data is expanded in the address area designated by the layout frame in the work memory 44b of the RAM 44.

  In addition, font, text position information, text color information, and the like can be designated by the display device 9 of the operation panel 8 shown in FIG. 2 and the operation unit 10 including a plurality of operation switches. If not specified, a preset default value is set.

  Although the XHTML data includes text information and template information, the interpretation processing unit 90 (see FIG. 9) analyzes the XHTML data to extract only the text information and analyzes the template information to determine layout information. The layout information is determined as an address of a memory space where an image is developed in the work memory 44b. Each layout frame is specified as an address of a memory space where the image is developed, and the dot pattern data read from the character generator 98 is poured into the layout frame designated by the address by the layout information.

  The expanded image data (dot data) and text data (dot pattern data) are subjected to processing for rearranging them in the dot formation order at the time of printing. The generated print image is stored in the work memory 44b.

  The print processing unit 46b cuts out the print image developed in the work memory 44b for each image band and attaches a command to create print data. The print engine 77 sequentially prints the print image on a predetermined sheet based on the print data. The

  Although the layout can be specified on both the mobile phone 14 and the operation panel 8 on the printer 1, the specification on the mobile phone 14 side has priority. When there is no layout designation description in the memo area, the layout designated on the printer 1 side is validated.

  The user displays a personal information column on the display 18 of the mobile phone 14 and inputs print layout designation information in a memo column therein. For example, numbers (numbers) such as “1”, “2”, and “3” are entered in the memo field. The number described as the print layout designation information is described as the value of the property “NOTE” in the vCard data. The numbers described in the memo field are treated as print layout designation numbers when printing a single piece of personal information. For example, in the instruction manual of the printer 1, the templates PL1 to PL4 in FIG. 24 and FIGS. 25A to 25C and the designated numbers of the templates PL1 to PL4 are described in association with each other. Designate the business card layout by entering the designated number in the manual into the memo field.

  For example, if “2” is entered in the memo field as in the personal information field in FIG. 4B, “2” is described in the property “NOTE” in the vCard file in FIG. When the vCard file is received from the mobile phone 14, the specified number is specified by reading the character string described as the value of the property “NOTE” and analyzing it. This analysis process is performed by the note analysis unit 83. Specifically, the CPU 41 analyzes the value of “NOTE” in the vCard file.

  When the CPU 41 can identify the designated number, the business card layout template (XHTML format) corresponding to the designated number is read from the EEPROM 43. Then, the CPU 41 executes the above-described text data format conversion process, and creates template format data as shown in FIG. 23 based on the vCard file as shown in FIG. 21 and the template data LT1 as shown in FIG. . This template format data is XHTML data.

  Here, it is normal that a character string or a sentence as an original memo is input in the memo column instead of a print layout designation number. When the CPU 41 analyzes the value of the property “NOTE”, if a number is included in a character string or sentence described as an original memo, the number may be mistaken for a designated number. The program executed by the CPU 41 in the analysis process determines that the description data is an original memo when a character or character string other than the designated number is described, and there is a number that can be used as the designated number. However, the number is set not to be specified as the designated number. Then, when it is determined that the original memo is used and when the memo field is blank, it is determined that the designated number is not designated, and for example, a template PL2 of a business card layout set by default is designated.

  In the present embodiment, a designation number (numeric) is used for designating the print layout. However, the designation is not limited to a numeral, and it is also possible to designate an alphabet, katakana, symbol character, character, character string, or the like. . However, in order to specify as easily as possible, it is preferable to designate one digit number or one character for designation of one information, and a number (number) or alphabet having a property of order is preferable.

  FIG. 26 is a flowchart showing data processing in the IrDA profile processing unit 74. When the data transfer unit 73 can correctly receive the data by the transmission control procedure, the CPU 41 executes the program shown in the flowchart of FIG. When this program is executed by the CPU 41, the functions of the extension identification unit 81, the number determination unit 82, the note analysis unit 83, the division processing unit 84, the text data format conversion unit 85, and the image data decoding unit 87 in FIG. Realized. Hereinafter, this program executed by the CPU 41 will be described. An extension and object data are transferred from the CF type communication card 13 to the printer 1, and the extension is sent to the head of the data.

