JP4479263B2 - Output device and output processing system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an output device and the output processing system performs an output process based on the data received from the portable terminal and the like.

  In recent years, data communication between digital devices has been performed using wireless technology. In particular, recently, infrared communication is often used for data transmission or reception between mobile terminals that are easy to carry. For example, many recent major mobile phones are equipped with an infrared communication port as standard equipment. The mobile phone stores personal information data such as names of acquaintances entered through the phone book function, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, etc., and image data taken with the camera function, and these data are to be printed on a printer. There is a request.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a technique for connecting a portable personal computer (referred to as a personal computer) and a printer by infrared communication and printing data of the personal computer is known (for example, Patent Document 1). On personal computers, application programs support printing, and various data can be printed by specifying the layout.
JP-A-8-300772

  By the way, the personal information data stored in the mobile phone is stored in the memory in the vCard file format, for example. In this vCard file, the data itself is text data, and when displayed on the screen of the mobile phone, it is displayed in a predetermined layout by a display application program. However, since the data itself is in a format that cannot be defined for layout, if you want to output personal information stored in a mobile phone to a printer, for example, the data will be printed as a simple list of text even if it can be printed. turn into. If the printer has a function for specifying a layout, it may be possible to specify the layout in the printer using the function by improving the software. However, it is quite troublesome to specify a layout with a printer that originally has few operation switches. Furthermore, when printing from a mobile phone that is expected to be used for wireless data transmission from a location away from the printer, both the mobile phone operation and the printer operation are required, and the usability at the time of printing operation becomes poor. The problem remains. In many cases, the layout to be used when printing personal information or the like is roughly determined, for example, in a telephone directory format. In addition, when sending data to a printer for printing, there are print parameters that the user wants to specify in addition to the layout.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an output device, an output processing system, and a portable terminal that allow a user to specify an output parameter from the portable terminal when transmitting data directly from the portable terminal to the output device and performing an output process based on the data. There is to do.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an output device having an output unit that performs output processing based on data received from a mobile terminal, and is prepared in advance in vCard data or vNote data as data input by the mobile terminal. A receiving unit that receives data including designation information that specifies the output process described in the memo area, a decoding unit that decodes the description content of the data received by the receiving unit, and obtains designation information; Output condition determining means for determining an output parameter corresponding to the designation information decoded by the decoding means, and the output means performs output processing based on data received from the portable terminal using the determined output parameter. The gist is to do.
Also, according to this, when the data describing the designation information in the memo area (note area) prepared in advance as the data item is transmitted from the portable terminal, the output parameter designated by describing the designation information in the memo area Alternatively, it is possible to cause the output means to output the contents of the data in the layout. Since the output parameter or layout is specified using the memo area, there is no need to change the data structure, such as adding a dedicated text area.

  According to this, the data input by the portable terminal is received via the receiving unit, and the decoding means decodes the description content of the received data to acquire the designation information. The output condition determining means determines an output parameter according to the designation information, and the output means performs an output process based on the data using the determined output parameter. Therefore, it is possible to output the content of the transmission data with the output parameter specified by the description content input by the portable terminal.

  In the output device of the present invention, the data includes designation information for designating a plurality of output parameters, and the output condition determination means is obtained by the decoding means decoding the description contents of the data. The gist is to determine a plurality of output parameters according to the designation information, and the output means performs an output process based on the data using the determined plurality of output parameters.

  According to this, since a plurality of output parameters can be specified by specifying the description contents of data, the degree of freedom of the output contents of data is increased by specifying a plurality of output parameters from the portable terminal and transmitting the data.

  Further, in the output device of the present invention, the output parameter includes at least a layout, and the output means performs an output process based on the data using the determined output parameter and outputs the content of the data in the layout. The gist is to do.

According to this, by designating the layout from the mobile terminal and transmitting the data, it becomes possible to output the data contents in the designated layout.
In the output device of the present invention, the output means is a printing means for performing a printing process based on the data, the output parameter includes at least the number of printed sheets, and the output means uses the determined output parameter. In summary, the printing process based on the data is executed as many times as the number of printed sheets.

According to this, by designating the number of prints from the portable terminal and transmitting the data, it is possible to print only the designated number of prints of the data contents.
Furthermore, in the output device of the present invention, the output means is a print means for performing a printing process based on the data, and the output parameter includes at least designation of a print medium, and the output means uses the output parameter to The gist is to perform a printing process based on the data and print the contents of the data on the designated print medium.

According to this, by designating the print medium from the portable terminal and transmitting the data, it is possible to print the data content on the designated print medium.
Further, in the present invention, in an output device having an output unit that performs output processing based on data received from a mobile terminal, the data input by the mobile terminal is described in a memo area prepared in advance in vCard data or vNote data. A receiving unit that receives data including designation information that designates the output processing, a decoding unit that decodes the description content of the data received by the receiving unit to obtain designation information, and a memory that stores layout data Unit, layout determining means for reading out layout data corresponding to the designation information obtained by the decoding means from the storage unit, and conversion for converting the data into data with a layout using the read layout data and a processing unit, said output means, said the layout with data received from said portable terminal Performing brute output processing to be required to print the contents of the data in the determined layout.

According to this, when the data input by the portable terminal is received, the decoding means decodes the description content of the received data and acquires the designation information. The layout determining unit reads layout data corresponding to the designation information decoded by the decoding unit from the storage unit. Using the read layout data, the conversion processing unit converts the received data into data with a layout. And an output means performs the output process based on the data with a layout. Therefore, it is possible to output the content of data transmitted from the mobile phone in a specified layout by inputting designation information on the portable terminal.
Also, according to this, when the data describing the designation information in the memo area (note area) prepared in advance as the data item is transmitted from the portable terminal, the output parameter designated by describing the designation information in the memo area Alternatively, it is possible to cause the output means to output the contents of the data in the layout. Since the output parameter or layout is specified using the memo area, there is no need to change the data structure, such as adding a dedicated text area.

  Further, in the output device of the present invention, the data includes a text designating a plurality of layouts, and the layout determination means responds to the designation information obtained by the decoding means decoding the description contents of the data. A plurality of layout data, and the conversion processing unit converts the data into a plurality of layout-attached data using the plurality of layout data, and the output means performs an output process based on the plurality of layout-added data. And the content of the data is output in a plurality of types of layouts.

  According to this, when the data in which the designation information designating a plurality of layouts is received from the portable terminal, the decoding means decodes the description content of the received data to obtain the designation information, and the layout determination means A plurality of layout data corresponding to the designation information is determined. The processing means converts the data into a plurality of layout-attached data using the determined plurality of layout data. Then, the output unit performs output processing based on a plurality of layout-added data, so that the data contents are output in a plurality of types of layouts. Therefore, it is possible to output the contents of data transmitted from the mobile terminal in a plurality of types of layouts.

The gist of the output device of the present invention is that the data is personal information data and the layout is a business card layout.
According to this, when the personal information data created by the portable terminal is transmitted, the contents of the personal information can be output (for example, printed) in the business card layout designated by the description contents of the personal information data.

In the output device of the present invention, the designation information is a number or an alphabet.
According to this, since the designation information is a number or alphabet, it can be easily described, and since there is an order, it is easy to designate the designated content without fail, and it is easy to avoid an erroneous input when designating an output parameter or layout.

  In addition, the present invention is an output processing system including the output device and a mobile terminal, and the mobile terminal includes an input unit that describes designation information for designating an output parameter in the output device. This is the gist. According to the invention of this output processing system, the same operation and effect as the invention of the output device can be obtained.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the printer 1. In FIG. 1, a printer 1 as an output device is an ink jet printer, and a sheet feeder 4 and a roll paper support 5 of an automatic paper feeder 3 are provided on the back side of a main body 2. A sheet paper (not shown) is set in the sheet feeder 4 and fed into the main body 2. Further, the roll paper P 1 is set on the roll paper support portion 5 and fed into the main body 2. A cover 6 is provided in the center of the main body 2, and a printing mechanism is provided in the cover 6, and a sheet P (cut sheet paper or roll paper) as a printing medium printed by the operation of the printing mechanism. The paper is discharged from the front lower discharge port 7. An operation panel 8 is provided on the right side of the upper surface of the main body 2.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the operation panel 8 includes a display device 9 having a display screen 9a and an operation unit 10 including a plurality of operation switches. The display device 9 is a liquid crystal display device, and displays, for example, a menu for manually selecting a paper type (cut sheet or roll paper), paper size, layout, photo selection, number of prints, and the like on the display screen 9a. .

  The operation unit 10 is also provided with a power switch 10a for powering on the printer 1, a maintenance switch 10b that is pressed when an error occurs, and a roll paper switch 10c that is pressed when operating the roll paper. Further, the operation unit 10 is provided with a print start switch 10d, a cancel switch 10e, an upper switch 10f, a lower switch 10g, a determination switch 10h, and a return switch 10i. The print start switch 10d is pressed when starting to print an image on a cut sheet or roll paper. The cancel switch 10e is pressed when canceling printing that is being executed or when discarding the input content on the display screen 9a when the printer is in a non-printing state. The upper switch 10f and the lower switch 10g are pressed when selecting a menu on the display screen 9a, moving a cursor when selecting various setting items, or increasing / decreasing numerical values to be input. The decision switch 10h is pushed when the display on the display screen 9a is advanced to the next screen or when the setting content input using the display screen 9a is confirmed. The return switch 10i is operated when returning the screen displayed on the display screen 9a to the initial screen or when returning the display of the display screen 9a to the previous screen.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a second display device 11 is attached to the upper right side of the main body 2 of the printer 1. A print image to be printed on the paper P is displayed in advance on the display screen 11 a of the second display device 11.

  A card slot (CF card slot) 12 is provided on the front right side of the main body 2, and the card slot 12 has a CF (compact flash (R)) type card (infrared communication card) (hereinafter referred to as a CF type) with a built-in infrared communication function. (Referred to as a communication card) 13 is set to be insertable / removable. The CF type communication card 13 is an IrDA module having an infrared communication function compliant with IrDA (Infrared Data Association), and is set in the card slot 12 so that the printer 1 has an infrared communication function capable of receiving infrared data. Give. The printer 1 takes in data received from the mobile phone 14 by the CF type communication card 13 and performs a printing process based on the data.

  The mobile phone 14 in the present embodiment includes a telephone function and an infrared communication function, a telephone book function capable of registering and managing personal information including a telephone number, an electronic mail function capable of sending and receiving electronic mails with other mobile phones, It has multiple functions such as a camera function that can capture still images or moving images. The mobile phone 14 manages personal information data (text data) handled by the phone book function and image data handled by the camera function in a file format compatible with infrared communication. Specifically, personal information data is managed in the vCard (TM) file format, and image data is managed in the vNote (TM) file format. Therefore, personal information data in the vCard file format or image data in the vNote file format managed by the mobile phone 14 is received by the printer 1 through the CF type communication card 13 set in the card slot 12. The mobile phone 14 can send and receive e-mails and image data to and from other mobile phones and personal computers through the mobile phone network. If a CF memory card for a digital camera is set in the card slot 12, image data captured by the digital camera can be read from the CF memory card to the printer 1 and printed.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the CF-type communication card 13 is provided with an infrared light receiving / emitting unit 13a and a display unit 13b serving as communication ports on the front surface (front surface). The infrared light emitting / receiving unit 13a includes a light receiving element and a light emitting element, and the light emitting element emits infrared light composed of a pulse phase modulated bit signal carried by a carrier wave having a carrier frequency of, for example, 25 to 50 kHz by turning on / off the light emission. The light receiving element outputs infrared light composed of bit signals expressed in the same manner. The display unit 13b includes a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) having different emission colors, and notifies the data reception state of the CF type communication card 13 by a combination of the emission color, lighting, blinking, and extinguishing. A connector (not shown) is formed on the back surface of the CF-type communication card 13, and this connector is electrically connected to a printer-side connector provided on the back surface of the card slot 12.

