JP3499226B2 - Printer system and print control method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dumb print type printer system and a print control method for sequentially printing print data transmitted from a host device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a dumb print type printer system for sequentially printing print data transmitted from a host device includes a data processing controller for receiving print data from the host device and an engine controller for monitoring the presence or absence of unprinted paper. And the data processing controller is notified of the paper end from the engine controller to interrupt the print data transmission to the host device, and is notified of the paper end release to retransmit the print data to the host device. The host device connected to the dumb print type electrophotographic printer generates a print image in advance, and transfers the data in the form of a raster image from the port driver to the electrophotographic printer. Many of such electrophotographic printers do not have a memory for one page in the apparatus. In such electrophotographic printers, even if the print data is not completely received, the data processing controller If there is print data in the reception buffer, printing is started immediately.

While receiving print data from a host device,
When it is detected that there is no more unprinted paper stored in the paper end, that is, the electrophotographic printer, the data processing controller issues an alarm notification to the host device and requests the interruption of the print data transmission. Upon recognizing the alarm notification, the host device suspends the print data transmission. After that, when the operator replenishes unprinted paper and releases the paper end, the data processing controller requests the upper apparatus to restart print data transmission. Upon receiving this request, the host device restarts the transmission of print data.

Further, in the conventional printer system,
The electrophotographic printer starts heating of the heating roller of the fixing device after receiving the developed print data from the host device, and starts printing after the heating roller reaches a predetermined temperature and the preparation for printing is completed.

[0005]

In the conventional printer system, after the host device completes the development of the print data for one page, the print data is transmitted to the printer, and the printer prints this print data. Since the preparation for printing is started after the reception, there is a problem that the waiting time from when the operator operates the print start request to when the printing actually starts becomes long.

[0006]

After upper apparatus SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION is complete the deployment of the predetermined amount of print data, the printer system to start sending print data to the printer, the upper
The device must be installed before sending print data to the printer.
Temperature setting value information and printer fixing temperature control value information
And the temperature setting value information and the fixing temperature control value information.
Change the printer's fixing temperature control value information.
Therefore, send the preset temperature data of the fixing device of the printer in advance,
After that, a print start request is output to the printer, and the printer uses the set temperature data of the fixing device received from the host device.
Before receiving the print data from the host device based on
In response to the print start request, the temperature control of the fixing device is started so that the temperature of the fixing device becomes a temperature at which printing can be performed.

In the print control method in which the host device sends print data to the printer to start printing, the host device sends the set temperature setting value information and the fixing temperature of the printer before sending the print data to the printer. When comparing the control value information with the temperature setting value information and the fixing temperature control value information, the preset temperature data of the fixing device of the printer is transmitted in advance to change the fixing temperature control value information of the printer,
The printer is characterized by starting temperature control of the fixing device based on the set temperature data of the fixing device received from the upper device before receiving print data from the upper device.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The elements common to the drawings are designated by the same reference numerals. 1 is a block diagram of an electrophotographic printer of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a printer driver of a higher-level device, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a format of print data, and FIG. 4 is an engine of the electrophotographic printer of the present invention. It is an explanatory view shown.

In FIG. 4, the engine 100 of the electrophotographic printer has a print drum 101 which rotates in the direction of arrow A in the image forming unit. When printing on the paper 500, first, the surface of the print drum 101 is charged by the charger 102. LED (light emitting diode) head 103
Exposes the surface of the charged printing drum 101 to form an electrostatic latent image. The electrostatic latent image on the surface of the print drum 101 is developed by supplying toner by the developing device 105. This development is transferred to the sheet 500 by the transfer device 106, and then the heating roller 107a and the pressure roller 10 are used.
It is fixed by a fixing device 107 composed of 7b.

During transfer, from the print drum 101 to the paper 500
The toner remaining on the print drum 101 without being transferred to the printer is removed by the cleaning device. The hopping roller 108 is rotated at a constant speed by a motor (not shown), and the paper 500 is fed into the image forming unit.
The print drum 101 rotates at a constant speed by a motor (not shown), and conveys the sheet 500 sandwiched between the transfer drum 106 and the transfer device 106 at a constant speed. Paper 500 that has passed through the fixing device 107
Is discharged via a discharge roller 111 that is driven in synchronization with the rotating print drum 101. Note that the paper 50
0 is stored in a paper tray (not shown) on the upstream side of the hopping roller 108 in conveyance.

