JPH01269580A - Page printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To recognize the page number of blank forms on a buffer memory, and to display the page number by displaying unprocessed printing data page number remaining in the buffer memory when printing operation is interrupted. CONSTITUTION:When printing data A from an external equipment 51 are input, the value of (n) is counted up at every input of one page, every page identification signal, and n=n+1 holds. The value of (n) is counted down at every output of one page section by printing, and n=n-1 holds. When printing operation is interrupted for some reasons, the input of the printing data A from the external equipment 51 is brought to an OFF state by on-line/off-line signals from a CPU 12. A CPU 13 outputs residual-page number display data J through the I/O port 12 at that time, and displays (n) onto a segment indicator 26 on a console panel 21.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention provides a page printer, more specifically, a specific display means on an operation panel, and displays the number of pages of print data that has been received by this display means. In particular, the present invention relates to a page printer capable of displaying the number of pages of unprocessed print data when a printing operation is interrupted.

(Prior Art) FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of the configuration of a conventional page printer. In this figure, 51 is a computer.

External devices that output print data such as word processors, hereinafter 52
59 are all components of the page printer, and 5
2 is an I10 board, 53 is a CPU for controlling printer operation.
, 54 is a ROM storing CPU programs, etc.; 55
56 is a paper sensor for detecting when the paper runs out; 58 is for printing the print data on cut paper (not shown); 57 is a driver for driving this print head 58, and 59 is an operation panel for the user of the page printer to operate it or to display the status of the page printer.

FIG. 4 is a drawing showing an example of the configuration of the operation panel 59.

In this figure, 61 is the main body of the operation panel, 62 is a paper presence/absence indicator lamp, 63 is an online/offline indicator lamp, 64 is a print data presence/absence indicator lamp on the buffer memory 55, and 65 is an online/offline changeover switch.

Next, the contents of each signal indicated by A, B, C, etc. in FIG. 3 will be explained.

Signal A is print data input from external device 51,
The data is temporarily stored in the buffer memory 55 via the I10 port 52. During printing, the print data stored in the buffer memory 55 is sent to the print head 57 in accordance with the printing speed under the control of the CPU 53 and printed on cut paper. Signal B is the output of the paper sensor 56 and is the output of the I10 boat 5.
2 and is input to the CPU 53. Signal C is an online/offline signal that turns on/off the connection with the external device 51.
It is turned off and is output from the CPU 53. The signal is related to the presence or absence of print data stored in the buffer memory 55 and is sent from the buffer memory 55 to the CPU 53. The signal E is a print timing signal, which is output from the CPU 53 to the head 58 via the I10 boat 52 and driver 57 during printing, and is used to synchronize the printing timing of each member.

Further, the signal G is a paper presence/absence display signal, and the CPU 53, which has grasped the presence or absence of paper based on the signal B, instructs the display on the operation panel to display the presence or absence of paper via the I10 boat 52. Signal H is an online/offline display signal that instructs display from the CPU 53 to the operation panel 59 via the I10 boat 52 based on the signal C. The signal I is a signal indicating the presence or absence of print data on the buffer memory 55, and the CPU 53
This command instructs the operation panel 59 to display the information. The signal is an online/offline switching signal, which is input by the user from the online/offline switching switch (65 in FIG. 4) on the operation panel 59.

FIG. 5 is a timing chart of signals AE and G- in a conventional page printer. Figure 5 shows that during printing, the paper runs out and printing is temporarily interrupted.
Printing is resumed by replenishing paper and the buffer memory 5 is
After all the print data on 5 has been processed, the next print data starts to be input from the external device 51.

When the paper sensor 56 detects that there is no paper during printing operation,
Paper sensor output signal B becomes "0".

Upon receiving this output, the CPU 53 immediately sets the online/offline signal C to "0" to set the connection with the external device 51 offline. Therefore, the input of print data A is also interrupted. At this time, the CPU 53 uses the buffer memory 55
It holds the remaining unprocessed print data and waits for paper to be added. Next, the CPU 53
By setting the paper presence/absence display signal G and the online/offline display signal H of No. 2 to "O", the operation panel 59 displays the paper out state and the offline state.

If the user recognizes that there is no paper and adds paper,
The paper sensor output signal B becomes "1", and the CPU 53 sets the paper presence/absence display signal G to "l" and turns on the paper presence/absence display lamp 6.
Display 2 to indicate that there is paper. At the same time, the CPU 53 outputs the unprocessed print data remaining on the buffer memory 55 and resumes printing.

