JP3019306B2 - Printing device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for printing one file data.
The present invention relates to a printer capable of printing other file data by interruption. 2. Description of the Related Art In recent printers, an input buffer with a large amount is provided so that a host computer can continuously transmit a fixed amount of data irrespective of a printing operation and reduce transmission waiting time. In the case of using a printer having such an input buffer, the host computer transmits all of one file data to be printed to the input buffer, and then executes another job without waiting for completion of the printing operation. Can be. Thus, when the capacity of the input buffer is large, there is an advantage that the operation efficiency of the host computer is good. [Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, when one file data is being printed, there is a case where it is urgent to print another file data. If the capacity of the buffer is large, it is necessary to wait for a long time until all the data stored in the input buffer is printed.
For this reason, especially in the case of urgent need, there is no other method than turning off the printer during the printing operation, forcibly stopping the printing operation, and printing other file data. For this reason, there is a problem that the usability of the printer is poor and the working efficiency is reduced. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to enable a simple operation to temporarily suspend a printing operation and enable interruption printing of other file data. That is. [Means for Solving the Problems] A configuration of the invention for solving the above problems is to generate an interrupt signal in a printing apparatus that prints according to data input to an input buffer as shown in FIG. Interrupt signal generating means, an interrupt detecting means for detecting an interrupt signal, a free space amount detecting means for detecting a free space amount of an input buffer, and a printing operation of data input to the input buffer. When the interrupt signal is detected by the interrupt detection means, and when the free space amount detected by the free space amount detection means is equal to or greater than the predetermined area amount, the printing operation is interrupted after printing to the end of the page. Interrupt control means, format data saving means for saving format data when the printing operation is interrupted,
Interrupt data input means for inputting interrupt data to be printed in an empty area of the input buffer, interrupt data printing means for performing printing in accordance with the interrupt data, and saving of format data after interrupt data printing is completed. Interrupt release means for using the format data saved in the means as the current format data and restarting printing from the print data of the next page after the printing operation stored in the input buffer is interrupted. And When a print operation is being executed in accordance with the data input to the input buffer, an interrupt signal generating means is operated to perform interrupt printing. When the interrupt signal generated by the interrupt signal generating means is detected by the interrupt detecting means, the free area amount of the input buffer is detected by the free area amount detecting means. If the interrupt signal is detected and the free space amount detected by the free space amount detecting means is equal to or greater than the predetermined area amount, the printing is performed by the interrupt control means after the end of the page is printed. Is interrupted. Then, the format data of the currently printed file data is saved and stored by the format data saving means. Thereafter, file data to be subjected to interrupt printing is received from the host computer by the interrupt data input means, the data is input to an empty area of the input buffer, and the interrupt data printing means prints the interrupt data. When the printing of the interrupt data is completed, the format data saved in the format data saving means by the interrupt canceling means is set as the current format data, and after the printing operation stored in the input buffer is interrupted. The printing operation is restarted from the printing data of the next page. Only by operating the interrupt signal generating means by the above operation, after printing is completed to the end of the page with good cutting, interrupt printing of other file data becomes possible, and when printing of the original file is resumed, Data is printed from the next page after the interrupted page. Therefore, usability and work efficiency of the printer are improved. Further, after the printing at the end of the page where the free space amount of the input buffer is equal to or more than the predetermined area amount is completed, the printing is interrupted, so that a certain amount of data for the interrupt printing is surely input to the input buffer. Therefore, the efficiency of interrupt printing is improved. EXAMPLES Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on specific examples. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the printer according to the embodiment. A central processing unit (hereinafter, referred to as a “CPU”) 1 constituting a control device of the printer P has a ROM 2, a RAM 3, an input / output interface 4, 5, 6 via an address bus, a data bus and a control bus.
Are connected respectively. The ROM 2 stores a print control program including various function processing routines, font patterns, and the like. The RAM 3 also has an input buffer 31 having a FIFO (First In First Out) configuration for temporarily storing input data, a line buffer 32 for creating a character pattern for one line, and a printer P which is detected when an interrupt signal is detected. There is provided an interrupt flag 33 for setting the print mode, and a format data memory 34 for storing the current format data of the file data for which the printing operation is interrupted. Drive units 7, 8, and 9 are connected to the input / output interfaces 4, 5, and 6, respectively, and each drive unit moves a LF motor 10 for feeding and a carriage equipped with a print head. A CR motor 11 to be driven and a printing solenoid 12 for driving an impact wire are connected to each other. Further, the input / output interface 6 is connected to an interrupt switch 13 constituting an interrupt signal generating means and an interrupt display lamp 14 for displaying that the apparatus is in an interrupt print mode. The input interface 15 of the printer P is connected to the input / output interface 16 of the host computer 17, and the print data stored in the RAM 18 of the host computer 17 is transmitted to the printer P by the host computer 17 and the input buffer The data is stored in the CPU 31 and printed by the processing of the CPU 1 of the printer P. Next, the processing procedure of the CPU 1 of the printer P will be described with reference to the timing chart of FIG. 3, the flowcharts of FIGS. 4 and 5, and the memory map of the input buffer of FIG. By turning on or resetting the power of the printer P, the main program shown in FIG. 5 is started. Step 20 (below,
Indicated as “S20”. In the following steps, the input buffer 31 is cleared together with various initial settings, and the interrupt flag 33 is set.