In FIG. 1, an engine 100 of the electrophotographic printer 1 includes a paper traveling motor 11 in addition to the above-mentioned mechanism.
3, hopping motor 112, paper end sensor 10
8, a hopping sensor 109, a discharge sensor 110, and a temperature sensor 114. The paper traveling motor 113 is
The print drum 101 is rotated. Hopping motor 11
2 rotates the hopping roller 108 for feeding the paper 500 into the image forming unit. The paper end sensor 108 monitors whether the paper 500 is stored in the paper tray. The hopping sensor 109 monitors whether or not the paper 500 is fed into the image forming unit. The ejection sensor 110 monitors whether the sheet 500 has been ejected. The temperature sensor 114 monitors the temperature of the heating roller 107a.

In FIG. 1, the electrophotographic printer 1 includes a data processing controller 200 and an engine controller 3.
00, and the engine 100 described above. next,
The engine controller 300 will be described. The engine controller 300 includes a CU-I / F unit 301, an engine state monitoring unit 302, a light emission control unit 303, a paper traveling motor control unit 306, a print drum control unit 304, a hopping motor control unit 305, a paper monitoring unit 307, and a fixing device. It has a control unit 308. The CU-I / F unit 301 is a print start control unit 205 of the data processing controller 200 described later.
Controls the transmission and reception of control signals.

The engine state monitoring unit 302 monitors each engine control unit. The light emission control unit 303 is a raster buffer RAM 20 of the data processing controller 200 described later.
Image data of 9 is input line by line in the X direction, and the engine 1
The light emission control of the LED head 103 of No. 00 is performed. The paper traveling motor control unit 306 controls the rotation of the paper traveling motor 113 of the engine 100 based on the print start signal received by the CU-I / F unit 301.

The print drum control unit 304 controls charging, developing,
Printing on the print drum 101 such as transfer, charge removal, and cleaning is controlled. Hopping motor controller 305
Controls the hopping motor 112 that feeds the paper into the image forming unit. The paper monitoring unit 307 displays the paper 50
Monitor the 0 state. The fixing device controller 308 controls the temperature of the heating roller 107a of the fixing device 107 that fixes the toner transferred to the electrostatic latent image.

A hopping signal is sent from the data processing controller 200 to the engine state monitoring unit 302 of the engine controller 300 via the CU-I / F unit 301.
A print signal is sent. Further, the engine controller 300 sends a signal of paper end information input from the paper end sensor 108 via the paper monitoring unit 307, the engine state monitoring unit 302, and the CU-I / F unit 301.
Notify the data processing controller 200. The engine state monitoring unit 302 issues a sheet feeding command to the hopping motor control unit 305 based on the hopping signal. Also,
When the paper monitoring unit 307 notifies that the paper 500 has been fed into the predetermined position, the data processing controller 200 is notified of the completion of the hopping operation via the CU-I / F unit 301.

Next, the engine status monitoring unit 302
-When a print signal is received via the I / F unit 301, a control command for rotating the print drum 101 and the paper traveling is issued to the paper traveling motor control unit 306. The hopping motor control unit 305 receives a motor start command from the engine state monitoring unit 302, rotates the hopping motor 112, and feeds the paper 500 from the paper tray into the image forming unit. The paper traveling motor control unit 306 controls the print drum 1
01, and the paper traveling motor 113 for paper traveling is rotated.

The paper monitoring unit 307 monitors the traveling position of the paper 500, and notifies the engine state monitoring unit 302 of the fact that the paper 500 is fed into a predetermined position and conveyed. The engine state monitoring unit 302 issues a control command for rotation of the print drum 101 and paper traveling to the paper traveling motor control unit 306, and the data processing controller 20 to be described later.
Image data corresponding to the designated number of raster lines in the raster buffer RAM 209 of 0 is input for each column in the X direction, and the raster data is sent to the light emission control unit 303 by a video signal. The light emission control unit 303 receives this and emits light to form an electrostatic latent image. The transmission of the video signal and the traveling speed of the paper 500 are controlled so as to be synchronized with a clock, and thus printing can be performed at an accurate position on the paper 500.

Next, a host device 400 such as a workstation or a personal computer to which the data processing controller 200 is connected will be described. In FIG. 2, the upper device 400 is the application software 41.
0, printer driver 420, print spooler 43
0, operating system 440, port driver 450, and file 460.

The application software 410 is application software such as a word processor. When a print request is issued from the application software 410 to the printer driver 420 by an operator's operation, the printer driver 420 converts the data passed from the application software 410 into a control command for the electrophotographic printer 1 and sends it to the print spooler 430. Output. The print spooler 430 once spools the passed data to the file 460, and when one page of data is available, requests the port driver 450 to output print data via the operating system 440.

