JP4534626B2 - Mobile printer system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile printer system using, for example, a mobile printer capable of performing work while being carried by an operator.

  Printers are routinely used in a wide range of industries. In particular, with today's rapid development of personal computers, it is rare that business is performed without a printer, and it is used in various fields from offices to work sites.

  In recent years, there is a situation in which work is performed in a form of printing while performing work using a mobile printer that can be carried by a worker. For example, in quality control work and production lines, work is required to label a product immediately after confirming the quality of the product or manufacturing the product. Also, in inventory management work in a warehouse, it is necessary to check inventory items and attach labels to the inventory on the spot. In such a case, a mobile printer capable of performing printing on the label is carried, the label is printed on the spot, and the label is attached to the product (for example, patent documents). 1).

Some of such mobile printer systems have been proposed that use a PDA (Personal Digital Assistance) as an input terminal. In a mobile printer system using a PDA, print data output from the PDA is first transmitted to a host computer, and a paired printer is specified by referring to a table in the host computer. Then, print data is transferred to the pair of printers, and a print result is output from the printer.
JP-A-11-115252

Normally, if the printer paired with the PDA cannot be printed due to some trouble such as a failure, paper jam, or out of paper, the output can be temporarily transferred to a nearby printer and printed to minimize interruption Can be. However, as described above, in a mobile printer system in which the host computer has a PDA and a printer table that is paired with the PDA, the host computer identifies the printer in which the trouble has occurred and the PDA that pairs with the printer. The table must be rewritten to transfer the print data from the printer to another printer.
When the trouble is solved, it is necessary to rewrite the table again so as to make a pair with the original PDA. Such a rewriting operation of the table of the host computer is not suitable for performing a quick business process, and an improvement is desired.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a mobile printer system capable of changing the designation of an output destination printer without rewriting a table on a host computer. To do.

The object of the present invention is achieved by the following configurations.
(1) An input terminal that includes a display and transmits input data;
A host computer that generates and transmits print data based on the data transmitted from the input terminal;
A plurality of mobile printers that execute printing according to the print data transmitted from the host computer,
Each mobile printer generates a status signal indicating the internal state of the mobile printer and sends it to the host computer.
The input terminal is used in pair with one of the plurality of mobile printers, and when printing cannot be executed from one of the plurality of mobile printers paired with the input terminal, status information based on the status signal is added. And a list indicating mobile printers capable of transmitting the print data is acquired from the host computer, the mobile printer to execute the printing is determined according to the list, and the mobile printer to execute printing is determined. Output destination printer identification information to be designated, the data,
To the host computer,
The mobile computer system, wherein the host computer transmits the print data to the designated mobile printer according to the output destination printer identification information.
( 2 ) A wireless LAN access point that connects the host computer, the input terminal, and the mobile printer so that they can communicate with each other.
The host computer extracts mobile printers that can communicate with a wireless LAN access point to which the input terminal is communicably connected, creates the list, and transmits the list to the input terminal ( 1 ). The described mobile printer system.
( 3 ) Each mobile printer includes a position calculation unit that calculates the position of each mobile printer,
The mobile printer system according to ( 1 ), wherein the host computer creates the list based on position information calculated by each position calculation unit of each mobile computer and transmits the list to the input terminal.
( 4 ) The mobile printer system according to ( 3 ), wherein the host computer preferentially extracts mobile printers located closer to the input terminal and creates the list.

  According to the mobile printer system of the present invention, the input terminal designates a mobile printer to which print data is to be transmitted, and transmits the data to the host computer. Therefore, even when a mobile printer possessed by an operator is not printable, another mobile printer can be instructed to execute printing. Therefore, even if the mobile printer owned by the operator is not printable, the output destination mobile printer can be easily changed, and work can be continued quickly without delaying operations. Can do.