  In S200, it is determined what the extension of the received data is. If the extension of the received data is “jpeg” or “JPG”, it is determined as JPEG image data and the process proceeds to S230. If the extension of the received data is “vnt”, it is determined that the data is image data created in the vNote format (hereinafter referred to as vNote file), and the process proceeds to S210. Further, when the extension of the received data is “vcf”, it is determined that the data is text data created in the vCard format (hereinafter referred to as a vCard file), and the process proceeds to S240.

  In S210, it is checked (analyzed) that the data is vNote data. That is, the contents of vNote data are analyzed to confirm that it is vNote data. If the content of the data is not vNote data, this data is discarded and the processing of this flowchart is terminated.

  In S220, the encoded image data attached to the vNote file is decoded (decompressed) into JPEG format image data by an encode / decode converter called Base64.

In S230, the image data in the JPEG format is transferred to the image data raster processing unit 76.
In S240, the number of personal information data transmitted from the mobile phone 14 is determined. That is, it is determined whether the vCard file is “single” or “all”. In this example, the number of personal information is determined by counting the identifier “END: VCARD” in the vCard file data. If the counting result C is C = 1, it is determined as single case data, and if the counting result C is C ≧ 2, it is determined as all case data. For example, as shown in FIG. 21, when the vCard file is single data, since there is only one identifier “END: VCARD”, the counting result C is C = 1, and it is determined as “single data”. On the other hand, if the vCard file is all data, since there are a plurality of “END: VCARD” and the counting result C satisfies C ≧ 2, it is determined as “all data”. If it is determined as “single case” including only one piece of personal information, the process proceeds to S250. If it is determined that “all cases” include a plurality of pieces of personal information, the process proceeds to S260.

  In S250, the description content of the Note area is analyzed and a template corresponding to the analysis result is designated. The value (description content) of the property “NOTE” in the vCard file data is analyzed, and the template designation information (number in this example) is found from the value. For example, if “2” is described in the memo as shown in FIG. 4B, “2” is described in the value of the property “NOTE” in the vCard file data as shown in FIG. Therefore, this number “2” is extracted as an analysis result. The number “2” is stored in the RAM 44 as template designation information.

In S260, a “phone book” template is designated. That is, in the case of “all cases”, the “phone book” template is always designated.
In S270, the data for the predetermined number of items is sent to the next process while dividing all the data of the vCard file into the predetermined number of personal information.

In 280, it is checked (analyzed) that the data is vCard data. That is, the contents of vCard data are analyzed to confirm that it is vCard data.
If the content of the data is not vCard data, the data is discarded and the processing of this flowchart is terminated.

  In S290, the designated template is read from the template storage unit 86. That is, in the case of “single case”, a template (name card layout) determined from the analysis result of the description contents of the note area designated in S250 is read, and in the case of “all cases”, the template of “phone book” designated in S260. Read (phone book layout).

  In S300, the personal information of the vCard file is converted into XHTML data with a template. That is, the content (value) of the item (property) of the personal information is applied to a place where the item to be applied to the template is specified, thereby converting the data into XHTML data with a template. For example, in the case of a single vCard file shown in FIG. 21, it is converted into XHTML format data LD as shown in FIG.

In S310, the template-attached XHTML data is transferred to the text data raster processing unit 75.
Note that the extension identification unit 81, the number determination unit 82, the note analysis unit 83, and the division processing unit 84 in the IrDA profile processing unit 74 are realized by S200, S240, S250, and S270, respectively. The text data format conversion unit 85 is realized by S280, S290, S300, and S310.

  The data thus transferred to the text data raster processing unit 75 is generated as print data by performing various processes thereafter. Further, the data transferred to the image data raster processing unit 76 is generated as print data by performing various processes thereafter. The print engine 77 drives and controls the printing mechanism based on the print data. The personal information transmitted in the vCard file is printed on the roll paper P1 with the designated print layout, or the image transmitted in the vNote file is printed. Or For example, when a vCard file including a single piece of personal information is transmitted to the printer 1, the personal information is printed with a business card layout corresponding to the designated number entered in the memo field of the mobile phone 14.

  The roll paper P1 on which personal information data is printed in the business card layout is cut into a business card size by the operation of the cutter motor M3 during the paper discharge. The CPU 41 monitors the communication state between the slot communication unit 45e and the CF communication card 13, and resets the CF communication card 13 when a communication abnormality is detected. For this reason, even if communication abnormality occurs in the CF type communication card 13, the trouble is automatically solved.

