JP3017355B2 - Printing equipment - 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 apparatus, and more particularly to a printing apparatus connected to a plurality of print data sources.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a printing apparatus having a plurality of host interfaces. By connecting an electronic device (such as a host computer) that actually generates print data to each interface, the operator of each electronic device can perform print processing while staying.

[0003]

However, in this type of printing apparatus, for example, while print data is received from a host computer A and printing is being performed, data from other host computers B, C. No receiving and printing processes are performed.

Therefore, an operator other than the communicating host computer A cannot perform its own print processing until the print processing of another person is completed. This leaves a problem as a working environment.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the related art, and is capable of receiving print data from a plurality of data sources substantially at the same time. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus which can notify the source of print data being received.

In order to solve this problem, a printing apparatus according to the present invention has the following configuration. That is, a printing apparatus that selects one of a plurality of interfaces for connecting a plurality of data sources, receives print data from the selected interface, and records and outputs an image on a predetermined recording medium. Receiving first print data from a first interface of the plurality of interfaces;
Determining means for determining whether or not a request for receiving the second print data has been made from the second interface during a series of processing for performing the data processing of the first print data; and If it is determined that there is a print data reception request, during the series of processing of the first print data,
An input unit for selectively selecting an interface, receiving the second print data from the second interface, and storing the second print data and the first print data separately; Control means for controlling to start the printing process for the second print data after the printing process for the first print data is completed; and a data generation source received during the printing process for the print data. And a notifying means for discriminating and notifying the operation panel of the data source being received.

[0007]

[0008]

[0009]

[0010]

[0011]

In the configuration of the present invention, the determining means receives the first print data from the first interface among the plurality of interfaces, and performs a series of processes for performing data processing of the first print data. It is determined whether a request to receive the second print data has been made from the second interface. When the determination unit determines that there is a request to receive the second print data, the input unit selects the second interface alternatively during a series of processing of the first print data, and The second print data is received from the second interface, and the second print data and the first print data are stored separately. Then, the control unit controls to start the printing process on the second print data after the printing process on the first print data is completed. Then, the notifying unit identifies the data source being received during the printing process for the print data,
The data source being received is notified to the operation panel in an identifiable manner.

[0012]

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

In this embodiment, a laser beam printer of an electrophotographic process system using a toner as a color material as a printing apparatus will be described as an example.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing the internal structure of the laser beam printer (hereinafter abbreviated as LBP) of the embodiment.
The BP can register a character pattern and a partner format (form data) from a data source (not shown).

Referring to FIG. 1, reference numeral 1200 denotes an LBP main body, which inputs and stores print information (character codes, etc.), form information, macro instructions, and the like supplied from an externally connected host computer, and stores the information. , A corresponding character pattern, form pattern, or the like is created, and an image is formed on recording paper as a recording medium. Reference numeral 300 denotes an operation panel on which switches and LED indicators for operation are arranged, and 1210 denotes an LBP 100
It is a controller unit that controls the entire system and analyzes character information and the like supplied from the host computer. The controller unit 1210 mainly converts character information into a video signal of a corresponding character pattern and outputs the video signal to the laser driver 102.

The laser driver 102 is a semiconductor laser 10
3 for driving the laser light 1 emitted from the semiconductor laser 103 in accordance with the input video signal.
04 is turned on / off. The laser beam 104 is swung right and left by a rotating polygon mirror 105 to form an electrostatic drum 106.
The upper side is exposed by scanning. As a result, an electrostatic latent image of a character pattern is formed on the electrostatic drum 106. This latent image is developed by a developing unit 107 provided around the electrostatic drum 106 and then transferred to a recording sheet. A cut sheet is used as the recording paper, and the cut sheet recording paper is stored in a paper cassette 108 mounted on the LBP 100, taken into the apparatus by a paper feed roller 109 and transport rollers 110 and 111, and Supplied to

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printing apparatus which is an LBP in the embodiment. This printing apparatus includes a host computer 1100a, 1100b and a printing apparatus main body 12
00. In this embodiment, a configuration in which two host computers 1100a and 1100b are connected as described above will be described.