  The configuration as described above is particularly effective when an operator having an input terminal and a mobile printer is simultaneously performing work by a plurality of people. For example, even if a certain operator's mobile printer becomes impossible to print for some reason, printing can be performed from a mobile printer owned by another operator in the immediate vicinity of the operator. . Therefore, it is possible to continue the work by performing printing from another mobile printer without performing maintenance on the mobile printer, which has become impossible to print, so there is no temporary interruption of work, and work efficiency is improved. Can be improved.

  In the present invention, since the mobile printers existing in the vicinity of the operator are configured to be displayed on the input terminal as a list, the operator can specify the mobile printer in the immediate vicinity and output the print data. it can. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the printing result from being output from a distant printer and the business efficiency from deteriorating, and the operation can be continued efficiently.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a mobile printer system and a control method of the mobile printer system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a mobile printer system according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a work form of an operator.
The mobile printer system 1 according to the present embodiment is applied to a work site where a plurality of operators # 1 to #N work simultaneously.

  The operators # 1 to #N carry out work by carrying the PDA 40 and the mobile printer 60, respectively. Referring to FIG. 2, for example, the operator works with the PDA 40 in hand and the mobile printer 60 attached to the waist via a belt or the like. Specifically, a label or the like is printed from the mobile printer 60 while operating the PDA 40, and various operations are executed.

3A and 3B are schematic perspective views of the PDA 40 and the mobile printer 60, respectively.
As shown in FIG. 3A, the PDA 40 is provided with a touch panel 41 having both a display unit and a data input unit and a plurality of input keys 42 including various input buttons. The PDA 40 is provided as input means for receiving input from the user and as display means for displaying information to the user.

  On the other hand, the mobile printer 60 is housed inside the casing 60a as roll paper in a state where continuous paper made of plain paper or continuous paper for label printing is wound. The mobile printer 60 prints on the roll paper according to the print data, and discharges the roll paper from the roll paper discharge port 61.

  As shown in FIG. 1, each of the PDA 40 and the mobile printer 60 is communicably connected to the wired LAN network 30 via one of the two wireless LAN access points 20a and 20b. Each of the wireless LAN access points 20a and 20b is configured to be able to communicate with the PDA 40 and the mobile printer 60 in the communication area A and the communication area B that can communicate with each other. In the present embodiment, two wireless LAN access points 20a and 20b are shown as wireless LAN access points. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Further, a configuration may be adopted in which more wireless LAN access points are arranged.

  The PDA 40 and the mobile printer 60 can independently communicate with the host computer 10 such as a server via one of the wireless LAN access points 20a and 20b. Here, the wireless LAN may conform to various standards such as IEEE802.11a, b, and g.

  The PDA 40 and the mobile printer 60 possessed by each operator send collected information to the host computer 10 while communicating with the host computer 10, or execute label printing in accordance with instructions from the PDA 40 or the host computer 10. To do.

Next, various controls in the mobile printer system 1 of the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a control block of the mobile printer system of the present embodiment. In FIG. 4, only the relationship between the PDA 40 and the mobile printer 60 owned by a certain operator and the host computer 10 is shown for simplicity of explanation.

First, the PDA 40 will be described.
The PDA 40 includes a transmission / reception unit 51, a central control unit 52, a touch panel input unit 53, a touch panel display unit 54, and a key input unit 55.

  The transmission / reception unit 51 transmits / receives data to / from the host computer 10 via the wireless LAN access point 20 and the wired LAN network 40. Examples of various information received by the PDA 40 include information such as inventory information and product information used by the operator, status information of the mobile printer 60, and the like. On the other hand, the PDA 40 transmits various information acquired by the PDA 40 to the host computer 10 via the transmission / reception unit 51 and outputs print data to the mobile printer 60.

  The central control unit 52 is a control center of the PDA 40 configured by a storage device such as a CPU, RAM, ROM, HDD, and the like, and the transmission / reception unit 51 is executed by executing various control programs read from the ROM or HDD. , The touch panel input unit 53, the touch panel display unit 54, the key input unit 55, and the like are controlled so that the PDA 40 functions as an input terminal.