The port driver 450 outputs print data to the electrophotographic printer 1, receives status data from the electrophotographic printer 1, and outputs the print data to the print spooler 4.
The status of the electrophotographic printer 1 is notified to 30. When there is a print request, the port driver 450 requests the operating system 440 to assign the control right to the port driver 450 with the highest priority when the electrophotographic printer 1 is in the data receivable state. Conversely,
When the electrophotographic printer 1 is in the data unreceivable state, the port driver 450 notifies the print spooler 430 that the print data output has been interrupted, and the operating system 440 can acquire the control right after a lapse of a predetermined time T seconds. Then, once the control right is released.

The operating system 440 returns the control right to the port driver 450 after the elapse of T seconds, and transfers the control right to another application. Note that the control right returned to the port driver 450 may depend on another application, and is not necessarily T seconds. When the electrophotographic printer 1 becomes ready to receive data again, the port driver 450 restarts transmission of print data.

In FIG. 1, the data processing controller 2
00 is a host interface processing unit 201, a reception buffer 202, an edit processing unit 203, and a print start control unit 20.
5, hardware timer 208, print buffer 20
6, expansion processing unit 207, raster buffer RAM 209,
It is configured by the switch / sensor processing unit 210. The host interface processing unit 201 receives print data from the higher-level device 400, temporarily stores it in the reception buffer 202, and controls output of an interface signal to the higher-level device 400.

The edit processing unit 203 includes a reception buffer 202.
The print content information for one page is edited based on the print data sent from the printer. For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, the print data is sequentially analyzed into a page header section indicating information of one page and a raster line data section, and the information of the page header section is converted into print content information for one page. It is stored in the print buffer 206. The page header section is composed of a paper size of data format, raster line data density, and raster line image data size per page as shown in FIG. 3B. The raster line data section is composed of the data size of the raster line data section, the raster line image data compression method, and the raster line image data, as shown in FIG.

The end of the page is identified by receiving the data of the raster line image data size per page in the page header section. Further, the edit processing unit 20
A print buffer 206 stores information in the page header section.
When it is stored in, the expansion processing unit 207 is instructed to start the expansion process, and the print activation control unit 205 is requested to start the print activation process.

The print start control unit 205 includes an edit processing unit 20.
According to the output of 3, the print start signal is output to the engine controller 300. The hardware timer 208, which is counted up in units of 1 microsecond, is started / stopped by the print start control unit 205 and has a timer run flag for controlling the start / stop of the timer. Expansion processing unit 207
Decompresses / decompresses the print data into actual raster line image data from the density of the raster line image data input from the print buffer 206, the data size of the raster line data portion, and the compression method of the raster line image data. The image is raster buffer R
The data is sent to the AM 209 and data for one page to be actually printed is generated.

The raster buffer RAM 209 stores the image data expanded in the aggregate of each pixel by the expansion processing unit 207.
Store at least one raster line or more. Therefore, the number of bits for one page of the printed image is not necessary as the memory. The switch / sensor processing unit 210 detects a paper end signal input from the engine controller 300 and passes the information to each processing unit in the data processing controller 200.

Data processing controller 2 as described above
The processing procedure of each processing unit No. 00 will be described with reference to the drawings. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the switch / sensor processing unit, FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the host interface processing unit, FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the editing processing unit, and FIG. 8 is a print start control unit. It is a flow chart which shows a processing procedure.

In FIG. 5, the switch / sensor processing unit 2
10 determines the paper end information input from the engine controller 300 (S800), and if it is the paper end, sets the paper end flag PESENSOR (S810). Also, a paper end history information register PESTATUS indicating that a paper end has occurred
Is set (S810). If not paper end,
Clear the paper end flag PESENSOR (S
830).

In FIG. 6, the host interface processing unit 201 determines by PESENSOR set by the switch sensor processing unit 210 whether or not it is currently in the paper end state (S500), and when it is in the paper end state, it receives data. A busy signal indicating the impossible state is sent to the port driver 450 of the host device 400.
(S550). If it is not in the paper end state, it is next determined whether or not there is received data (S51).
0) If there is received data, the received data is read and stored in the reception buffer 202 (S520).

Next, it is determined whether or not the receive buffer 220 has a free space (S530), and when there is a free space, a ready signal indicating that the data can be received is output to the port driver 450 (S540). Even when there is no received data, the ready signal is output to the port driver 450 (S540). When there is no free space in the reception buffer 202, a busy signal is output to the port driver 450 of the host device 400 (S550).