Host computers 1100a, 1100
b sends print data and control commands for the printing apparatus main body 1200 to the printing apparatus main body 1200, and
0 performs a printing process. Printer main body 12
00 is divided into the controller unit 1210 and the engine unit 1220 as described above.

The controller unit 1210 receives print data, control commands, and the like from the host computers 1100a and 1100b, creates bitmap information in accordance with the print data and control commands, and transfers the information to the engine unit 1220 as a video signal. The engine unit 1220 includes the controller unit 12
The video signal is received from 10 and the signal is formed as a visible image on paper. Further, the controller unit 121
0 communicates with the engine unit 1220 to communicate the state of the engine unit 1220 to the outside, and also performs overall control of the engine unit 1220 and the like.

The controller section 1210 will be described in more detail.

The controller unit 1210 includes a host interface 1211a, 1211b, a CPU 1212,
RAM 1213, ROM 1214, video interface 1215, operation panel 1216, data bus 121
7 is provided. Host interface 1211a,
1211b is a host computer 1100a, 1100
b, the data is transmitted and received. In this embodiment, the description will be made assuming that there are two such data. A CPU 1212 controls the entire apparatus, analyzes print data, creates bitmap information, and the like. RAM 1213 is the host computer 11
It is used for temporary information storage such as interpolation of data sent from 00a and 1100b, interpolation of bitmap information, interpolation of various registered data, and use as a work area for information processing. The ROM 1214 stores programs to be described later for controlling the apparatus, font information, and the like. The video interface 1215 sends and receives data to and from the engine unit 1220. An operation panel 1216 sets / changes / displays parameters of the printing environment. Data exchanged inside the controller unit 1210 flows through the data bus 1217. Note that the arrow symbols in FIG. 1 represent the flow of data.

Next, the CPU 1 of the controller unit 1210
The operation processing procedure of 212 will be described with reference to FIGS.
The program according to this flowchart is stored in the ROM 1
214.

FIG. 2 shows a process for controlling the entire printing apparatus. The processes shown in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 are sequentially called. In the flowchart of FIG. 3, a process is performed to check whether a new communication request has been sent to a host interface to which data has not been transmitted at the time when the process was previously performed. FIG. 4 shows a process for reading data from a designated host interface and writing the data to an input buffer for that interface. FIG. 5 shows a process of reading data from the input buffer and performing a printing process.
In the following description, the variable “which_i_f” is stored in the RAM 1213
Shall be secured above.

Now, a specific processing example will be described. In the embodiment, for the sake of simplicity, the host computer 1
100a, data is sent, printing processing is performed on the data, and the host computer 1
It is assumed that data is sent from 100b.

When the apparatus is turned on, first, in step S21, each section of the printing apparatus is initialized. The initialization process performed in step S21 includes, for example, RA
The variable "which_i_ secured inside M1213
f ”is also included. This variable "whic
“h_i_f” stores information such as which host interface is currently in communication, and in addition, in what order the communication request was made.

In the next step S22, the processing in FIG. 3 is called.

When this processing is called, step S3
In step 1, based on the information recorded in the variable "whic_i_f", it is checked whether a communication request from the host computer has come to the host interface with which communication has not been performed before. If a new communication request has not been received, the process ends as it is, and if a new communication request has been received, the process proceeds to step S32. In the present embodiment, first, data is sent from the host computer 1100a, so the process proceeds to step S32.

In step S32, information indicating which host interface needs to perform a new communication process is added to the variable "which_i_f", and the process ends. In the present embodiment, information that the host interface 1211a corresponds to the host interface is added to the variable “which_i_f”. Of course, when the host interface 1211b is applicable, data to that effect is added to the variable “which_i_f”. When the processing in FIG. 3 ends, the main processing in FIG. 2 proceeds to step S23.

In step S23 of FIG. 2, the variable "whi
Based on the information recorded in “ch_i_f”, a host interface that needs to perform communication processing is shown in FIG.
Is started. That is, the process of FIG. 4 is called.

