JP3254758B2 - Printing system - 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 comprising a host computer for generating print data and a printing device connected to the host computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the variety of connection methods between a host computer and a printer, FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a conventional printing system, and FIG. FIG. 11 is a diagram for describing a configuration example of a writing program of a host computer in different cases.

[0003] With the recent development of computer and communication technology, as shown in FIG.
Regarding the connection methods 3 to 36, an interface 41 employing channel control, an interface 42 employing LAN, an interface 43 employing MODEM, and an interface 4 configured through another computer 32
Various connection methods are provided as in FIG. Here, the print data generated by the host computer 31 is, of course, configured to be output to any of the printing devices 33 to 36, but if the connection method with each of the printing devices 33 to 36 is different, the printing The control methods of the devices 33 to 36 are also different. Therefore, the host computer 31 needs write programs (writers) 51 to 54 corresponding to each connection method as shown in FIG. In addition, the printing devices 33 to
36 also requires a print processing program corresponding to each connection method.

[0004]

As described above, the conventional printing system has the following two problems because the write-out program and the print processing program are individually provided for each connection method.

One is to load print control information and output print data as shown in FIG.
When it is desired to output print data generated for output to a certain printing device to another printing device, it is necessary to convert the print data into a data format suitable for a connection method with the other printing device, and this is performed. Therefore, a great load is imposed on the host computer such as reconstructing the print data based on the print control information as shown in FIG. 9B and outputting the print data.

The other is that since the print control method differs depending on the connection method and the function also differs, even when the same print data is output using the same print resource, as shown in FIG. 36, the output results Q1 to Q4 are not always obtained as exactly the same. That is, compatible output cannot be guaranteed.

An object of the present invention is to provide a printing system which eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, reduces the load on the host computer, and can easily assure print compatible output for any connection type printing apparatus. It is intended for.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a printing system comprising a host computer and a printing apparatus, wherein the host computer has a common connection method between the host computer and the printing apparatus, A host computer data processing unit that generates and outputs print information data composed of data and print data,
A host computer interface control unit that receives the print information data output from the host computer data processing unit and transfers the print information data to the printing device, the printing device comprising: A printing device interface control unit that receives the print information data transferred from the host computer interface control unit, which differs depending on a connection method between the host computer and the printing device, is common to a connection method between the host computer and the printing device, A printing device data processing unit that performs printing control based on the printing information data received by the printing device interface control unit.

[0009]

In the printing system of the present invention, the host computer has a common connection method between the host computer and the printing apparatus, and generates and outputs print information data including print control data and print data. And a host computer interface control unit that receives the print information data output from the host computer data processing unit and transfers the print information data to the printing device. Is different depending on the connection method between the host computer and the printing apparatus, and is common to the printing apparatus interface control section for receiving the print information data transferred from the host computer interface control section and the connection method between the host computer and the printing apparatus. And a printing device data processing unit that performs printing control based on the printing information data received by the printing device interface control unit, so that the printing device connected to the printing devices connected in various ways without imposing a large load on the host computer. Compatible output is possible.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing one embodiment of a printing system according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of print information data used in the printing system according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, in the host computer,
When print data is created by the application program 1, the print data is registered in a queue of the spool file 2 together with designated print control parameters. When the writing program 3 reads the print data and the print control parameters registered in the queue of the spool file 2, it expands the print control data from the print control parameters and prints the print data designated as the print data as shown in FIG. Configure the control data as a set of print information data,
The data is output to the I / F control circuit 4 in the form of data transfer.

As shown in FIG. 2, the print information data is a set of a plurality of print control data including a print control data index, a length, and print control data, and subsequent print data.

In the printing apparatus, when the data receiving program 6 receives the print information data as shown in FIG. 2 through the I / F control circuit 5, the print information data is separated into print control data and print data. And sends it to the print control unit 7.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a writing program of the host computer, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a data receiving program of the printing apparatus, and FIG. 5 explains a flow of processing of the writing program by a data processing unit. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the flow of processing by the data processing unit of the data receiving program.

The write program on the host computer is divided into a data processing unit 13 and an I / F control unit 14 as shown in FIG. 3, and when the data processing unit 13 reads the print control parameters and print data from the spool file 11, In the case of a print control parameter, a print control data index, print control data, length, and the like are read from the parameter library 12 based on the print control parameter and set in a buffer.
I do. As described above, the data processing unit 13 configures print control data designated as print data common to all connection methods into a set of print information data and outputs it in the form of data transfer, and the I / F control unit 3 The writing program on the host computer has a common interface with the data processing unit 14 although it differs depending on each connection method. Therefore, the data processing unit 13 and the I /
All interfaces with the F control unit 14 are PUT and W
This is performed by a standard command such as RITE or SEND, and print information data in which print data and print control data are bundled together is transmitted from the I / F control unit 14 to the I / F control unit 14.
/ F control circuit 15.