  FIG. 4A shows the mobile phone viewed from the front. As shown in the figure, the mobile phone 14 includes a plurality of operation buttons 15 (15a to 15c, etc.), a mouthpiece 16, a mouthpiece 17, a display 18, and a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) imaging device 19. .

  While using the camera function, the mobile phone 14 displays an image captured by the CCD imaging device 19 on the display 18 and operates the operation button 15b as a shutter to display the captured image as one image. Can be saved as data. In the present embodiment, image data (still image data) captured by the camera function of the mobile phone 14 is stored in the mobile phone 14 as JPEG data, and the mobile phone 14 transmits the image data to the printer 1 by infrared communication. 14 is converted into vNote (TM) format, which is one of the file formats compatible with infrared communication, and transmitted. The printer 1 received in this vNote format encodes (compresses) JPEG data with an encode / decode converter called Base64, and is stored as encoded JPEG image data. In addition, the cellular phone 14 can register the personal information created on the display 18 by operating the operation button 15a using the phone book function.

  FIG. 4B shows an example of personal information registered and displayed on the display using the telephone directory function of the mobile phone. The personal information registration method will be described. First, when the operation button 15 is operated to select the personal information creation mode (new registration mode) of the telephone book function, the personal information creation program built in the mobile phone 14 is activated. . On the display 18, items shown on the left side in FIG. 4B, that is, “name”, “phonetic”, “phone number 1”, “phone number 2”, “phone number 3”, “e-mail address 1” "," E-mail address 2 "," E-mail address 3 "," Address "and" Memo (note) "are displayed. After selecting a desired item by operating the operation button 15c, the corresponding data is input, and this is repeated as many times as necessary to create one piece of personal information as shown in FIG. . Personal information data (text data) created by the telephone directory function is stored in the vCard (TM) format, which is one of the file formats compatible with infrared communication in this embodiment.

  Further, the mobile phone 14 has an infrared communication function compliant with IrDA (Infrared Data Association), and an infrared light receiving / emitting unit 20 (see FIG. 1) for performing infrared communication with the CF type communication card 13. Show). The cellular phone 14 transmits image data and personal information data to the CF-type communication card 13 by operating the operation buttons 15. The infrared light receiving / emitting unit 20 includes a light receiving element and a light emitting element that can receive and issue the same infrared communication method as the infrared light receiving / emitting unit 13 a provided in the CF type communication card 13.

Next, the electrical configuration of the printer 1, the CF-type communication card 13, and the mobile phone 14 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.
First, the electrical configuration of the mobile phone 14 will be described. The mobile phone 14 includes a control unit 21, a memory 22, a transmission / reception unit 23, a microphone 24, a speaker 25, an operation button 15, a display 18, a CCD imaging device 19, and an infrared light receiving / emitting unit 20.

  In the memory 22, image data and personal information data captured by the CCD imaging device 19 are temporarily stored by the control unit 21. The microphone 24 outputs the voice spoken at the earpiece 16 to the control unit 21 as a voice signal. The speaker 25 converts the sound signal output from the control unit 21 into sound and outputs it from the mouthpiece 17.

  The transmission / reception unit 23 is an input / output interface, and transmits the audio signal, mail, and image data output from the control unit 21 to another mobile phone or personal computer, and also transmits the voice signal, mail from other mobile phone or personal computer. The image data is received and output to the control unit 21.

  The control unit 21 includes a CPU, a ROM, an EEPROM, and the like, and the CPU executes various operations based on a control program and various application programs stored in the ROM and the EEPROM. That is, the control unit 21 executes the processing operation for the above-described call, creation of mail, transmission / reception and storage of data based on the operation of the operation button 15. The control unit 21 executes a processing operation for displaying and storing image data captured by the CCD imaging device 19 based on the operation of the operation button 15. At this time, the image data stored in the memory 22 is stored in the JPEG data format by the control unit 21. The control unit 21 executes a processing operation based on the operation of the operation button 15 for creating and storing personal information. At this time, the personal information data (text data) stored in the memory 22 is stored in the business card data format (in this example, the vCard format) by the control unit 21.

  Further, the control unit 21 executes a processing operation for transmitting the stored personal information data and image data to the printer 1 (CF type communication card 13) via the infrared light receiving / emitting unit 20 based on the operation of the operation button 15. To do. When transmitted from the control unit 21 to the CF-type communication card 13, personal information data is transmitted in the vCard file format, and image data (encoded JPEG data) is transmitted in the vNote file format. The control unit 21 transmits these according to the object exchange protocol. In this embodiment, IrOBEX (TM) used for exchanging objects called v format such as a telephone directory (vCard), a schedule (vCalender), and a memo (v Note) is adopted as an object exchange protocol.

Next, the electrical configuration of the CF type communication card 13 will be described.
The CF type communication card 13 includes a card control unit 31, a memory 32, a card side UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) 33, a printer side UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) 34, an infrared light receiving and emitting unit 13a, and a display unit (LED) 13b. Have.

  The card control unit 31 controls the memory 32, the card side UART 33, the infrared light emitting / receiving unit 13a, and the display unit 13b. The card control unit 31 includes a CPU, a ROM, and the like, and the CPU executes various operations based on a control program and various application programs stored in the ROM. When the card control unit 31 receives data from the mobile phone 14 via the infrared light emitting / receiving unit 13a, the card control unit 31 instructs the card-side UART 33 to transfer the object data (personal information data or image data) to the printer 1. . At this time, a part of the memory 32 is used as a buffer for temporarily storing object data.

  The card side UART 33 converts object data (personal information data or image data) into a serial bit stream based on an instruction from the card control unit 31 and outputs the serial bit stream to the printer side UART 34.

  The printer-side UART 34 is controlled by the communication interface 45 on the printer 1 side via a bus 35 that is connected when both connectors are electrically connected with the CF-type communication card 13 set in the card slot 12. When the printer-side UART 34 starts receiving object data from the card-side UART 33, the printer-side UART 34 outputs an interrupt signal to request the printer 1 to read the data. When the printer 1 that receives this interrupt signal opens the input port, reading of object data into the printer 1 is started. At this time, the printer-side UART 34 converts the serial bit stream received from the card-side UART 33 into parallel byte data and outputs the object data to the printer 1 side.

  The printer-side UART 34 outputs various signals input from the printer 1 side to the card control unit 31 via the card-side UART 33. The card control unit 31 monitors various signals input from the printer 1 side, manages the data reception state (communication status), and controls the display of the display unit 13b in a lighting mode according to the communication status at that time. Therefore, the data reception state is notified to the user by the lighting mode of the display unit 13b provided on the front surface of the CF type communication card 13. At this time, the card control unit 31 transmits the communication status information to the mobile phone 14 via the infrared light emitting / receiving unit 13a, and the display 18 of the mobile phone 14 displays the data reception state on the printer 1 side as character information or the like. Is done.

Next, the electrical configuration of the printer 1 will be described.
The printer 1 has a CPU 41, ROM 42, EEPROM 43, RAM 44, communication interface 45, ASIC (Application Specific IC) 46, drivers 47 a to 47 e, and user interface 48, which are electrically connected to each other via a data bus 49. Has been.

  The communication interface (I / F) 45 includes a communication interface unit 45a, a parallel communication unit 45b, a Bluetooth (TM) communication unit 45c, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) communication unit 45d, a slot communication unit 45e, and a serial communication unit ( (Not shown). Each of the communication units 45b to 45e has a communication port (input / output port), and a plurality of communication interface units (hereinafter referred to as communication units) 45a are independently provided for each of the communication units 45b to 45e, for example. When the communication units 45b to 45e receive data, the CPU 41 that manages the priority of communication (data reception) notifies the CPU 41 of the data. The CPU 41 determines whether the data can be received based on the reception information received from the communication interface unit 45a. For example, when the first data is received after the next data can be received, the communication unit Command to open the input port. The communication interface unit 45 a receives data sent from a predetermined host device by opening one of the input ports of the communication units 45 b to 45 e in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 41, and sends it to a common data bus 49. Output. When data arrives first in any one of the plurality of input ports, the communication interface unit 45a starts taking in data from that port and continues to other ports until the data is taken in. In a busy state, data reception from other ports is prohibited. The communication interface unit 45a performs such processing in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 41. When reception of data from one communication port is started, the CPU 41 secures a data transfer path through which the received data reaches the printing process until the end of the printing, and receives data from other communication ports during that time. The communication interface unit 45a is instructed to be prohibited. Further, the CPU 41 performs an interlock process for permitting or prohibiting data reception from the communication port. When the communication interface unit 45a receives a reception request from the host device or the CF-type communication card 13, the CPU 41 receives a notification to that effect from the communication interface unit 45a. Based on the communication information, the communication port availability state And the communication port being received.

  The parallel communication unit 45b can receive data from a host computer (personal computer) HC via a communication cable via parallel communication. The Bluetooth communication unit 45c can receive data from the Bluetooth-compatible mobile terminal BC by short-range wireless communication using radio waves in a predetermined standard frequency band according to a predetermined communication protocol. The USB communication unit 45d can receive data from a USB compatible device (not shown) according to a predetermined communication protocol. The slot communication unit 45e can receive data from the CF type communication card 13 or the CF card (memory card) inserted in the CF card slot 12. Each of the communication units 45b, 45c, 45d, and 45e can transmit predetermined signals or data such as information necessary for communication with the host device and a signal for notifying the state of the printer 1.

  The CPU 41 comprehensively controls the communication interface 45, the ASIC 46, and the drivers 47a to 47c based on a control program stored in the ROM 42 and various application programs stored in the EEPROM 43. The CPU 41 outputs a command signal for operating a part of the printing mechanism to the ASIC 46, and instructs data transfer processing between the ASIC 46 and the RAM 44 and between various processing circuits inside the ASIC 46. The CPU 41 incorporates, for example, a DMA controller for transfer processing. Further, the CPU 41 drives and controls the paper feed motor M1, the carriage motor M2, and the cutter motor M3 of the cutter device that cuts the printed portion of the roll paper into a predetermined size via the drivers 47a to 47c.

  The ASIC 46 performs image processing on the data to generate print data, and drives and controls the plurality of piezoelectric elements PZ via the driver 47c based on a command signal from the CPU 41 and the print data. The RAM 44 includes a reception buffer 44a, a work memory 44b, an output buffer 44c, and the like. Data received through each of the communication units 45b to 45e is temporarily stored in the reception buffer 44a, data for performing a predetermined process is stored in the work memory 44b, and finally generated print data is stored in the output buffer 44c. Is done.