Is initially set to off, and the next high S21 BUS
The Y signal is set to the L level. That is, in the timing chart of FIG. 3, the BUSY signal becomes L level at time t1, the printer P becomes NOT BUSY, and the host computer
It becomes possible to receive data from 17. Next, the process proceeds to S22, where it is determined whether or not there is data in the input buffer 31. In the first execution cycle, since there is no data in the input buffer 31, the determination result in S22 is NO.
And returns to S21. BUSY already in the first execution cycle
The signal is at L level, and once the signal level of the BUSY signal is set, it is latched until the next setting. Therefore, the processes of S21 and S22 are repeated until the power of the printer P is turned on and the data is received from the host computer 17. On the other hand, when the host computer 17 executes the printer output routine, the printer output routine executes
The level of the BUSY signal is determined. When the BUSY signal is at the L level, it means that the printer P is in a receivable state. At time t2, it is detected that the BUSY signal is at the L level, and an 8-bit parallel DATA signal is output.
At time t3, an active-low ￣ signal giving the signal read timing is output. When this active-low ▲ ￣ ▼ signal is input to the input / output interface 15,
(4) The signal is input to the CPU 1 as an interrupt signal, and the interrupt program shown in FIG. 4 is executed. At time t3 when S1 is executed, the host computer
The BUSY signal goes high to prohibit the next data transmission from 17.
Level. Then, in the next S2, it is determined whether or not the interrupt flag 33 is on. However, in the first execution cycle, since the interrupt flag 33 is off, the determination in S2 is NO and the process shifts to S3. In S3, the data for one character input to the input / output interface 15 is read and the data is stored in the input buffer.
The FIFO parameters such as the start data address, end data address, and data length of the input buffer 31 are updated in the next S4. Next, in S5, in order to notify the host computer 17 of the confirmation of the data reception, at time t4 when S5 is executed,
Time t5 when the signal goes low and S6 is executed
The signal is changed to H level. As a result, a negative pulse and an active low signal are output to the host computer 17 via the input / output interface 15. Then, in S7, it is determined whether or not an empty area exists in the input buffer 31.Since an empty area exists in the input buffer 31 in the first execution cycle, the process proceeds to S8 and the reception of the next data is permitted. To notify the host computer 17
At time t5 when S8 is executed, input / output interface 15
And the BUSY signal is changed to the L level, and the processing of the interrupt program ends. When the interrupt program ends, CPU1
Returns to the loop of S21 and S22 of the main program of FIG. On the other hand, if the host computer 17 detects that the BUSY signal has become L level and there is transmission data, the next 8-bit parallel DATA signal is output at time t6, and the ▲ ￣ ▼ signal is output at time t7. Output to the printer P. And CPU1
In response to the signal, the interrupt program shown in FIG. 4 is executed again to perform data reception processing. In this way, by repeating the processing of S1 to S8 of the interrupt program, as shown in FIG.
All data of the file A to be printed are stored. Next, returning to FIG. 5, when data is input to the input buffer 31 and the determination in S22 is YES, the process proceeds to S23, where it is determined whether or not the interrupt flag 33 is off. Since the interrupt flag 33 is off in the first execution cycle of S23, the determination in S23 is Y
The flow then goes to S24, where the data for one line is read from the input buffer 31, the print pattern for one line is formed in the line buffer 32, and the print processing for one line is performed. Then, the one-line print data printed in the next S25 is deleted from the input buffer 31, and in the next S26, the FIFO in the input buffer 31 is deleted.
The parameters are updated, and it is determined in next S27 whether or not the interrupt switch 13 is on. If the interrupt switch 13 is not turned on, the interrupt switch 13 is determined to be off and S22
Then, the printing processing of the next line is sequentially executed by the above processing. As the printing process progresses, the memory map of the input buffer 31 deletes the data for which printing has been completed from the input buffer 31 as shown in FIG. In this way, when the data of the file A input to the input buffer 31 is being printed, the interrupt switch
When the button 13 is operated, the determination in S27 becomes YES, and in the next S28, the interruption display lamp 14 is blinked to indicate that the interruption switch 13 is received. Then, in S29, file A
It is determined whether the data has been printed to the end of the page.
