JPH01168159A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain local print and remote print simply by providing a printer emulator decoding a print instruction code and generating a data of dot level, selecting its output by a selector and giving the result to a facsimile printer section or a communication control section. CONSTITUTION:A printer emulator 3 decodes a print instruction code of a host machine inputted via an interface 1 to generate a print data of dot level, a selector 5 selects on output of the printer emulator 3 and gives the result to a facsimile printer section 6 or a communication control section 7. A facsimile control means 4 controls the selector 5, the facsimile printer section 6 and the communication control section 7 according to a print command signal of the printer emulator 3. Thus, the local print and the remote print via a line are attained simply without using any exclusive application software.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention is applied to a facsimile machine that is used by being connected to a host computer. In particular, the present invention relates to a facsimile machine that can perform local printing and remote printing without requiring special application software on a host computer.

〔overview〕

The present invention provides a facsimile machine with a printer emulator that decodes a print command code and generates dot-level data as print information in the same way as a printer connected to a host computer, and selects the output of the printer emulator with a selector. By providing this information to the facsimile control unit or communication control unit, it is possible to easily perform local printing and remote printing via a line without using dedicated application software.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, facsimile devices that can be connected to a host computer have required dedicated application software compatible with the host computer. Therefore, local printing and remote printing have been realized by using dedicated application software.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, such conventional facsimile machines have limitations such as being limited in the number of host computers that can be connected to them, and have the disadvantage that they cannot be handled as easily as ordinary printers.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned drawbacks, and aims to provide a facsimile machine that can easily perform local printing and remote printing without using dedicated application software.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention provides a facsimile device that includes an interface connected to a host computer, a printer emulator that decodes the host computer's print command code input through the interface and generates dot-level print data, and a printer emulator that generates dot-level print data. The present invention is characterized by comprising a selector that selects an output and applies it to the facsimile printer unit or the communication control unit, and facsimile control means that controls the selector, the facsimile printer unit, and the communication control unit in accordance with a control signal from the printer emulator. do.

[Effect]

The printer emulator decodes the host machine's print command code input through the interface and generates dot-level print data.

The selector selects the output of the printer emulator and sends it to the facsimile printer section or communication control section. The facsimile control means controls the selector, facsimile printer section, and communication control section according to the print instruction signal of the printer emulator.

With the above operations, local printing and remote printing via a line can be easily performed without using dedicated application software.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The figure is a block diagram of a facsimile machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the facsimile device includes a facsimile printer section 6 that prints dot-level print data, and a communication control section 7 that compresses the dot-level print data and sends it to a line.

Here, the features of the present invention include an interface 1 that connects to a host computer (not shown), and a system that inputs and decodes the print command code of the host machine through the interface 1 and generates dot-level print data. a selector 5 that selects the output of the printer emulator 3 and supplies it to the facsimile printer section 6 or communication control section 7; a selector 5 that instructs remote printing or local printing; and, in the case of remote printing, the destination facsimile control means including an operation section 2 for instructing a telephone number, and a facsimile control section 4 for controlling a selector 5, a facsimile printer section 6, and a communication control section 7 according to control signals from a printer emulator 3 and instructions from the operation section 2. There is a particular thing.

The operation of the facsimile machine having such a configuration will be explained. In the figure, first, when performing local printing, a local print command is output from the operation section 2 to the facsimile control section 4. The facsimile control section 4 connects the selector 5 to the facsimile printer section 6 side. At this point, when a print instruction code is input from the host computer via the interface 1, the printer emulator 3 issues a print request to the facsimile control unit 4, and in response, the facsimile control unit 4 issues a print request to the facsimile printer unit 6. to start. The printer emulator 3 sequentially decodes the print instruction codes inputted through the interface 1 and provides the print data developed into dots to the facsimile printer section 6 via the selector 5. The facsimile printer section 6 prints this print data. Local printing is executed as described above.

Next, when remote printing is to be performed, a remote print command is output from the operation unit 2 to the facsimile control unit 4, and subsequently a destination telephone number is output. The facsimile control unit 4 requests the communication control unit 7 to make a call to the specified destination, and in response to this, the communication control unit 7
Make a call and connect the line.

In parallel with this, a print command is input to the host computer. At this point, when a print instruction code is input from the host computer via interface 1,
The printer emulator 3 issues a print request to the facsimile control section 4, and in response to this, the facsimile control section 4 connects the selector 5 from the printer emulator 3 to the communication control section 7.

The printer emulator 3 sequentially decodes print instruction codes inputted through the interface 1 and outputs print data developed into dots to the communication control section 7 via the selector 5. The communication control section 7 compresses the print data received through the selector 5 and transmits it to the other party. Remote printing is executed as described above.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the host computer can execute a print command in the same way as outputting to a printer without being aware of whether it is local printing or remote printing.

Here, the interface 1 is, for example, a Centronics specification interface. Further, the print command input to the host computer is, for example, the Microsoft disk operating system (Microsoft).
osoft Disk Operating System
em.

MS-DO3), it is a PRINT command, and the operating system for microcontrollers (Monitor c
ontrolprogram for m1croco
tnputers, CP/M), it is a PIF instruction. The print instruction code inputted from the host computer is for, for example, starting printing, horizontal/vertical tabs, line breaks, specifying print characters, controlling character spacing, and the like.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention has the excellent effect of being able to perform not only local printing but also remote printing in exactly the same way as printing with a printer without using special application software.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figure is a block diagram of a facsimile machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Interface, 2...Operation unit, 3...Printer emulator, 4...Facsimile control unit, 5
...Selector, 6...Facsimile printer section, 7
...Communication control unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A facsimile device that is equipped with a facsimile printer unit (6) that prints dot-level print data, a communication control unit (7) that compresses and transmits dot-level print data, and connects to a host computer. An interface (1), a printer emulator (3) that generates dot-level print data by decoding the host computer's print instruction code input through this interface, and selecting the output of this printer emulator to print the above-mentioned facsimile printer. or a selector (5) for controlling the facsimile printer section or the communication control section; and facsimile control means (2, 4) for controlling the selector, the facsimile printer section, and the communication control section according to a control signal from the printer emulator. A facsimile machine with special features.