JP3275329B2 - Printer and control method thereof - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control device for a printer which is connected to a host computer via a transmission line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there have been provided two or more paper detectors for detecting the presence or absence of printer paper, the printing operation of the printer is controlled by the state of the paper detector, and the state of the paper detector is transmitted to a host computer. Many printer control devices to be notified have been put to practical use. In these, there is no means for selecting an arbitrary paper detector from two or more paper detectors for detecting the presence or absence of printer paper, and only the presence or absence of printer paper is detected by a selection means fixed in advance.

[0003] The above-mentioned pre-fixed selecting means is a means for detecting the absence of paper in the printer when all the paper detectors detect the absence of paper, or a means for detecting absence of paper in at least one of the paper detectors. It is means for detecting the absence of printer paper. The control of the printing operation of the printer is performed based on the presence or absence of the printer paper by the previously fixed selection means.

A method of notifying the host computer of the presence or absence of printer paper is a method of outputting the presence or absence of printer paper by the above-mentioned fixed selection means to one transmission line to notify the host computer. In this method, the same number of transmission lines as necessary paper detectors are prepared, the state of one paper detector is assigned to one transmission line, and the state of only the allocated paper detector is notified to the host computer.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, printing is stopped by selecting a necessary paper detector at that time from two or more paper detectors for detecting the presence or absence of printer paper. There was a problem that it could not be done.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to select a plurality of paper detectors for detecting the presence or absence of printer paper provided in a printer by using a control command of a host computer.
An object of the present invention is to provide a printer capable of stopping a printing operation of a printer by selecting a predetermined detector to be detected and a control method thereof.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a printer comprising: (1) a plurality of paper detectors for respectively detecting the presence / absence state of printer paper; a means for receiving a control command from a host computer; Thus, a deciding unit that decides whether or not each of the plurality of paper detectors is a paper detector for stopping printing, and the paper detector is determined as a paper detector for stopping printing by the determining unit. And print stop control means for stopping the printing operation of the printing mechanism when the determined paper detector detects that there is no printer paper. (2) When it is determined that the paper detector is not a paper detector for stopping printing, the determined paper detector is:
It is not involved in the print stop processing of the printing mechanism. Also, in the method of controlling a printer according to the present invention, in the method of controlling a printer including a plurality of paper detectors for respectively detecting the presence or absence of printer paper, a step of receiving a control command from a host computer; A determining step of determining whether or not each of the plurality of paper detectors is a paper detector for stopping printing by a command; and determining the paper detector as a paper detector for stopping printing by the determining unit. And a printing stop step of stopping the printing operation of the printing mechanism when the determined paper detector detects that there is no printer paper.

[0008]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printer control device according to the present invention. In FIG.
Is a paper detector which is opened when the printer paper is not detected, and the detector selection means 4 is required from among the paper detectors 1, 2, and 3 by a control command from the host computer 7 via the interface 6. The stop control means 8 stops the printing operation of the printing mechanism 9 according to the state of the paper detector selected by the detector selection means.

The transmission control means 5 detects the state of the paper detector selected by the detector selection means and notifies the host computer 7 of the result of performing a predetermined operation via the interface 6. I have.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of one embodiment of a control command from the host computer to the stop control means.
“ESC + c + 4 + n” indicated by 10 is an example of a control command, and a paper detector that detects the presence or absence of printer paper is selected by the argument n. 11 is the argument n
And a table showing an example of the function of the control command. For example, one bit corresponds to one paper detector, and if the corresponding bit is “1”, the paper detector is selected, and “0” is selected. If it does, it is not selected and all combinations of paper detectors are possible. Thus, it is also possible not to select all paper detectors, which indicates that a paper detector can be created that is not attached to the printer.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of one embodiment of a control command from the host computer to the transmission control means.
“ESC + c + 1 + n” indicated by reference numeral 12 is an example of a control command, and a paper detector for detecting the presence or absence of printer paper is selected according to the argument n. 13 is the argument n
And a table showing an example of the function of the control command. For example, one bit corresponds to one paper detector, and if the corresponding bit is “1”, the paper detector is selected, and “0” is selected. If it does, it is not selected and all combinations of paper detectors are possible. Therefore, it is possible not to select all the paper detectors, which indicates that the paper detector can be applied to a model that is not attached to the printer.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a circuit constituting detector selection means, stop control means, and transmission control means according to the present invention, wherein reference numerals 20, 21, and 22 denote pull-up resistors 23 and In combination, this is a paper detector that is opened when a printer paper empty state is detected. CPU 24,
A microcomputer is constituted by a ROM 25, a RAM 26, and the like, and receives a signal indicating the presence or absence of printer paper from the paper detector and a control command from a host computer 28 via an interface 27, and outputs a paper corresponding to the control command. It is configured to select a detector, stop the printing operation of the printing mechanism 29 according to the state of the sheet detector, and detect the state of the sheet detector to notify the host computer 28 of the state of the sheet detector. . RO
M25 includes a program for interpreting the control command from the host computer 28 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 and selecting only a necessary paper detector, a program for stopping the printing operation of the printing mechanism 29 depending on the state of the paper detector, A program for notifying the host computer 28 of the state of the sheet detector is stored. The RAM 26 is used as a temporary memory for flags and the like necessary for the program.

Next, the operation of the apparatus constructed as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of the detector selection means shown in FIG. 3, the flowchart of the stop control means shown in FIG. 4, and the flowchart of the transmission control means shown in FIG. Will be explained.

