JP3766225B2 - Print control method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a control method for a printing apparatus that uses continuous paper as a print medium, and more particularly to a print control method suitable for effective use of blank pages generated when paper is discharged.
[0002]
[Prior art]
The printing device uses continuous paper consisting of multiple sheets of paper as a print medium, or plain paper that is independent of each other, but continuous paper that facilitates high-speed conveyance of paper, especially in applications that require high-speed and large-scale printing. Is generally used.
[0003]
Hereinafter, the operation of the printing apparatus using continuous paper as a printing medium will be described, particularly using an electrophotographic printing apparatus as an example.
FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a mechanism unit of an electrophotographic printing apparatus using continuous paper. In the figure, the printing apparatus 10 includes a paper supply unit 21, a print data transfer unit 22, a fixing unit 23, a paper discharge unit 24, and the like. Reference numeral 25 denotes a continuous sheet, and n-5, n-4, n-3, n-2, n-1, n, n + 1, and n + 2 in the figure represent pages of the continuous sheet 25. The printing apparatus 10 supplies the continuous paper 25 from the paper supply unit 21, transfers a dye material such as toner to the continuous paper 25 by the print data transfer unit 22, and transfers the dye such as toner transferred by the fixing unit 23. The material is stabilized on the continuous paper 25 and discharged to the paper discharge unit 24.
[0004]
In the printing apparatus, the final page n of the target print job usually exists immediately after the print data transfer unit 22. On the other hand, a paper transport path for several pages is usually required between the print data transfer unit 22 and the paper discharge unit 24. The same applies between the paper supply unit 21 and the print data transfer unit 22.
[0005]
In the printing apparatus using the continuous paper, in order to take out the final page n of the target print job, it is necessary to wait for the final page n to be discharged to the paper discharge unit 24 by printing the next job, or It is necessary to forcibly discharge the last page n existing immediately after the print data transfer unit 22 to the paper discharge unit 24 by the paper feed function. Here, when paper is ejected by the paper feed function, blank pages of pages corresponding to n to n-5 are generated between the print data transfer unit 22 and the paper ejection unit 24, and the corresponding paper is wasted. Become.
[0006]
Further, when there is no continuous paper, the printing apparatus normally detects a shortage of paper in the paper supply unit 21 and immediately stops. In order to change the paper, it is necessary to discharge the paper remaining in the paper transport path to the paper discharge unit 24. Also in this case, blank pages of pages corresponding to n + 1 and n + 2 are generated between the paper supply unit 21 and the print data transfer unit 22, so that the corresponding paper is wasted.
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, in a printing apparatus that uses continuous paper as a print medium, there is a problem that blank pages are generated when paper is switched or when a print job page is discharged to a paper discharge unit, and the paper is wasted. there were.
[0008]
On the other hand, in general, a printing apparatus stores, as management information, for example, a printing date and time, the number of accumulated printed pages, a remaining life of consumables, an occurrence calendar of a recoverable failure in a nonvolatile storage medium such as a hard disk. In order for the user to obtain such management information as a hard copy, it was necessary to stop normal printing processing, read it from a hard disk, etc., and print it separately.
[0009]
A first object of the present invention is to effectively use paper by printing management information on a blank page generated when paper is discharged in a printing apparatus that uses continuous paper as a print medium.
[0010]
A second object of the present invention is to improve the usability of the printing apparatus by making it possible to select as an option whether or not to print management information on a blank page generated when the paper is discharged.
[0011]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above first object, the present invention provides a forcible discharge of paper such as paper change and discharge of a print job to a paper discharge unit in a printing apparatus that uses continuous paper as a print medium. At the time of execution, the management information of the printing apparatus is printed out on a blank page after the print job page.
[0012]
In order to achieve the second object, according to the present invention, as one of operation modes of the printing apparatus, a mode for selecting whether or not to output information on a blank page in advance when paper is forcibly discharged is selected. According to the operation mode, whether to print out the management information on a blank page is controlled when forcibly discharging the sheet.
[0013]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing an embodiment of a printing apparatus to which the printing control method of the present invention is applied . The printing apparatus 10 includes a paper feed switch 11, a paper out detection switch 12, an output mode switch 13, a storage medium 14, a print control unit 15, a printing mechanism unit 20, and the like. The printing mechanism unit 20 collectively represents the entire mechanism as shown in FIG. The printing apparatus 10 further includes an operation panel or the like, which is omitted in FIG.
[0014]
The paper feed switch 11 is provided on the operation panel of the printing apparatus 10 and is operated by the user when changing papers or discharging a print job page. The out-of-paper detection switch 12 is provided in a paper supply unit or the like, and detects that there is no continuous paper. The output mode switch 12 is one of the operation modes of the apparatus, and designates whether to output management information or the like when the paper is discharged. The mode switch 13 is a dip switch or the like, and a required output mode (outputting management information is not output) is set in advance by an operator or the like. The mode may be specified by the host apparatus side, and the result may be held by the print control unit 15 as a flag. The storage medium 14 is a non-volatile memory such as a hard disk, and stores print data 141, apparatus management information 142, and the like in this embodiment. The storage of the print data 141 and the update of the management information 142 are performed through the print control unit 15. The print control unit 19 controls the entire printing apparatus. In particular, the print control unit 19 monitors the states of the paper feed switch 11, the paper out detection switch 12, and the output mode switch 13 to change the paper or to output a print job page. Then, control is performed so that the management information 142 is not read from the storage medium 14 and output to the blank page of continuous paper. In addition, the print control unit 15 is connected to the host device 30 and controls transmission / reception of commands, print data, and other information to / from the host device 30.
