JP2008100375A - Printer, method for controlling the same, and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the occurrence of an identical print error by alerting the occurrence, and to prevent the occurrence of an identical error on a printer connected on a network by sending a condition possibly causing the error to the other printers on the network. <P>SOLUTION: This printer comprises a memory medium for storing a condition causing a print error, a data reception means for receiving a print request, an information acquisition means for holding information of the printer by detecting it when the data reception means receives the print request, a condition judgment means for judging whether or not the information of the printer held by the information acquisition means satisfies the condition memorized in the memory medium, and an alerting means for providing an alert when it is judged that the information satisfies the condition by the condition judgment means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that issues a warning when a print error is likely to occur, a control method thereof, and a computer program.

  Conventionally, when a printing error such as a paper jam occurs during printing output, the printing device notifies the user of the occurrence of the error, and the user performs a predetermined action such as removing the jammed paper and prints again. It is necessary to make a request (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2000-181617 A

  A print error is always notified to the user after the error has occurred. Therefore, the user may suffer an error once suffered. It is difficult to prevent the same printing error in advance, resulting in unnecessary work for users and waste of paper.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems. When printing is requested, information indicating the state of the printing apparatus is acquired, and compared with conditions that are likely to cause printing errors. Is provided so that a printing error can be prevented in advance. Furthermore, the same error of the printing apparatus connected to the network can be prevented in advance by transmitting conditions that are likely to cause a printing error to other printing apparatuses on the network.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a storage medium for storing conditions that are likely to cause a printing error, a data receiving unit that receives a print request, and a print request when the data receiving unit receives the print request. Information acquisition means for detecting and holding information, condition determination means for determining whether the information of the printing apparatus held by the information acquisition means satisfies the conditions stored in the storage medium, and the condition determination means And a warning means for issuing a warning when it is determined that the condition is satisfied.

  According to the printing apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to issue a warning before a printing error occurs, and to reduce the possibility that the user suffers the same printing error. Further, the same error can be prevented in other printing apparatuses on the network, and the work of the user and the waste of paper can be eliminated.

  Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of a printing apparatus according to the present invention. The printing apparatus 100 includes an input unit 101, a work memory 102, a program storage memory 103, a warning condition control processing unit 104, a network I / F unit 105, an image processing unit 107, a controller 108, a printer unit 111, and a power source 114. ing. Moreover, it has CPU106 for controlling each block.

  The printer unit 111 includes various motors 112, various motor driving units 109, a print head 113, and a print head driving unit 110. The input unit 101 is a key input unit provided in a general printing apparatus such as turning on / off the main power of the printing apparatus 100, canceling a job, and the like.

  The image processing unit 107 rotates and stores the image in the band buffer memory, changes the image size to a size suitable for the size of the printing paper, converts RGB data into YMC data for printing, and binarization for converting into printing data Perform processing. As shown in FIG. 2, the program storage memory 103 stores a warning condition generation processing program 203 in addition to a control program 201, various application programs 202, a print image data creation unit 204, and a utility program 205.

  The print image data creation means 204 draws three software components of the rasterizer, color correction module, and halftone module that have the same configuration as the print image data creation processing program in a personal computer or the like as software processing of the image processing unit 107. Is provided as a basic means for obtaining binary data necessary for the above. Then, the printing image data creation unit 204 converts the YUV data into CMYK gradation bit image data for printing of K (black), C (cyan), M (magenta), and Y (yellow).

  In the work memory 102, as shown in FIG. 3, a print data buffer 301, a spare area 302, a program area 303, and the like are set. The print data buffer 301 is used for temporarily storing print data during printing. The spare area 302 is an empty area, and the size of the area varies depending on the size of the program being executed. The program area 303 stores the control program 201 read from the program storage memory 103 and the program activated at that time, and is executed under the control of the CPU 106.

  The warning condition control processing unit 104 is a part that generates a condition that is likely to cause a printing error, acquires information indicating the state of the printing apparatus when a print request is made, determines whether the condition is satisfied, and performs control to issue a warning. Details of this will be described later.

  The network I / F unit 105 is an interface for connecting to a network using a LAN cable (not shown) and communicating data and a command signal with a personal computer, a digital camera or the like connectable to the network.