On the other hand, when the CPU 53 confirms that the print data on the buffer memory 55 is no longer present, the CPU 53 sends a print data presence/absence display signal I in the buffer memory 55 via the I10 port 52.
is set to "0" to indicate on the print data presence/absence display lamp 64 that all remaining print data has been printed.

Here, the user confirms that all remaining print data has been printed, and then operates the online/offline changeover switch 65 to set the online/offline changeover signal K to "1" to return the page printer to the offline state. be able to.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, since the conventional page printer has the above-mentioned configuration, when the printing operation is interrupted for some reason, that is, as mentioned above, for example, when the printing operation is interrupted because the paper runs out, At this time, it is inconvenient for the operator to not know how many pages of data remain in the buffer memory, and therefore to not know how long to wait before printing can be resumed before the page printer can return to the online state.

In particular, when the capacity of the buffer memory is large, for example, dozens of pages worth of print data remain in the buffer memory, and even though it takes a considerable amount of time to finish printing, it is not possible to know the remaining amount. In order to switch the page printer to an on-line state, there is a drawback that one has to wait in front of the printer for a long time until printing is completed.

The present invention provides a page printer that can display on an operation panel the number of print data pages that have been input into the buffer memory, especially the number of unprocessed print data pages that remain on the buffer memory when the print operation is interrupted for some reason. The purpose is to provide.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention provides a page printer having at least an operation panel and a buffer memory for temporarily storing print data from an external device, in which display means such as a segment display is provided on the operation panel. , a page printer characterized in that, when the printing operation is interrupted, the number of pages of unprocessed print data remaining in the buffer memory is displayed by the display means.

(Function) In the page printer of the present invention, in addition to the above-mentioned signals used in conventional printers, the CPU also recognizes how many pages of paper are in the buffer memory, and displays the page number on the operation panel. An instruction is given to a display means such as a segment display newly provided above.

This display indicates how many pages of print data from an external device remain in the buffer memory, as the number of remaining pages (n), especially when the printing operation is interrupted for some reason.

After the operator removes the cause of the interruption and the printing operation is restarted, the number of remaining pages n is counted down and displayed for each page printed.

(Example) Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram showing an embodiment of a page printer of the present invention. In this figure, 12 is an I10 board, 13 is a CPU for controlling printer operation, and 13a is a C
A counter for the number of print data pages provided in the PU, 14 a ROM that stores CPU programs, etc., 15 a buffer memory for temporarily storing print data manually input from an external device 51, and 19 a page printer for use. This is an operation panel that allows a person to operate the page printer or display the status of the page printer. In addition, 16 is a paper sensor, 1
7 is a driver, and 18 is a print head, which are the same as 56, 57, and 58 in FIG. 5, respectively. In addition, 19a
is a means for displaying the number of remaining pages, such as a segment display or LED, which is newly provided on the operation panel 19.

FIG. 2 is a drawing showing an example of the configuration of the operation panel 19. In this figure, 26 is a segment display for displaying the number of remaining pages of print data. Further, 21 is the operation panel main body, 22 is a paper presence/absence indicator lamp, 23 is an online/offline indicator lamp, and 24 is a buffer memory 1.
Print data presence indicator lamp on 5, 25 is online/
Shows offline selector switch.

It should be noted that the remaining page number display means 19a for print data may be used as long as the number of remaining pages can be visually confirmed, and is not limited to a segment display, and other display devices such as LEDs may be used. The segment display can display the number of remaining pages as a number itself. For LEDs, for example, a method is adopted in which a row of LEDs is provided, 10 pages are assigned to each light, and 10 pages are displayed in units of 10 pages.

Next, the contents of each signal indicated by A- in FIG. 1 will be explained. Of these, F.

The characters other than J have the same meanings as in FIG. 3 above.

The signal F indicates the number of unprocessed print data pages on the buffer memory 15 counted by the print data page number counter 13a provided in the CPU. Signal J is data indicating the number of remaining pages of print data, and C is output based on signal F.
The PU 13 instructs the operation panel 19 to display via the I10 boat 12.

FIG. 6 is a timing chart for the signal A- in the page printer of the present invention, and the printing operation set in drawing the timing chart is the same as that in FIG. 5. That is, in FIG. 6, the paper runs out during the printing operation, printing is temporarily interrupted, printing is restarted by replenishing paper, and after all the print data on the buffer memory 15 has been processed, the next print data is It is drawn up to the point where input from the external device 51 begins. As a result, the signals A, B, C
, D, E and G, H, I are the same in FIGS. 5 and 6.