  The paper feed motor M1 is a motor for transporting the cut paper or roll paper P1 set in the automatic paper feeder 3 to the paper discharge port 7 via the printing position. The carriage motor M2 is a motor for reciprocating a carriage mounted with a recording head having a plurality of ejection nozzles in the main scanning direction. The piezoelectric element PZ is an element that is provided for each of a plurality of ejection nozzles provided in the recording head and ejects ink from the nozzles. The cutter motor M3 is a motor that drives the cutter device, and moves the cutting blade in the main scanning direction to cut the roll paper into a predetermined size.

  Further, the CPU 41 reads out menu display data stored in advance in the EEPROM 43 and transfers it to the display processing unit 9 b of the display device 9. The display processing unit 9b displays on the display screen 9a a menu used for manually selecting the paper type, paper size, layout, photo selection, number of prints, and the like based on the menu display data. A “layout” is prepared for the menu item, and this “layout” is printed by designating one or a plurality of images input for printing from a memory card or the like set in the card slot 12 on a sheet. This is a function for creating an image (print state image). The EEPROM 43 stores a plurality of layout templates used for designating the layout. The display data for the print image created by this layout function is temporarily stored in the RAM 44. When the operation unit 10 is operated before printing, the CPU 41 reads the display data from the RAM 44 and transfers it to the display processing unit 11b. The print image is displayed on the display screen 11a.

Further, the CPU 41 is configured to input a signal based on the operation of each switch 10 a to 10 i provided on the operation panel 8 via the user I / F 48.
FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram for explaining data communication performed between the mobile phone and the printer via the CF type communication card and printing processing of the received data. Each functional unit shown in the figure is realized by a hardware circuit including various circuits, and a CPU that executes a communication protocol program, an application program, and the like.

  The card control unit 31 built in the CF type communication card (infrared communication card) 13 includes an IrDA communication circuit 61, an IrDA stack (IrDA protocol stack) 62, a file transfer unit 63, and an object transmission / reception unit 64. The IrDA communication circuit 61 includes hardware including a CPU and a communication circuit (both not shown), and corresponds to a physical layer in the communication layer. The IrDA stack 62 includes an IrDA communication protocol group and corresponds to a data link layer and a network layer. The file transfer unit 63 controls transfer of files received from the mobile phone 14 by infrared communication, and corresponds to a transport layer and a session layer in the communication layer. The object transmission / reception unit 64 performs data transfer control between two communication systems of IrDA communication performed with the mobile phone 14 and serial communication performed with the printer 1, and received data check, etc. Manage the necessary processing. The object transmitting / receiving unit 64 includes a portion corresponding to a presentation layer and an application layer for processing data from the file transfer unit 63, and a portion constituting a presentation layer to a data link layer including a serial communication protocol stack in an upper layer of the UART 33. Become.

  The file transfer unit 63 is a functional part constructed by the CPU in the CF type communication card 13 executing an OBEX (Object exchange) (TM) program, and controls file transfer based on the OBEX specification. Specifically, a logical communication link with OBEX on the mobile phone 14 side is established and disconnected, and a restoration process for assembling a packet divided and sent in the original file at the time of file transfer is performed.

  The object transmission / reception unit 64 has a corresponding extension storage unit 64a. When the printer 1 detects that the CF type communication card 13 is inserted into the card slot 12 for the first time after the power is turned on, the object transmission / reception unit 64 receives the CF type communication from the printer 1. The extension data sent to the card 13 is stored (set up) in the corresponding extension storage unit 64a. Further, the object transmission / reception unit 64 obtains a file name from the received data, and compares and refers to the extension and extension data in the file name, so that the received data has a print compatible capability for the printer 1. It is determined whether the data is print compatible data. For details, read the file name “aaaa.bbb” in the header of the data, extract the extension “bbb” from the file name, and compare the extension “bbb” with the extension data. Judge whether or not. This reference comparison is not case sensitive. Then, the object transmission / reception unit 64 performs a data selection process that permits the reception of print-compatible data based on the determination result, but rejects the reception of non-print-compatible data. When the object transmission / reception unit 64 is print compatible data, the object transmission / reception unit 64 transfers the object data and data with the file extension “bbb” (referred to as file extension data) to the printer 1 side.

  On the printer 1 side, a card driver 71, an IrDA UART driver (hereinafter referred to as a UART driver) 72, a data transfer unit 73, an IrDA profile unit 74, a text data raster processing unit 75, an image data raster processing unit 76, and a print engine 77 are provided. Is provided.

  The card driver 71 and the UART driver 72 are configured by hardware and software including a driver circuit built in the slot communication unit 45e in FIG. The data transfer unit 73 is a functional part realized by the CPU 41 executing the communication protocol program. Further, the IrDA profile unit 74, the text data raster processing unit 75, and the image data raster processing unit 76 are functional parts realized by the CPU 41 executing the application program. Further, the print engine 77 is a printing process comprising a software part realized by the CPU 41 executing an application program, an ASIC 46, drivers 47a to 47e, a paper feed motor M1, a carriage motor M2, a piezoelectric element PZ, a cutter motor M3, and the like. It is comprised from the hardware part which implement | achieves.

  When applied to the OSI reference model, the card driver 71 and the UART driver 72 correspond to a physical layer, a data link layer, and a network layer. The data transfer unit 73 corresponds to a transport layer and a session layer, and the IrDA profile unit 74, the text data raster processing unit 75, and the image data raster processing unit 76 correspond to a presentation layer and an application layer.

  The card driver 71 is a communication driver that exchanges signals and data with the CF-type communication card 13, and issues necessary instructions to the UART driver 72 based on instructions from the CPU 41.

  The UART driver 72 controls the communication operation of the printer side UART 34 built in the CF type communication card 13. For example, the UART driver 72 controls the printer side UART 34 based on instructions from the CPU 41 and the card driver 71. When the UART driver 72 receives an interrupt request from the printer-side UART 34, the printer 1 opens the input port and starts to capture data unless the printer 1 is busy receiving data from the other communication units 45b to 45d.

  Further, the card driver 71 receives extension data from the CPU 41 and stores it in the setup data storage unit 71a during an initialization process executed by the CPU 41 when the printer 1 is powered on. Then, the card driver 71 reads the extension data stored in the setup data storage unit 71a based on an instruction from the CPU 41 that detects the electrical connection between the printer 1 and the CF type communication card 13 for the first time after the power is turned on. It transmits to the communication card 13. In this embodiment, “vcf”, “vnt”, “jpeg”, and “jpg” are set in the extension data as the extension of the print compatible file. The extension data sent to the CF type communication card 13 is set up on the CF type communication card 13 side by being stored in the corresponding extension storage unit 64a by the object transmitting / receiving unit 64. When the UART driver 72 receives a notification such as an error notification detected by the data transfer unit 73 and the profile unit 74, the UART driver 72 transmits a signal to that effect to the card control unit 31. The card control unit 31 manages the communication status indicating the data reception state by monitoring the data and signals received from the mobile phone 14 and the printer 1, and displays the display unit (LED ) Display control of 13b. The CF type communication card 13 notifies the sender of the data reception state by the lighting state of the display unit 13b.

  When the data transfer unit 73 receives the object data and the file extension data sent from the object transmission / reception unit 64 of the CF type communication card 13, the data transfer unit 73 sends the file extension data to the profile unit 74 and the object data. Judge whether it was received correctly. This determination is made according to a transmission control procedure in which a procedure for verifying whether or not the object data has been received correctly is programmed. The transmission control procedure includes a basic procedure and an HDLC (High Level Data Link) procedure. In this example, a transmission control procedure in which the basic procedure is simplified is adopted. Note that the error detection method employed for error control is not limited to the CRC detection method, but may be a parity check method, a checksum, or a Hamming code.

  The data transfer unit 73 sequentially sends the data (the message body or the message division block) to the next IrDA profile unit 74 when the data can be correctly received according to the transmission control procedure. When the data cannot be correctly received, the data transfer unit 73 Requests the unit 64 to retransmit the data. Receiving this retransmission request, the object transmission / reception unit 64 retransmits the data transmitted to the data transfer unit 73 immediately before. The data transfer unit 73 instructs the UART driver 72 to transmit an error notification signal to the object transmission / reception unit 64 when a timeout occurs without being retransmitted after the retransmission request.

  The IrDA profile unit 74 includes an extension identification unit 81, a number determination unit 82, a note analysis unit 83, a division processing unit 84, a text data format conversion unit 85, a template storage unit 86, an image data decoding unit 87, and a determination unit. 88. The IrDA profile unit 74 is realized based on program data and various data stored in the ROM 42 or the EEPROM 43.

  The extension identifying unit 81 identifies the file format of the object data from the file extension data input from the data transfer unit 73. That is, it identifies the extension of personal information data (vCard file format), attached format image data (vNote file format), or image data (JPEG file). That is, if the file extension data is “vcf”, it is identified as “vCard file”, if “vnt”, it is identified as “vNote file”, and if it is “jpeg” or “jpg”, “JPEG file”. Identify. The extension identifying unit 81 distributes the processing path sent from the data transfer unit 73 thereafter according to the identified extension. That is, if the extension is “vcf”, the extension identifying unit 81 sends the vCard file (personal information data) to the number determination unit 82, and if the extension is “vnt”, the vNote file (image data). Is sent to the image data decoding unit 87. Further, if the extension is “jpeg” or “jpg”, the JPEG data is sent to the image data raster processor 76. Here, uppercase and lowercase letters are not distinguished in the extension data.

  The number determination unit 82 determines whether the vCard file is a “single case” file including one piece of personal information or an “all case” file including a plurality of pieces of personal information. If it is determined that the file is a “single case” file, the vCard file is sent to the note analysis unit 83, and if it is determined that the file is “all cases”, the vCard file is sent to the division processing unit 84. The determination result of the number determination unit 82 is “N = 0” for “single case” and “N = 1” for “all cases”, and the determination value N is sent to the text data format conversion unit 85. Sent.

  The note analysis unit 83 extracts and analyzes the text described in the Note area of the vCard file. When printing a single piece of personal information, a print layout can be specified by describing a specified character (specified information) in advance in the note area. In order to determine the presence or absence, the description content of the note area is analyzed. In the present embodiment, numbers (numbers) are adopted as designated characters. The reason why numbers are used is that the number of characters to be written is small and the identification is easy. In addition to numbers, alphabets (for example, A, B, C,...) Can be adopted as designated characters. The note analysis unit 83 sends the designated character information M (for example, the number M = 1, 2,... N) obtained as an analysis result to the text data format conversion unit 85.

  When the division processing unit 84 starts to sequentially input all the case files in units of message division blocks, the division processing unit 84 examines the contents of the data while storing them in a buffer (not shown), and divides them by a predetermined number of times by extracting a delimiter for each case. To do. Then, the personal information data is sent to the text data format conversion unit 85 for the next processing for each of the divided predetermined number of cases. In this embodiment, the predetermined number of cases is set to one, and all data in the vCard file is sequentially divided into individual information for each case, while the division processing unit 84 converts the text data format for the next processing one by one. Sent to the unit 85.