  The touch panel input unit 53 is a control unit that controls an input function portion of the touch panel 41, generates an input signal corresponding to a part on the touch panel 41 touched by the operator, and sends the signal to the central control unit 52. The central control unit 52 interprets the input from the operator in accordance with the input signal sent from the touch panel input unit 53 and performs processing.

  The touch panel display unit 54 is a control unit that controls the display function part of the touch panel 41, and displays character information and image information on the touch panel 41 in accordance with a display instruction from the central control unit 52.

  The key input unit 55 is a control unit that receives inputs from the plurality of input keys 42, and sends an input signal corresponding to the key operation to the central control unit 52. As in the case of the touch panel input unit 53, the central control unit 52 interprets the input from the operator in accordance with the input signal sent from the key input unit 55 and performs processing.

Next, the mobile printer 60 will be described.
The mobile printer 60 mainly includes a transmission / reception unit 71, a reception buffer 72, a command analysis unit 73, a main control unit 74, a print control unit 75, a paper status sensor 76, a battery status sensor 77, and an error sensor 78. And a status signal generation unit 79.

  The transmission / reception unit 71 transmits / receives data to / from the host computer 10 via the wireless LAN access point 20 and the wired LAN network 40. The mobile printer 60 receives various instructions in the command format from the host computer 10 and executes paper feeding and printing in accordance with these instructions. On the other hand, the mobile printer 60 transmits a status signal indicating the internal state of the mobile printer to the host computer 10 via the transmission / reception unit 71.

  The reception buffer 72 temporarily stores commands received via the transmission / reception unit 71. The commands temporarily stored in the reception buffer 72 are sequentially read out by the command analysis unit 73 in the order of reception, and the command analysis unit 73 analyzes the instruction content of the commands.

  The main control unit 74 is a control center that controls the entire mobile printer 60 in accordance with the command contents analyzed by the command analysis unit 73. For example, when receiving the print data, the main control unit 74 causes the print control unit 75 to execute printing based on the received print data.

  The paper status sensor 76, the battery status sensor 77, and the error sensor 78 are sensors for acquiring the internal status of the mobile printer 60 such as the presence / absence of paper in the mobile printer 60, the remaining battery level of the battery, and various errors. These sensors 76 to 78 may acquire various types of information indicating the internal state in response to an instruction from the host computer 10, or periodically monitor the internal state of the printer and change the state (for example, Change from the presence of paper to the absence of paper) The change in the state may be notified to the main control unit 74.

  The status signal generation unit 79 is a control unit that generates a status signal indicating the internal state of the mobile printer 60. The status signal generation unit 79 may periodically transmit a status signal indicating the state of the mobile computer 60 to the host computer 10, or after confirming that the internal state of the mobile printer 60 has transitioned, the status signal is displayed on the spot. A signal may be generated and transmitted to the host computer 10. The host computer 10 transfers the received status signal to the corresponding PDA 40 and updates the status table of each printer 60 stored in the host computer 10 according to the received status signal.

  The PDA 40 of the present embodiment is configured such that the PDA 40 can select a printer that designates print output. The print information transmitted from the PDA 40 to the host computer 10 includes print data describing the contents to be printed and output destination printer identification information. In the initial setting, this output destination printer identification information is set so that the output is transmitted to the printer 60 that the operator who has the PDA 40 has as a pair.

  Here, when the printer 60 paired with the PDA 40 cannot print due to some circumstances, the PDA 40 sets a communication area where the operator is currently in the host computer 10, that is, an access point accessed by the PDA 40. It is possible to request the host computer 10 to provide a list of accessing mobile printers.

  Upon receiving the list transmission request from the PDA 40, the host computer 10 extracts the mobile printer 60 that is accessing the same access point as the access point currently accessed by the PDA 40, and each of the extracted mobile printers 60. A list is created by adding the current status information and transmitted to the PDA 40. That is, the host computer 10 creates a list of mobile printers 60 that belong to the same communication area as the PDA 40 and transmits it to the PDA 40.