In step S41 of FIG. 4, data is read from the designated host interface, and the data is written to the corresponding host interface input buffer (secured in the RAM 1213).
Is completed. In this embodiment, data is read from the host interface 1211a. Further, in the case of the present embodiment, even if the data sent via the host interface 1211a continues, the communication is temporarily interrupted when a certain period of time or a certain amount of data is read, and the communication shown in FIG. The process ends. By controlling in this way, it is possible to read while switching inputs from a plurality of host interfaces in a continuous data flow. Thus, when the processing in FIG. 4 ends, the processing proceeds to step S24 in FIG.

In step S24 of FIG. 2, the processing of FIG. 5 is called.

In step S51 of FIG. 5, the variable "whi
Based on the information recorded in "ch_i_f", it is checked which of the host interfaces currently in communication is the first to be requested, and the process proceeds to step S52. In the embodiment, the host interface 1
211a corresponds to the host interface.

In step S52, it is checked whether or not data exists in the input buffer of the host interface requested to communicate first at the step S52. If no data exists, the process proceeds to step S53, and if data exists, the process proceeds to step S54.

In step S54, data is read from the input buffer of the host interface selected in step S52, and necessary processing is performed based on the data.
The process of FIG. 5 ends. The necessary processing here is
This is processing for developing bitmap information based on data sent from the host computer and printing the bitmap information on paper.

On the other hand, in step S53, step S5
Assuming that the communication via the host interface requested to be communicated at the earliest time examined in step 2 has been completed, the recorded content of the variable "which_i_f" is updated, and the processing in FIG. 5 is terminated. Specifically, the content of this update processing is based on the list of host interfaces with which communication is currently being performed in step S
52, the host interface selected in step 52 is deleted, and information obtained by incrementing the order of communication requests for the remaining host interfaces one by one is stored in a variable “which_i_
f ”.

When the processing in FIG. 5 is completed, the process returns to step S22 in FIG.

As described above, steps S22 to S2 in FIG.
By repeating the processes up to 4, data is read from the host computer, and printing is continuously performed based on the data. In the case of this embodiment, at the point described above, data has been read from the host computer 11100a via the host interface 1211a. Next, what processing is performed when a communication request is received from the host computer b1100b during communication with the host computer a1100a described above.

In step S22, communication is performed with the host computer 1100a to process the data.
If there is a communication request from the host computer 1100b in the flow of a series of processing from to S24, first, FIG.
In step S31, it is detected that there is a new communication request, and in step S32, the variable "whic"
h_i_f ”is updated. Specifically, only the host interface 1211a is currently communicating.
"Where_i_f" that records the information
, The information that the host interface 1211b is also in the communication state is added.

Next, in step S23 of FIG. 2, the host computer 1 is connected via the host interface 1211a.
100a, and then reads the host computer 11 via the host interface 1211b.
The data from 00b is read.

Then, by repeating the processing from step S22 to step S24 in FIG. 2, while reading both the data from the host computer 1100a and the data from the host computer 1100b, the data from the host computer 1100a is restored. The printing process can be continued.

When all the data from the host computer 1100a has been processed, the input buffer for the host interface 1211a becomes empty, so that the processing advances from step S52 to step S53 in FIG.
Information about the host interface 1211a is deleted from the recorded contents of the variable "which_i_f". After that, it means that the communication request is made first from the host computer 1100b, and the printing process is continued based on the data read from the host computer 1100b.

As described above, even when communicating with a host computer using one of the two host interfaces, the host interface functions when data arrives at the non-communicating host interface. Control to be able to. This gives 2
While communicating with a host computer using one of the host interfaces, data can be transmitted from a host computer connected to the other host interface. Then, after the processing based on the data from the host computer which has started communicating earlier in time is completed, the processing based on the data from the other host computer can be started.

[Explanation of the Second Embodiment] In the above-described embodiment (first embodiment), the case where there are two host interfaces has been described. However, the present invention is applicable to the case where there are three or more host interfaces. Can be applied by the same processing.