In FIG. 7, the edit processing unit 203 has a PESENS set by the switch / sensor processing unit 210.
By OR, it is determined whether or not the paper end state is currently present (S600). If not, then it is determined whether or not the receive buffer 202 stores the received data equal to or larger than the size of the page header portion (S60).
5). If the received data is stored, receive buffer 2
The data is read from No. 02 (S610), and it is determined whether the read data is the data of the page header part (S620).

If the read data is the data of the page header portion, the content is stored in the print buffer 206 (S630). The print buffer 206 is X
It is a PGHDN byte memory composed of the paper size in the direction, the paper size in the Y direction, the raster line image data density in the X direction, the raster line image data density in the Y direction, and the raster line image data size per page. , PGLNGTH,
It is stored in RGDPIH, RGDPIV, PAGCT. If the read data is not the data in the page header portion, other command processing is performed (S660).

The edit processing unit 203 further sets the expansion processing start request flag EXPRQF (S640) and the print start processing request flag PRSTRQF (S6).
50). As described above, the edit processing unit 203 finishes the processing of the page header portion, and the print start request flag PRSTRQ
When F is set, the print start control unit 205 causes the CU-I / F unit 301 of the engine controller 300 described later.
A hopping signal is sent to the CU-I / F unit 301 after the hopping is completed. Engine state monitoring unit 302 of engine controller 300
Controls hopping and print operations based on the signal received via the CU-I / F unit 301.

In FIG. 8, the print start control unit 205 is
It is determined whether or not there is a print start request (S700), and if there is a print start request, it is determined by the paper end history information register PESTATUS (S710). If the printing is started after the paper end is released, wait until one byte or more of data is received from the host device 400 (S720). When data is received, paper end history information register PESTATUS
Is cleared (S730), and the print start request flag P
RSTRQF is cleared (S740).

Also, when the printing is not started after the paper end is released, the printing start request flag PRSTRQF is cleared (S740). Next, the engine controller 300
Of the hopping signal to the CU-I / F unit 301 of
750), the CU-I /
It waits for notification from the F unit 301 (S760). When it is confirmed that the hopping operation is completed, the CU-I / F
A print signal is output to the unit 301 (S770).

As described above, the switch / sensor processing unit 210 for recording the notification of the paper end, and the engine controller after receiving one or more bytes of data from the host device 400 in the case of printing after the paper end is released. Three
By providing the data processing controller 200 with the print start control unit 205 that starts print start to 00, even if it is delayed for the upper-level device 400 to recognize the paper end release, the print data whose transmission is restarted is 1 byte. Since printing is started after the above reception, the transfer of print data from the higher-level device 400 is always in time for printing, and an underrun error can be prevented.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing the format of the print data of the second embodiment, FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the edit processing unit of the second embodiment, and FIG. 11 is the printing of the second embodiment. It is a flow chart which shows a processing procedure of a starting control part. The printer engine, the engine controller, the respective elements in the host device, and their operations in the second embodiment are the same as those in the first embodiment, and therefore their explanations are omitted. In addition, each processing unit in the data processing controller,
Since the processing procedure of the processing units other than the edit processing unit and the print activation control unit is the same as that of the first embodiment,
The description is omitted.

Also in the second embodiment, the print data sent from the reception buffer 202 to the edit processing unit 203 in the data processing controller 200 shown in FIG.
Similar to the first embodiment, it is analyzed into a page header part indicating one page of information, a raster line data part and the like. The page header section in the second embodiment is shown in FIG.
As shown in (a), the data format includes a paper size, a raster line data density, a raster line image data size per page, and a print start timing instructing unit after releasing the paper end. The raster line data section is composed of the data size of the raster line data section, the raster line image data compression method, and the raster line image data as shown in FIG. 9B.

The print start timing instructing section after the paper end is released is composed of operating conditions and wait times as shown in FIG. 9 (c). The operation condition part includes a mode (0) in which immediate printing is activated after paper end is released, a mode (1) in which printing is activated after confirming reception of 1 byte or more after paper end is released, and paper is sent in advance from the host device 400. There is a mode (2) in which a wait time after releasing the end is designated and printing is started after the wait time has elapsed. In the wait time section, the wait time when the mode (2) is designated is set.

In FIG. 10, the edit processing unit 203 is a PESENSOR set by the switch / sensor processing unit.
By this, it is judged whether or not it is currently in the paper end state (S800). If it is not in the paper end state, then it is judged whether or not the reception data is stored in the reception buffer 202 in a size equal to or larger than the size of the page header portion (S80).
5). If the received data is stored, receive buffer 2
The data is read from No. 02 (S810), and it is determined whether the read data is the data of the page header part (S820).