The detector selecting means of FIG. 3 determines the value of the first bit of the argument n in the control command of FIG. 6 or 7 based on the result of interpreting the control command from the host computer (step 30). If "0" is set, "0" is set to a paper detector 1 selection flag indicating that the paper detector 1 has been selected (step 31). If "1", the flag is set to "1". (Step 32). Next, the second bit is determined (step 33), and the paper detector 2 selection flag is set (steps 34 and 35). Next, the third bit is determined (step 36), and the paper detector 3 selection flag is set (steps 37 and 38).

The stop control means shown in FIG. 4 determines on which paper detector the printing stop processing is to be performed based on the control command and the state of the paper detector selection flag determined by the detector selection means. Things.

In the processing for the paper detector 1, the state of the paper detector 1 selection flag is determined (step 40), and if the result is "0", the processing shifts to the processing for the paper detector 2, and if it is "1". If it is, the state of the paper detector 1 is detected and judged (step 41). If the result is "paper present", the processing shifts to the processing for the paper detector 2, and if "paper out", the printing stop processing (step 46). Move to.

In the processing for the paper detector 2, the state of the paper detector 2 selection flag is determined (step 42). If the result is "0", the processing shifts to the processing for the paper detector 3, and if "1", If there is, the state of the paper detector 2 is detected and determined (step 43). If the result is "paper present", the processing shifts to the processing for the paper detector 3, and if "paper out", the printing stop processing (step 46). ).

The processing for the paper detector 3 judges the state of the paper detector 3 selection flag (step 44). If the result is "0", the processing is terminated. The state is detected and determined (step 45). If the result is "paper present", the process is terminated.

The transmission control means of FIG. 5 determines which paper detector status to notify the host computer based on the control command and the status of the paper detector selection flag determined by the detector selection device. is there.

In the processing for the paper detector 1, the state of the paper detector 1 selection flag is determined (step 50), and if the result is "0", the processing shifts to the processing for the paper detector 2, and if it is "1". If it is, the state of the paper detector 1 is judged (step 51).
"0" is set (step 52), and if "no paper", "1" is set in the memory 1 (step 53), and the process proceeds to the paper detector 2.

In the processing for the paper detector 2, the state of the paper detector 2 selection flag is determined (step 54), and if the result is "0", the processing shifts to the processing for the paper detector 3, and if "1". If there is, the state of the paper detector 2 is determined (step 55).
"0" is set (step 56), and if "no paper", "1" is set in the memory 2 (step 57) and the process proceeds to the paper detector 3.

In the processing for the paper detector 3, the state of the paper detector 3 selection flag is determined (step 58). If the result is "0", the process proceeds to post-processing. If the result is "1", the paper is detected. The state of the container 3 is determined (step 59), and the result is "
If "paper is present", "0" is set in the memory 3 (step 60). If "paper is not present", "1" is set in the memory 3 (step 61), and the process proceeds to post-processing.

In the post-processing, the logical sum of the memory 1, the memory 2 and the memory 3 is calculated (step 62), and the result is notified to the host computer via the interface (step 63).

The flowcharts of FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 show an embodiment in which three paper detectors for detecting the presence or absence of printer paper are provided. The determination of the control command and the setting of the paper detector selection flag for the number of paper detectors of the printer are repeated.

Thereafter, the determination of the paper selection flag and the detection and determination of the state of the paper detector are executed by the number of paper detectors, and the process proceeds to the print stop processing based on the result.
The number of the sheet selection flags is determined by the number of the sheet detectors, the state of the sheet detector is detected, and the result is notified to the host computer.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, a paper detector for detecting the presence or absence of printer paper can be selected in an arbitrary combination by a control command from a host computer. The printing operation of the printer can be stopped only by the state of the paper detector.

[0027]

[0028]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printer control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a detector selection unit, a stop control unit, and a transmission control unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a detector selection unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing stop control means according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing transmission control means according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of a control command from a host computer to a stop control unit.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of a control command from a host computer to a transmission control unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Paper detector 1 which detects the presence of printer paper 1 2 ... Paper detector 2 which detects the presence of printer paper 3 3 ... Paper detector 34 which detects the presence or absence of printer paper Unit selection means 5 Transmission control means 6 Interface 7 Host computer 8 Stop control means 9 Printing mechanism

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-2-182475 (JP, A) JP-A-63-210958 (JP, A) JP-A-2-39967 (JP, A) JP-A-1- 139468 (JP, A) JP-A-2-120068 (JP, A) JP-A-63-258326 (JP, A) JP-A-63-106646 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 29/38 B41J 11/42 B41J 29/48

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of paper detectors for respectively detecting the presence or absence of printer paper, a means for receiving a control command from a host computer, and a print stop for each of the plurality of paper detectors according to the received control command. Determining means for determining whether or not to use a paper detector for printing; and the paper detector is determined as a paper detector for stopping printing by the determining means, and the determined paper detector is a printer paper. And a printing stop control means for stopping a printing operation of the printing mechanism when the absence is detected. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein when the paper detector is determined not to be a paper detector for stopping printing, the determined paper detector does not participate in a printing stop process of a printing mechanism. Item 1. The printer according to Item 1. 3. A method for controlling a printer including a plurality of paper detectors for respectively detecting the presence / absence of paper in a printer, the method comprising: receiving a control command from a host computer; A determination step of determining whether or not each of the paper detectors is a paper detector for stopping printing, and the paper detector is determined as a paper detector for stopping printing by the determination means. A printing stop step of stopping the printing operation of the printing mechanism when the detected paper detector detects that there is no printer paper.