JP3004440B2 - Printing method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing system, and more particularly to a printing system which includes a plurality of types of printing devices and transfers document information including character codes and control codes from a host device such as a host computer to each printing device for printing. The present invention relates to a printing method and an apparatus for the system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 2 and 3 show examples of connection between a host computer of a conventional printing system and each printing apparatus.

In FIG. 2, reference numerals 201, 202, 203,
Reference numeral 204 denotes a host device such as a host computer;
06, 207 and 208 are network interfaces,
209 is a printing device capable of color output, 210 is A at maximum
A printing device capable of outputting four plates, a printing device 211 capable of outputting A3 plates at maximum, and a high-speed printing device 212. In FIG. 3, reference numerals 301 and 302 denote host devices such as host computers, 303 and 304 network interfaces, and 305 a control device for switching data output destinations.
Reference numeral 6 denotes a printing device capable of color output, 307 denotes a printing device capable of outputting A4 size at maximum, 308 denotes a printing device capable of outputting A3 size at maximum, and 309 denotes a high-speed printing device.

As shown in the figure, when a printing apparatus is connected to a host device such as a conventional host computer, (1) document information including character codes and control codes is transmitted via the host device and other host devices. Configuration (FIG. 2),
Alternatively, (2) a control device for switching the output destination of document information including a character code and a control code transmitted from the higher-level device is separately provided between a higher-level device such as a host computer and the printing device. The configuration (FIG. 3) in which the output to each printing device is switched by the control device is used.

[0005]

However, in the conventional example of (1), since the document information including the character code and the control code is transmitted via each higher-level device, a burden is imposed on each higher-level device. Take it. In the conventional example (2), a control device for switching the output destination must be separately provided.

The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned conventional disadvantages, reduces the load on a host device such as a host computer, and enables a printing apparatus to efficiently use various types of printing apparatuses by simply adding simple functions to the printing apparatuses. And an apparatus therefor.

[0007]

In order to solve this problem, a printing apparatus according to the present invention determines whether input data is printable and whether the input data is printable by the determination means. A print unit that prints the input data, a determination unit that determines whether the input data can be printed by another printing device, and a print unit that can print the input data. If it is determined that, the transmission means for transmitting the input data to another printing device, it is determined that printing is impossible by the determination means,
A storage unit for temporarily storing the input data so that printing can be performed when printing is enabled by the determination unit when printing is disabled. Further, first determining means for determining whether or not the input data matches the specification of the printing apparatus. If the first determining means determines that the input data does not match, the input data is Determining means for determining whether or not printing is possible with another printing apparatus; transmitting means for transmitting the input data to another printing apparatus when the determining means determines that printing is possible; A second determination unit that determines whether the input data is printable by the printing apparatus when the determination unit determines that the input data does not match and determines that printing is not possible by the determination unit; A print unit that prints the input data when the first determination unit determines that they match, or when the second determination unit determines that printing is possible. Here, there is provided a storage unit for temporarily storing the input data so that when the second determination unit determines that printing is not possible, the input data can be printed when printing is enabled. Further, when it becomes possible to print, the print data stored in the storage unit is taken out,
It has means for starting printing. Further, the storage means includes:
Includes hard disk or magneto-optical disk. Also, a requesting unit for requesting status information from another printing apparatus,
The determination means makes a determination based on status information transmitted from another device. The printing method according to the present invention further includes a determining step of determining whether the input data is printable by the first printing apparatus; and determining that the input data is printable by the determining step. Causing the first printing device to print the input data, determining whether the input data is printable by the second printing device, and determining that the input data is printable by the determination step. In this case, when the input data is transmitted to the second printing apparatus and the determining step determines that printing is not possible, and when the determining step determines that printing is not possible, printing is performed. And temporarily storing the input data so that it can be printed when it becomes possible.
A first determining step of determining whether or not the input data matches the specification of the first printing apparatus; and determining that the input data does not match, A determining step of determining whether the data is printable by a second printing apparatus; and a transmitting step of transmitting the input data to the second printing apparatus when the determination step determines that the data is printable. Is determined not to match in the first determination step, and if it is determined in the determination step that printing is not possible, it is determined whether or not the input data can be printed by the first printing apparatus. When the second determination step and the first determination step determine that they match, or when the second determination step determines that printing is possible, the input data is transmitted to the first printing apparatus. mark And having a printing step of. Here, there is a storing step of temporarily storing the input data so that when the printing is determined to be impossible in the second determining step, the input data can be printed when the printing is enabled. Also, when printing becomes possible,
Taking out the print data stored in the storing step,
Starting printing. In the storing step, the data is stored on a hard disk or a magneto-optical disk. In addition, the method includes a requesting step of requesting status information from another printing apparatus. In the determining step, the determination is performed based on the status information transmitted from the other apparatus.