  When the PDA 40 receives a list of mobile printers belonging to the same communication area from the host computer 10, the PDA 40 displays a mobile printer selection screen including this list on the touch panel 41 of the PDA 40.

FIG. 5 is an example of a mobile printer selection screen displayed on the PDA 40.
In the present embodiment, the PDA 40 displays a mobile printer selection screen including a list as shown in FIG. 5 on the touch panel 41 according to the list received from the host computer 10. In the displayed list, the printer number of the mobile printer 60 operating in the same communication area (in this embodiment, communication area A or communication area B) and the printer status are displayed.

  The operator can select the mobile printer 60 to which the print data is to be transmitted from the list displayed on the touch panel 41 via the touch panel 41. When the mobile printer 60 is selected by the operator, the PDA 40 registers the selected mobile printer 60 as a printer that outputs print data instead of the default mobile printer 60 as a pair.

  Then, the PDA 40 transmits the input data and output destination printer identification information such as network parameters such as the number of the mobile printer that performs printing and the corresponding IP address when printing is performed to the host computer 10. When the host computer 10 receives the data transmitted from the PDA 40 and the output destination printer identification information, the host computer 10 generates print data based on the data and generates it for the mobile printer 60 specified in the output destination printer identification information. Send the print data. The mobile printer 60 can execute printing in accordance with the received print data and output the print result.

  The PDA 40 may be configured to select the mobile printer 60 by acquiring a list from the host computer 10 by an operator's operation and displaying the mobile printer selection screen shown in FIG. The mobile printer 60 may be configured to automatically display a list on the touch panel 41 after the PDA 40 is notified that some abnormality has occurred via the host computer 10. When the PDA 40 attempts to output data to be printed, if the output destination mobile printer 60 cannot print due to an abnormality, a list is automatically obtained from the host computer 10 and selected as shown in FIG. You may comprise so that a screen may be displayed.

  As described above, the mobile printer system 1 according to the present embodiment includes the PDA 40 including the touch panel 41, the host computer 10 that generates print data based on the data from the PDA 40, and the above-described transmission from the host computer 10. And a plurality of mobile printers 60 that execute printing according to print data. The PDA 40 outputs output destination printer identification information for designating the mobile printer 60 to be printed and the data to be printed to the host computer, and the host computer 10 prints according to the output destination printer identification information. Data is transmitted to the designated mobile printer 60.

  According to the present embodiment, the PDA 40 can designate the mobile printer 60 to which print data is to be transmitted and transmit the data to be printed to the host computer 10. Therefore, even when the mobile printer 60 possessed by a certain operator is not printable, it is possible to instruct other mobile printers 60 to execute printing and transmit data to be printed. Therefore, even when the mobile printer 60 owned by the operator cannot be printed, the output destination mobile printer 60 can be easily changed, and the operation can be continued quickly without delaying the work. can do.

  The configuration as described above is effective when an operator having the PDA 40 and the mobile printer 60 is simultaneously performing work by a plurality of persons. For example, even when a mobile printer 60 of an operator cannot be printed for some reason, printing is performed from the mobile printer 60 owned by another operator in the immediate vicinity of the operator. As a result, it is possible to continue the operation by printing from another mobile printer without performing maintenance on the spot of the mobile printer that has become impossible to print.

  When the mobile printer 60 that is paired with the PDA 40 returns to normal, the print result is received from the paired mobile printer 60 by canceling the selection and designating the paired mobile printer 60 as the print destination. It can also be configured to output. In this case, the print destination printer may be changed by selecting the mobile printer 60 to be paired on the screen without acquiring a list.

  Also, the PDA 60 of this embodiment acquires a list to which print data can be transmitted from the host computer 10, determines a mobile printer 60 to execute printing according to this list, and generates output destination printer identification information. It is configured as follows. By configuring the host computer 10 to transmit the list to the PDA 60 in this way, the operator can quickly know a printable mobile printer 60 other than the mobile printer 60 possessed by the operator, and delays the work. The work can be continued quickly without any problems.