Hereinafter, effects of the first embodiment will be described.
(1) Whether or not data can be received from the CF-type communication card 13 is determined by an interlock process. When it is determined that reception is possible by this interlock processing, a ready command is output to the CF type communication card 13 to release the interlock state, and when no ready command is output to the CF type communication card 13, the interlock state is set. Do not cancel. Therefore, when the printer 1 cannot receive data through the CF communication card 13, the CF communication card 13 rejects the IrDA connection (physical connection) with the mobile phone 14. In particular, since the printer 1 can receive data only from one port among a plurality of communication units 45b to 45e having different communication methods, the printer 1 is often in an unreceivable state. However, the fact that the printer 1 is receivable can be known by the green lighting of the display unit 13b, so that the frequency of occurrence of this type of problem that is not received even when data is transmitted can be effectively suppressed.

  (2) When the card control unit 31 (CPU 159) finishes transferring the data to the main body 2 side, the card control unit 31 shifts to the interlock state, turns off the display unit 13b, notifies the user of the reception disabled state, and sends a ready command. When the input is made, the display unit 13b is lit in green to notify the user of a receivable state. Therefore, the user can recognize that reception is not possible when the display unit 13b is turned off, and can recognize that reception is possible when the display unit 13b is lit in green, so that the printer 1 is not ready to receive data. However, even if the user transmits data from the mobile phone 14 many times, the inconvenience of an error each time can be avoided. Further, since the communication state is also displayed on the screen 9a to notify the user, it is easier to avoid the inconvenience of transmitting when reception is impossible as described above.

  (3) The IrDA profile processing unit 74 cannot directly check the management contents of the main software function part in the print engine 77 (the management contents of the transfer path management task). Therefore, the reservation status of the stream pipe 149 managed by the CPU 41 cannot be directly confirmed. For this reason, whether or not the IrDA profile processing unit 74 is being processed and whether or not each raster processing unit 75 or 76, which is the next processing unit, is being processed are indirectly receivable. Determine whether. Therefore, although the infrared communication function part including the IrDA profile processing unit 74 is simply configured to be retrofitted without changing the main program part, the receivable state can be determined relatively correctly.

  (4) In addition, since the raster processing unit 76 is provided with a buffer 76a having a capacity sufficient to store a plurality of data, the transfer path management task allows reception even before the previous data print processing is completed. When the condition is satisfied, the next data can be received. For this reason, the opportunity that a user can transmit data can be increased. For example, if the raster processing of the previously transmitted vNote data is completed, the next vNote or JPEG data can be received even before the end of printing.

  (5) In order to prioritize processing for printing data received from one of the plurality of communication units and to improve the reception efficiency of the plurality of communication units, the transfer path management task sets the stream pipe 149 to a predetermined condition. Secure with. At this time, if the transfer path after the middle of the previous data is maintained, the transfer path is switched at the initial reception stage. The IrDA profile processing unit 74, which cannot be directly confirmed by the transfer path management task, cancels the interlock state and switches to the receivable state when the condition for permitting switching of the transfer path at the initial reception stage is satisfied. Is set. In other words, the selection is to increase the chances of receiving after knowing that a reception error will occur when the conditions for permitting switching of the transfer path at the initial stage of reception are satisfied, and to receive even if a reception error occurs. There are choices that do not increase the opportunity. Of these, taking the former selection, if the determination unit 88 of the IrDA profile processing unit 74 has completed the processing of the next raster processing unit 76 and has already accumulated all the processed data in the buffer 76a, the determination unit 88 The lock state was released. This is a setting condition for minimizing the frequency of receiving errors and increasing the frequency of receiving errors as much as possible. For this reason, it is possible to increase the frequency of reception while minimizing the frequency of reception errors. When the user wants to print multiple items continuously, there is a request to send multiple items of data continuously, and if there is a possibility that the data can be received depending on the conditions, this type of user request can be made by releasing the interlock state. I can satisfy even a little.

  (6) The capacity of the buffer 76a of the image data raster processing unit 76 is increased so that a plurality of vNote data can be stored. Comparing text data and image data, the image data has a considerably larger data size, and the time required for transmission from the mobile phone 14 and the time required for printing are longer. However, when a plurality of image data are to be transmitted and printed, a plurality of image data can be transmitted almost continuously without waiting for completion of printing one by one. On the other hand, in the case of text data, the time required for transmission from the mobile phone 14 and the time required for printing are relatively short, and even when it is desired to transmit a plurality of items for printing, the waiting time is shorter than that of image data and the user does not suffer. For this reason, a limited amount of buffer capacity is secured for image data raster processing.