  The text data format conversion unit 85 converts personal information data (text data) from the vCard format to the XHTML (Extensible Hyper Text Markup Language) format. However, before performing format conversion, whether the object data is in vCard format is analyzed to verify that the data is in vCard file format. For example, the presence or absence of properties (“BEGIN VCARD”, “N”, “SOUND”, etc.) that should be provided for vCard file format data is confirmed. If the data is not in the vCard file format, the data is discarded and the CF type communication card 13 is notified through the UART driver 72 that the data is incorrect. On the other hand, if the data is in the vCard file format, the object data is subjected to format conversion processing. When the vCard file of the type having an image attachment function is analyzed, the attached encoded JPEG image data is transferred to the image data decoding unit 87. As described above, the text data format conversion unit 85 analyzes and verifies in advance whether the extension is “vCard” but the contents of the data are also correctly in the vCard format. When the image data decoding unit 87 accepts a vNote file of a type including text data described by the memo pad function, the text data format conversion unit 85 accepts only the text data from the image data decoding unit 87. At this time, the contents of the data have already been verified by the image data decoding unit 87 and are not analyzed again.

When performing the format conversion process, the text data format conversion unit 85 first reads a print layout template (hereinafter referred to as a template) described in the XHTML format from the template storage unit 86. In the template, a layout frame is specified by a tag description so that the value (text data) of each item (property) constituting the object data can be assigned to a predetermined position. By incorporating the value (text data) of the corresponding item (property) in the layout frame, the personal information in the vCard format is converted into the XHTML format with a template. In other words, the vCard file is originally a file format that does not have a layout concept, but a file format (XHTML) in which a layout can be defined from a file format (vCard) in which a layout cannot be defined so that it can be printed with a predetermined layout at the time of printing. ). A layout is defined by a tag by using a template described in the XHTML format at the time of format conversion. The text data format conversion unit 85 sends XHTML data in which personal information is embedded in the template to the text data raster processing unit 75.

  On the other hand, the image data decoding unit 87 receives the object data in the vNote file format from the extension identifying unit 81, analyzes the contents of the object data, and verifies whether the data is in the vNote file format. For example, the presence or absence of a property or the like that should be provided in the case of vNote file format data is confirmed. If the data is not in the vNote file format, the data is discarded and the CF communication card 13 is notified through the UART driver 72 that the data is incorrect. On the other hand, if the data is in the vNote file format, the attached encoded image data is extracted, and if it is analyzed that the text data described by the memo pad function is included, the text data is transferred to the text data format conversion unit 85. To do. Then, a decoding program (Bese64) prepared in advance is activated to decode the encoded JPEG image data into JPEG image data. In this manner, the image data decoding unit 87 analyzes and verifies in advance whether the extension is “vnt” but the contents of the data are also correctly in the vNote format. The image data decoding unit 87 sends the decoded JPEG image data to the image data raster processing unit 76.

  The text data raster processing unit 75 performs raster processing on the XHTML data received from the text data format conversion unit 85. This raster processing includes XHTML analysis processing, layout setting processing, color conversion processing, and binarization processing. First, in the XHTML analysis process, the XHTML data is analyzed, and the template information of the layout described in the XHTML language and the personal information described in the text are decomposed. Then, the description contents (layout template information) described in the XHTML language (tag) are analyzed to calculate the allocation area of the personal information text (value of each property), and the calculated position coordinate data (address) of each allocation area Data). In the layout setting process, the character code of the personal information text is converted into character data, and the obtained character data is developed as dot data of a predetermined character size at an address determined from the allocation area specified by the template. A color conversion process and a binarization process are performed on the expanded dot data, and then the binarization data is subjected to a process of rearranging in the dot formation order at the time of printing.

  The image data raster processing unit 76 performs raster processing on the JPEG image data. However, for the JPEG data sent directly without going through the image data decoding unit 87 before raster processing, the contents of the data are analyzed to verify whether the data is in JPEG file format. For example, the presence or absence of information that should be provided in the case of JPEG file format data is confirmed. If the data is not in the JPEG file format, the data is discarded and the CF type communication card 13 is notified through the UART driver 72 that the data is incorrect. On the other hand, if the data is in JPEG file format, the process proceeds to raster processing. As described above, the image data raster processing unit 76 analyzes and verifies in advance whether the extension is “jpeg” but the data contents are also correctly in the JPEG format.

  The raster processing includes JPEG analysis and decoding processing, layout setting processing, color conversion processing, and binarization processing. In JPEG analysis and decoding processing, since JPEG image data is compressed image data, this is first expressed using the YCbCr color system (luminance (Y), blue color difference (Cb), and red color difference (Cr). Decompress to color-based (uncompressed) image data. The YCbCr color system multi-value image data obtained by decompression is further converted into RGB color system multi-value image data. In the layout setting process, an allocation area in which RGB color system multi-value image data is allocated on a sheet is calculated, and the image is assigned to an address on the work memory (image buffer) 44b determined from the calculated allocation area. Expand as dot data. After the developed image data (dot data) is subjected to color conversion processing and binarization processing, the binarized data is subjected to processing for rearranging in the dot formation order at the time of printing. The same processing is performed for the raster processing of the JPEG image after the layout setting processing in the text data raster processing section 75 described above. When text is included in the vNote data, the image data raster processing unit 76 performs layout setting processing for the entire text and image. The second determination means is constituted by the text data format conversion unit 85, the image data decoding unit 87, and the image data raster processing unit 76 that analyze and verify the contents of the object data in each file format (vCard, vNote, JPEG). Is done.

  The print engine 77 sets the CMYK binary image data (raster data) after raster processing developed on the work memory 44b as a set with a print command header to be a printer print command, and prints the print mechanism by the engine controller based on the printer print command. Is driven to print on the paper.

  Note that the text data raster processing unit 75 and the image data raster processing unit 76 receive a CF type communication card in the printer 1 so that data in file formats (XHTML format and JPEG format) handled by the Bluetooth-compatible mobile terminal BC can also be printed. It is an existing one that was provided before the system was adopted. In this example, the function part that needs to be added is diverted to minimize the function part that needs to be added so that even the file data of the cellular phone compatible format received via the CF type communication card 13 can be printed. In other words, by adding a function part for converting the data of the mobile phone compatible format (vCard format and vNote format) to the Bluetooth compatible format in the IrDA profile unit 74, each raster processing unit 75, 76 is diverted.

  FIG. 7 shows a schematic configuration of an image processing apparatus that includes two raster processing units and a part of a print engine, and generates print data from data in XHTML format and JPEG format. This image processing apparatus mainly includes a CPU 41, an ASIC 46, a ROM 42, an EEPROM 43, and a RAM 44. However, part of the processing is realized by software that the CPU 41 executes a program. Of course, most of the processing is not realized by a hardware circuit, but more than half of the processing can be realized by software.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the ASIC 46 includes an interpretation processing unit 90, a JPEG decompressor 91, a YCbCr / RGB converter 92, a memory controller 93, an image processing unit 46a, and a print processing unit 46b. The image processing unit 46 a includes a color conversion processing unit 94 and a binarization processing unit 95. The print processing unit 46 b includes a command encoder 96 and an engine controller 97. A character generator 98 is constructed in the ROM 42. The EEPROM 43 includes a template storage unit 86 in a part of the storage area and stores a color conversion table 99. The memory controller 93 is a circuit that manages image processing for expanding dot data including at least one of character data and image data on the work memory 44b and rearranging the pixel order of the expanded dot data to the raster scan order. .

  Further, the buffers 75a and 76a included in the raster processing units 75 and 76 in FIG. 6 are secured as dedicated storage areas in the RAM 44, for example. Of course, those dedicated storage areas may be secured in, for example, SDRAM other than RAM.

  First, processing of the text data raster processing unit 75 that performs raster processing on XHTML data will be described. The text data raster processing unit 75 includes an interpretation processing unit 90, a memory controller 93, a character generator 98, a first buffer 75a, and the like.

  The ROM 42 stores character generator data (CG data) indicating a pattern of characters (characters, symbols, etc.) such as Japanese and English fonts, and converts the character code (character code) into CG data using the CG data. A character generator 98 is constructed. When a character code is given to the designated address, the character generator 98 reads CG data necessary for specifying the dot configuration (character dot pattern) of various characters. CG data is vector data. Here, the vector data is data representing the outline of the character or figure to be drawn. More specifically, the coordinates of the main points of the character or figure and the equation of a curve (for example, a Bezier curve) connecting the coordinates are expressed. It is described by the parameters that it contains.

  The XHTML data sent to the text data raster processing unit 75 is first transferred to the interpretation processing unit 90. The XTMHL data includes character data that is a body in which personal information is described, and a template tag that describes a place where the body of the personal information is to be laid out.

  The interpretation processing unit 90 analyzes the description content of the XHTML data, and layout data (address) that is interpreted from character data corresponding to characters (characters) of the text body and a template tag that describes a place where the character string should be laid out. (Coordinate data in space) and the corresponding correspondence is converted. The character data includes a character code (for example, ASCII code) that specifies the type of character or symbol, and modification information such as a font. The interpretation processing unit 90 passes the character data and layout data decomposed and converted from the XHTML data to the memory controller 93 together with information associated with each correspondence.

  The memory controller 93 performs vector font expansion processing for converting CG data (vector data) read by supplying character data to the character generator 98 into character dot pattern data (character dot data) having a predetermined character size. Further, the memory controller 93 expands the character dot data obtained by the vector font expansion processing to the vertical position and the horizontal position designated by the layout data (coordinate data on the address space) in the work memory 44b. The memory controller 93 rearranges the developed pixel order into the raster scan order, stores it in the first buffer 75a, and transfers it to the print processing unit 46b. Here, since the first buffer 75a is used for raster processing of XHTML data, its buffer capacity is relatively small (for example, 30 to 100 kilobytes).

  Next, processing of the image data raster processing unit 76 that performs raster processing on JPEG image data will be described. The image data raster processing unit 76 includes a JPEG decompressor 91, a YCbCr / RGB converter 92, a memory controller 93, a second buffer 76a, and the like.

The JPEG decompressor 91 is a circuit that decompresses JPEG image data and converts it into YCbCr color system multi-value image data. The YCbCr / RGB converter 92 is a circuit for color-converting the YCbCr color system multi-value image data from the YCbCr color system to the RGB color system RGB multi-value image data. The following conversion formula is used for this color conversion.
R = Y + 1.40200 × Cr
G = Y-0.34414 × Cb-0.71414 × Cr
B = Y + 1.77200 × Cb
The memory controller 93 is a circuit that rearranges the pixel order of the RGB multilevel image data received from the YCbCr / RGB converter 92 into the raster scan order. Here, in JPEG compression processing, the original image is divided into block regions of 8 pixels × 8 pixels, and predetermined calculation processing is performed in units of block regions. For this reason, the original RGB multivalued data converted from JPEG data passed from the YCbCr / RGB converter 92 is also arranged in the form of pixel data divided into 8 pixel × 8 pixel block areas. The memory controller 93 converts the array of pixel data sorted into the block area of 8 pixels × 8 pixels into a raster scan suitable for print processing (that is, for example, horizontal scan in the row direction from the left end to the right end of the image). , Scans that are repeated downward from the top row one row at a time). The memory controller 93 performs this rearrangement by developing each pixel data of the RGB multi-valued image received from the YCbCr / RGB converter 92 and writing it in the second buffer 76a according to the raster scan order. As a result, RGB multilevel image data in which pixels are arranged in the raster scan order is stored on the second buffer 76a. The memory controller 93 transfers the RGB multilevel image data in which the pixels are arranged in the raster scan order to the image processing unit 46a. Here, since the second buffer 76a is used for raster processing of JPEG image data, its buffer capacity is relatively larger than that of the first buffer 75a (for example, 3 to 10 megabytes).