[0008]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a printing system according to this embodiment. In the figure, reference numerals 101, 102, and 103 denote host devices such as a host computer;
06, 107 are network interface devices, 10
Reference numeral 8 denotes a printing device capable of color output, 109 denotes a printing device capable of outputting up to A4 size, 110 denotes a printing device capable of outputting up to A3 size, and 111 denotes a high-speed printing device.

Each printing apparatus transmits document information including character codes and control codes from a host device such as a host computer from one of a plurality of interface connectors for exchanging data with an external device. It is received through an interface network or the like. The received document information is determined, classified into those to be printed by itself and those not to be printed, and those not to be printed are output to the outside from the other interface connector. Further, it operates to read the state of an external device connected to the other interface connector, select a printing device suitable for output, and output the document information sent from a host device such as a host computer.

For example, if the document information sent from the higher-level device includes color information, the printing device that has received the document information prints itself if it can perform color printing. Transfer the data to another suitable printing device. If the sent document information is of the A3 size, if the document information cannot be printed by itself, the document information is transferred to a printing device capable of outputting the A3 size. If the amount of sent document information is enormous, it is necessary to transfer it to a high-speed machine.

However, if the printing device judged to be most suitable for outputting the sent document information is in operation or has any trouble, it is determined that the optimum printing device can print. Until that time, output is performed by another printing device that can output. For example, if the sent document information is of A4 size and a huge amount, but a high-speed printing device capable of A4 output is in operation, if one can output A4 size, oneself prints. Or select and print an A4 cassette on an A3 machine. Further, a command for designating a printer to be output may be provided in the document information, and when this command is received, the output may be performed according to the specified command instead of the printing apparatus determining the command. Needless to say.

Next, transmission of document information from one printing apparatus to a specific other printing apparatus will be described below with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 8, A, B and C are printing devices. Upon receiving the print data from the host, the printing apparatus A determines whether or not a printing apparatus is connected to the printing apparatus other than itself. Or output paper size, output speed, etc.). In response to the request from the printing device A, the printing device B determines whether the printing device A is connected to a printing device other than itself, and requests the printing device C for status information because the printing device C exists. I do. When the printing apparatus C determines that there is no printer connected to itself other than the printing apparatus B, the printing apparatus C sends its own status to the printing apparatus B. The printing apparatus B sends the received status information and its own status information to the printing apparatus A.

A printing device A connected closest to the host
However, if it is determined based on these status information and it is determined that the user does not print and prints with another specific printing device, information specifying this specific printing device is added to data sent from the host, Data flows further downstream. The exchange of the status information and the processing related to the status information may be updated and stored when the power of each printer is turned on or at a certain interval, other than when the print data is received from the host.

Here, an example of a method in which the printing apparatus determines the document information will be described.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a method for the printing apparatus to determine the document information, in which the printing apparatus adds information for determining the document data to the beginning of the transmission data when transmitting the data to the printing apparatus. Things.

Referring to FIG. 1, reference numeral 501 denotes a command for specifying whether the document data to be printed is monochrome or color, reference numeral 502 denotes a command for specifying the size of printing paper, and reference numeral 503 denotes information on the number of prints. For example, if the command 501 for specifying whether the data to be printed is monochrome or color specifies color, the data is output from the color printer. Also, the command 501 for specifying whether the data to be printed is monochrome or color specifies monochrome and the print paper size specification command 5
If 02 is A3, output is from A3 machine. A command 50 for specifying whether the data to be printed is monochrome or color.
If 1 designates monochrome, the print paper size designation command 502 is A4, and the number-of-printed-sheets information 503 is a huge number, it is output from a high-speed machine. Of course, it is possible to arbitrarily set how to determine each command based on how many or more prints are to be output by a high-speed machine.

[0018]

Another Embodiment FIG. 4 shows the configuration of a printing system according to another embodiment.
Shown in

In FIG. 1, reference numerals 401, 402, and 403 denote host devices such as a host computer;
06, 407 are a network interface, 408 is a printing device capable of color output, 409 is a printing device capable of outputting up to A4 size, 410 is a printing device capable of outputting up to A3 size, 411 is a high-speed machine, 412 is data Is a data buffer for storing.