  The controller 108 controls the operation of the entire printer unit 111. When the controller 108 receives the printing data and the control data, the controller 108 sends a control signal to the printer unit to control the print head drive unit 110 and the motor drive unit 109 to perform drawing and paper feed, thereby obtaining a print image. Information indicating the status of the printer includes information on the type of print media contained in the paper cassette, the media size, and the remaining amount of the paper cassette.

  The CPU 106 is connected to the above-described circuits and the like via a bus line, and controls the printing apparatus 100 as a whole by a control program 201 stored in the program storage memory 103.

  FIG. 4 shows an internal block diagram of the warning condition control processing unit 104 having an important function in the present invention. In this embodiment, a warning condition control processing unit 104 that issues a warning according to the remaining amount of the paper feed cassette for each print medium and media size is configured on the assumption that a paper jam error tends to occur when the paper in the paper feed cassette becomes small.

  The warning condition control processing unit 400 includes a data reception unit 401, an information acquisition unit 402, a condition determination unit 403, a warning unit 404, a print control unit 405, an error detection unit 406, a condition update unit 407, a condition storage unit 408, and a data transmission unit. 409.

  The data receiving unit 401 is an interface that receives data from the network, and interprets received data. A print request transmitted from a print request source on the network is received, and a print request is issued to the information acquisition unit 402.

  In addition, the data receiving unit 401 receives update data transmitted from another printing apparatus or the like on the network, and passes it to the condition update unit 407. The update data to be received is the remaining amount information D0 of the paper cassette, print media information D1, and media size information D2. The data receiving unit 401 may be arranged in the network I / F unit 105.

  When the information acquisition unit 402 receives the print request, the information acquisition unit 402 detects and holds information about the print medium, the media size, and the remaining amount of the paper feed cassette from the controller 108. The condition determination unit 403 determines whether a predetermined condition is satisfied by using the information acquired by the information acquisition unit 402, the print medium, the media size, and the remaining amount information of the paper feed cassette. That is, the condition data stored in the condition storage unit 408 is read and compared with the acquired information. When the condition is satisfied, the warning unit 404 is notified. When the condition is not satisfied, the print control unit 405 is notified.

  When the warning unit 404 receives a notification that satisfies the condition from the condition determination unit 403, the warning unit 404 passes warning display data for displaying a warning to the print request source on the network to the data transmission unit 409. After the warning is displayed, if a response indicating that the predetermined processing according to the warning has been completed is received from the print request source, the print control unit 405 is notified of the end of the processing.

  When the print control unit 405 receives a notification that does not satisfy the condition from the condition determination unit 403 or receives a process end from the warning unit 404, the print control unit 405 issues a print start instruction to the printer unit 111. When error detection is received from the error detection unit 406, a print stop instruction is issued to the printer unit 111. Note that the print control unit 405 may be disposed in the controller 108.

  The error detection unit 406 is a block that detects an error during print output. The print output error includes paper jam, out of paper, out of toner, etc. In this embodiment, it is assumed that a paper jam error, which is a paper jam error, is detected. When an error is detected, the print control unit 405 is notified. Further, the condition update unit 407 is also informed. Note that the error detection unit 406 may be disposed in the controller 108.

  The condition update unit 407 determines whether the condition should be updated when error detection is received from the error detection unit 406, or when update data is received from another device such as a printing device or host on the network from the data reception unit. ,Update.

  Judgment on whether the conditions should be updated is necessary in the following cases. For example, if the user ignores the warning and continues to use it, and a printing error is detected, the printing apparatus is in a worse state than the set condition, and there is no need to update the condition because it is an appropriate error. Even if update data is received from another printing apparatus on the network, if the model-dependent condition is used, it is not necessary to update the condition if the data is for a printing apparatus of a different model. In the present embodiment, the conditions are updated in all cases.

  In this embodiment, the condition update unit 407 generates and updates condition data using the information acquired by the information acquisition unit 402 when error detection is received from the error detection unit 406. Alternatively, the condition data is updated when update data is received from the data receiving unit 401 from another printing apparatus or a host on the network.

  The updated condition is transferred to the condition storage unit 408. Further, when the error detection is received and the condition data is updated, the update data is passed to the data transmission unit 409 in order to transmit the update data to another printing apparatus.