  In addition, the mobile printer system 1 of the present embodiment includes wireless LAN access points 20a and 20b that connect the host computer 10 to the PDA 40 and the mobile printer 60 so that they can communicate. The host computer 10 can communicate with the PDA 40. The mobile printer 60 that can communicate with the connected wireless LAN access points 20a and 20b is extracted to create a list and send it to the PDA 40.

  The mobile printer 60 capable of communicating with the wireless LAN access points 20a and 20b to which the PDA 40 is communicably connected is considered to exist in the same area as the operator. That is, the list created by extracting the mobile printer 60 that can communicate with the wireless LAN access points 20a and 20b to which the PDA 40 is communicably connected depends on the range covered by the wireless LAN access point. Compared with the mobile printer 60 connected to the LAN access point, the mobile printer 60 present in the vicinity of the operator's work area is listed.

  Therefore, the operator can output print results from the mobile printer 60 existing in the vicinity of the operator by executing printing by designating one of the mobile printers 60 shown in this list. Therefore, the operator can output from the mobile printer 60 far away, and can quickly obtain the printing result and continue the work without taking time to obtain the output result.

  In the above-described embodiment, the mobile printer 60 existing in the vicinity of the operator is configured to notify the operator by creating a list for each area of the wireless LAN access point. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Instead, a list for notifying the mobile printer 60 existing near the operator may be created by another method.

  As another method, for example, a method using a GPS (global positioning system) satellite can be considered.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a mobile printer 60A in a modification of the mobile printer system 1 of the present embodiment.
The mobile printer 60A of the present embodiment has a configuration in which a reception antenna 81 and a position calculation unit 82 are added to the mobile printer 60 of the above-described embodiment, and other configurations are the same as the mobile printer 60.

The receiving antenna 81 is an antenna that receives GPS signals transmitted from a plurality of GPS satellites existing on the satellite orbit.
The position calculation unit 82 is an arithmetic circuit that calculates the position of the mobile printer 60A and thus the position of the operator who owns the mobile printer 60A based on the GPS signal received by the reception antenna 81. The position calculation unit 82 may periodically calculate the position of the mobile printer 60 </ b> A, or may calculate the position only when requested by the host computer 10.

  When the position is calculated periodically, the calculated position information of the mobile printer 60A can be configured to be periodically transmitted to the host computer 10 by the status signal generator 79, for example. In the following description, the description is continued on the assumption that the position information of the mobile printer 60A is periodically transmitted to the host computer 10.

  In this modification, the host computer 10 stores the position information received from each mobile printer 60A in a predetermined mobile printer position information table, and accurately grasps where each mobile printer 60A is currently located. It is in a state of being.

  Here, when the mobile printer 60A paired with a certain PDA 40 cannot be printed due to some circumstances, the PDA 40 provides the host computer 10 with a list of mobile printers 60A currently existing in the vicinity of the operator. Request to the host computer 10.

  When the host computer 10 receives the list transmission request from the PDA 40, the host computer 10 refers to the mobile printer position information table, and selects the mobile printer 60A existing in the vicinity of the mobile printer 60A paired with the PDA 40 that transmitted the list transmission request. The information is preferentially extracted in the order from the PDA 40, and the current status information of each mobile printer 60A is added to create a list and transmitted to the PDA 40.

  When the PDA 40 receives a list of mobile printers 60 </ b> A existing in the vicinity from the host computer 10, the PDA 40 displays a mobile printer selection screen including this list on the touch panel 41 of the PDA 40.

FIG. 7 is an example of a mobile printer selection screen displayed on the PDA 40.
In the present embodiment, the PDA 40 displays a mobile printer selection screen including a list as shown in FIG. 7 on the touch panel 41 according to the list received from the host computer 10. In the displayed list, the printer number of the mobile printer 60A existing in the vicinity of the operator and the printer status are displayed in the order in which they are close to the operator.

