JP3305276B2 - Print data output device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a print data output device which is connectable to a plurality of printers and outputs print data to the connected printers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of print data output apparatus, a plurality of connected printers are sequentially selected, print data is output, and the data is printed by the printer.

[0003]

However, in the above-described conventional print data output apparatus, a printer is selected and print data is output without determining the contents of a print job to be printed and the functions of each printer. For example, in some cases, print data to be printed on both sides is output to a printer having no double-sided printing function, and desired printing cannot be performed.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a print data output apparatus capable of selecting a printer suitable for a print job relating to print data to be printed on both sides and performing printing.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a printer is
Print job receiving means for receiving a print job;
Whether the received print job includes the specification for duplex printing
Double-sided print designation determining means for determining whether or not to perform
The specification determination unit has determined that the specification of double-sided printing is included.
As a print job output destination,
Printer to select a printer that can print on both sides
Print job output device der and a printer selection means
You .

[0006] The present invention also provides a method for printing from an external device.
A print job receiving step of receiving the job,
Whether the specified print job includes the specification of double-sided printing
Double-sided print designation determining step of determining
In the determination process, the printer that is determined to include the designation of double-sided printing
Print destinations for multiple jobs
Printer to select a printer capable of duplex printing
A print job output method having a data selection step .

[0007]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The print data output device of the present invention is configured as a printer buffer device 14 shown in FIG. 1 in this embodiment. The printer buffer device 14 is connected to n printers 11 to 13 via a printer interface line 19 and connected to m host computers 15 to 18 via a host interface line 110.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining an outline of the processing in the printer buffer device 14.

The input data 21 to 23 are input data from the connected host computers 15 to 18, respectively.

Further, as processing means, switching means 24 for selecting input data 21 to 23 from each of the host computers 15 to 18, judgment means 25 for judging a break in a print job, and generating a break signal for a print job. A signal generation unit 26, a command generation unit 27 for generating a job offset command for the printer, a printer control unit 28 for controlling the printers 11 to 13,
Status receiving means 212 for receiving status information such as errors from the printers 11 to 13 is provided.

Next, in the above configuration, the input data 21
23, any one of the data is selected by the switching means 24. Then, the break of the print job of the selected data is monitored by the judging means 25, and no other input is accepted until the signal generating means 26 instructs the switching means 24 based on the judgment result.

On the other hand, a job offset command is issued by the command generation means 27 to the selected printers 11 to 13.

The status of the connected printer is monitored by the status receiving unit 212, and when an error or the like occurs, the status is reported to the printer control unit 28.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of the printer buffer device 14.

The printer buffer device 14 is a one-chip microcomputer 128 for controlling the entire device.
And a crystal oscillator 129 for sending a clock to the one-chip microcomputer 128, and a host interface input / output buffer 12 to which a host computer is connected.
01, a printer interface input / output buffer 1202 to which the printer is connected, a RAM 1203 for temporarily storing print data, and a data bus 1207.
And an address bus 1208.

The one-chip microcomputer 128 outputs a host interface control signal 1204, a printer interface control signal 1205, a RAM control signal 1206, and the like.

Next, in the above configuration, the buffer 120
The print data input to the host computer 1 from the interface of the host computer is controlled by the one-chip microcomputer 128 and transmitted to the RAM by a control signal 1204.
1203 is input.

At the same time, a job offset command is issued to the printer by the one-chip microcomputer 128 through the buffer 1202.
03, the data corresponding to the control signal 1206 is stored in the buffer 1
It is sent to the printer via 202.

An example of program control controlled by the one-chip microcomputer 128 will be described below.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing, as a first control example, an operation in which a job offset command is issued to the printer for each print job to discharge paper to a different position for each print job.

First, a print job is started when print data is sent from the host computer to the printer buffer device.

First, one printer connected to the printer buffer device is selected (S32), and transmission of print data to the printer is started (S33).

Then, it is determined whether or not the print job has been completed (S34). If data transmission from the host computer is continuing, the transmission of print data is continued. Is issued to the printer (S35), and the printer performs an offset operation. Thus, the sheet discharge position in the current print job is distinguished from the sheet discharge position in the next print job.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a sheet discharge state when such an offset command is executed. As shown in the drawing, each of the documents 71 to 73 is discharged to a shifted position for every three print jobs. As a result, a necessary print job result can be easily obtained.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an outline of a discharge section having a function of shifting the discharge position of a sheet.

In this embodiment, when the discharge position of the sheet 75 is shifted, when the sheet is conveyed to the discharge roller 91, the discharge roller 91 is held in the axial direction (see FIG. Move in the direction of the middle arrow X).

As a result, the discharge position of the sheet 75 is changed, and an offset discharge state as shown in FIG. 5 can be obtained.

The discharge roller 91 and its drive shaft 9
The movement of No. 2 can be obtained by a moving mechanism (not shown) using a motor or the like as a driving source, and by controlling the amount of movement in multiple stages, it is possible to obtain a large number of offset discharge positions.