  The condition storage unit 408 stores condition data. An example of the condition data to be stored is shown in FIG. The condition data is composed of a table, and the remaining amount CON [size] [kind] of the sheet feeding cassette giving a warning is determined for each kind indicating print media and size indicating media size. The initial value is 0. A warning is given if the remaining amount of the sheet cassette is equal to or smaller than CON [size] [kind].

  The data transmission unit 409 is an interface that transmits data to the network, and generates transmission data according to the network protocol. The warning display data is received from the warning unit 404 and transmitted to the print request source. The data transmission unit 409 receives update data to be transmitted from the condition update unit 407 to another printing apparatus. The update data to be transmitted is the remaining amount information CON [size] [kind] of the paper cassette, print media information kind, and media size information size. The data transmission unit 409 may be arranged in the network I / F unit 105.

  FIG. 5 shows an operation flow of the warning condition control processing unit 104. When the data receiving unit 401 receives data, the process starts. First, it is determined whether the data received by the data receiving unit 401 is a print request (step S501). If true (true), the information acquisition unit 402 performs information acquisition processing (step S502), and if false (false), it is determined whether or not the received data is update data (step S512).

  In the information acquisition process (step S502), the information acquisition unit 402 makes an inquiry to the controller 108 to detect and hold information on the current print media, media size, and remaining amount of the paper cassette. Information on the print medium is stored in the variable kind, information on the medium size is stored in the variable size, and information on the remaining amount of the paper cassette is stored in the variable num.

  Next, it is determined whether or not the acquired information satisfies a condition (step S503). That is, the condition determination unit 403 reads the value CON [size] [kind] stored in the condition storage unit 408 and compares it with the acquired information num.

  In the present embodiment, a condition that may cause a paper jam is that CON [size] [kind], which is determined by the kind indicating the print medium and the size indicating the medium size, is the remaining amount of the acquired paper feed cassette. And Therefore, if the conditional expression num ≦ CON [size] [kind] is satisfied, the warning display request process (step S504) is performed. If not satisfied, the print control unit 405 issues a print start instruction to the printer unit 111 (step S506).

  In the warning display request process (step S504), the warning unit 404 passes the warning display data to the data transmission unit 409, and the data transmission unit 409 transmits it to the print request source. After the warning is displayed, the print request source waits for a response (step S505), and if there is a response from the print request source that a predetermined process according to the warning has been completed, the print control unit 405 issues a print start instruction to the printer unit 111. (Step S506).

  Next, it is determined whether or not the error detection unit (406) has detected a paper jam error during print output (step S507). If it is false, the process ends. If true, the print control unit 405 issues a print stop instruction to the printer unit 111 (step S508). Further, the condition update unit 407 performs a condition update process (step S509).

  The condition update process stores the variable num acquired in the information acquisition process (step S502) in CON [size] [kind] using the variables kind and size acquired in the information acquisition process (step S502) as a new condition (step S502). S509). Then, the update data is transmitted to another printing apparatus (step S510). At the time of transmission, CON [size] [kind], a variable kind indicating the print medium, and a variable size indicating the media size are sent as update data.

  Further, the updated condition data is stored in the condition storage unit 408 (step S511), and the process ends. At the next print request, the condition data updated in step S509 is used. When it is determined that the data received by the data receiving unit 401 is update data transmitted from another printing apparatus or the like on the network (step S512), a condition update process (step S513) is performed.

  In the condition update process (step S513), the received update data is used to generate a new condition. The received update data is the remaining amount information D0 of the paper cassette, the print media information D1, and the media size information D2. With reference to these, D0 is stored in the variable CON [D2] [D1] (step S513). Further, the updated condition data is stored in the condition storage unit 408 (step S511), and the process ends. At the next print request, the condition data updated in step S513 is used.

  As described above, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of an error by determining whether or not a condition for causing a printing error is satisfied when a print request is received and giving a warning. If an error is detected during print output, the condition is fed back to the condition, and the printing apparatus itself updates the condition. Furthermore, since the conditions can be transmitted and received with other printing apparatuses on the network, the conditions can be shared, and the same error can be prevented in other printing apparatuses on the network. Since update data can be received not only from other printing apparatuses on the network but also from a host or the like, condition data can be cleared or arbitrary condition data can be set from the host.

  Each unit constituting the printing apparatus and each step of the printing apparatus control method in the embodiment of the present invention described above can be realized by operating a program stored in a RAM or ROM of a computer. This program and a computer-readable recording medium recording the program are included in the present invention.