  The RGB multilevel image data transferred to the image processing unit 46 a is first sent to the color conversion processing unit 94 and then transferred to the binarization processing unit 95. The color conversion processing unit 94 is a circuit that performs color conversion of RGB multilevel image data to CMYK multilevel image data. Further, the binarization processing unit 95 is a circuit that binarizes the CMYK multilevel image data into CMYK binary image data.

  The color conversion processing unit 94 reads the color conversion table 99 for color conversion from the RGB color system to the CMYK color system stored in the EEPROM 43, and refers to this to convert the RGB multi-value image data into the CMYK multi-value image. Convert to data. The CMYK multivalued image data is transferred to the binarization processing unit 95.

  Next, the binarization processing unit 95 performs binarization processing (for example, error diffusion processing or dither processing) on the CMYK multilevel image data, and converts this into CMYK binary image data. The CMYK binary image data is transferred to the print processing unit 46b. Note that when the data transferred to the image processing unit 46a is subjected to predetermined processing such as enlargement, reduction, and rotation, the data is transferred to the CPU 41, and the predetermined processing is performed by software processing.

  Character dot data or CMYK binary image data rearranged in the raster scan order is transferred to the print processing unit 46b. These data are transferred to the command encoder 96.

  The command encoder 96 sets the character dot data or CMYK binary image data together with the command header of the printer print command from the CPU 41 as print data, and sends it to the engine controller 97. The engine controller 97 outputs a command signal for driving and controlling the piezoelectric element PZ to the driver 47d based on the print data.

Next, IrDA communication performed between the mobile phone 14 and the CF type communication card 13 will be described.
FIG. 8 shows the data structure of the OBEX specification used at the time of file transfer. The data D includes an operation code OP, a header HD, and a data body DB. The operation code OP describes a command related to communication. “Connect”, “Disconnect”, “PUT”, “FPUT”, “GET”, “FGET”, “Abort”, “Response”, and the like are prepared as commands. “Connect” means a connection request, and “Disconnect” means a disconnection request. “PUT” is a data reception request, “FPUT” is a final data reception request (including the end of transmission data), “GET” is a data extraction request, and “FGET” is a final data extraction request (indication of reception data end). Means). “Abort” means abort and “Response” means response.

  In the header HD, information on the data body DB is described. The data body DB is data itself to be transmitted / received (transferred), and is usually divided into packets (blocks) having a predetermined size or less. In the case of this example, the object data transmitted from the mobile phone 14 to the printer 1 is divided into a plurality of parts and transferred when the data size exceeds a predetermined size. "Name", "Authentication", "filesize", "Bodylength", etc. are prepared. “Name” means a file name, “Authentication” means verification of qualification to access information, “filesize” means file size, and “Bodylength” means body data length. Since “Name” is described in the form of “file name.extension”, the “extension” of the file can be acquired by looking at the value of “Name”. Also, “Authentication” describes an authentication code (pin code) that can verify the qualification to access information when it is set. The mobile phone 14 is set to require the input of an authentication code when transmitting all items of personal information registered in the phone book function or all items of personal information in a specified group. When all such data is transmitted, an authentication code is input to an input field required on the display 18 after the transmission button is operated. The input authentication code is described in “Authentication” of the header HD.

FIG. 9 shows a transfer processing sequence for transferring data in the flow of mobile phone → infrared communication card (CF type communication card) → printer.
When a data transmission operation is performed with the mobile phone 14, an IrDA connection (physical connection) which is a physical layer is first performed. An IrDA connection request is issued from the mobile phone 14, and the IrDA connection is established in such a manner that the CF communication card 13 responds to the request. Next, OBEX connection (logical connection) is performed. By sending data with the operation code OP as “Connect” from the cellular phone 14, an OBEX connection (logical connection) is requested, and the CF type communication card 13 responds with data with the operation code OP as “Response”. An OBEX connection (logical connection) is established.

  When the logical connection is established, the mobile phone 14 divides the file data into data lengths within the maximum allowable data length of the body DB, and transfers the data in a plurality of divided blocks (frames). At this time, “PUT” is used as the operation code OP, and data D in which a block is inserted in the body DB is created and transmitted. Thereafter, after waiting for reception of data having “Response” as the operation code OP, the next data D having “PUT” as the operation code OP is transmitted.

  The file transfer unit (IrOBEX) 63 on the CF-type communication card 13 side assembles sequentially received blocks to restore the data, and the restored data is transferred to the object transmitting / receiving unit 64. The object transmitting / receiving unit 64 transmits data to the printer 1 in units of blocks (frames) within a predetermined data size according to a transmission control procedure (basic procedure). At this time, the object transmitting / receiving unit 64 transmits “name.extension” acquired from “Name” of the header HD together with the data.

  Thus, when the data transfer process proceeds and the last block (data) is transferred from the mobile phone 14, “FPUT” is described in the operation code OP, so the file transfer unit 63 sets the operation code OP of the received data to “FPUT ”Is recognized as the last block, that is, a data reception completion notification. In response to this, the disconnection request with “Disconnect” as the operation code OP is sent from the mobile phone 14 to disconnect the OBEX connection (logical connection), and then the IrDA connection (physical connection) to disconnect the communication link. Blocked. Thereafter, the printer 1 generates print data from the received data, and printing is executed based on the print data.

  Note that if the mobile phone 14 is interrupted during data transmission, data having an operation code OP of “Abort” is transmitted to the CF type communication card 13. In this case as well, the communication link is cut off through the same sequence of IrDA disconnection and OBEX disconnection. In this example, the file transfer function from the printer 1 to the mobile phone 14 is not provided. However, when data having an operation code OP of “GET” is sent from the mobile phone 14 to the CF type communication card 13, the printer The printer 1 may be provided with a transfer function for transferring a file stored in one memory to the mobile phone 14.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a program executed by the CPU 41 on the printer 1 side when a CF type communication card is inserted (set) into the card slot. Hereinafter, the processing content executed when the CPU 41 detects the CF type communication card 13 will be described.

  First, in step (hereinafter simply referred to as “S”) 10, it is determined whether or not the CF type communication card 13 has been inserted into the card slot 12 (that is, whether or not the CF type communication card 13 has been detected). If it is detected that the CF-type communication card 13 has been inserted into the card slot 12, the process proceeds to S20, and if it is not detected that the card has been inserted, the process is terminated.

  In S20, it is determined whether the card whose insertion has been detected is the CF communication card 13 or the memory card MC. If it is the CF type communication card 13, the process proceeds to S30, and if it is a memory card, the memory card is recognized and the process is terminated.

  In S30, the CF type communication card 13 is set up. That is, the card driver 71 is instructed to read extension data (reference data) from the setup data storage unit 71 a and transmit it to the object transmission / reception unit 64. As a result, the card driver 71 transmits the extension data to the object transmission / reception unit 64, and the object transmission / reception unit 64 that has received the data stores the extension data in the storage unit 64a.

Next, in S40, an interlock process is performed.
In S50, it is determined whether or not the interlock can be released. If it is OK to release the interlock, the process proceeds to S60. If the interlock cannot be released, the process returns to S40 again. When the process returns to S40, the interlock process is executed every predetermined time until the interlock can be released.

  In S60, a ready command for releasing the interlock is output. Upon receiving this ready command, the card control unit 31 (CPU 159) sets a communication status A of “Receivable”, and the display unit 13b of the CF type communication card 13 is lit in green. The user grasps that the CF type communication card 13 is in a state capable of receiving data by looking at the green lighting of the display unit 13b.

  Next, processing of data transferred from the CF type communication card 13 to the main body 2 side of the printer 1 will be described. The processing on the printer side mainly consists of (A) sort processing according to the type of data, (B) judgment processing of single or all personal information data, and (C) division of all personal information data. There are a transmission process, (D) business card layout printing of personal information data, and (E) telephone book layout printing of personal information data.

  First, a process from conversion of received data into a file format that can be handled by a processing circuit such as an ASIC to generation of data with a designated layout will be described. First, the data structure of the vCard file will be described.

FIG. 11 shows an example of personal information data in the vCard file format.
As shown in the figure, the single data MD in the vCard format starts with “BEGIN: VCARD” and ends with “END: VCARD”. Between the items “BEGIN” and “END”, the following items of personal information are described in a “property: value” format using properties and values. A property points to an item, and a value points to the specific content that should be placed in that item. Properties include “N (name)”, “SOUND (phonetic)”, “TEL (phone number)”, “EMAIL (email address)”, “ADR (address)”, “NOTE (memo)”, etc. Provided (however, parentheses are descriptions of properties).

  First, the name of another person is described in the value of the property “N”. For example, when starting a vCard compatible phone book application (new registration) and entering “Taro Yamada” in the name input field displayed on the screen, “N: Taro Yamada” is described. Similarly, the name of the name is described in the value of the property “SOUND”.

  Although the telephone number is described in the property “TEL”, the following can be specified by adding a command (hereinafter referred to as TYPE designation). The office telephone number is described in the value of “TEL; WORK; VOICE:”, and the office FAX number is described in the value of “TEL; WORK; FX:”. When “WORK” is replaced with “HOME”, a home phone number is described. A mobile phone number is described in the value of “TEL; CELL:”. In addition, various TYPE designations can be made by selecting a cellular phone number registration icon, and thus various telephone numbers can be designated. The telephone number of “representative” is described in the value of “TEL; X-ABC-MAIN; VOICE:” on the seventh line in FIG. There is also a property that describes the phone number of “School”. In addition, various identification TYPE commands are prepared.

  An e-mail address is described in the value of the property “EMAIL”. Similarly to the “TEL” command, the “EMAIL” command can specify a plurality of e-mail addresses by specifying “TYPE” after “EMAIL”. In the example of FIG. 11, the value of “EMAIL; WORK:” is the company's e-mail address, the value of “EMAIL; CELL:” is the e-mail address of the mobile phone, and the value of “EMAIL; INTERNET:” is set. Is an Internet e-mail address.

  An address is described in the value of the property “ADR”. “ADR” can also specify a company address, a home address, etc. by specifying TYPE such as “WORK” and “HOME”.

  The value of the property “NOTE” describes the contents of the memo. In the present embodiment, a function for setting a print layout for the printer 1 is provided by inputting a designated character into a memo and describing the designated character in a “NOTE” value.

  As shown in FIG. 12, the vCard all case data AD includes a plurality of pieces of personal information, and each piece of personal information starts with “BEGIN: VCARD” and ends with “END: VCARD”. Each item constituting one piece of personal information is described in the “property: value” format between “BEGIN: VCARD” and “END: VCARD”.