  Therefore, the operator can select a mobile printer to which print data should be transmitted from the list displayed on the touch panel 41 via the touch panel 41. When a mobile printer is selected by the operator, the PDA 40 registers the selected mobile printer 60A as a printer that outputs print data instead of the default mobile printer 60A.

  Then, the PDA 40 transmits the input data and output destination printer identification information such as network parameters such as the number of the mobile printer that performs printing and the corresponding IP address when printing is performed to the host computer 10. When the host computer 10 receives the data transmitted from the PDA 40 and the output destination printer identification information, the host computer 10 generates print data based on the data and generates it for the mobile printer 60A specified in the output destination printer identification information. Send the print data. Then, the mobile printer 60A can execute printing according to the received print data and output the print result.

  As described above, in this modification, the mobile printer 60A includes the position calculation unit 82 that calculates the position of the mobile printer 60, and the host computer 10 calculates the position calculation unit 82 of the mobile computer 60. Based on the position information, a list of mobile printers 60 present in the vicinity of the operator is created and transmitted to the PDA 40.

  Therefore, the operator can quickly and accurately recognize the printer number of the nearest mobile printer 60A, and can identify the nearest mobile printer most quickly and continue the operation.

  In this embodiment, the wireless LAN has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be configured to be realized by various other wireless communication modes. In the present embodiment, the host computer 10 generates print data based on data input from the PDA 40. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration. For example, the print data may be directly input by the PDA 40. In this case, it is not necessary for the host computer 10 to generate print data.

  In the present embodiment, it has been described that the signal from the GPS satellite is received by the mobile printer 60. However, if possible, the PDA 40 is configured to be provided with a receiving antenna and a position calculation unit, The mobile printer 60 to be paired may be specified by searching the PDA 40 of the mobile phone.

1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a mobile printer system according to the present invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows an operator's operation | work form. It is a typical perspective view of PDA and a mobile printer. It is a figure which shows the control block of a mobile printer system. It is an example of the mobile printer selection screen displayed on PDA. It is a block diagram which shows the modification of the mobile printer concerning this invention. It is an example of the mobile printer selection screen displayed on PDA.

Explanation of symbols

1 .. Mobile printer system 10 .. Host computer 20 .. Wireless LAN access point 30 .. Wired LAN network 40. PDA 60. Mobile printer

Claims (4)

An input terminal that includes a display and transmits input data;
A host computer that generates and transmits print data based on the data transmitted from the input terminal;
A plurality of mobile printers that execute printing according to the print data transmitted from the host computer,
Each mobile printer generates a status signal indicating the internal state of the mobile printer and sends it to the host computer.
The input terminal is used in pair with one of the plurality of mobile printers, and when printing cannot be executed from one of the plurality of mobile printers paired with the input terminal, status information based on the status signal is added. And a list indicating mobile printers capable of transmitting the print data is acquired from the host computer, the mobile printer to execute the printing is determined according to the list, and the mobile printer to execute printing is determined. Output destination printer identification information to be designated, the data,
To the host computer,
The mobile computer system, wherein the host computer transmits the print data to the designated mobile printer according to the output destination printer identification information. A wireless LAN access point for connecting the host computer, the input terminal, and the mobile printer so as to communicate with each other;
Said host computer, said input terminal extracts communicable mobile printer and a wireless LAN access point that is communicatively coupled to create the list, according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting to the input terminal Mobile printer system. Each mobile printer includes a position calculation unit that calculates the position of each mobile printer,
The host computer, mobile printer system of claim 1, wherein the respective position calculating unit of the mobile computer on the basis of the calculated positional information to generate the list, transmitting to the input terminal. 4. The mobile printer system according to claim 3 , wherein the host computer preferentially extracts mobile printers located closer to the input terminal and creates the list.

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