JP2006154909A - Printer firmware updating method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow an external program to distinguish a normal print job from a print job of updating firmware in a printer capable of receiving printer firmware as a print job and updating the printer firmware. <P>SOLUTION: An identification means for the kinds of jobs is provided in the print job, and a printer is provided with a job information return means for returning information on the print job. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for identifying a job type in a printer capable of receiving printer firmware as a print job and updating the printer firmware.

  A job management program that exists in a personal computer or the like displays various information on the screen such as a job name, a printing date and time, and a job status relating to a print job that exists in the personal computer or a print job that exists in the printer, or Provides job control functions such as job cancellation.

Conventionally, in a method in which printer firmware is received as a print job and the printer updates the printer firmware, there is no means for distinguishing between a normal print job and a firmware update print job. (See Patent Documents 1, 2, 3, and 4)
JP 2000-56980 A JP 2002-163465 A JP 2003-044773 A JP 2003-216375 A

  For this reason, the job management program cannot distinguish between the two, and processing such as displaying only normal print jobs that are meaningful to the end user cannot be performed.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a method for distinguishing between a normal print job and a firmware update print job in a method in which a printer firmware is received as a print job and the printer updates the printer firmware.

  A job type identification means is provided in the print job, and the printer is provided with an information return means for returning information in response to an inquiry from an external program operating on a personal computer or the like. If there is, the job type acquired by the job type identification means is returned.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to identify the type of a print job from an external program in a printer that can receive printer firmware as a print job and update the printer firmware. It is possible to display only information related to a normal print job that is meaningful to the user.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows the system configuration of the present invention.

  The host computer 100 is connected to the printer 120 by communication means 110 such as a Centro or a network.

  Although the print data is not described here, a print data start command and an end command are added to the beginning and end of the print data, respectively, so that a print unit such as a word processor document or spreadsheet software worksheet can be used. Can be identified. This print unit is called a print job. Also in the printer 120, the print data is managed as a print job.

  Assume that the printer 120 can receive and process update printer firmware in the form of a print job.

  A print job (print data) 131 to be actually printed is created by a print data creation program such as a printer driver not described in the figure. The print job (printer firmware data) 132 is firmware data for the printer for update, and is created by a printer firmware update tool that is a program for updating printer firmware not described in the figure. The print job has a job type identification flag 133 as job type identification means for identifying whether the job type is print data or printer firmware, and is set by a program for creating a print job. . These print jobs are transmitted from the host computer 100 to the printer 120.

  The printer 120 includes a print data receiving unit 121 that receives print data from the host computer, a command analysis unit 122 that analyzes a command of the received print data, and printer firmware 125 when the received print job is printer firmware data. Printer firmware updating means 123 for performing the update, and printing means 124 for performing printing when the received print job is normal print data.

  Also, the printer 120 has job information return means 126 that returns information in response to an inquiry from an external program running on a personal computer or the like, and when an inquiry about information about a print job in the printer is received from the external program , The information shall be returned.

  The printer 120 has means for performing other functions such as image processing, but is not described here because it is not essential in the present invention.

  The printer firmware 125 is stored in a rewritable memory such as an EEPROM.

  It is assumed that the received print job (print data) is placed in the print queue 130 and processed in the order entered in the queue. When the print job taken out from the queue is normal print data, the printing unit 124 performs print processing. When the print job is printer firmware, the printer firmware update unit 123 updates the printer firmware 125. . When it is detected that the print job is printer firmware, the following processing is performed in order to update the firmware without losing actual print data. That is, the printer returns busy status for transmission from the host computer so that it does not receive a new print job, completes processing of a normal print job currently in the print queue, and then Update the firmware.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of a screen of a job management program that runs on a personal computer. The job management program performs control such as displaying job information and status, canceling a job, or the like for a print job in a host, a print job in a printer, or both of the above jobs. This example shows a case of managing a print job in the printer.

  On the screen, the job name is displayed in the “Jobs” column, the job status is displayed in the “Status” column, the job creation time is displayed in the “Time” column, the current print page number and the total number of pages in the “Pages” column (n In / m, n indicates the current print page number and m indicates the total number of pages). It is assumed that such information can be acquired by inquiring of the printer. In FIG. 2, information about three print jobs is displayed.

  Information that is usually meaningful to the end user is related to an actual print job, and there is no need to display information on the screen for a print job for firmware update.

  When the job management program obtains information about jobs in the current print queue for the printer, it also obtains information about the type of job and displays job information on the screen only for actual print jobs. .

  FIG. 3 shows a storage form of various information in the print job, particularly the job type identification flag 133.

  The job type identification flag 133 is present at a specific position from the head of the print job, and the type of job is identified by its value. In this example, the size of the job type identification flag is 2 bytes. When the value is 0x0000 (hexadecimal 0), it indicates an actual print job, and when it is 0x0001 (hexadecimal 1), it indicates firmware data.

  Also shown in the figure is an area 302 for storing the job name, which is part of the job information, an area 303 for storing the job creation date, an area 304 for storing the total number of pages of the job, and an area in the printer. A job identification flag 301 for identifying a print job is shown.

  The printer can return information about print jobs in two ways. That is, information on all print jobs existing in the printer is returned in a batch, or designated information for a designated specific print job is returned. When the information is returned in a batch, the information of the job identification flag 301 is also returned. When a specific job is designated, the job identification flag 301 is designated.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing in which the job management program of the host computer acquires information about all print jobs in the printer and displays information only for normal print jobs.

  The job management program collects information about all print jobs existing in the printer for the printer (S410). At this time, the printer returns the requested information. The information to be returned includes a job type identification flag.

  The job management program performs the following processing for each acquired print job. That is, the job type identification flag is checked, and if it is a normal print job (S420-Yes), information about the print job such as the job name and job status is displayed (S430). In some cases (S420-No), no information is displayed.

1 shows a system configuration in Embodiment 1 of the present invention. 4 is an example of a screen of a job management program that runs on a personal computer in the first embodiment. 6 shows various information in a print job according to the first embodiment, particularly a storage form of a job type identification flag 133. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing in which only a normal print job information is displayed by the job management program of the host computer according to the first embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

100 host computer
101 Job management program
110 Communication means
120 printer
121 Print data receiving means
122 Command analysis means
123 Printer firmware update means
124 Printing means
125 Printer firmware
126 Job information return method
130 print queue
131 Print jobs (print data)
132 Print jobs (printer firmware data)
133 Job type identification flag
301 Job identification flag
302 Job name
303 Job creation date
304 Total number of pages in the job

Claims (2)

In a printer that can receive printer firmware as a print job and update the printer firmware,
Job type identification means is provided in the print job, and the printer is provided with job information return means for returning print job information in response to an inquiry from an external program running on a personal computer or the like. A printer that allows an external program to distinguish between a normal print job and a firmware update print job by returning the job type acquired by the job type identification means when a type inquiry is made Firmware update method.   A printer comprising the printer firmware update method according to claim 1.

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