JPH01242281A - Page printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the erasure of not yet outputted data, by a method wherein data is outputted to a printer when reset operation or power supply cut-off operation is performed in such a case that the data is stored in a page buffer memory and subsequently executed. CONSTITUTION:When a switch 6 is pushed on an side-A in order to cut off a power supply switch, the contacts thereof are brought to a continuity state. A printer controller 8 receives the signal showing said continuity state to output the data stored in a page buffer to a printer engine to stand by until the printing-out of said data is finished and subsequently demagnetizes the drive coil 10 of a relay 7 to bring an x-y contact to an open state to stop the supply of a current to the whole of a printer inclusive of the printer controller 8. By this method, the erasure of the not yet outputted data in the page buffer memory can be prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a page printer, and more particularly to a method for controlling a printer having a page buffer memory.

(Prior art) A printer is indispensable as a means of obtaining hard copy from the output of a computer system, copying machine, facsimile, etc.
+) It is lacking. In recent years, various types of printers such as laser printers have been used to perform extremely high-speed printing, but in this case, the output data from the host machine is temporarily stored and stored in a memory device page by page.
It is common to add a so-called page buffer memory that outputs and prints out the accumulated information for one page all at once.

FIG. 4 shows a rough block diagram of a conventional general printer, and reference numeral 1 denotes a host interface through which output from a host machine such as a computer is input manually, and character codes and control codes are output from this host interface 1. Output to input buffer 2
is sent to the printer controller 3 via.

The printer controller 3 analyzes the character code and control code to extract information necessary for printing, such as print position and font used, and outputs the required data to the page buffer memory 4 according to the character format according to the request. do.

The page buffer memory 4 stores the data sequentially output from the print controller 2, and when one page is stored in memory or receives a paper feed signal, the stored data is converted into a video signal and output to the print engine 5. .

There are various types of print engine 5, including the laser printer mentioned above and an LED array type.
(b) - Mechanical diagram of an in-shell laser printer (
The same figure (a)) and a block diagram (the same figure (b)) are shown.

In this way, by adding page buffer memory to the printer inside the shell, it is possible to follow the high-speed signal processing of the host machine and smoothly transfer the required data without significantly impairing the high-speed performance of the host machine. It is designed to be printed out.

However, conventional printers are configured so that the accumulated data is output from the page buffer memory only after the page buffer memory has all the data for one page, or after one paper feed has been output. Therefore, if the power is turned off or a reset operation is performed until these conditions are met, a problem arises in that the unoutputted data is automatically erased.

Conventionally, for example, when the last page of several pages of data was less than one page and no paper feed signal was added at the end, the data less than one page was stored in the page buffer memory. When pressing the reset switch or turning off the power switch while the data is accumulated in the page buffer memory, the data in the page buffer memory is output to the print engine by operating the paper feed button, etc. I was trying to do this, but the operator is not able to output the unoutput data. If the power switch is turned off or a reset operation is performed without realizing that the power supply is present or by mistake, the unoutput data will be lost as described above.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been made in view of the above, and is a printer that uses a page buffer memory. An object of the present invention is to provide a page printer in which unoutputted data is not erased even if a reset operation is performed and the power is turned off when data less than a page or a predetermined amount of data remains in the page buffer. It is said that

(Structure of the Invention) To achieve the F2 objective, the present invention provides a page printer having a page buffer memory, which includes means for detecting the presence or absence of data stored in the page buffer memory, and a means for detecting the presence or absence of data stored in the page buffer memory. When a reset operation or a power-off operation is performed when data is stored in the printer, the contents of page buffer memory No. 111 are output to the printer, and then the reset function or power-off function is executed. It is said that

Hereinafter, the page printer of the present invention will be explained in detail.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart that does not show an example of the control procedure according to the present invention. In this example, the case where a reset operation is performed has been described, but the same applies to the case where a power-off operation is performed.

First, when the printer is operated and the reset switch is turned on, the presence or absence of data in the page buffer memory is checked using flags prepared in the page buffer memory, and if data exists, it is sent to the print engine. Output against.