  Therefore, as can be seen from the figure, “END: VCARD” is described every time one piece of data ends. When transmitting personal information data from the mobile phone 14, the user can select “single” or “all”. The printer 1 determines a print layout to be applied depending on whether the received vCard file is “single” or “all”. In the present embodiment, in order to identify whether the vCard file is “single case” or “all cases”, a command or property that is always described in the personal information data and that is described only once per case is represented by the number of cases. Adopt as discriminator CS. Of course, a command or property described in a fixed number for each case may be used. For example, since “VCARD” is described twice for each case, a single case is adopted if the count value is “2”, and “all cases” is judged if the count value is “4 or more”. You can also

  In the present embodiment, “END: VCARD” is adopted as the number discriminator CS. The number determination unit 82 of the IrDA profile unit 74 determines whether the personal information data is a single case or all cases (including all cases in the group in the case of group designation). Specifically, the CPU 41 counts the number discriminator “END: VCARD” included in the data by the counter, and determines whether the received vCard file is “single” or “all” based on the counted value. That is, when the count value is “1”, the determination value (for example, flag) N is reset to “N = 0”, and when the count value is “2 or more”, the determination value N is set to “N = 1”. .

  In the case of all files, the IrDA profile unit 74 does not send all the data and then sends it to the text data format conversion unit 85. The data is sent to the text data format conversion unit 85 of the next processing unit by the number of cases. This processing is performed by the division processing unit 84. The delimiter for each item in the data is determined by looking at the category identifier DS. In this example, “END: VCARD” is adopted as the classification identifier DS.

  Specifically, after the data transfer unit 73 checks whether or not the data is correctly received in the transmission control procedure 73a, the CPU 41 determines “END: VCARD” which is the segment identifier DS for the data (same as the number discriminator CS in this example). Is counted by a counter, and the number of received personal information is counted from the counted value. Each time a predetermined number of pieces of personal information are buffered in the reception buffer 44a of the RAM 44, the CPU 41 sends the data in the reception buffer 44a to the text data format conversion unit 85 for the next process. Specifically, the CPU 41 executes the next text data format conversion process every time a predetermined number of pieces of data are buffered. The classification identifier DS may be the last property for each case.

  FIG. 13 shows an example of print layout template data applied when personal information data is printed. This figure shows business card print template data LT1 for vCard data MD1.

  The print layout (print format) of the vCard file depends on the template data stored in the EEPROM 43 (template storage unit 86) in the printer 1. The template data is layout data described in the XHTML format. The XHTML data is divided between the <body> and </ body> into three areas of fields, comment tags, and properties for each item (each line in the figure).

  The field is a data area such as a character string printed as a title on a business card such as “name” and “phone number” in FIG. Prescribed titles necessary for business cards such as “name” and “telephone number” are described in advance in the field of the template data LT.

  The comment tag is an instruction for designating the print position, font, character size, etc. of each property value in the vCard format file (for example, if the property is “N”, that value is “Taro Yamada”). The value is embedded immediately after the comment tag "<!-->". There is also a method of replacing the comment tag “<>” with a value.

  The property is data in vCard format, and is an instruction for designating the print position, font, character size, etc. of the data designated by TYPE. Immediately after the property “<>”, data designated by TYPE, for example, a character string such as “WORK” or “CELL” is incorporated. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11, only one comment information is included in the data that is not subject to TYPE designation, such as a name or reading, and there is only one piece of personal information. On the other hand, a property is added to the comment tag in an area in which data that can be specified by TYPE such as a telephone number or an e-mail is described. Note that fonts and character sizes are not specified in the comment tags and properties in FIG.

  FIG. 14 shows XHTML data after the personal information data of FIG. 11 is applied to the template of FIG. In the personal information data of FIG. 11 (personal information displayed as shown in FIG. 4B on the mobile phone display), specified values (and properties) are incorporated in the template of FIG. 13 and the XHTML shown in FIG. Template format data consisting of data. The conversion process from the personal information data to the template format data is performed by the text data format conversion unit 85. The template format data converted by the text data format conversion unit 85 is transmitted to the text data raster processing unit 75. The CPU 41 performs text data format conversion processing as follows. When the template data LT is read, the property value (“Name”, etc.) described in the comment tag is used as a clue, the property value (“Taro Yamada”, etc.) is extracted from the vCard file, and the comment in the template data is extracted. Incorporate the retrieved value immediately after the tag. Further, the CPU 41 takes the property immediately after “TYPE” in the property (such as “TELNO1”) as a clue, extracts the TYPE (“WORK”, etc.) of the property from the vCard file, and immediately after that property in the template data LT. Incorporate the extracted TYPE. The embedding process according to this rule is performed by the CPU 41 executing a text data format conversion process program. Thus, template format data shown in FIG. 14 is created. As described above, in the present embodiment, the layout is assigned by converting the format from the vCard format where the layout cannot be defined to the XHTML format where the layout can be defined, and flowing the value of the personal information into the layout frame of the template at the time of the format conversion.

  FIG. 15 shows an example of a business card format print layout. This figure shows a template PL1 of a print layout designated by the template data LT. In the figure, layout frames (allocation areas) A1 to A9 surrounded by a square frame are places where the values of each item of personal information are arranged, and the designation of these places is designated by a comment tag in the template data LT. Yes. Then, corresponding values are arranged in the layout frames A1 to A9 designated by the comment tags. The titles given in the layout frames A1 to A9 are described in advance in the template data LT, and values are arranged on the right side of each title. In the same figure, each of the layout frames A1 to A9 is shown in parentheses (for example, “(ORG1)” etc.) is a property in the vCard data, and the value of the property is arranged in the layout frame. means. For example, the value “Taro Yamada” of the property “N” in FIG. 11 is arranged on the right side of “Name” in the layout frame A4 in FIG. Although the business card print template in FIG. 13 and the print layout in FIG. 15 do not correspond to each other, the template data in FIG. 13 is shown as a template example with simple description contents for easy explanation. In this example, XHTML data that can specify the business card printing layout shown in FIG. 15 is stored in the EEPROM 43 as one of the template data. In this case, as personal information, necessary data such as a company name, a department, a title, a company telephone number, a company FAX number, and a company e-mail are input and used.

  In each item in the figure, vCard format property values are inserted into the template layout frames A1 to A9, and converted into XHTML data that can be printed with a predetermined font type, font size, font style, and the like. . For example, in the case of a company name, in the vCard format, a specific company name is described as a value in the property “ORG”, and the company name is inserted into the layout frame A1.

  FIG. 16 shows a template of a print layout. FIGS. 16A to 16C are business card layout template examples, and FIG. 16D is a phone book layout template example. In the figure, the templates PL1 to PL4 and PL10 are shown as a layout diagram in which the property value (text) of the vCard file is incorporated. Templates PL1 to PL4 and PL10 are composed of XHTML data in which tags for designating an allocation position and an area size (allocation area) in which the value (text) is incorporated for each property are described. A plurality of types of business card layout template data (XHTML data) including those shown in FIGS. 15 and 16A to 16C are stored in the EEPROM 43.

  Here, the types of business card layouts will be described briefly. FIG. 16A shows a horizontal business card layout template PL2 having the same character size. FIG. 4B shows a horizontal business card layout template PL3 in which the name character size is printed larger than the other, and FIG. 5C shows a vertical business card layout template PL4 in which the name character size is printed larger than the other. It is. FIG. 6D shows a telephone directory layout template PL10 used when printing all personal information. The phone book layout template data (XHTML data) is also stored in the EEPROM 43.

  In the present embodiment, when the personal information is a single case, it is printed with a business card layout, and when it is all (a plurality of cases), it is printed with a phone book layout. When the vCard file is “all cases” including a plurality of pieces of personal information, the CPU 41 uniquely designates the phone book layout template PL10 of FIG. On the other hand, when the vCard file is “single case” containing only one piece of personal information, the user can select and specify a business card layout from the mobile phone 14.

  The user displays a personal information column on the display 18 of the mobile phone 14 and inputs print layout designation information in a memo column therein. For example, numbers (numbers) such as “1”, “2”, and “3” are entered in the memo field. The number described as the print layout designation information is described as the value of the property “NOTE” in the vCard data. The numbers described in the memo field are treated as print layout designation numbers when printing a single piece of personal information. For example, in the instruction manual of the printer 1, the business card layout templates PL1 to PL4 and the like shown in FIGS. 15 and 16A to 16C are associated with the designated numbers of the business card layout templates PL1 to PL4 and the like. Then, the user designates the business card layout by inputting the designated number in the instruction manual into the memo field.

For example, if “2” is entered in the memo field as in the personal information field in FIG. 4B, “2” is described in the property “NOTE” in the vCard file in FIG. When the vCard file is received from the mobile phone 14, the specified number is specified by reading the character string described as the value of the property “NOTE” and analyzing it. This analysis process is performed by the note analysis unit 83. Specifically, the CPU 41 analyzes the value of “NOTE” in the vCard file. When the CPU 41 can identify the designated number, the CPU 41 reads a business card layout template (XHTML format) corresponding to the designated number from the EEPROM 43. Then, the CPU 41 executes the above-described text data format conversion process, and creates template format data LD as shown in FIG. 14 based on the vCard file as shown in FIG. 11 and the template data LT1 as shown in FIG. To do. This template format data is XHTML data.

  Here, it is normal that a character string or a sentence as an original memo is input in the memo column instead of a print layout designation number. When the CPU 41 analyzes the value of the property “NOTE”, if a number is included in a character string or sentence described as an original memo, the number may be mistaken for a designated number. The program executed by the CPU 41 in the analysis process determines that the description data is an original memo when a character or character string other than the designated number is described, and there is a number that can be used as the designated number. However, the number is set not to be specified as the designated number. Then, when it is determined that the original memo is used and when the memo field is blank, it is determined that the designated number is not designated, and for example, a template PL2 of a business card layout set by default is designated.

  In the present embodiment, a designation number (numeric) is used for designating the print layout. However, the designation is not limited to a numeral, and it is also possible to designate an alphabet, katakana, symbol character, character, character string, or the like. . However, in order to specify as easily as possible, it is preferable to designate one digit number or one character for designation of one information, and a number (number) or alphabet having a property of order is preferable.

  FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing data processing in the IrDA profile unit 74. When the data transfer unit 73 has received data correctly according to the transmission control procedure, the CPU 41 executes the program shown in the flowchart of FIG. When this program is executed by the CPU 41, the functions of the extension identification unit 81, the number determination unit 82, the note analysis unit 83, the division processing unit 84, the text data format conversion unit 85, and the image data decoding unit 87 in FIG. Realized. Hereinafter, this program executed by the CPU 41 will be described. An extension and object data are transferred from the CF type communication card 13 to the printer 1, and the extension is sent to the head of the data.

  In S200, it is determined what the extension of the received data is. If the extension of the received data is “jpeg” or “jpg”, it is determined as JPEG format image data and the process proceeds to S220. If the extension of the received data is “vnt”, it is determined that the data is image data created in the vNote format (hereinafter referred to as a vNote file), and the process proceeds to S210. Further, when the extension of the received data is “vcf”, it is determined that the data is text data created in the vCard format (hereinafter referred to as a vCard file), and the process proceeds to S230.

  In S210, the encoded image data attached to the vNote file is decoded (decompressed) into JPEG image data by an encode / decode converter called Base64.

