JP3613431B2 - Printing apparatus and recording medium recording printing control program - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a recording medium that records a printing control program.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In a printing apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, various printing conditions are set during a printing operation. Then, the user (operator) may confirm whether or not the setting contents of the printing conditions are appropriate prior to the printing operation.
[0003]
In general, when checking a list of setting contents of printing conditions, the list of setting contents is printed on a sheet by inputting a key on an operation panel or specifying a command. The user can grasp the setting contents of the printing conditions from the printed matter.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, conventionally, in order to confirm the setting contents of the printing conditions, a list of the setting contents has been printed by key input on the operation panel or command designation.
[0005]
However, in this case, paper is consumed in addition to normal printing, and depending on the contents to be printed, printing must be performed for a plurality of pages, so the amount of paper consumption cannot be ignored. This goes against paperless offices in recent years and is not preferable.
In order to solve the above problem, it is also known to display the setting contents of the printing conditions by enlarging the size of the display unit of the printing apparatus.
[0006]
However, depending on the number of setting items, it was not possible to confirm all the setting contents on one screen (display a list). Therefore, in order to confirm all the setting contents, it is necessary to perform an operation of switching (scrolling) the screen, and much time and effort are required until the confirmation can be made. Further, there is a problem that increasing the size of the display unit leads to high cost.
[0007]
The present invention has been made in view of such a background, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus and a recording medium on which a printing control program is recorded, which can list the setting contents of printing conditions without being on paper. It is what.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 is a printing apparatus capable of printing a list of current print condition setting contents on a sheet by designation on a key of an operation panel or designation of a command. The printing apparatus includes a control unit that outputs a print condition setting contents to a host without printing the print condition setting contents on a sheet when a list printing of the print condition setting contents is designated.
[0009]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, when the control unit outputs the setting contents of the printing condition to the host, if the host side is in a state where reception is not possible, the control unit does not output to the host but to the paper. It is characterized by performing printing control.
[0010]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, the control means controls to display a message on the display unit when printing on paper without outputting to the host side. Is.
[0011]
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is recorded a computer control program included in a printing apparatus capable of printing a list of current print condition setting contents on a sheet according to designation on a key of an operation panel or designation of a command. In the recorded recording medium, the first procedure for causing the computer to determine whether or not there is a list printing designation of the setting contents of the printing conditions, the second procedure for determining whether or not the host side can receive, the host side cannot receive In this case, a program for executing the third procedure for printing the setting contents of the printing conditions on the paper and the fourth procedure for outputting the setting contents of the printing conditions to the host side when the host side can receive is recorded. It is characterized by.
[0012]
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is recorded a computer control program included in a printing apparatus capable of printing a list of current print condition setting contents on a sheet according to designation on a key of an operation panel or designation of a command. In the recorded recording medium, the first procedure for causing the computer to determine whether or not there is a list printing designation of the setting contents of the printing conditions, the second procedure for determining whether or not the host side can receive, the host side cannot receive , The third procedure for printing the print condition setting contents on the paper, the fourth procedure for displaying on the display section a message that the print condition setting contents have been output on the paper, and if the host can receive, the host A program for executing the fifth procedure for outputting the setting contents of the printing condition is recorded on the side.
[0013]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is an overall block diagram of the printing apparatus.
This printing apparatus is configured by connecting a CPU 1, printing unit 2, operation panel 3, firmware (ROM) 4, work memory (RAM) 5, and host I / F 6 through an internal bus 7. Via a host computer (not shown).
[0014]
The CPU 1 receives a control code from the host computer through the host I / F 6 and operates according to a program stored in the ROM 4. Also, signal processing from the printing unit 2 and transmission / reception of video signals to the printing unit 2 are performed.
[0015]
For example, in the case of an electrophotographic system, the printing unit 2 forms an electrostatic latent image on a photoconductor and develops the image by transferring and fixing a toner image on a sheet by using a video signal and a control signal. (Print).
[0016]
In such a configuration, the data sent from the host computer through the host I / F 6 is divided into print data and print control data (SP, CR, LF, HT, VT, etc.) and others by the CPU 1. The print data and print control data are stored in a buffer in the RAM 5.
When there is a print command from the host computer or when the data received from the host computer exceeds one page, the printing unit 2 performs printing.
[0017]
In the present invention, when a list printing of setting contents of printing conditions is designated by the operation panel 3 or a command, if the host can receive, the setting contents of printing conditions are output to the host.
[0018]
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing output character strings stored in the output character string storage memory for each setting item.
Each address of the storage memory 4-1 stores an output character string for each setting item as shown in FIG.
[0019]
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the printing condition setting contents stored in the printing condition setting contents storage memory.
Each address of the storage memory 5-1 stores print condition setting contents as shown in FIG.
[0020]
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an output character string stored in the output character string storage memory.
In the storage memory 5-2, as shown in FIG. 4, a character string for setting contents of a print condition to be output to the host is stored.
[0021]
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a print condition setting content output processing procedure according to the first embodiment.
First, it is determined whether there is a designation of list printing of setting contents of printing conditions (S1). If specified (Y in S1), the following steps S6 to S10 are performed in order until the number n of setting items of the printing condition is reached (S2, S3, Y in S4, S5).
[0022]
The character string of the setting item is read from the output character string storage memory 4-1 (S6). Then, the read character string data is stored in the output character string storage memory 5-2 (S7).
Next, the setting contents of the setting items are read from the printing condition setting contents storage memory 5-1 (S8). Next, the read setting contents are converted into output character string data (S9).
The data of the output character string converted last is stored in the output character string storage memory 5-2 (S10).
[0023]
After performing the above processing for all the setting items (N in S4), the character string data stored in the output character string storage memory 5-2 is output to the host (S11).
[0024]
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of printing condition setting contents list printing.
If the host is in a state where reception is not possible, it is not output to the host, but is output to paper as before.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a print condition setting content output processing procedure according to the second embodiment.
[0025]
First, it is determined whether or not there is designation of list printing of setting contents of printing conditions (S21). If it is specified (Y in S21), it is determined whether or not the host can receive (S22). If the host cannot receive (N in S22), it prints on the paper as usual (S23; see FIG. 6).
[0026]
If the host side is ready for reception (Y in S22), the process of part A in FIG. 5 is performed (S24). That is, the character string data finally stored in the output character string storage memory 5-2 is output to the host.
[0027]
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of message display on the display unit of the operation panel.
The message printed on the paper is displayed on the display unit of the operation panel 3 as a message without being output to the host. In the example of FIG. 8, a message “A list of print condition settings has been printed on paper” is displayed.
[0028]
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a print condition setting content output processing procedure according to the third embodiment.
First, it is determined whether there is a designation of list printing of the setting contents of the printing conditions (S31). If there is designation (Y in S31), it is determined whether or not the host can receive (S32). If the host side cannot receive (N in S32), it prints on the paper as usual (S33; see FIG. 6). Then, the output to the paper is displayed as a message on the display unit of the operation panel 3 (S34; see FIG. 8).
[0029]
If the host side is ready for reception (Y in S32), the process of part A in FIG. 5 is performed (S35). That is, the character string data finally stored in the output character string storage memory 5-2 is output to the host.
[0030]
The printing apparatus according to the present embodiment is configured by connecting a CPU 1, a printing unit 2, an operation panel 3, firmware (ROM) 4, work memory (RAM) 5, and host I / F 6 through an internal bus 7. It is connected to a host computer (not shown) via the I / F 6.
[0031]
When the list printing of the setting contents of the printing conditions is designated, the CPU 1 outputs the setting contents of the printing conditions to the host without printing on the paper. In addition, when outputting the setting contents of the printing conditions to the host, the CPU 1 prints on the paper without outputting to the host if the host is in a state where reception is impossible.
Further, when printing on paper without outputting to the host side, the CPU 1 displays a message to that effect on the display unit.
Accordingly, it is possible to list the current print condition setting contents while minimizing the consumption of paper.
[0032]
【The invention's effect】
According to the first aspect of the present invention, when confirming the setting contents of the printing conditions, by outputting the contents to the host, a list of the setting contents can be confirmed at a glance on the CRT. In addition, since it is not necessary to print on paper as in the prior art, it is possible to save time and effort for printing. Also, it is not necessary to use paper wastefully.
[0033]
According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the host cannot output the print condition setting contents to the host when reception is not possible, it can be confirmed by printing the contents on the paper.
[0034]
According to the third aspect of the present invention, the fact that printing has been performed on paper is displayed on the display unit as a message, so that it is possible to promptly notify the user that printing has been performed on paper without being output to the host.
[0035]
According to the fourth and fifth aspects of the invention, it is possible to provide a recording medium in which a program for outputting the setting contents of the printing conditions to the host is recorded.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall block diagram of a printing apparatus.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an output character string stored in an output character string storage memory for each setting item;
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating print condition setting contents stored in a print condition setting content storage memory;
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an output character string stored in an output character string storage memory.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a printing condition setting content output processing procedure according to the first embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of printing condition setting content list printing;
FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a print condition setting content output processing procedure according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of message display on the display unit of the operation panel.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a print condition setting content output processing procedure according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 CPU
2 Printing section 3 Operation panel 4 ROM
4-1 Memory 5 RAM
5-1, 5-2 Storage memory 6 Host I / F
7 Internal bus