[0015]
FIG. 3 is an example of a processing flow of the print control unit 15 at the time of printing and discharging. Hereinafter, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. It is assumed that the print data 141 is already stored in the storage medium 14.
[0016]
When printing is instructed from the operation panel of the printing apparatus 10 or the host apparatus 30, the print control unit 15 reads the print data 141 from the storage medium 14, and controls the printing mechanism unit 20 to print on continuous paper (step 301). ). If the out-of-paper detection switch 12 does not detect out-of-paper (NO in step 302) and there is a subsequent print request (YES in step 303), the printing operation is repeated. If the paper out detection switch 12 detects paper out during the printing operation, printing is stopped at that time (step 304).
[0017]
At the end of printing (NO in step 303) or when printing out of paper is stopped, the print control unit 15 inputs the state of the paper feed switch 11 and determines whether the user requests paper discharge (step 305). If there is no out of paper, the printing operation is executed normally, and the user does not request paper discharge (NO in step 305), the processing is ended as it is. In this case, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the last page n of the print job remains printed on the continuous paper 25 immediately after the print data transfer unit 22.
[0018]
On the other hand, when the user requests the paper discharge by operating the paper feed switch 11 in order to obtain the target print job or to change the continuous paper due to running out of paper (YES in step 305), the print control unit 15 Inputs the state of the output mode switch 13, and determines whether or not the printing apparatus 10 is set to a mode for outputting management information (step 306). Depending on the determination result, the processing is divided as follows.
[0019]
First, when the printing apparatus 10 is not in a mode for outputting management information (NO in step 306), a simple paper discharge operation is executed (step 307). In this case, as shown in FIG. 2, at the end of the normal printing operation, the pages corresponding to n to n-5 between the print data transfer unit 22 and the paper discharge unit 24 are also printed, and the paper that has run out of paper In the replacement, blank paper is generated for pages corresponding to n + 1 and n + 2 between the paper supply unit 21 and the print data transfer unit 22. That is, the user determines that this is sufficient.
[0020]
Next, when the printing apparatus 10 is in a mode for outputting management information (YES in step 306), the print control unit 15 reads and edits the management information 142 from the storage medium 14 (step 308). The printing mechanism unit 20 prints out the management information (step 309), and then discharges the remaining portion if necessary. As a result, the management information is printed on the page portion after the last page n of the print job, which was originally discharged as a blank sheet, and continuous paper can be used effectively.
[0021]
FIG. 4 shows an example of management information output. As shown in FIG. 4, the management information includes, for example, the printing date and time, the cumulative number of printed pages, the remaining life of consumables such as toner, the calendar of occurrence of recoverable failures, and the like.
[0022]
Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, for example, the host device 30 stores information to be printed on a blank page of continuous paper in the storage medium 14 via the print control unit 15 as necessary. when the paper feed switch 11 is operated, it is possible to print control unit 15 prints the blank page from the storage medium 14 reads the information. Further, when the paper feed switch 11 is operated, the print control unit 15 requests the upper position 30 for information to be printed on the blank page, and the information sent from the upper level device 30 is printed on the blank page at that time. it is also possible.
[0023]
Note that the processing flow as shown in FIG. 3 is described in a language that can be executed by a computer, and is provided as a print control program or the like recorded in advance on a computer-readable recording medium such as a floppy disk or a compact disk. It is also possible to do.
[0024]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, in a printing apparatus that uses continuous paper as a print medium, when a target print job is discharged at a break of a print job, or when paper is switched due to a shortage of paper, the paper remaining in the paper transport path By printing the management information of the printing apparatus on a blank page that has been conventionally wasted when the paper is discharged, it is possible to provide a printing apparatus that effectively uses the printing paper. Further, it is possible to provide a printing apparatus that outputs the management information without stopping normal printing work. Further, it is possible to provide a printing apparatus that does not require a special display function for obtaining the management information . Further, by arbitrarily selecting not to output the management information as an option, it is possible to provide a printing apparatus that is more user-friendly.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing an embodiment of a printing apparatus to which a printing control method of the present invention is applied.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a mechanism configuration of an electrophotographic printing apparatus using continuous paper.
FIG. 3 is a process flowchart at the time of printing and discharging according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is an example of management information output on a blank page of continuous paper.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Printing apparatus 11 Paper feed switch 12 Paper out detection switch 13 Output mode switch 14 Storage medium 141 Print data 142 Management information 15 Print control part 20 Printing mechanism part 25 Continuous paper 30 Host apparatus

Claims (2)

A printing control method in a printing apparatus that uses continuous paper as a print medium, wherein the management information of the printing apparatus is printed out on a blank page after the print job page when the paper is forcibly discharged. Print control method. The print control method according to claim 1, wherein whether or not the management information is printed out on a blank page when the paper is forcibly discharged according to an operation mode of the printing apparatus is controlled. Method.

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