In S220, the image data in JPEG format is transferred to the image data raster processing unit 76.
In S230, the number of personal information data transmitted from the mobile phone 14 is determined. In other words, it is determined whether the vCard file is “single” or “all”. In this example, the number of personal information is determined by counting the identifier “END: VCARD” in the vCard file data. If the counting result C is C = 1, it is determined as single case data, and if the counting result C is C ≧ 2, it is determined as all case data. For example, as shown in FIG. 11, when the vCard file is single data, since there is only one identifier “END: VCARD”, the counting result C is C = 1 and it is determined as “single data”. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 11, when the vCard file is all case data, there are a plurality of “END” and the counting result C satisfies C ≧ 2, and therefore, it is determined as “all cases”. If it is determined as “single case” including only one piece of personal information, the process proceeds to S240. If it is determined that “all cases” include a plurality of pieces of personal information, the process proceeds to S250. As another determination method, if the file name (including extension) set on the mobile phone 14 side is different between a single file and all files, determine whether the file name is single or all files. May be.

In S240, the description content of the Note area is analyzed and a template corresponding to the analysis result is designated. The value (description content) of the property “NOTE” in the vCard file data is analyzed, and the template designation information (number in this example) is found from the value. For example, if “2” is described in the memo as shown in FIG. 4B, “2” is described in the value of the property “NOTE” in the vCard file data as shown in FIG. Therefore, this number “2” is extracted as an analysis result. The number “2” is stored in the RAM 44 as template designation information.

In S250, a “phone book” template is designated. That is, in the case of “all cases”, the “phone book” template is always designated.
In S260, a predetermined number of pieces of data are sent to the next process while dividing all pieces of data in the vCard file into a predetermined number of pieces of personal information.

  In S270, the specified template is read from the template storage unit 86. That is, in the case of “single case”, a template (name card layout) determined from the analysis result of the description contents of the note area designated in S240 is read, and in the case of “all cases”, the template of “phone book” designated in S250. Read (phone book layout).

  In S280, the personal information of the vCard file is converted into XHTML data with a template. That is, the content (value) of the item (property) of the personal information is applied to a place where the item to be applied to the template is specified, thereby converting the data into XHTML data with a template. For example, in the case of a single vCard file shown in FIG. 11, it is converted into XHTML format data as shown in FIG.

In S290, the XHTML data with the template is transferred to the text data raster processing unit 75.
The extension identification unit 81, the number of cases determination unit 82, the note analysis unit 83, and the division processing unit 84 in the IrDA profile unit 74 are realized by S200, S230, S230, S240, and S260, respectively. The text data format conversion unit 85 is realized by S250, S270, S280, and S290.

  The data thus transferred to the text data raster processing unit 75 is generated as print data by performing various processes thereafter. Further, the data transferred to the image data raster processing unit 76 is generated as print data by performing various processes thereafter. The print engine 77 drives and controls the printing mechanism based on the print data. The personal information transmitted in the vCard file is printed on the roll paper P1 with the designated print layout, or the image transmitted in the vNote file is printed. Or For example, when a vCard file including a single piece of personal information is transmitted to the printer 1, the personal information is printed with a business card layout corresponding to the designated number entered in the memo field of the mobile phone 14.

The roll paper P on which personal information data is printed in the business card layout is cut into a business card size by the operation of the cutter motor M3 during the paper discharge.
Hereinafter, effects of the first embodiment will be described.

  (1) When the personal information stored in the mobile phone 14 is transmitted to the printer 1 for printing, if the designation information for designating the layout is described in the memo area of the vCard data, it is designated by the description contents of the memo area. Personal information can be printed with the same layout. That is, the user displays the personal information column of the mobile phone 14 and writes (inputs) number information such as “1”, “2”, and “3” or character information such as alphabet in the memo column therein. The described character information is stored in the memo area of the personal information data. The numbers described in this memo area are treated as characters that specify the layout. When the personal information data transmitted from the mobile phone 14 is received, the description content of the memo area is analyzed (decoded), the number of the designated information is extracted, and the layout designated by the number is determined. Personal information can be printed in the layout specified in the memo area. Further, since the layout can be specified by the operation on the mobile phone 14, both the data transmission operation and the layout specifying operation at the time of printing can be performed only by operating the mobile phone 14, and the operability is good.

  (2) When printing personal information in vCard data, an appropriate business card layout can be specified by specifying the layout by the description of the memo area. For example, when only company-related data is included, a company business card layout can be specified, and when only private information is included, a personal business card layout can be specified and printed.

  (3) By providing means for searching (detecting) one command in the vCard format (personal information data format) as the number discriminator CS (classification identifier DS), the personal information data transmitted from the mobile phone 14 is simply It can automatically recognize whether it is case data or all case data.

  (4) Since the personal information data of the mobile phone 14 is transmitted in the vCard format where the layout cannot be defined, it cannot be printed in the predetermined layout just by transmitting it as it is in the vCard format. However, by providing a means for converting vCard format file data that cannot be layout-defined into XHTML format data that can be layout-defined, it is possible to assign a desired layout and print only data necessary as personal information among vCard data. it can.

  (5) By distinguishing whether personal information data is single or all, it can be converted into data in a business card template format in the case of a single case, and can be converted into data in a phone book template format in the case of all cases. That is, it is possible to automatically determine an appropriate print layout only by distinguishing between single and all personal information data. An appropriate layout can be assigned to the data and printed according to whether the personal information data is single or all (multiple).

  (6) By providing a means for searching for category identifiers, the number of personal information data (data by case) received when receiving all case data is counted, and a predetermined number (1 in this example) is received. When the process is completed, the data for a predetermined number (one) received so far can be divided and sent to the next process. Therefore, the capacity of the buffer for temporarily storing the received data can be reduced until the data is sent to the next processing unit. In addition, the processing start time in the next processing unit can be advanced, and as a result, the printing start time is advanced and contributes to the improvement of the throughput of the printer 1.

  (7) Data created by the mobile phone 14 is transmitted to the printer 1, and business card printing can be facilitated by the printer alone. When there are no business cards on hand, the necessary number of business cards can be printed easily by simply sending the data of the mobile phone 14 to the printer 1. In addition, since the mobile phone 14 originally uses data for managing personal information, there is no need to input the contents of the business card. Further, the vCard format data that cannot be defined by the mobile phone 14 is converted into the XHTML format data that can be layout defined, so that it can be printed in the layout as a general business card. In addition, since a plurality of business card templates are prepared, a business card having a desired layout can be printed.

  (8) Since the data received from the mobile phone 14 is appropriately converted into data that can be printed by the printer 1, the data can be transmitted directly from the mobile phone 14 to the printer 1 for printing. Therefore, data can be sent to a personal computer (PC) and stored in a storage medium such as a memory card, and can be printed more easily and quickly than when it is read into the printer 1 and printed.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment will be described.
This embodiment is a modification in which print parameters are specified by information described in a memo area of a vCard file transmitted to the printer 1. The first embodiment is an example in which the print layout is specified by the description information of the memo area. However, in the second embodiment, the description information of the memo area is specified by specifying the number of prints instead of the print layout. This is an example in which printing parameters can be set. The present embodiment is an example in which printing conditions are specified by changing to layout designation or by adding other printing conditions to the layout designation.

Multiple print layout designation information can be selected. The CPU 41 determines whether or not the description content of the memo area is a description specifying the print parameter. The CPU 41 analyzes the contents of the description to determine whether or not it is in a predetermined description format and whether or not character information other than a code used for designation is included. For example, a lowercase alphabet is also used as a print layout designation character, and when a plurality of layout designations are made, it is promised that the characters are separated by commas. Also, when specifying the number of prints as an arithmetic number and determining both the print layout and the number of prints, first enter the information for specifying the print layout, and then enter the information for the number of prints, separated by a semicolon Determine the input format to be used. Thus, the rule regarding the printing information designation method determined in advance is stored in the EEPROM 43, and the CPU 41 performs analysis processing based on this rule. If character information other than the specified code etc. is included, the specified code is not for the purpose of specifying the print parameters, but it may happen that the specified code was included in the original memo description. Determines that there is no specification and sets the default print parameters.

  FIGS. 18A and 18B are examples of personal information displayed on the display 18 of the mobile phone 14, and the printing conditions can be designated by describing designated characters and numbers in the memo area. Yes.

  FIG. 18A shows an example of personal information in which the print layout and the number of prints are specified in the memo area. A rule that can specify printing conditions is set in advance according to the description content of the memo field, and a plurality of printing parameters can be specified. In this example, in addition to the print layout, the number of prints can be specified. The specification rule is described by separating the layout specification information and the print number specification information with a semicolon. For example, if information such as “a; 3” is input, the print layout is “a” and the number of prints “3” is designated. When the personal information data designated in the memo area is transmitted to the printer 1 in this way, the CPU 41 extracts the description contents of the NOTE area of the vCard file, analyzes the contents and analyzes the contents, that is, a description that matches the designation, that is, “a; 3”. Search for a description in which alphabets and numbers are separated by semicolons. When "alphabet; number" is found, it is checked whether other information is described. If other information is described, it is determined that the description of "alphabet; number" does not specify the print parameter, but the description of use as an original memo happens to contain the combination of "alphabet; number". It is determined that there is no specification. Of course, it is possible to ignore a line with a special symbol, or to adopt a rule for specifying that only a line with a special symbol is valid. For example, if there are “alphabetic characters; numbers” after a special symbol is described in one line and a special symbol is described in a certain line, the line preceded by the special symbol is valid as a specification. If there is no character string in, it is determined to be specified. In this way, the original memo description and the print parameter designation description can coexist in the memo area, and there is no inconvenience that the memo must be temporarily erased when it is designated.

  FIG. 18B shows an example of personal information when three print parameters can be specified in the memo field. When a plurality of print layout templates are prepared, a plurality of layouts can be designated and printed for one data. For example, for each piece of personal information data, business cards are printed one by one using templates PL2 to PL3 having three business card layouts as shown in FIGS. 16 (a), 16 (b), and 16 (c). When specifying a plurality of layouts, the layout specification code is delimited by a comma “,” in the memo field, and for example, a plurality of layouts are specified by dividing the specification code by a comma such as “a, b, c”. Is specified. Of course, it is also possible to specify printing of a plurality of layouts. For example, if there is a colon next to the code described after the last comma, the code described after the colon is determined to specify the number of sheets. If “a, b, c: 5” is described, the CPU 41 Is recognized as a designation for printing five business cards in three layouts designated by a, b, and c. If the CPU 41 detects a description other than the layout designation information (for example, a code), the CPU 41 determines that the description is invalid and designates “default”.

If only one of the print parameters can be specified in the memo field, for example, the number of prints can be specified instead of specifying the print layout. For example, if “2” is described in the memo field, two business cards in which the personal information is described are printed. In this case, the default business card template stored in advance in the EEPROM 43 is used for the print layout. Of course, it is also possible to adopt a method in which some kinds of printing parameters can be designated by operating the operation panel 8 and one or more other printing parameters are designated by the description in the memo field. For example, the number of sheets is specified by a description in the memo field, and the print layout is selected on the operation panel 8 and directly registered in the printer 1. The printer 1 can select either cut sheet or roll paper as the paper, but in this case, it is also possible to specify in the memo field description information whether to print the cut sheet or roll paper. It is. Furthermore, the type and size (size) of the font can be designated by the description of the memo area.

  The contents designated by the description of the memo area of the vCard file and the way of designation are determined in advance, and the CPU 41 analyzes the description contents (description information) of the memo area in accordance with the determined designation method to specify the designated contents.