  (7) After the communication link between the mobile phone 14 and the CF type communication card 13 is disconnected, for example, when an error occurs on the printer 1 side, there is no way to notify the mobile phone 14 of the error. However, since the display portion 13b of the CF type communication card 13 that can communicate with the printer 1 blinks in red, it is possible to notify the user that this type of error has occurred. Therefore, the user can also know the error that occurred after the communication between the mobile phone 14 and the CF type communication card 13 is cut off. Therefore, it is possible to avoid a situation in which an error occurs after the communication link is disconnected and the user who thinks that the data transmission is successful is not frustrated after the data transmission and feels frustrated.

  (8) When the communication state is displayed on the screen 9a, the error is informed by text information so that the contents can be understood, so that the user can know what caused the error. For this reason, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the cause of the error is not known and a transmission error is repeatedly generated.

  (9) When the communication with the mobile phone 14 is completed, the CF-type communication card 13 turns on the display unit 13b in orange, but once it turns on in orange and then flashes red, it occurred on the printer 1 side. It turns out to be an error. Therefore, even if the error content is not displayed, the cause of the error can be specified to some extent from the way the lighting color of the display unit 13b is changed. For example, it is useful for identifying the cause at the time of maintenance requested by the user.

  (10) In this embodiment, when the infrared communication system is introduced, the IrDA profile processing unit 74 for converting the data format is provided so that the raster processing units 75 and 76 of other communication systems can be used (shared). That is, the image data (encoded image data) in the vNote file attachment format was decoded into JPEG image data by Base64 decoding, and the personal information data (text data) in the vCard file format was converted to XHTML data in the template embedded description format. Therefore, after the format conversion, it can be converted into print data through a data processing path shared with other communication methods. Therefore, when introducing the infrared communication system into the printer 1, the circuit and software to be added can be simplified as much as possible.

  (11) Since the infrared communication function can be mounted on the printer 1 simply by setting the IrDA communication module to the CF type communication card 13 with the card built in the card slot 12 for the memory card, the housing of the printer 1 It can be used as it is without being changed. Therefore, since it is not necessary to change the shape of the housing of the printer 1, it is not necessary to change the design of the housing or change the manufacturing mold. This can suppress an increase in manufacturing cost of the printer 1 due to the introduction of the infrared communication method.

  (12) By providing means for searching (detecting) one command in the vCard format (personal information data format) as the number discriminator CS (classification identifier DS), the personal information data transmitted from the mobile phone 14 is simply Whether it is case data or all case data can be automatically recognized.

  (13) The personal information data of the mobile phone 14 is in the vCard format where the layout cannot be defined, and the data cannot be directly printed by being assigned to a predetermined layout. However, by providing means for converting vCard format file data that cannot be layout-defined into XHTML format data that can be layout-defined, it is possible to assign only a necessary layout and print only necessary data.

  (14) By distinguishing whether the personal information data is single or all, it can be converted into data in the business card template format in the case of a single case, and can be converted into data in the phone book template format in the case of all cases. That is, it is possible to automatically determine an appropriate print layout only by distinguishing between single and all personal information data. Then, an appropriate layout according to whether the personal information data is single or all (multiple) can be assigned to the data and printed.

  (15) By providing means for searching for the category identifier DS, the number of personal information data (data by case) received when receiving all case data is counted, and a predetermined number (one in this example) Every time reception is completed, the data for a predetermined number (one) received can be divided and sent to the next processing. Therefore, the capacity of the buffer for temporarily storing the received data can be reduced until the data is sent to the next processing unit. In addition, the processing start time in the next processing unit can be advanced, and as a result, the printing start time is advanced and contributes to the improvement of the throughput of the printer 1.

  (16) Since the data received from the mobile phone 14 is appropriately converted into data that can be printed by the printer 1, the data can be transmitted directly from the mobile phone 14 to the printer 1 for printing. Therefore, it is possible to print data more easily and quickly than sending data to a personal computer (personal computer), storing the data of the personal computer in a storage medium such as a memory card, reading the data into the printer 1, and printing.

