JP2010188675A - Printer device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To merge fixed form data and variable data transmitted from a host device with flexibility, and to reduce a memory capacity retained for paper jam recovery processing. <P>SOLUTION: The printer device includes: a means for detecting variable printing in advance when print data sets for individual pages each formed by merging form data as shared fixed data from a host device with variable data and individually different from each other are received; a means for comparing data sets of a page 1 and a page 2 after bit development to detect the position information of a variable data area; a means for extracting the bit data of the fixed data area and the variable data area based on the detected position information and storing the data in different storage regions; and a means for extracting only the bit image of the variable data area based on the position information from the page bit-developed after the position information of the variable data area is obtained and storing the bit image in a memory. Thereafter, the fixed data read from the memory and the variable data of each page are merged and output to paper. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printer device that develops bits of print data transmitted from a host device and stores them in a page memory.

  In recent years, print data has become diversified and consists of fixed form data and variable data such as address and address as seen in direct mail and invoice output. Variable printing, which improves productivity by merging and outputting, has become widespread. In this case, it is common to register fixed form data in the storage unit of the printer device in advance, send only variable data from the host device, and merge and output the fixed form data and variable data inside the printer. is there.

  Registered fixed form data is developed into a bit image in advance and stored in a storage unit, and when merged with variable data, it is read from the storage unit to generate an output image, thereby reducing page generation load. This is a very effective means. In addition, there is also an effect of reducing the amount of page memory used by commonly using a fixed form bit image that has already been registered for each page.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 has a configuration in which secondary standard print data is created in an image memory, secondary standard print data is read from the image memory based on a development command, and combined with print data sent from a host device. Is described.

  Patent Document 2 describes a configuration that can improve operability by printing a list of print contents, titles, and hierarchical structures of registered forms.

  In Patent Document 3, difference data of predetermined form data is registered, and output is performed from predetermined form data stored based on an analysis result of input print information, or from predetermined form data and difference data. A configuration is described in which a form overlay image is generated and the form overlay image and a normal page image are superimposed.

  There is a higher-level device in which the merge processing is not performed by the printer but the fixed form data and variable data are managed by the higher-level device, and the higher-level device transmits the merged data to the printer device as print data.

  In this case, the print data received by the printer apparatus is not variable print data for the printer apparatus side, and it is necessary to perform bit expansion processing for the entire page for each page. For this reason, the page memory size required to store a bit image per page is always fixed at a value calculated from the paper size and resolution, and lacks flexibility in effectively using limited memory resources. There is.

  In addition, the stacker and post-processing devices have been enriched, and the configuration of the printer has diversified, making it possible to implement a process from submission to output through complicated post-processing steps with a single printer. To the paper discharge unit, that is, the paper travel distance tends to be long.

  However, when a failure such as a paper jam occurs, the number of pages to be subjected to subsequent recovery printing increases, and the amount of page data that must be held inside the printer device until paper discharge is completed. Increasingly, the proportion of the capacity reserved for recovery processing in the storage unit is increasing. Therefore, efficiently using a limited storage area is also an issue.

  In Patent Document 3, only a difference from predetermined form data is stored in a memory, and only a job for which predetermined form data is registered in advance can be handled.

  A problem to be solved by the present invention is that in a printer device that develops bits of print data transmitted from a host device and stores them in a page memory, fixed form data and variable data can be merged with flexibility, and paper An object of the present invention is to provide a printer apparatus capable of reducing the memory capacity held for jam recovery processing.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention develops print data transmitted from a host device into a bit image and stores it in a page memory, reads out the print data developed into the bit image from the page memory, and outputs it to a sheet. In the printer device
Means for detecting beforehand that variable printing is performed when form data and variable data, which are common fixed data, are merged from a host device having a variable printing function and different print data is received for each page; page 1 and page Means for detecting the position information of the variable data area in the page data by comparing the data after the two bits are expanded, and extracting the bit data of the fixed data area and the variable data area based on the detected position information Means for storing in a separate storage area and means for extracting only the bit image of the variable data area based on the position information and storing it in the memory in the page that has been bit expanded after the position information of the variable data area is acquired. Prepared,
In the subsequent printing process, there is provided a means for merging the fixed data read from the memory and the variable data of each page and outputting the merged data to a sheet.

  The present invention is configured as described above, even when form data and variable data, which are common fixed data, are merged from a host device having a variable printing function and different print data is received for each page. Thus, it is possible to reduce the amount of page memory used and the memory capacity held for recovery processing, and to effectively use limited memory resources.

1 is a block diagram of a printer apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 6 is an operation flowchart of raster development processing after receiving print data. It is an operation | movement flowchart of the output process including the recovery process at the time of failure occurrence. It is a figure which shows the comparison with the state of memory use in this invention, and the state of conventional memory use.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  In FIG. 1, 1 is a printer device, 2 is a control unit of the printer device 1, 3 is a printing mechanism unit of the printer device 1, and 4 is a network communication unit that receives print data from a host device (not shown). The print data received from the interface (for example, a specific TCP port) recognizes that the fixed form data and variable data are merged by the host device and are different for each page. 5 is a storage unit that stores print data, 6 is a raster development unit that rasterizes the print data received by the network communication unit 4 to generate a bit image, and 7 is a page that compares the raster-developed page images. It is an image comparison unit to detect, and acquires position information of the variable data unit. 8 is a page management unit that manages print data stored in the storage unit 5, 9 is a print management unit that transfers print data stored in the storage unit 5 to the printing mechanism unit 3 and manages output processing. This is a recovery page management unit that manages page information that needs to be re-output by recovery when a failure such as a paper jam occurs.

  FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of raster development processing after receiving print data.

  First, in step 101 (abbreviated as S101, the same applies hereinafter), the reception status of print data is monitored, and if it is received, it is determined whether the data received from a specific interface (for example, a specific TCP port) ( (S102), when received from a specific interface, the upper form apparatus merges the fixed form data and the variable data and recognizes that the print data is different for each page (S103), and the raster development unit 6 determines the first page. The second page is raster-developed and each bit image is stored in the storage unit 5 (S104).

  Next, the page comparison unit 7 compares the bit images of the first page and the second page, detects the position information of the variable data unit, stores the information in the storage unit 5, extracts only the fixed form data unit, and extracts it. Is stored in the storage unit 5 (S105). In the subsequent pages transmitted after the third page, after raster rasterization, only the variable data part is extracted and stored in the storage part 5 based on the position information of the variable part detected in S105.

  If the received data is not received from the specific interface in S102, the fixed form data and variable data are merged on the higher-level device side and are not regarded as different print data for each page, and the received print data is rasterized. Store in the storage unit 5 in units of pages (S201).

  FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of output processing including recovery processing when a failure occurs.

  The print management unit 9 transfers the bit images of the first page and the second page stored in the storage unit 4 in S104 of FIG. For the third and subsequent pages, the fixed form data stored in the storage unit 5 in S105 of FIG. 1 and the variable part data of the corresponding page stored in the storage unit 5 in S106 are read and merged, and transferred to the printing mechanism unit 3. (S301). Here, with respect to the first page and the second page, since the print data already transmitted from the host device for comparing both pages is raster-developed as it is and those bit images are already stored in the storage unit 5, The merge process from the third page onward is unnecessary.

  Thereafter, the printing mechanism unit 3 prints the transferred bit image on paper and executes output processing (S302).

If no failure occurs during the output process (S303), the page management unit 8 monitors the page for which the paper discharge has been completed (S304), and if the first page or the second page is normally discharged, The bit image of the page is erased from the storage unit 5. When the third and subsequent pages are normally discharged, the variable data of the corresponding page is deleted from the storage unit 5 (S305). If all pages have been discharged (S306), the page management unit 8 deletes the fixed form data from the storage unit 5 (S307).

  When a failure occurs in S303, the recovery page management unit 10 notifies the print management unit 9 of a page that needs to be re-output by recovery (S401). The print management unit 9 checks whether the target page that needs to be re-output is the first page or the second page (S402). If it is the first page or the second page, the first page or 2 The bit image of the page is read from the storage unit 5 and transferred to the printing mechanism unit 3 (S403).

  If the page that needs to be re-output is the third page or later in S402, the print management unit 9 reads the fixed form data and the variable data of the page to be re-output by recovery from the storage unit 5 and merges them, and the print mechanism unit 3 (S501).

  The printing mechanism unit 3 prints the transferred bit image on the paper after the failure is cleared and executes output processing (S404).

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a comparison between a memory use state in the present invention and a conventional memory use state.

  The received data is print data transmitted from the host device, and is transmitted in a state where the fixed form portion and the variable data portion are already merged on the host device side. In order to detect the position of the variable data, the printer apparatus of the present invention rasterizes the first page and the second page and stores them in the storage unit 5 respectively, and then compares both data to specify the position of the variable data unit. Only the fixed form data is extracted and stored in the memory. For the subsequent pages, only the variable data part is extracted and stored in the memory. For this reason, the page data for the third and subsequent pages is only the variable data portion, so that the proportion of the memory area to be used can be reduced, the free area of the memory is expanded, and it can be effectively used for other processing.

  In the case of the conventional method, the printer device cannot recognize that the print data sent from the host device can be divided into a fixed form portion and a variable data portion. Since the data is stored in the memory, the ratio of the memory area to image data storage increases.

  As described above, according to the present invention, even when form data that is common fixed data and variable data are merged from a host device having a variable printing function and different print data is received for each page, the page memory It is possible to effectively use limited memory resources by reducing the amount of memory used and the memory capacity held for recovery processing.

  Further, the present invention does not need to register form data in advance, and separates the form and the variable part by analyzing the job from the upper level, so that it does not depend on the job.

  1: printer device, 2: control unit, 3: printing mechanism unit, 4: network communication unit, 5: storage unit, 6: raster development unit, 7: image comparison unit, 8: page management unit, 9: print management unit 10: Recovery page management unit.

JP-A-9-207409 JP-A-9-141965 JP 2001-5195 A

Claims (1)

In the printer device which develops the print data transmitted from the host device into a bit image and stores it in a page memory, reads out the print data developed in the bit image from the page memory and outputs it to the paper,
Means for detecting beforehand that variable printing is performed when form data and variable data, which are common fixed data, are merged from a host device having a variable printing function and different print data is received for each page; page 1 and page Means for detecting the position information of the variable data area in the page data by comparing the data after the two bits are expanded, and extracting the bit data of the fixed data area and the variable data area based on the detected position information Means for storing in a separate storage area and means for extracting only the bit image of the variable data area based on the position information and storing it in the memory in the page that has been bit expanded after the position information of the variable data area is acquired. Prepared,
A printer apparatus comprising means for merging fixed data read from a memory and variable data of each page and outputting them to a sheet in a subsequent printing process.

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