The effects of the second embodiment will be described below.
(9) Print parameters such as print layout, number of prints, print paper, character information (font, size), etc. are set by describing predetermined designated contents in the memo area with a predetermined description method. can do. In this method, since it is only necessary to decide on a memo area input method, there is no need to add a new input field for designation. In addition, since simple codes such as alphabets and numbers are used, print parameters can be easily specified. For example, lowercase letters of the alphabet are used to set the type of print layout, and arithmetic numbers are used to determine the number of prints.

(Third embodiment)
Next, a third embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
This embodiment is an example in which the layout can be designated by the description information of the memo area for all the case data. The EEPROM 43 further stores a template PL11 shown in FIG. This template PL11 is a template for printing with a layout in which business cards of personal information included in all data are arranged one by one.

  FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing data processing in the IrDA profile unit 74. This is basically the same as the flowchart of FIG. 17 in the first embodiment, but the specified template is specified by analyzing the description contents of the NOTE area for all data.

  In the same figure, each process of S500-S540, S560-S590 performs the process similar to each process of S200-S240, S260-S290 in FIG. The process of S550 is different from that of the first embodiment.

  In S550, the NOTE area of the first personal information in all data is analyzed, and a template corresponding to the analysis result is designated. For example, the instruction manual for the printer 1 includes a plurality of layout diagrams including a phone book template PL10 of FIG. 16D and a business card layout template PL11 of FIG. The numbers used for designation are described in association with each other. For example, it is determined that a number for designating a layout is described in the NOTE area in the first personal information with the youngest registered number among all cases. When printing all data, the user enters the number of the layout to be specified in the memo field of the personal information with the youngest registered number. As a result, in the data transmitted from the mobile phone 14, a number, for example, “11” is described as the value of the property “NOTE” in the first personal information. When the number “11” is analyzed and acquired, the CPU 41 designates the business card layout template corresponding to the number “11”.

  In S570, the designated template PL11 is read from the template storage unit 86. In this way, each piece of personal information data in all the case data is poured into a business card layout (each layout frame) in the template PL11 shown in FIG. 19, and XHTML data with a business card layout is created (S580). After that, raster processing (S590) is performed, and further converted into print data. The print engine 77 performs print processing based on the print data, whereby a plurality of personal information is printed with the business card layout shown in FIG. The

Hereinafter, effects of the third embodiment will be described.
(10) Since layout of all data can be specified in the memo area, a plurality of personal information can be printed in a desired layout. For example, when it is desired to print business cards of all members or group members using all personal information, it is not necessary to transmit data one by one, and it is possible to save the trouble of printing directly from the mobile phone 14.

The embodiment is not limited to the above, and can be modified as follows.
(Modification 1) The type and size of the font may be specified using the description information of the memo area. Further, when printing is performed with roll paper, a roll paper cutting method may be selected. For example, when printing with a business card layout, specify whether to cut for each piece of data (normal state), or to print a predetermined number of prints and then cut for each predetermined number based on the description information in the memo area Rules are established so that they can be registered and registered in the printer 1.

  (Modification 2) When roll paper is further selected and printing processing is performed with a business card layout or a phone book layout, the designation of automatically cutting the roll paper according to the printing layout form is made. May be performed based on the above.

  (Modification 3) Although the business card has been described in the above embodiment, it can be printed in the same manner as long as it is in the form of a card such as a telephone card, a bank card, and an employee card. In the embodiment, the face photograph is described, but it may be a company logo mark, a mark symbolizing an activity, or image data such as a photograph.

  (Modification 4) A data structure that can attach image data to vCard data is adopted, and template data having an image layout frame is prepared in the EEPROM 43 of the printer 1. The layout of the image data included in the vCard data is designated by the memo area information. If template data that can allocate either text data or image data or both is prepared, it is possible to print in a layout in which either text data or image data or both are allocated. The data is not limited to vCard data but may be vNote data. For example, it is possible to adopt a method in which designation information is described in a memo area of vNote data and an output parameter is designated.

  (Modification 5) It is not limited to the structure which receives data by the infrared communication via the CF type | mold communication card | curd 13. FIG. For example, the present invention can be applied to a printer in which the main body 2 includes an IrDA communication module. Moreover, you may apply in the structure which receives data by radio | wireless communication other than infrared communication. Furthermore, the present invention may be applied to a configuration in which data is received by wired communication using a communication cable or the like without being limited to wireless communication.

  (Modification 6) The output device is not limited to a printing device (printer). For example, the present invention may be applied to a display device such as a projector. Data is transmitted from the mobile phone 14 to the display device, and personal information is displayed on the display device with a predetermined layout based on the data.

  (Modification 7) The description content in the data decoded when determining the output parameter is not limited to the description information in the memo area of the data. For example, a specification unit (input unit) such as an operation button for specifying print information is provided on the mobile terminal side, and an output parameter (print information) is determined by operating this operation unit at the time of data transmission or in advance. The description content to be deciphered is written to the data. The process of writing the description contents into the data is realized by incorporating a program for writing the print information (description contents) designated in accordance with the operation of the operation means on the mobile phone side. Specifically, for example, when data is transmitted from the mobile terminal to the receiving unit, an operation such as pressing a predetermined button of the mobile terminal is performed, and then the transmission data is transmitted to the operated button. The description content of the corresponding layout is written, and the output device (printer) side outputs (prints) the data content according to the layout determined by decoding the description content in the received data.

The technical idea grasped from the respective embodiments and modifications will be described below.
(1) The output according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the description content of the data includes a plurality of designated information groups, and a plurality of output parameters are designated by the plurality of designated information groups. apparatus. According to this, since a plurality of output parameters can be designated by a plurality of designation information groups, the degree of freedom of output conditions that can be designated from the portable terminal is increased.

(2) In any one of claims 1 to 3 and 6 to 10, the output means is a printing means for performing a printing process based on the data.
(3) In any one of claims 1 to 3 and 6 to 10, the output means is a display means for performing display processing based on the data.

(4) An output device comprising a wireless communication device that is removably inserted into a slot provided in the output device main body, and wherein the receiving unit receives data via the wireless communication device.
(5) In Claim 8, a storage unit that stores a plurality of types of the business card layout data is provided, the layout determining unit reads out business card layout data according to the designation information, and the output unit uses the business card layout data. Output processing based on the data. According to this, it is possible to designate a desired one from a plurality of business card layouts by describing the designation information in the data.

  (6) In any one of claims 6 to 8, the data is in a data format that cannot be layout-defined, and the conversion processing unit uses the layout data to convert the data in the data format that cannot be layout-defined to data with layout. An output device characterized by being converted into an output device. According to this, even if the data transmitted from the mobile terminal is data in a format in which the layout cannot be defined, the contents of the data can be output from the output device with a layout.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the printer according to the first embodiment. The top view which shows the principal part of an operation panel. The perspective view of CF type | mold communication card (infrared communication card). (A) The top view of a mobile phone, (b) The screen figure which shows an example of the personal information displayed on the mobile phone. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a mobile phone, an infrared communication card, and a printer. The block diagram which shows the functional structure of a mobile telephone, an infrared communication card, and a printer. The block diagram which shows the electric constitution concerning a data conversion process. FIG. 6 is a data structure diagram in OBEX transfer. The sequence diagram of the data transmission from a mobile telephone to a printer. The flowchart which shows the initial process at the time of card | curd recognition. Data diagram of a single vCard file. Data diagram of all vCard files. Business card layout template data diagram. Data diagram of template format data. Business card layout template layout diagram. (A)-(c) is the layout figure of the template of a business card layout, (d) is the layout figure of the template of a telephone directory layout. The flowchart which shows the process of an IrDA profile part. The screen figure which shows an example of the personal information displayed on the mobile telephone in 2nd Embodiment. A layout diagram of a business card layout template for all personal information. The flowchart which shows the process of an IrDA profile part.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Constructing output processing system and printer as output device and printing device, 2 ... Main body as output device main body, 12 ... Card slot as slot, 13 ... Constructing output processing system and CF as wireless communication device Card type infrared communication card (infrared communication card), 13a... Infrared receiving / emitting section (communication card side communication port), 14... Mobile phone as a mobile terminal, 15. (Communication port on the mobile phone side), 41... CPU constituting the decoding means, 43... EEPROM as a storage section, 45 e... Slot communication section as a receiving section, 46... ASIC constituting output means, 73. Data transfer unit as means, 76... Image data raster processing unit constituting output means and printing means, 8 ... Note analysis section as decoding means, 85... Output means and printing means and output condition determination means, layout determination means and text data format conversion section as conversion processing section, 86... Template storage section as storage section, 87: Image data decoding unit constituting output means and printing means, PL1 to PL4, business card layout.

Claims (10)

In an output device having output means for performing output processing based on data received from a portable terminal,
A receiving unit that receives data including designation information for designating the output process described in a memo area prepared in advance in vCard data or vNote data as data input by the mobile terminal;
Decoding means for decoding the description content of the data received by the receiving unit to obtain the specified information;
Output condition determining means for determining an output parameter according to the specified information decoded by the decoding means,
The output device performs output processing based on data received from the portable terminal using the determined output parameter. The output device according to claim 1,
In the data, designation information for designating a plurality of output parameters is described,
The output condition determining means determines a plurality of output parameters according to the designation information acquired by the decoding means decoding the description content of the data,
The output unit performs an output process based on the data using the determined plurality of output parameters. The output device according to claim 1 or 2,
The output parameters include at least a layout;
The output unit performs output processing based on the data using the determined output parameter and outputs the content of the data in the layout. In the output device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The output means is a printing means for performing a printing process based on the data;
The output parameter includes at least the number of printed sheets,
The output unit is configured to execute a printing process based on the data by the number of times of printing using the determined output parameter. In the output device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The output means is a printing means for performing a printing process based on the data;
The output parameter includes at least a print medium designation;
The output device performs a printing process based on the data using the output parameter and prints the content of the data on the designated print medium. In an output device having output means for performing output processing based on data received from a portable terminal,
A receiving unit that receives data including designation information for designating the output process described in a memo area prepared in advance in vCard data or vNote data as data input by the mobile terminal;
Decryption means for decrypting the description content of the data received by the reception unit to obtain designated information;
A storage unit for storing layout data;
Layout determining means for reading out layout data from the storage unit according to the designation information obtained by decoding by the decoding means;
A conversion processing unit that converts the data into data with a layout using the read layout data;
The output unit performs an output process based on the layout-added data received from the portable terminal and outputs the content of the data in the determined layout. The output device according to claim 6.
In the data, designation information for designating a plurality of layouts is described.
The layout determining means determines a plurality of layout data corresponding to the designation information acquired by the decoding means decoding the description content of the data,
The conversion processing unit converts the data into a plurality of data with a layout using a plurality of layout data,
The output unit performs output processing based on the plurality of layout-added data and outputs the contents of the data in a plurality of types of layouts. In the output device according to any one of claims 6 to 7,
The output device, wherein the data is personal information data, and the layout is a business card layout. In the output device according to any one of claims 1 to 8,
The output device, wherein the designation information is a number or an alphabet. An output processing system comprising the output device according to any one of claims 1 to 9 and a mobile terminal,
The output processing system, wherein the portable terminal includes an input unit that describes specification information for specifying an output parameter in the output device.

Images