The on / off state of the interrupt switch 13 is inverted each time the operation is performed, and the on / off state is latched until the next operation. If the data of the file A has not been printed to the end of the page, the flow returns to S22, and the above-described printing process is continued until the printing to the end of the page is completed in S29.
14 is blinking. In S29, it is determined that the end of the page has been printed, and in the next S30, it is determined whether or not the empty area of the input buffer 31 has a predetermined capacity or more capable of performing interrupt printing. Then, the printing is continued until the end of the page where the empty area of the input buffer 31 is equal to or larger than the predetermined capacity, and the interrupt lamp 14 is blinking. If the empty area of the input buffer 31 is equal to or larger than the predetermined capacity, the determination in S30 is YES, and the process shifts to S31. At S31, the interrupt indicator lamp 14 is turned on. At the next S32, the head data address, data end address, and data length of the file A stored in the input buffer 31 at that time are stored. The format data is stored in the format data memory 34. At this time, the memory map of the input buffer 31 is in the state shown in FIG. 6 (c).
Is defined as a sub-buffer for inputting the data of the sub-buffer, and FIFO parameters of the sub-buffer such as a head data address and an end data address of the sub-buffer are initialized. Then, the interrupt flag 33 is set on in S35, and the process returns to S23. At this time, since the interrupt flag 33 was set to ON in S35, S
The stability at 23 becomes NO, and the flow shifts to S36. In S36, it is determined whether or not data exists in the sub-buffer.However, in the first execution cycle, there is no data in the sub-buffer, so the determination in S36 becomes NO, and the process proceeds to S37 to execute the interrupt switch.
It is determined whether or not the interrupt switch 13 is off. If the interrupt switch 13 is not off, the process returns to S21, and the BUSY signal is set to the L level.
Then, S21, S22, S23, S36, and S37 are repeatedly executed until it is determined in S36 that data has been input to the sub-buffer. During this time, the BUSY signal is at the L level, so that the file data of the file B can be transmitted from the host computer 17. When the data is transmitted from the host computer 17, the BUSY signal is synchronized with the ▲ ￣ ▼ signal in FIG. Is started. In FIG.
At S1, the BUSY signal is set to the H level, and at S2, it is determined whether or not the interrupt flag 33 is on. At this time, since the interrupt flag 33 is on, the process proceeds to S9 and the input / output interface 15 The received data is stored in the sub-buffer, and in the next S10, the FIFO parameter of the sub-buffer is updated. Then, the process proceeds to S5 and thereafter, the above-mentioned signal is output, and the BUSY signal is set to the L level to receive the next data. Thus, the data of the file B is stored in the sub-buffer as shown in FIG. 6 (d). When the data is input to the sub-buffer, the determination in S36 of the main program in FIG. 5 becomes YES, and the flow shifts to S38 to execute the one-line printing process of the data in the sub-buffer in the same manner as in S24. Then, in the next S39, as shown in FIG.
The one-line print data printed from the sub-buffer is deleted, and the FIFO parameters of the sub-buffer are updated in S40. Next, in S41, it is determined whether or not the sub-buffer is at the data end. If not, the process returns to S36 and the printing process of the file B input to the sub-buffer is continued as described above. If the sub-buffer is determined to be data end in S41, S
The process proceeds to 40, where it is determined whether or not the interrupt switch 13 is off. If the interrupt switch 13 is not turned off, it is further assumed that there is a file C to be subjected to interrupt printing following the file B, and after executing the processing of S34 and S35 as described above,
Return to S23. Then, as described above, S23, S36, S37,
Steps S21 and S22 are repeated. During this time, if the data of the file C is input from the host computer 17, the data of the file C is printed in the same manner as the data of the file B described above. On the other hand, while printing file B or waiting for reception of data of file C (while executing S23, S36, S37, S21, S22),
When the interrupt switch 13 is turned off, the determination at S42 after the printing is completed or the determination at S37 during the data reception waiting is YES, and the process proceeds to S43. In S43, the FIFO parameters of the input buffer 31 relating to the file A saved in S32 are restored.