The discharge tray 93 is formed to be wide to cope with the offset discharge of the sheet.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing, as a second control example, the operation of causing the printer to perform an offset operation for each host computer, thereby discharging paper to a different position for each host computer.

First, a print job is started when print data is sent from the host computer to the printer buffer device.

First, the host I for each host computer
D is recognized (S42), and the host ID is determined (S43 to S43).
45), different job offset commands are set (S46 to S48).

Then, the offset command determined in this way is issued to the printer (S49). Thus, a different sheet discharge position is determined for each host computer. The specific discharge position is, for example, the same as that shown in FIG.

Next, the print data is sent to the printer (S410), and the sending of the print data is continued until the end of the print job. When the print data is ended (S411), a series of print jobs is ended.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing, as a third control example, an error recovery operation in which the printer buffer device automatically selects another printer when an error occurs in a printer during execution of a print job. .

First, a print job is started when print data is sent from the host computer to the printer buffer device.

First, a printer for sending print data from the printer buffer device is selected (S52).

Then, the print data is sent to the printer (S53), and it is monitored whether or not the print operation is normally performed in the printer (S54). When a printer error does not occur, the print job is completed by repeating the above-described series of operations until the print is completed (S55). However, when an error occurs during the printing operation, error recovery is performed (S56). That is, by returning to S52 and selecting another printer, if the printing operation with the other printer can be continued, the printing operation is continued using the other printer without interrupting the print job, A series of print jobs is completed by the print end (S55).

FIG. 9 shows a fourth control example which is a feature of the present invention, and is a flowchart showing an operation of automatically selecting a printer suitable for a print job and performing printout.

The print job request from the host computer to the printer buffer device 14 includes information specifying the size of the paper and the one-sided or two-sided printing as the print mode. Therefore, the printer buffer device 14 selects a suitable printer using such designation information as a printer selection condition.

In FIG. 9, first, a print job is started by sending print data from the host computer.

First, at S62, one printer connected to the printer buffer device 14 is selected, and at S6
In step 3, it is determined whether the host computer matches the printer selection condition required by the host computer.

That is, when the print job requested from the host computer includes the designation of double-sided printing, the printer buffer device 14 determines whether or not the printer selected in S62 can perform double-sided printing.

If it is determined in S63 that the printer selected in S62 cannot perform double-sided printing,
Returning to S62, the next printer is selected, and the process proceeds to S63, where the selection conditions are repeated.

If it is determined in S63 that the printer selected in S62 can perform double-sided printing, the process proceeds to S63.
Send the print data to the selected printer at 64,
Execute a print job. Then, the print data sending operation is continued until the print job ends, and the operation ends when the print job ends.

In the flowchart shown in FIG. 9, the case where the printer selection condition is determined based on whether or not double-sided printing is possible has been described. The condition may be added to make the determination.

Further, in the above embodiment, an example in which the sheets are discharged to the same tray in an offset state has been described.
If one printer has multiple output trays,
These may be selected and assigned.

Further, the same function as the printer buffer device in the above embodiment is built in the printer,
The functions described above may be realized without providing a separate printer buffer device.

Further, the above-mentioned respective controls may be used in combination, or may be used by switching by mode selection.

Further, by adding an external storage device such as a hard disk to the printer buffer device, more print job data can be handled as compared with the case where processing is performed only by the internal buffer memory as in the above embodiment. Thus, the load on the print job for the host computer can be reduced, and another job can be performed quickly.

[0052]

According to the present invention, a specific program can be executed on the external device side.
Even if you do not select a linter, double-sided printing
Presets suitable for outputting specified print jobs
This has the effect that the user can select a printer.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an outline of processing in the printer buffer device of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of the printer buffer device of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a first control example in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a sheet discharge state when an offset command is executed in the first control example.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating an outline of a discharge unit having a function of shifting a sheet discharge position in the printer of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a second control example in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a third control example in the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a fourth control example in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 to 13 printer, 14 printer buffer device (print data output device), 15 to 18 host computer, 24 switching means, 25 determination means, 26 signal generation means, 27 command generation means, 28 printer Control means, 128: One-chip microcomputer, 212: Status receiving means, 1201, 1202: Input / output buffer, 1203: RAM.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Akihisa Kusano 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Tomohiro Nakamori 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Incorporated (72) Inventor Yuzo Seino 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (56) References JP-A-63-163627 (JP, A) (58) Fields surveyed (58) Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 3/12

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A print job is received from an external device.
Print job receiving means; the received print job includes a designation of duplex printing.
And the double-sided print designation determining means determines dolphin not; the duplex printing designation determining means comprise specifying duplex printing
Output destination of the print job determined to be
Among multiple printers, select a printer that can print on both sides.
Print job output apparatus characterized by having: a printer selecting means for selecting. 2. A print job is received from an external device.
A print job receiving step; the received print job includes designation of duplex printing.
A double-sided print designation determining step of determining whether or not the two-sided print designation is included.
Output the print job that is determined to be
Printer that can print on both sides
A printer selection step of selecting a print job .