[Explanation of Third Embodiment] In the first and second embodiments described above, print data from a plurality of host computers can be received. Is for a series of print data sent from one host computer, and print processing of data received from another host computer is not performed until the print processing is completed. Therefore, it is not clear whether the data transmitted from another host computer is actually received by the apparatus. Therefore, in the third embodiment, the host computer from which data is being received is notified to the outside.

In order to realize this, in the third embodiment, the routine shown in FIG. 3 is replaced with the routine shown in FIG.

The processing steps S31 and S32 in FIG.
Is the same as that in FIG. 3, and therefore, only step S33 in FIG. 7 will be described here.

At the point when the process proceeds to step S33,
The variable “which_i_f” stores data indicating which and which host computer is currently communicating. Therefore, in step S33, information corresponding to the data stored in the variable “which_i_f” is displayed on the operation panel 1216.
For example, an LED corresponding to the number that can be connected to the apparatus is provided on the operation panel 1216, and the LED corresponding to the host computer that is communicating is turned on. However, as described in the first embodiment, in the case of a device to which only two host computers can be connected, it can be realized with only one LED. Further, the present invention is not limited to the LED, and when a liquid crystal display (LCD) is provided on the operation panel 1216, a message or a sign to that effect may be displayed.

Further, it is possible to notify not only which host computer is currently communicating, but also which host computer is currently printing print data. Also in this case, a corresponding LED may be provided or displayed on the LCD.

In the first to third embodiments, the format of the host interface is not described, because the present invention is applicable to any type of host interface.

Further, in the above embodiment, an electrophotographic printing apparatus has been described as the engine section of the printing apparatus. However, a printing apparatus having any type of engine section, for example, a thermal printing method, an ink jet printing method, a wire dot printing method, or the like. The present invention can also be applied to devices of a system or the like.

In the embodiment, the data received from each host computer has been described as being stored in the corresponding buffer secured in the RAM 1213. However, for example, an external storage device such as a hard disk is mounted and stored therein. Needless to say, it may be done.

Further, in the embodiment, it has been described that while one print process is being performed, it is determined whether or not there is a transmission request from another host interface. However, data is transmitted via each interface. CPU when receiving
An interrupt signal is supplied to the CPU 1212 and the CPU 1
212 is an interrupt routine for each variable “whic”
h_i_f ”may be updated.

[0053]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to receive print data from a plurality of data sources substantially simultaneously, and to generate print data during reception other than print data during print processing. It will also be possible to tell which source it is.

Further, by notifying to the outside which data generation source is currently communicating, the user of each data generation source can confirm that the printing designated by himself is performed.

[0055]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a main process according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a communication request check process according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process related to data input in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a printing process according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a sectional structural view of the laser beam printer in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a communication request check process according to the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1100a, 1100b Host computer 1200 Printer main body 1210 Control unit 1211a, 1211b Host interface 1212 CPU 1213 RAM 1214 ROM 1215 Video interface 1216 Operation panel 1217 Data bus 1220 Engine unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 3/12

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image processing method comprising: selecting one of a plurality of interfaces for connecting a plurality of data sources; receiving print data from the selected interface; recording and outputting an image on a predetermined recording medium; A printing apparatus that receives the first print data from a first interface among the plurality of interfaces and performs a second process from the second interface during a series of processes for performing data processing of the first print data. Determining means for determining whether or not a request for receiving print data has been made; and when the determining means determines that there is a request for receiving the second print data, during a series of processing of the first print data, Alternatively selecting a second interface, receiving the second print data from the second interface, and selecting the second print data and the first print data Input means for distinguishably storing the print data; control means for controlling the start of the print processing for the second print data after the print processing for the first print data is completed; and And a notifying means for identifying the data source being received and notifying the operation panel of the data source being received in an identifiable manner. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the input unit inputs the print data in a predetermined unit, and the determination unit makes a determination for each predetermined unit. 3. When the determination means determines that there is a print data reception request from the second interface, the print data from the second interface is received by the input means as an input target. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a registration unit configured to register.