Each printing device transmits document information including a character code and a control code from a host device such as a host computer from one of a plurality of interface connectors for exchanging data with an external device. It is received through an interface network or the like. The received document information is determined, classified into those to be printed by itself and those not to be printed, and those not to be printed are output to the outside from the other interface connector. Further, it operates to read the state of an external device connected to the other interface connector, select a printing device suitable for output, and output the document information sent from a host device such as a host computer.

However, in the case where any of the printing apparatuses cannot output the data while working, the document data is temporarily stored in a data buffer such as a hard disk apparatus or a magneto-optical disk apparatus.
As soon as the operation of the printing machine suitable for output is completed, the document data is taken out from the data buffer and printing is started. Also,
If the amount of sent document data is huge,
By storing the data collectively in the data buffer and sending the document data from the data buffer to a predetermined printing apparatus, it is also possible to reduce the time required for the host machine to be bound by the work for printing.

FIG. 6 shows a simple configuration example of a printing apparatus used in the printing system of the present embodiment, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the interface control procedure.

In FIG. 6, reference numeral 61 denotes a CPU for calculation and control for controlling the entire printing apparatus, and 62 denotes a ROM for storing a control program for the CPU 61. The ROM (monochrome / color, paper size, allowable number of sheets, etc.) ) The storage unit 62a is included.
Reference numeral 63 denotes a RAM for auxiliary storage, which includes a specification and status (usable / unavailable) storage unit 63a of at least one other device. 64 denotes two connectors 64 connected to an external device.
a selection section for controlling the selection of a and 64b; 65, an output control section for controlling print output; and 66, a printing mechanism section for actually performing printing. The output control unit 65 and the print mechanism unit 66 do not operate when the command added to the received document information does not match the specification stored in the specification storage unit 62a or when printing is not possible. Each printing device transmits the specifications and execution status of its own device stored in the specification storage unit 62a to the other device via the connectors 64a and 64b, and stores the received use and execution status of the other device in the storage unit 63a. .

In FIG. 7, first, in step S71, a command at the head of document information from an external device is waited for. Step S72
Then, the command is compared with the contents of the unit specification storage unit 62a, and if they match and the unit is operable, the process proceeds to step S7.
At step 3, the printing process is executed. If the specifications do not match, it is checked in step S74 whether or not another machine having the print specification of the command is operable in the other machine specification / status storage unit 63a. If possible, the document information is sent to the optimum machine in step S75. Is output. If it is not possible with another machine, it is checked whether or not it is possible with this machine, and if possible, the printing process corresponding to the command is executed in step S77. If it is not possible, for example, in the embodiment of FIG. 4, the document information is temporarily stored in the data buffer 412 in step S78, and retransmitted after the predetermined device becomes operable. Alternatively, in the embodiment of FIG. 1, a response indicating that printing is not possible is made to the host that has output the document information in step S78.

According to the configuration of this embodiment, a printing apparatus for inputting and printing document information including character information and control codes from a host device such as a host computer is an interface for exchanging data with an external device. A function that has a plurality of connectors, judges the document information input from the one interface connector, classifies the information into those to be printed by itself and those not to be printed, and outputs those not to be printed to the outside from the other interface connector. Further, by providing the printing device with a function of inputting and determining the state of the external device connected to the other interface connector, the following effects are obtained.

1. The printing device determines the data sent without necessarily sending information on which printing device is to be used for output. Therefore, when outputting document information to the printing device, it is necessary for the operator to switch the output destination. There is no.

2. Even if the number of printing devices is increased to two, three, four,..., There is no need for a separate control device for switching the connection of the printing devices.

3. By providing a data buffer in the line of the connected printing device, the document data is temporarily stored in the data buffer when a large amount of document information must be output, or when the printing device is working, for example. By sending data from here to the printing device, the time that the host machine is bound by the printing operation can be reduced.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of one device. It is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to a case where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

[0030]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a printing method and apparatus capable of reducing the burden on a host device such as a host computer and efficiently using various types of printing apparatuses by simply adding simple functions to the printing apparatus. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a printing system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a conventional example in which one printing device is connected to one host machine.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a conventional example in which a plurality of printing apparatuses are connected from a single host machine via a control device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a printing system according to another embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration example of document information.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a printing apparatus used in the printing system.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a procedure of an interface process in the printing apparatus of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of transmitting document information to another printing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