Claims (5)

In a printing device capable of printing a list of current print condition settings on paper by specifying on the operation panel keys or by specifying commands,
A printing apparatus comprising: a control unit configured to output a print condition setting contents to a host without printing the print condition setting contents on a sheet when printing of a list of print condition setting contents is designated. In claim 1,
The control device controls the printing on the paper without outputting to the host when the host is in a state where reception is not possible when outputting the setting contents of the printing condition to the host. In claim 2,
When printing on paper without outputting to the host side, the control means performs control to display a message to that effect on the display unit. In a recording medium on which a computer control program of a printing apparatus capable of printing a list of current print condition setting contents on a sheet by designation on a key on an operation panel or designation of a command is recorded,
On the computer,
A first procedure for determining whether or not there is a list printing designation of the setting contents of the printing conditions;
A second procedure for determining whether or not the host side can receive,
A third procedure for printing the setting contents of the printing condition on the paper when the host side cannot receive,
A fourth procedure for outputting the print condition setting contents to the host side when the host side is capable of receiving;
A recording medium on which a program for executing is recorded. In a recording medium on which a computer control program of a printing apparatus capable of printing a list of current print condition setting contents on a sheet by designation on a key on the operation panel or designation of a command is recorded,
On the computer,
A first procedure for determining whether or not there is a list printing designation of the setting contents of the printing conditions;
A second procedure for determining whether or not the host side can receive,
A third procedure for printing the setting contents of the printing condition on the paper when the host side cannot receive,
A fourth procedure for displaying, on the display unit, a message indicating that the print condition setting contents have been output on the paper;
A fifth procedure for outputting the print condition setting contents to the host side when the host side is capable of receiving;
A recording medium on which a program for executing is recorded.

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