If the read data is the data of the page header portion, the content is stored in the print buffer 206 (S835). The print buffer 206 is X
Direction paper size, Y direction paper size, X direction raster line image data density, Y direction raster line image data density, raster line image data size per page, print start timing instruction section after paper end release Memory of PGHDN bytes, which are variables PGWIDTH, PGLNGTH, and R, respectively.
GDPIH, RGDPIV, PAGCT, PRSTTI
It is stored in MING and PETEMEOUT. If the read data is not the data in the page header portion, other command processing is performed (S860).

The edit processing unit 203 further sets the expansion processing start request flag EXPRQF (S840) and the print start processing request flag PRSTRQF (S8).
50). As described above, the edit processing unit 203 finishes the processing of the page header portion, and the print start request flag PRSTRQ
When F is set, the print start control unit 205 causes the CU-I / F unit 301 of the engine controller 300 described later.
A hopping signal is sent to the CU-I / F unit 301 after the hopping is completed. Engine state monitoring unit 302 of engine controller 300
Controls hopping and print operations based on the signal received via the CU-I / F unit 301.

In FIG. 11, in the processing procedure of the print activation control unit 205 described with reference to FIG. 8 in the first embodiment, instead of (S720), (S710) and (S7).
30) shows a processing procedure inserted between and. When the print start control unit 205 receives a print start request after the paper end is released, the print start control unit 205 operates the operation condition unit PRSTT of the print buffer 206.
Determine the value stored in IMIN (S700
0). If PRSTTIMING is 1, wait until one byte or more is received after the paper end is released from the upper level device 400 (S7100).

When PRSTTIMING is 0, the process for immediately starting printing after releasing the paper end is started, and the paper end history information register PESTATUS is cleared as described in the first embodiment (S73).
0). When PRSTTIMING is 2, printing is started after the wait time after the paper end is released, so the content of PETEMEOUT is set in the timeout register TIMEOUT (S7210).

Next, a hardware timer (TIMER)
Initially 208 is set to 0 microseconds, the timer run flag TMRUNF is set to start the timer, and wait (S7220). When it is confirmed that the timer 208 has timed out (S7230), the timer run flag T
MRUNF is reset and the timer 208 is stopped (S7240). After that, as described in the first embodiment, the paper end history information register PESTAT
Clear US (S730). The process to activate printing starts.

As described above, a mode for immediately starting printing after releasing paper end, a mode for starting printing after receiving one or more bytes of print data after releasing paper end, and after a predetermined time has elapsed after releasing paper end In the case of printing after the paper end is released, the print buffer 206 for setting one of the modes for starting printing, the switch / sensor processing unit 210 for recording the notification of the paper end, and the engine according to the set mode in the case of printing after the paper end is released. By providing the data processing controller 200 with the print activation control unit 205 that activates the printing to the controller 300, it is possible to perform printing in accordance with the performance of the higher-level device 1.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The engine of the electrophotographic printer according to the third embodiment and the printing operation thereof are the same as those in the first and second embodiments, and therefore description thereof will be omitted. FIG. 12 is a block diagram of the electrophotographic printer according to the third embodiment.

In FIG. 12, the electrophotographic printer 1 is
A data processing controller 200 that controls print information, an engine 100 that performs printing, and an engine controller 300 that controls the engine 100. First, the engine controller 300 will be described. The engine controller 300 includes a CU-I / F unit 301, an engine state monitoring unit 302, a light emission control unit 303, a paper traveling motor control unit 306 hopping motor control unit 305, a paper monitoring unit 307, a fixing unit control unit 308, and a clock control unit. 316
Have. The CU-I / F unit 301 controls transmission and reception of control signals with the print start control unit 205 of the data processing controller 200.

The engine state monitoring unit 302 monitors each engine control unit. The light emission control unit 303 is a raster buffer RAM 20 of the data processing controller 200 described later.
Image data of 9 is input line by line in the X direction, and the engine 1
The light emission control of the LED head 103 of No. 00 is performed. The paper traveling motor control unit 306 controls the rotation of the paper traveling motor 113 of the engine 100 based on the print start signal received by the CU-I / F unit 301. The hopping motor control unit 305 controls the hopping motor 112 that feeds a sheet into the image forming unit. The paper monitoring unit 307
The state of the paper 500 is monitored. The fixing device control unit 308
The temperature of the heating roller 107a of the fixing device 107 that fixes the toner transferred to the electrostatic latent image is controlled.