The embodiment is not limited to the above and can be modified as follows.
(Modification 1) In the above embodiment, the buffer 76a having a capacity sufficient to store a plurality of data in the raster processing unit 76 is prepared. However, a plurality of data is stored in both the buffers 75a and 76a of the raster processing units 75 and 76. It is good also as a structure which can accumulate | store each minute data. In this case, even when the vCard data is received by the printer 1, a ready command is output if the raster processing is completed. After that, for example, when corresponding data is received during printing, reception of only vCard data is permitted when the data being printed is vCard, and reception of only vNote or JPEG data is permitted when the data being printed is vNote or JPEG. to approve.

  (Modification 2) In the above embodiment, the infrared communication function part is added in without changing the main program part. However, a structure in which the main program part is changed and the infrared communication function part is added can also be adopted. In this case, a configuration is adopted in which the IrDA profile processing unit 74 is allowed to directly access the main program part (transfer route management task or the like), and the stream pipe 149 currently secured is checked to determine whether or not reception is possible. In this case, the frequency of reception errors is greatly suppressed.

  (Modification 3) In the above-described embodiment, if the data after the end of the processing of the raster processing unit 76 is in the state of being stored in the buffer 76a, the ready command for determining that the data can be received and releasing the interlock state is output. It was adopted. On the other hand, if the IrDA profile processing unit 74 has finished processing, a configuration in which the interlock state is released can also be employed. In this case, although the chances of receiving errors increase somewhat, the chances of receiving can be increased in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment, and simple processing without the processing status confirmation processing to the raster processing units 75 and 76 is omitted. It can also be content.

  (Modification 4) In the said embodiment, although it is set as alerting | reporting by a display, you may alert | report by a sound with a display. For example, a sound is emitted when the state is changed from the reception disabled state to the reception enabled state. If a sound is emitted when the reception becomes possible, it is immediately understood that the processing of the previous data is finished and the data may be transmitted. In this case, for example, a synthesized voice such as “data can be transmitted” may be emitted.

  (Modification 5) It is also possible to prepare a reception buffer having a capacity capable of storing a plurality of pieces of received data and adopt a configuration capable of storing a plurality of pieces of data. In this case, the interlock release processing of the IrDA profile processing unit 74 requires that the reception buffer has a free space equivalent to at least one case (average data size of one case (values are individually set for text data and image data)). If it is received, the ready command is output. When the printer 1 receives the data, the data size in the header is checked to determine whether or not the data can be stored in the reception buffer. If the data can be stored, the data is received.

  (Modification 6) In the embodiment described above, the card control unit 31 performs the transition to the interlock state, and the interlock state is released based on the ready command from the printer 1. On the other hand, it is possible to adopt a configuration in which both the shift to the interlock state and the release are performed based on a signal from the printer 1.

  (Modification 7) While data is received at one of the communication ports and the output process is in progress, the data to be output can be received prior to the output process, and printing of a large amount of received data is completed. Even if it does not wait until it is done, it may be possible to print first by interruption processing. At this time, the data whose output processing has been interrupted is stored in the memory, and as soon as the interrupted printing is completed without being discarded, the data is read from the memory and the remaining output processing is continued. And printing. For example, a method is adopted in which a priority code or the like is incorporated in the header so that the printer 1 is informed that the data should be preferentially output processed (priority data). When the CPU 41 (determination means) determines that a reception request for priority data is accepted and reception is newly permitted while the reception of data from the communication port is prohibited by the interlock process, Processing of data that has already been received is interrupted, and output processing of data that is newly permitted to receive is preferentially executed by interrupt processing. Of course, the method is not limited to the method using the code in the header, and informs the printer (CPU 41) that the data is to be preferentially output by a signal or command transmitted separately from the data, a command in the header, or the like. A method can also be adopted. CPU 41 (determination means) by a signal or a command or the like that the reception is newly permitted in other normal interlock states except the interlock state for the setup of the corresponding extension in FIG. 15, FIG. 16 and FIG. Is determined, the CPU 41 can release the interlock state and receive new data to be preferentially output processed. According to this configuration, since the output process of the next data is preferentially performed by the interrupt process by interrupting the output process of the preceding data, the user convenience is improved.

  (Modification 8) In the embodiment, the data is received via the CF type communication card 13 as a wireless communication device. However, an interlock function is added to a printer in which the IrDA communication module is assembled to the main body. It can also be implemented in a configuration.

  (Modification 9) In the embodiment, the output device is applied to a printer. However, the output device may be a display device. For example, the present invention can be applied to a display device such as a color liquid crystal monitor that displays the content of data transmitted from a mobile phone on a screen, or a display device such as a projector that projects the content of data on a screen.