  In addition, the present invention can be implemented as, for example, a system, apparatus, method, program, or recording medium. Specifically, the present invention may be applied to a system including a plurality of devices.

  Note that the present invention supplies a software program that implements the functions of the above-described embodiments directly or remotely to a system or apparatus. This includes the case where the system or the computer of the apparatus is also achieved by reading and executing the supplied program code.

  Accordingly, since the functions of the present invention are implemented by computer, the program code installed in the computer also implements the present invention. In other words, the present invention includes a computer program itself for realizing the functional processing of the present invention. In that case, as long as it has the function of a program, it may be in the form of object code, a program executed by an interpreter, script data supplied to the OS, or the like.

  Further, the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the computer executing the read program. Furthermore, based on the instructions of the program, an OS or the like running on the computer performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments can be realized by the processing.

  As another method, the program read from the recording medium is first written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer. Then, based on the instructions of the program, the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are also realized by the processing.

1 is a block diagram of a printing apparatus according to the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the memory map of the program storage memory of the printing apparatus which concerns on this invention. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a memory map of a working memory of the printing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. It is an internal block diagram of a warning condition control processing unit of the printing apparatus according to the present invention. 6 is an operation flowchart of a warning condition control processing unit of the printing apparatus according to the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the condition data stored in the condition memory | storage part of the printing apparatus which concerns on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

100 Printing Device 104 Warning Condition Control Processing Unit 106 CPU
108 Controller 111 Printer unit 400 Warning condition control processing unit 401 Data receiving unit 402 Information acquiring unit 403 Condition determining unit 404 Warning unit 405 Print control unit 406 Error detecting unit 407 Condition updating unit 408 Condition storage unit 409 Data receiving unit

Claims (9)

Storage means for storing conditions that are likely to cause printing errors;
Data receiving means for receiving a print request;
An information acquisition means for detecting and holding information of the printing device when a print request is received by the data receiving means;
Condition determination means for determining whether the information of the printing apparatus held by the information acquisition means satisfies the conditions stored in the storage means;
A printing apparatus comprising: warning means for issuing a warning when it is determined by the condition determination means that the condition is satisfied. An error detection means for detecting a printing error;
The data receiving means for receiving the print request and a condition in which a print error is likely to occur from a network connected to the printing apparatus;
An update determination unit that determines whether to update a condition stored in the storage unit when a print error is detected by the error detection unit or when a condition that is likely to cause the print error is received from a network;
Condition update means for updating the conditions stored in the storage means based on the update determination means to information held by the information acquisition means, or conditions that are likely to cause the printing error received from the network;
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a transmission unit configured to transmit the condition updated by the condition update unit to a network.   The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information acquisition unit detects and holds at least one piece of information among a remaining amount of a paper feed cassette, a print medium, and a medium size of the printing apparatus. Comprising output means for printing,
The warning means transmits warning display data to a transmission source that has requested printing,
4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein after the warning unit transmits the warning display data by the warning unit, the output unit performs printing after receiving a response from a transmission source that has made the print request. 5. Printing device.   The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the error detection unit detects a paper jam.   6. The condition update unit according to claim 2, wherein the condition update unit associates the paper jam with at least one of the remaining amount of the paper feed cassette, the print medium, and the media size. Printing device.   The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the condition update unit can be updated from another apparatus connected to the network. A method of controlling a printing apparatus having a storage unit for storing conditions that are likely to cause printing errors,
A data receiving step for receiving a print request;
An information acquisition step of detecting and holding information of the printing device when a print request is received in the data reception step;
A condition determination step for determining whether the information of the printing apparatus held by the information acquisition step satisfies a condition stored in the storage unit;
And a warning step for issuing a warning when it is determined that the condition is satisfied in the condition determination step. A computer program for controlling a printing apparatus having a storage unit for storing conditions that are likely to cause printing errors,
A data receiving step for receiving a print request;
An information acquisition step of detecting and holding information of the printing device when a print request is received in the data reception step;
A condition determination step for determining whether the information of the printing apparatus held by the information acquisition step satisfies a condition stored in the storage unit;
A computer program for causing a computer to execute a warning step for issuing a warning when it is determined that the condition is satisfied in the condition determination step.

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