A hopping signal is sent from the data processing controller 200 to the engine state monitoring section 302 of the engine controller 300 via the CU-I / F section 301.
A print signal is sent. Further, the engine controller 300 sends a signal of paper end information input from the paper end sensor 108 via the paper monitoring unit 307, the engine state monitoring unit 302, and the CU-I / F unit 301.
Notify the data processing controller 200. The engine state monitoring unit 302 issues a sheet feeding command to the hopping motor control unit 305 based on the hopping signal. Also,
When the paper monitoring unit 307 notifies that the paper 500 has been fed into the predetermined position, the data processing controller 200 is notified of the completion of the hopping operation via the CU-I / F unit 301.

The sheet monitoring unit 307 monitors the traveling position of the sheet 500, and when the sheet 500 is fed to a predetermined position and conveyed, it notifies the engine state monitoring unit 302 of the fact. The engine state monitoring unit 302 issues a drum rotation and paper traveling control command to the paper traveling motor control unit 306, and outputs image data for the designated raster lines in the raster buffer RAM 209 of the data processing controller 200, which will be described later, in the X direction. For each row, and the raster data is transmitted by the video signal of the light emission control unit 303.

The light-emission control unit 303 receives this and emits light to form an electrostatic latent image. Video signal transmission and paper 5
The running speed of 00 is controlled so as to be synchronized with the clock, whereby printing can be performed at an accurate position on the paper 500. The host device 400, such as a workstation or personal computer, to which the data processing controller 200 is connected, internally includes the printer driver 4
20, application 340, hard disk 341
have.

The data processing controller 200 comprises a host interface processing unit 201, a reception buffer 202, an edit processing unit 203, a print start control unit 205, a raster buffer RAM 209, and a raster data transmission unit 312. The host interface processing unit 201 receives print data from the upper level device 400 and receives the print data from the reception buffer 2
No. 02 is temporarily stored, and the output of the interface signal to the upper device 400 is controlled.

The edit processing section 203 has a reception buffer 202.
The print content information for one page is edited based on the print data sent from the printer. In addition, the edit processing unit 203
Requests the print start control unit 205 to start print start processing. The print start control unit 205 outputs a print start signal to the engine controller 300 according to the output of the edit processing unit 203. The raster buffer RAM 209 stores at least one raster line or more of the image data expanded in the aggregate of each pixel by the expansion processing unit 207. Therefore,
The memory does not require the number of bits for one page of the printed image.

A data analysis processing procedure of the host computer 400 connected to the electrophotographic printer 1 in the third embodiment as described above will be described. FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the data analysis processing procedure of the host device, and FIG. 14 is a table showing the relationship between the fixing temperature and the operation of the printer driver. In FIG. 13, first, the operator makes a print request for a file created by the application 470 of the host device 400. Application 470 that recognized the print request
Notifies the printer driver 420 of StartDoc which is a print start request. Printer driver 420
Receives the StartDoc, and the electrophotographic printer 1
Is in the standby state (S901), the WARM-CMD notifying the start of printing preparation is transmitted to the electrophotographic printer 1 (S902). After that, the printer driver 420
A response StartDocRET to StartDoc is returned to the application 470 (S903).

The application 470 that has received the StartDocRET notifies the printer driver 420 of the application data, which is print data. The printer driver 420 recognizes that the print data is received (S904), and converts the received print data into print image data (S90).
5) Always store in the hard disk 480 on the host device 400 (S906). Then, the printer driver 42
0 returns a reception completion response to the application 470 (S907).

When the application 470 recognizes the end of the printed page, it notifies the printer driver 420 of EndPage. The printer driver 420 is
When it recognizes that it has received EndPage (S90
8) Then, it is recognized that the print data for one page has been received, and the transmission data END pointer is updated (S
909). After that, the printer driver 420 sends a response EndP to the EndPage of the application 470.
returns ageRET (S910).

The application 470 and the printer driver 420 repeat the above-described processing for the number of pages to be printed until the application 470 recognizes the end of printing and notifies EndDoc to the printer driver 420. The printer driver 420 is EndDoc
(S911), it recognizes the end of the printing process and performs necessary processing (S912), and sends a response End to the EndDoc of the application 470.
DocRET is returned (S913).

Data transmission to the electrophotographic printer 1 by the printer driver 420 is performed by interrupt processing. When there is no transmission data, the interrupt interval is large, and when there is transmission data, the interrupt interval is small. Is set to reduce the overhead processing required for data transmission. Further, when there is transmission data, the printer driver 420 transmits print image data to the electrophotographic printer 1 and updates the transmission data pointer. Here, it is assumed that there is no transmission data when the transmission data pointer is the same as the transmission data END pointer, and that there is transmission data at other times.