Here, a method for the CPU 13 to check the number of pages of print data remaining on the buffer memory 15 when the printing operation is interrupted and display it on the operation panel will be explained with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 7 and FIGS. 1 and 2. I will explain.

Normally, the print data A from the external device 51 includes a page identification signal at the end of each page of data. This page identification signal is counted by a counter 13a within the CPU 13. When the power is turned on, this count is set to n=o (Sl). Here, when the print data A from the external device 51 is input, the value of n is counted up every time one page is input, that is, every page identification signal, and n=n
+1 (S2). On the other hand, count down the value of n every time one page is output by printing, and set n=n-1 (S
3). Here, if the printing operation is interrupted for some reason, the input of print data A from the external device 51 is turned off by an online/offline signal from the CPU 12. At this time, the CPU 13 outputs remaining page number display data J via the I10 port 12 to display n on the segment display 26 on the operation panel 21.

After printing is resumed, print timing signal E causes
Each time one page of print data is output, n is counted down by one.

Next, the operation of the page printer of the present invention will be explained using FIG. 6.

When the paper sensor 16 detects that there is no paper during printing operation,
Paper sensor output signal B becomes "0".

Upon receiving this output, the CPU 13 immediately sets the online/offline signal C to "O" to set the connection with the external device 51 offline. At this time, the CPU 13 holds the unprocessed print data remaining on the buffer memory 15,
Wait for paper to be added. Next, the CPU 13
By setting the paper presence/absence display signal G and the online/offline display signal H of the boat 12 to "O", the out-of-paper state and the offline state are displayed on the operation panel 19. Also, at this time, the CPU 13 controls the counter 13a.
Check the signal F indicating the number of pages of print data remaining on the buffer memory 15 counted by 1 page is set, and n is displayed on the segment display 26 for displaying the number of remaining pages on the operation panel 19.

Here, when the user recognizes that there is no paper and adds paper, the paper sensor output signal B becomes "1", and the CPU 13 sets the paper presence/absence display signal G to "1" and displays the presence of paper on the paper presence/absence display lamp 22. let At the same time, the CPU 13 extracts the unprocessed print data remaining on the buffer memory 15 and resumes printing, and displays the segment display 26 on the operation panel 19 to indicate how many pages of print data remain in the buffer memory 15. n, n-1,...2゜1.0
are displayed sequentially until printing is completed.

When the CPU 13 recognizes that the print data on the buffer memory 15 is no longer present, the CPU 13 sets the print data presence/absence display signal I of the buffer memory 15 to “0” via the I10 port 12.
”, the remaining page number display data J is set to 0 pages, the print data presence/absence display lamp 24 of the operation panel 19 indicates that there is no print data on the buffer memory 15, and the segment display 26 displays the remaining page number “ 0" is displayed.

Here, the user confirms that all remaining print data has been printed, and then operates the online/offline changeover switch 25 to set the online/offline changeover signal K to "1", thereby changing the page printer from the offline state to the online state. can be returned to.

In addition, in the above explanation, the case where the printing operation is interrupted is explained as an example when the paper runs out, but the present invention can also be used when the operation of the page printer is interrupted when the toner runs out, when a failure occurs in the page printer, or due to an interface error, etc. It can be applied in any case.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above in detail, according to the present invention, when a page printer interrupts printing operation and goes into an offline state, print data from an external device is stored on the buffer memory for several sheets of paper. The CPU checks whether there are any remaining pages, displays the number of remaining pages (n) on the display means on the operation panel, prints the remaining print data after the reason for interruption is resolved, and displays the number of remaining pages, for example n, n-1,...・Since it is displayed as 2, 1.0, the operator can know the number of remaining pages, and how long to wait to finish printing the remaining print data after restarting printing. You can also check whether the page printer can be returned to online status.

Furthermore, when the segment display on the operation panel is not used to display the number of remaining pages, it can also be used for displaying other data.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of a page printer of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the operation panel shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a configuration block diagram of a conventional page printer, and FIG.
5 is a timing chart for a conventional page printer, FIG. 6 is a timing chart for a page printer of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is a flowchart for displaying the number of remaining pages. 19a... Remaining page number display means, 25... Segment display, F... Remaining page number data,
J... Remaining page number display data. Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the configuration of an uninvented page printer. Sf) Whistle 4 diagram showing operation spring A/'s nepa j11 Figure 7

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] In a page printer having at least an operation panel and a buffer memory for temporarily storing print data from an external device, display means such as a segment display is provided on the operation panel, and when the printing operation is interrupted. 2. A page printer according to claim 1, wherein the display means displays the number of pages of unprocessed print data remaining in the buffer memory.