The technical idea grasped from the embodiment and the modifications will be described below.
(1) In Claim 2, the interlock means permits reception from the receiving unit when it is determined that the first processing unit is not processing data, while the first processing unit When it is determined that data processing is in progress, reception from the receiving unit is prohibited, and after that, data has been sent from the first processing unit to the next second processing unit, and the first processing unit is not processing data. If it is determined, reception from the receiving unit is permitted.

  (2) In any one of claims 2 to 6, a plurality of the first processing units and a plurality of the second processing units are provided according to the data type of the received data, and the data type of the received data And assigning means for distributing the data to the processing unit corresponding to the identified data type.

  (3) In the technical idea (2), the first processing unit and the second processing unit include at least two each of a text processing system that processes text data and an image data processing system that processes image data.

(4) In the technical idea (3), at least one of the first processing unit and the second processing unit includes a buffer for storing at least one data before processing and after processing.
(5) In the technical idea (4), the buffer has a capacity capable of storing a plurality of data.

(6) In the technical idea (4) or (5), at least the buffer of the image processing system of the text processing system and the image processing system has a capacity capable of storing a plurality of data.
(7) Data to be preferentially subjected to output processing in an output device including a communication port for receiving data from a portable terminal or the like and output means for performing output processing based on data received via the communication port A determination means (41) for determining whether or not the data is to be preferentially output processing by the determination means, the data is received from the communication port, and the communication port Interrupt means for interrupting the processing of the data already received in the output processing and performing the output processing of the newly received data, if the output processing of the previous data already received from is not completed (41). An output device comprising: According to this configuration, it is possible to interrupt the processing of the preceding data currently being output and output the subsequent (next) data first.

1 is a perspective view of a printer according to an embodiment. The top view which shows the principal part of an operation panel. The perspective view of CF type | mold communication card (infrared communication card). (A) The top view of a mobile phone, (b) The screen figure which shows an example of the personal information displayed on the mobile phone. FIG. 2 is an electrical block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a mobile phone, an infrared communication card and a printer. The block diagram which shows the functional structure of a mobile telephone, an infrared communication card, and a printer. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a printer sharing structure. FIG. 6 is a data structure diagram in OBEX transfer. The sequence diagram of the data transmission from a mobile telephone to a printer. The block diagram which shows the display control apparatus of a display part. The correspondence figure which shows the relationship between a communication status and a lighting mode. Transition diagram of communication status. The block diagram explaining an interlock process. The flowchart which shows the initial process at the time of card | curd recognition. The sequence diagram explaining an interlock release process. The sequence diagram explaining an interlock release process. The sequence diagram explaining an interlock release process. The sequence diagram explaining an interlock release process. The sequence diagram explaining an interlock release process. (A)-(c) is a screen figure which alert | reports a data reception state. Data diagram of a single vCard file. Business card layout template data diagram. Data diagram of template format data. Layout diagram of business card layout template. (A)-(c) is a layout figure of a business card layout template, (d) is a layout figure of a telephone directory layout template. The flowchart which shows the process of an IrDA profile part.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printer as output device and printing device, 2 ... Main body as output device main body, 12 ... Card slot as slot, 13 ... CF card type infrared communication card (infrared communication card) as wireless communication device, 13a ... Infrared ray Light receiving / emitting section (communication port on the CF type communication card side), 13b... Display section constituting notification means, 14... Mobile phone as a mobile terminal, 18 ... Mobile phone display, 20. Communication port), 31... Interlock means and a card control section as a control section and notification control section, 41... CPU as reservation means and interrupt means, 45 b to 45 c... Communication section, 45 e. Slot communication section as communication section and detection means, 46... ASIC constituting output means, 64... Interlock means and determination means Object transmission / reception unit constituting means, 72... IrDA / UART driver constituting reception unit, 73... Data transfer unit constituting reception unit, 71... Card driver constituting detection means and reset means, 74. An IrDA profile processing unit as a lock unit and a first processing unit, 76... An image data raster processing unit as a second processing unit, 85... A text data format conversion unit constituting the first processing unit, and 87. Image data decoding unit constituting, 88... Judging unit constituting the judging unit, 149... Interlocking unit and stream pipe constituting the judging unit, 150... State management unit constituting the interlocking unit, BC. data.