On the other hand, the edit processing section 203 of the electrophotographic printer 1 which has received the WARM-CMD from the printer driver 420 of the upper apparatus 400 notifies the print start control section 205 of the print preparation request Message. This Mess
The print activation control unit 205 that has received the age notifies the engine state monitoring unit 302 of the print preparation request, and the engine state monitoring unit 302 sends the temperature control start notification to the fixing device control unit 308. In response to this, the fixing device control unit 308 starts control so that the temperature of the heating roller 107a becomes a printable temperature, and the temperature sensor 114 causes the heating roller 107a to operate.
When it detects that the temperature has reached the printable temperature, it notifies the engine state monitoring unit 302 of the print preparation completion. The engine state monitoring unit 302 receives this notification and notifies the print start control unit 205 of the print preparation completion.

Further, the edit processing section 203 is connected to the host device 40.
When the print start request command is received from 0, the print start control unit 205 is notified of the print start request even if there is one page of print data. The print start control unit 205 that has received the print start start request is
After recognizing that you have received the print ready notification from 2 or received the print ready notification,
Printing is started on the engine controller 300. After that, normal printing is performed. First, the engine controller 300 that is activated for printing is the hopping motor 1
12 sends a control signal to the hopping roller 1 at a predetermined speed.
08 is rotated to feed the paper 500 into the image forming unit.

On the other hand, when the sheet 500 fed by the hopping roller 108 passes through the hopping sensor 109, the engine controller 300 causes the engine 1
The image data generated by the data processing controller is sequentially transmitted to the LED head 103 provided in No. 00, and light is emitted for each column of the pixel matrix of the image data. The electrostatic line image is generated by the speed at which the optical data of each column of the pixel matrix of the image data to be printed is irradiated onto the print drum 101 and the rotation speed of the print drum 101. Therefore,
The transmission speed of the image data to the LED head 103 and the rotation speed of the print drum 101 are controlled to be synchronized.

As described above, in FIG. 14, when the printer driver 420 notifies WARM-CMD at t1 and makes a print request at the same time, the electrophotographic printer 1
Start preparing for printing. As a result, the heating roller 107
The temperature of a starts to gradually rise from the standby temperature. The temperature of the heating roller 107a reaches the printing temperature at t2. At t3 when the printer driver 420 completes the generation of print data for one page, the electrophotographic printer 1 is ready for printing. Therefore, at the same time when the generation of the print data for one page is completed, the transmission of the print data can be started at t3.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The respective elements of the electrophotographic printer 1 and the printing operation thereof in the fourth embodiment are the same as those in the third embodiment, and therefore their explanations are omitted. 15 is a table showing a command format for designating a fixing temperature, FIG. 16 is a flow chart showing a data analysis processing procedure of a higher-level device, FIG. 17 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure when a temperature designation command is received by an editing processing section, and FIG.
8 is a flowchart showing a temperature control processing procedure at the time of print preparation of the print start control unit, FIG. 19 is a table showing a temperature table format in the electrophotographic printer, and FIG. 20 is a table showing a relationship between the fixing temperature and the printer driver. .

The data analysis processing procedure of the host device in the fourth embodiment is the same as in the case of FIG. 1 described in the third embodiment.
The following steps are inserted between (S901) and (S902) in 3. In FIG. 16, St, which is a print start request from the application 470 that has recognized the print request.
The printer driver 420 which has received the artDoc,
When the electrophotographic printer 1 is in the standby state (S901), the temperature set value X information set by the operator is read (S92).
1).

Next, the fixing temperature control value Y information of the electrophotographic printer 1 is read (S922), and the X information and the Y information are compared (S923). If the X information and Y information are the same, WARM-CMD that directly notifies the start of print preparation
Is transmitted to the electrophotographic printer 1 (S902).
If the X information and the Y information are different, the read temperature set value X information is changed to the command format as shown in FIG. 15 (S924), and the temperature setting command is transmitted to the electrophotographic printer 1 (S925).

After that, WARM for notifying the start of print preparation
-Send CMD to the electrophotographic printer 1 (S9)
02). After that, the same processing as in the third embodiment is performed. As a modified example of the fourth embodiment, the printer driver 4 that receives the StartDoc that is a print start request from the application 407 that has recognized the print request.
The unit 20 may unconditionally read the temperature set value X information set by the operator. In this case, (S922) and (S922) of the data analysis processing procedure of the host device in the fourth embodiment.
Step 923) is omitted.

In the present embodiment, the command parameters and the number of elements of TEMP-CMD, which is a temperature table in the electrophotographic printer 1 as shown in FIG. 19, correspond one-to-one. In FIG. 17, when the edit processing unit 203 of the electrophotographic printer 1 recognizes the temperature designation command (S931), the parameter portion of the temperature designation command is read (S932), and the work area T
It is stored in EMP-DATA (S933). Then W
When the ARM-CMD is recognized, the print start control unit 205 is notified of the print preparation request Message.