The data receiving program of the printing apparatus is shown in FIG.
Is divided into an I / F control unit 22 and a data processing unit 23. The I / F control unit 22 has a common interface with the data processing unit 5 although it differs depending on each connection method. Reference numeral 23 is common to all connection methods, and processes print information data in which print data and print control data as shown in FIG. The I / F control unit 22 receives the print information data shown in FIG. 2 while interfacing with the host computer through the I / F control circuit 21 and passes the print information data to the data processing unit 23. The interface between the I / F control unit 22 and the data processing unit 23 uses a data reception interrupt and GE
This is performed by a standard command such as T, READ, or RECIEVE. Therefore, if only the I / F control unit 22 and the I / F control circuit 21 are switched with the same model, any connection method can be supported.

Next, the flow of processing by the data processing section of the writing program and the data processing section of the data receiving program will be described with reference to FIGS.

As shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5, the data processing unit 13 of the writing program first opens a spool file (step S1), detects print control parameters, and print control data index, print control data, print control data. The length of the data is set in each buffer, and the contents of the buffer are written to the I / F control unit by WRI.
TE is performed (steps S2 to S6).

Returning to step S2, the same process is repeated until there is no more control data. When all the control data have been processed (step S7), the print data index is set in the buffer, and then the print data is set in the buffer. Then, the content is written to the I / F control unit (steps S8 to S10).

Returning to step S9, the same process is repeated until there is no more print data. When all print data has been processed (step S11), the spool file is closed (step S12), and the process is terminated.

As described above, the data processing unit 1 of the writing program, based on the print data output from the application program and the designated print control information, configures the print information data and sends the WRITE command to the I / F control unit 2. To output print information data. The data processing program is common to all connection methods.

When the data processing unit 5 of the data receiving program receives the data as shown in FIG. 6 (step S21), it reads the data and searches for the data type index of the print information data shown in FIG. It is determined whether the data is control data (steps S22 to S24).

In the case of the control data, the corresponding control data processing program is called (step S25). If there is more control data, the next control data is read, and the process returns to step S25 to repeat the same processing (steps S26 to S27). When the processing of the current control data ends, the process returns to step S22 (step S26).

If the control data is not the control data in the judgment processing in step S24, the received print data is formatted and the data is output to the print control unit (step S24).
28-S29). If there is more print data, the next print data is read, and the process returns to step S28 to repeat the same processing (steps S30 to S31). If the print data is completed, the processing ends (step S3).
0).

As described above, the data processing section 5 of the data receiving program performs the corresponding processing while recognizing the type of data, and drives the print control section.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the writing program generates the print information data shown in FIG. 2 and outputs the print information data to the I / F control circuit. However, the print information data registration unit for generating and registering the print information data is provided on the output side of the application program. The print information data registration means is used to generate print information data shown in FIG. 2 based on the print data output from the application program and the designated print control data, and temporarily generates the print information data in a spool file print queue. , It is also possible to perform compatible output using the conventional writing program as it is. In this case, since the print data and the print control data are simply synthesized, the burden on the host computer can be reduced as compared with the case where the print data is reconstructed as in the related art.

[0027]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the host computer has a common connection system between the host computer and the printing apparatus, and the print information data includes print control data and print data. And a host computer that receives the print information data output from the host computer data processing unit and transfers the print information data to the printing device, depending on the connection method between the host computer and the printing device. A printing device interface control unit that receives the print information data transferred from the host computer interface control unit, the printing device interface control unit including a host computer and the printing device. And printing equipment And a printing device data processing unit that performs printing control based on the printing information data received by the printing device interface control unit, so that various methods can be used without imposing a heavy load on the host computer. And compatible output can be made to the printing device connected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing one embodiment of a printing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of print information data used in a print system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a writing program of a host computer.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a data receiving program of the printing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a flow of processing by a data processing unit of the writing program.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a flow of a process performed by a data processing unit of the data reception program.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the variety of connection methods between a host computer and a printer.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a conventional printing system.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a writing program of a host computer when a connection method with a printing apparatus is different.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Application program, 2 ... Spool file, 3 ... Writing program, 4 ... I / F control circuit, 5
... I / F control circuit, 6 ... Data receiving program, 7 ... Print control unit

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A printing system comprising a host computer and a printing apparatus, wherein the host computer has a common connection system between the host computer and the printing apparatus, and prints print information data including print control data and print data. A host computer data processing unit for generating and outputting, and a host computer interface for receiving the print information data output from the host computer data processing unit and transferring the print information data to the printing device, depending on a connection method between the host computer and the printing device. A printing device interface control unit for receiving the print information data transferred from the host computer interface control unit, the printing device interface control unit comprising: A common to connection method collected by the computer and the printing apparatus, printing system, comprising a printing apparatus data processing unit that performs printing control based on the print information data that the printing device interface control unit receives. 2. A host computer connected to a printing apparatus, wherein the host computer and the printing apparatus have a common connection method, and generate and output print information data including print control data and print data. A host computer comprising: a processing unit; and an interface control unit that receives the print information data output from the data processing unit and transfers the print information data to the printing device, depending on a connection method between the host computer and the printing device. . 3. A printing apparatus connected to a host computer, which receives print information data composed of print control data and print data transferred from the host computer, the printing information data being different depending on a connection method between the printing apparatus and the host computer. An interface control unit, and a printing device data processing unit which is common to a connection method between a printing device and a host computer and performs print control based on the print information data received by the interface control unit. apparatus.