101, 102, 103: host devices such as host computers, 104, 105, 106, 107: network interface devices, 108: printing devices capable of color output, 109: printing devices capable of outputting up to A4 size, 1
10 ... Printing device capable of outputting up to A3 size, 111 ...
High-speed printing apparatuses, 201, 202, 203, 204... Host apparatuses such as host computers, 205, 206, 20
7, 208: Network interface device, 209
... printing apparatus capable of color output, 210 ... printing apparatus capable of outputting up to A4 size, 211 ... printing apparatus capable of outputting up to A3 size, 212 ... high-speed printing apparatus, 301, 302 ...
Higher-level devices such as a host computer; 304, 304 a network interface device; 305, a control device for switching data output destinations; 306, a printing device capable of color output; 307, a printing device capable of outputting up to A4 size; 30
8. Printing device capable of outputting up to A3 size, 309 high-speed printing device, 401, 402, 403 host device such as host computer, 405, 405, 406, 407 network interface device, 408 color output Printing device, 409: printing device capable of printing up to A4 size, 410: printing device capable of printing up to A3 size, 4
11: High-speed printing device, 412: Data buffer, 501
... A command for specifying whether the document data to be printed is monochrome or color, 502 a print paper size specification command, 50
3: Print number information, 61: CPU, 62: ROM, 62
a: This machine specification storage unit, 63: RAM, 63a: Other machine specification / status storage unit, 64: Selection unit, 64a, 64b: Connector, 65: Output control unit, 66: Print mechanism unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 29/38 B41J 5/30 G06F 3/12 G06K 17/00

Claims (12)

(57) [Claims] A determining unit for determining whether or not the input data is printable; and determining that the input data is printable by the determining unit.
A printing unit that prints the input data, a determination unit that determines whether the input data is printable by another printing device, and a print unit that determines that the input data is printable. A transmitting unit that transmits the input data to another printing apparatus; and a unit that is determined to be unprintable by the determining unit, and when the determining unit determines that printing is not possible, the printing is enabled. And a storage unit for temporarily storing the input data so that the input data can be printed. A first determining unit that determines whether the input data matches the specification of the printing apparatus; and if the first determining unit determines that the input data does not match, the input unit determines that the input data does not match. Determining means for determining whether or not the input data is printable by another printing apparatus; and transmitting means for transmitting the input data to another printing apparatus when the determining means determines that printing is possible. When the first determination unit determines that the input data does not match, and when the determination unit determines that printing is not possible, a second determination is performed to determine whether the input data is printable by the printing apparatus. Means, if it is determined by the first determination means that they match,
Or a printing unit for printing the input data when the second determination unit determines that printing is possible. 3. A storage unit for temporarily storing the input data so that when the second determination unit determines that printing is not possible, the input data can be printed when printing is enabled. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein: 4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a unit that retrieves print data stored in the storage unit and starts printing when printing is enabled. 5. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit includes a hard disk or a magneto-optical disk. 6. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a request unit that requests status information from another printing apparatus, wherein the determination unit determines based on status information transmitted from the other apparatus. Printing equipment. 7. A discriminating step of discriminating whether or not the input data is printable by the first printing device, and if it is determined that the input data is printable, the input data is deleted. Causing the first printing device to print; determining whether the input data is printable by the second printing device; and determining that the input data is printable by the determination step. A transmitting step of transmitting the input data to the second printing apparatus, and it is determined that printing is impossible by the determining step,
A storage step of temporarily storing the input data so that printing can be performed when it is determined that printing is not possible in the determination step. 8. A first determining step for determining whether or not the input data matches the specification of the first printing apparatus; and when it is determined in the first determining step that the input data does not match, A determining step of determining whether or not the input data is printable by the second printing apparatus; and transmitting the input data to the second printing apparatus when the determination step determines that the input data is printable. And if the input data is printable by the first printing device when it is determined that they do not match in the first determination step, and it is determined that printing is not possible in the determination step. When it is determined that they match in the second determination step of determining
Or a printing step of causing the first printing device to print the input data when it is determined that printing is possible in the second determination step. 9. A storage step for temporarily storing the input data so that when it is determined in the second determination step that printing cannot be performed, the input data can be printed when printing is enabled. The printing method according to claim 8, wherein 10. The printing method according to claim 7, further comprising a step of taking out the print data stored in the storing step and starting printing when printing becomes possible. 11. The printing method according to claim 7, wherein in the storing step, the data is stored on a hard disk or a magneto-optical disk. 12. The printing apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a request step of requesting status information from another printing apparatus, wherein the determining step determines based on status information transmitted from the other apparatus. Printing method.