At 33, the format data at the time of interrupting the printing of the file A saved in the format data memory 34 is restored. Then, the interrupt display lamp 14 is turned off in S45, the interrupt flag is turned off in S46, and the process returns to S23. At this time, the memory map of the input buffer 31 becomes as shown in FIG. Flag 33 is S46
Was turned off, so the determination in S23 was YES, and
S24 and subsequent steps are executed. That is, the printing of the data of the file A remaining in the input buffer 31 is restarted, and the data of the file A is sequentially input to the input buffer 31 as the printing progresses as shown in FIG. Erase from buffer 31. If the interrupt switch 13 is turned on again after the printing of the file A is restarted, another file can be interrupt-printed again. In the above embodiment, since all the data of the file A is input to the input buffer 31 at one time, the host computer 17 has already finished the printing program of the file A during the printing operation. Therefore, since the host computer 17 only needs to execute the print program for another file B after operating the interrupt switch 13, it is not necessary to notify the host computer of the on / off state of the interrupt switch 13. However, if the on / off state of the interrupt switch 13 is notified to the host computer 17, the host computer 17 detects the on state of the interrupt switch 13 and
Since the execution of the printing program of the file B can be temporarily suspended and the printing program of the file B can be executed, it is not necessary to transmit all the data of the file A to the input buffer 31 at one time. The interrupt signal generating means for setting the interrupt print mode may be constituted by means for transmitting an interrupt command from the host computer 17. In this case, the input data may be determined when one character data is input by the interrupt program of FIG. 4, and the interrupt print mode may be set when an interrupt command is received. As shown in FIG. 7, when the interrupt switch 13 is turned on to input data to be subjected to interrupt printing, the first file data stored in the input buffer 31 is re-started from the head address of the input buffer 31. The sub-buffer composed of empty areas may be formed thereafter. According to the present invention, there is provided a free space amount detecting means for detecting a free space amount of an input buffer, and an interrupt signal is detected during a data printing operation, and the detected free space amount of the input buffer is detected. If it is more than the predetermined area amount, after printing to the end of the page,
Interrupt control means for interrupting a printing operation, format data saving means for saving format data when the printing operation is interrupted, interrupt data input means for inputting interrupt data to a free area of an input buffer; The print data printing means and, after the completion of the printing of the interrupt data, the format data saved in the format data saving means as the current format data, and the printing restarting from the print data of the next page after the printing operation is interrupted. Release means. Therefore, when one file data is being printed, after the printing is completed up to the end of a well-cut page so that the data input area for interrupt printing can be reliably secured in the input buffer, another file is printed. Interrupt printing of data becomes possible. For this reason, the data amount of the interrupt printing can be secured to a predetermined amount or more, and the efficiency of the interrupt printing is improved. Further, when printing of the original file is resumed, data is printed from the page following the interrupted page, which improves the usability and work efficiency of the printer. In particular, since the printing is interrupted in page units, it is easy to manage the classification of the printing paper. Also, the file data to be subjected to the interrupt printing is input to the empty area of the input buffer storing the data of the original file, and the data input to the empty area is interrupt-printed. The utilization efficiency is increased, and the manufacturing cost of the printer can be reduced. Further, when printing is interrupted after printing at the end of the page where the empty area of the input buffer is equal to or larger than the predetermined capacity,
Since the data for the interrupt printing is surely input to the input buffer by a certain amount, the efficiency of the interrupt printing is improved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the concept of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a printing apparatus according to a specific embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a timing chart showing data input to the printer. 4 and 5 show the CPU used in the printing device, respectively.
5 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a memory configuration of an input buffer. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a memory configuration of an input buffer according to another modification. P ... Printer, 1 ... CPU, 3 ... RAM, 13 ... Interrupt switch, 14 ... Interrupt indicator lamp, 15, 16 ... I / O interface, 17 ... Host computer, 31 ... Input buffer , 32 ... line buffer, 33 ... interrupt flag, 34
...... Format data memory

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] In a printing apparatus for printing in accordance with data input to an input buffer, an interrupt signal generating means for generating an interrupt signal, an interrupt detecting means for detecting the interrupt signal, and detecting a free space amount of the input buffer Empty area amount detecting means, when the interrupt signal is detected by the interrupt detecting means during the printing operation of the data input to the input buffer, and is detected by the empty area amount detecting means. Interrupt control means for interrupting the printing operation after printing to the end of the page when the empty space amount is equal to or more than the predetermined area amount; format data saving means for saving format data when the printing operation is interrupted; Interrupt data input means for inputting interrupt data to be printed by interruption into an empty area of the input buffer; interrupt data printing means for performing printing in accordance with the interrupt data; After the printing of the data is completed, the format data saved in the format data saving means is used as the current format data, and printing is restarted from the print data of the next page after the printing operation stored in the input buffer is interrupted. A printing device comprising: an interrupt canceling unit. 2. The interrupt control unit detects when the interrupt signal is detected by the interrupt detection unit during the printing operation of the data input to the input buffer and is detected by the free space detection unit. 2. The printing method according to claim 1, wherein when the free space amount is not equal to or more than the predetermined area amount, the printing operation is interrupted after printing to the end of the page where the free space amount of the input buffer is equal to or more than the predetermined area amount. The printing device according to the above.