In FIG. 18, the print start control unit 205 that has received the Message is the engine state monitoring unit 30.
The start of temperature control is notified to the fixing device controller 308 via 2. The fixing device control unit 308 that has recognized the notification starts temperature control. Here, the temperature designated by the operator is T
It is the temperature indicated by EMP-CMD [TEMP-DATA]. Therefore, the fixing device control unit 308 reads the value TEMP of the temperature sensor 114 in the print preparation process (S
941), the temperature TEMP-CMD specified by the operator
It is compared with [TEMP-DATA] (S942). When the value TEMP of the temperature sensor 114 and the temperature TEMP-CMD [TEMP-DATA] designated by the operator are the same, the print start control unit 205 is notified of the print preparation completion (S943). After that, a normal printing operation is performed.

That is, in FIG. 20, the printer driver 420 is t1 and TEMP- [0] and WARM-CMD.
When the print request is issued and the print request is issued at the same time, the electrophotographic printer 1 starts preparation for printing. As a result, the temperature of the heating roller 107a gradually begins to rise from the standby temperature.
The temperature of the heating roller 107a is the printing temperature at t2, which is 1
Reach 00 ° C. T notified by the printer driver 420
When EMP-CMD is TEMP- [1], it is 11 at t4.
0 ° C, in the case of TEMP- [2], t5 to 120 ° C,
In the case of TEMP- [3], it reaches 130 ° C at t6. Thus, in the printer driver 420, the print preparation of the electrophotographic printer 1 is completed at t3 when the generation of the print data for one page is completed. Therefore, at the same time when the generation of print data for one page is completed,
At 3, the print data transmission can be started.

[0071]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, it has the following effects.

[0072] That is, the upper level device compares the fixing temperature control value information of the temperature setting value information set and the printer,
If the temperature setting value information and the fixing temperature control value information are different,
Since the set temperature data of the fixing device of the printer is transmitted in advance to change the fixing temperature control value information of the printer, the set temperature data is not transmitted and the printer does not need to perform the process when there is no need to change. . Since the printer side only needs to operate when the fixing temperature is changed, time for performing unnecessary processing is eliminated, and print data can be efficiently received and printing can be performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electrophotographic printer of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a printer driver of a host device.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a format of print data.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an engine of the electrophotographic printer of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a switch / sensor processing unit.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a host interface processing unit.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of an edit processing unit.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a print start control unit.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a format of print data according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of an edit processing unit according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a print start control unit according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing an electrophotographic printer according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a data analysis processing procedure of a host device.

FIG. 14 is a table showing the relationship between the fixing temperature and the operation of the printer driver.

FIG. 15 is a table showing a command format for designating a fixing temperature.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a data analysis processing procedure of a host device.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when the edit processing unit receives a temperature designation command.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing a temperature control processing procedure of the print start control unit at the time of print preparation.

FIG. 19 is a table showing a temperature table format in the electrophotographic printer.

FIG. 20 is a table showing the relationship between the fixing temperature and the operation of the printer driver.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Electrophotographic printer 200 Data processing controller 205 print start control unit 210 Switch sensor processing unit 300 engine controller 400 Upper device

Front page continuation (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G03G 21/00 370-540 G03G 21/14 G03G 21/20 B41J 29/00-29/70 G06F 3/09-3 / 12

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. In a printer system in which a host device starts transmitting print data to a printer after completion of development of a predetermined amount of print data, the host device sends the print data to the printer before the print data is transmitted to the printer.
Set temperature setting value information and printer fixing temperature control value
Compared with information, temperature setting value information and fixing temperature control value information
Change the fixing temperature control value information of the printer
To send the preset temperature data of the fixing device of the printer in advance
Then, a print start request is output to the printer, and the printer receives the set temperature of the fixing device received from the host device.
Receives print data from the host device based on the data
Before receiving the request to start printing, start the temperature control of the fixing device.
The printer system is characterized in that the temperature of the fixing device is set to a temperature at which printing can be performed. 2. A print control method in which a host device sends print data to a printer and starts printing, wherein the host device sends print data to the printer before
The set temperature setting value information and the fixing temperature control value information of the printer are compared, and if the temperature setting value information and the fixing temperature control value information are different, the fixing temperature of the printer is changed in advance to change the fixing temperature control value information of the printer. A printer characterized by transmitting temperature data of the fixing device, and the printer starts temperature control of the fixing device based on the temperature data of the fixing device received from the host device before receiving print data from the host device. Control method.