Claims (13)

In an output device including a receiving unit that receives data from a portable terminal, and an output unit that performs output processing based on the data received via the receiving unit,
Determining means for determining whether it is possible to receive the data from the receiving unit and perform the output processing;
When it is determined by the determining means that the output process cannot be performed, data reception from the receiving unit is prohibited. On the other hand, when it is determined that the output process can be performed, the receiving unit receives data from the receiving unit. An output device comprising an interlock means for permitting data reception. The output device according to claim 1,
A plurality of processing units for sequentially performing a plurality of processes included in the output processing on the data received from the receiving unit;
The determination means determines whether the processing unit is processing data,
The interlock means prohibits data reception from the receiving unit when a first processing unit that performs initial processing on data received from the receiving unit among the plurality of processing units is processing data, The output device, wherein when the first processing unit has passed the data to the next second processing unit, data reception from the receiving unit is permitted. The output device according to claim 2,
The determining means determines whether a data path for sending data from the first processing section to the second processing section is in use, and the interlock means determines that the data path is in use. The output apparatus prohibits reception of data from the receiving unit when it is performed, and permits reception from the receiving unit when it is determined that the data path is not in use. The output device according to claim 2 or 3,
When the determination unit determines that the data has been sent from the first processing unit to the second processing unit, the determination unit further determines whether the processing in the second processing unit is completed,
The interlock means prohibits reception from the receiving unit when the second processing unit is processing data, and from the receiving unit when the second processing unit ends processing. An output device that permits reception. In the output device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
Notification means for notifying that the receiving unit has received data;
An output device comprising: reservation means for preliminarily securing a transfer path for transferring data received from the receiving section based on a notification from the notifying means to a plurality of processing sections before the end of the output processing. In the output device according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The receiving unit is configured to be able to receive data via a wireless communication device that is detachably attached to the output device body,
The wireless communication device has a control unit that shifts to an interlock state when the received data is transferred to the receiving unit of the output device main body,
The interlock means transmits a release signal for releasing the interlock to the wireless communication device when permitting data reception from the receiving unit, and the wireless communication device when prohibiting data reception from the receiving unit. The output device is characterized in that the release signal is not transmitted to the output device. In the output device according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
Informing means for informing whether reception from the receiving unit is permitted or prohibited,
A notification control unit that controls the notification unit based on an input signal from the interlock unit;
The interlock means outputs a reception permission signal to the notification control unit when permitting reception from the reception unit, and outputs a reception prohibition signal to the notification control unit when prohibiting reception from the reception unit. ,
The output control unit causes the notification means to notify that reception is possible based on the reception permission signal, and causes the notification means to notify that reception is not possible based on the reception prohibition signal. . The output device according to claim 6.
Informing means for informing whether reception from the receiving unit is permitted or prohibited,
When the control unit shifts to the interlock state, the notification unit notifies the notification unit that reception is impossible, and when a release signal is received from the interlock unit via the reception unit, the notification unit notifies the notification unit that reception is possible. An output device characterized by that. The output device according to claim 6 or 8,
The control unit performs a first transfer process with the portable terminal and performs a second transfer process with the receiving unit,
Detecting means for detecting communication abnormality of the control unit in the wireless communication device via the receiving unit;
An output device comprising: a reset unit that resets a control unit in the wireless communication device when a communication abnormality is detected by the detection unit. In an output device comprising a communication port for receiving data from a portable terminal or the like, and an output means for performing output processing based on the data received via the communication port,
Determining means for determining whether it is possible to receive the data from the communication port and perform the output processing;
When the determination means determines that the output process cannot be performed, data reception from the communication port is prohibited. On the other hand, when it is determined that the output process can be performed, the communication port An interlock means for allowing data reception;
When the determination means determines that the reception is newly permitted while the interlock means prohibits data reception from the communication port, the data already received in the output process An output device comprising: interrupt means for interrupting processing and performing output processing of the newly permitted data. A wireless communication device detachably attached to the output device main body of the output device according to any one of claims 6 and 8-10,
When the data received by the wireless communicator has been transferred to the receiving unit, the control shifts to an interlock state. On the other hand, when the release signal is received from the interlock means via the receiving unit, the control cancels the interlock state. And
A wireless communication device comprising: a display unit as the notification unit controlled by the control unit. The wireless communication device according to claim 11, wherein
The wireless communication device, wherein the control unit is reset by inputting a reset signal from the reset means. Output processing comprising the output device according to any one of claims 1 to 9 and the wireless communication device according to claims 10 to 12, wherein the wireless communication device is detachably attached to the output device body. system.

Images