Generally, the data in the page buffer memory is erased sequentially when it is output, so once all of the data has been output and the page buffer memory is empty, the next time all of the data output to the print engine is printed out. After waiting, this is confirmed by a signal etc. from the print engine, and then the reset operation is started.

The reset operation generally means a so-called lift reset that resets a program stored in, for example, a ROM or RAM, and is used relatively frequently, such as when correcting a part of an operation.

The same applies when the power switch is operated, and the reset switch in the flowchart of FIG. 1 can be read as turning off the power switch.

If the configuration is configured so that the reset operation or power-off operation functions after going through the procedure described above, it is possible to prevent the data that is not output but is stored in the page buffer memory from being erased. .

Further, the present invention can be implemented extremely easily by using a switch having the configuration shown above as the power switch.

Fig. 2 shows the actual implementation of the power switch circuit used when outputting the contents of the paging buffer memory to the printer engine and making it function when the power is turned off. A switch that performs the action described in Figure (al (bl) is, for example, a two-circuit, double-throw switch as shown in Figure 2.

Moreover, the code|symbol 7 is a relay switch, and the coil lO
By energizing the contacts x and y, the contacts x and y become conductive.

The contacts of the switch 6 and the relay 7 are connected via a printer controller 8 as shown in the figure.

flfl, connect the common contacts S and A of the switch 6 in a loop through the printer controller 8, and connect the other common contact b' to the power supply 9 and the X contact of the relay 7.

Further, the C° contact of the switch 6 is connected to the printer controller 8 and simultaneously connected to the Y contact of the relay 7, and the drive coil IO of the relay 7 is connected to the printer controller 8 respectively.

In addition, the switch 6 shown in IYI is shown in FIG. 3 (al fbl
As shown in FIG. It will be done.

11'li No. 2 constructed using such a switch
To explain the operation of the circuit shown in the figure, first, by suppressing the 0 side of the switch 6, conduction is established between the contacts b' and c', and the power supply 9 is connected to the printer controller, which operates to drive the relay 7. A current is passed through the coil 10, and the relay is activated.

When the relay 7 is driven, its x-y contacts become conductive, and power from the power source 9 is supplied through the relay contacts, so that there are two routes, i.e., b' - c' of the switch 6 and 2 of the relay x-y. Power is supplied to the controller 8 via the route.

Next, when the C side of the switch 6 is released, the b'-c' route of the switch 6 is cut off, but the relay 7 is maintained in the driven state and the power supply to the controller 8 is ensured. .

In this state, the desired operation is performed, but when the Δ side of switch 6 is pressed to turn off the power switch, the contacts b and a become conductive, and the operation to turn off the power switch is performed. Notify the printer controller of this.

The controller 8 that received this Iha5 outputs the data in the page puffer memory to the printer engine as described above, that is, according to the flow explained in the first jZl, and the printout is completed. After waiting until then, the drive coil 10 of the relay 7 is de-energized.

As a result, the x-y contacts of relay 7 become open,
Power supply to the entire printer including the printer controller 8 is stopped, and the power-off function is completed.

If you configure a circuit using the switches explained above,
The present invention can be implemented very easily.

(Effects of the Invention) Since the present invention is configured as described above, even if the reset operation is performed in a state where unoutput data remains in the page buffer memory and the power is turned off, these unoutput data will be Since it can be printed out automatically, important data and data will not be erased, and problems such as paper jamming caused by power outage while the printer is in operation can be prevented! 1- It is possible.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a flow chart diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a switch circuit used in the present invention, Fig. 3 is an external view and functional explanatory diagram of a switch convenient for carrying out the present invention, Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a switch circuit used in a printer. A block diagram showing the configuration, Figure 5 (
al(b) is a configuration diagram and a block diagram of a laser printer.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A page printer having a page buffer memory is equipped with means for detecting the presence or absence of data stored in the page buffer memory, and when data is stored in the page buffer memory, a reset operation or power supply is required. A page printer characterized in that, when a power-off operation is performed, a reset function or a power-off function is executed after outputting the contents of the page buffer memory to the printer.