JPH01299043A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the need for the variation of the firmware of a printer body even when the specifications of a console panel is changed by providing a control-mode setting means setting a console-panel control mode corresponding to the kind of the console panel. CONSTITUTION:In the identification processing of a console panel by a CPU 25 for a printer controller 20 in a printer body, an identification code is required to the console panel 40 in the usage of the example of the specifications of console panels A, B of two kinds, and an identification code transmitted from a CPU 47 in the console panel 40 installed to the printer body 1A is received. When the identification code is brought to [1], the LCD control of the console panel A is set for [sixteen characters x one line] and LED control for four LEDs of NO1-N4-that is, a control program corresponding to the identification code [1] in a plurality of identification codes stored in a ROM 26 is read, and the control program is transferred into a RAM 27 (a control-mode setting memory). When the identification code is not brought to [1], LCD control is set for [twenty-four characters x two lines] and LED control for six LEDs of NO1-NO6. LCD control and LED control are conducted according to a control mode set.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a printer to which various operation panels can be selectively attached.

In general, the specifications of the operation panels of various printers are subject to change due to various requirements regarding operability and display functions. When changing the number of input switches, etc., an operation panel can be selectively installed according to the specifications.

When the above-mentioned specifications are changed, the firmware for controlling the input/output on the operation panel, that is, the control program stored in the ROM in the printer body is also changed.

Therefore, in such conventional printers, when the operation panel is replaced, the ROM itself must also be replaced with a new one, which increases costs and requires a lot of effort.

This invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to eliminate the need to change the firmware of the printer body even if the specifications of the operation panel are changed.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides identification code sending means C on each of various operation panels B that can be selectively attached to the printer main body A, as shown in the functional block diagram of FIG. , an identification code requesting means for requesting the attached operation panel B to send out the identification code on the printer main body A side, and an identification code requesting means for requesting the identification code from the identification code sending means C of the operation panel B and transmitting the identification code to the operation panel B. The apparatus is provided with operation panel identification means E for identifying the type of operation panel B, and control mode setting means F for setting an operation panel control mode according to the type of operation panel identified by the means E.

Hereinafter, a detailed explanation will be given based on one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the internal mechanism of a laser printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

This laser printer includes two removable upper and lower paper feed trays 2 and 3 on the right side of a printer main body 1A, and a paper discharge stacker 4 on the left side.

The printer main body 1A also includes a photosensitive drum 5, a charger 6, a laser optical system 7, and a laser optical system 7, which constitute an image forming section of a printer engine, which will be described later. @Image device 8゜Transfer charger 9
．． Fixing device 10. It is provided with a cleaning device 11, a paper feeding unit including two upper and lower calling rollers 12, 13, a pair of paper feeding rollers 14, 15, a pair of registration rollers 16, and the like.

Furthermore, boards for an engine driver 19 and a printer controller 20, which will be described later, are attached to the lower part of the printer main body 1A.

Further, various operation panels are selectively attached to the outside of the printer main body 1A.

Next, the operation of this laser printer will be briefly explained.

When a print sequence is started by a command from the host described later, either of the calling rollers 12 or 13 is driven at a predetermined timing to select one of the two upper and lower paper feed trays 2 and 3. Paper feeding is started from , the paper is fed in the direction of arrow A in FIG.

On the other hand, the photoreceptor drum 5 rotates counterclockwise, and a laser beam modulated by a laser optical system 7 according to video data from a printer controller 20, which will be described later, is applied to the surface charged by the charger 6 at the drum axis. It is irradiated and exposed while main scanning in the direction to form an electrostatic latent image.

The electrostatic latent image is visualized by toner in the developing device 8, transferred by the transfer charger 9 to the paper fed by the pair of registration rollers 16 at a predetermined timing, and then becomes visible on the transferred paper. The image is heated and fixed by a fixing device 10.

Then, the print paper that has left the fixing device 10 is discharged to the paper discharge stacker 4 in the direction of arrow B.

On the other hand, residual l-toner on the photosensitive drum 5 after the visible image transfer is removed by a cleaning device 11 having a cleaning blade 17 and collected in a toner collection tank 18 .

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram of a laser printer according to this embodiment, in which 50 is a host computer, 1 is a printer controller 20. Printer engine 30. This is a laser printer consisting of an operation panel 40.

The host computer 50 is a personal computer,
These include a word processor, a data processing device 9, an image processing device, etc., and send data and commands such as character codes, images (graphics), and control codes to the printer controller 20 through a host interface, which will be described later.

As shown in FIG. 4, the printer controller 20 includes a host interface 21 for connecting to a host computer 50, an engine interface 22 for connecting to a printer engine 30, and a panel interface 23 for connecting to an operation panel 40. and a floppy disk device (not shown) and a read/write RAM cartridge.

Various interfaces (1/F) such as an option interface 24 for connecting with options such as a read-only ROM cartridge and a font cartridge storing font data, and the CPU 25. ROM2B, RAM
It is equipped with 27 mag.

The host interface 21 is an interface for connecting to the aforementioned host computer 50, and one of various parallel interfaces or serial interfaces is selected depending on the host computer to be connected.

The CPU 25 is a general-purpose 16-bit or 32-bit microcomputer, and is in charge of overall control of the entire printer controller.

The CPU 25 also functions as the identification code requesting means, the operation panel identification means E, and the control mode setting means F shown in FIG.

The ROM 26 is a program memory and stores programs for controlling the CPU 25 as well as resident fonts and the like.

It also stores programs for controlling input/output to various operation panels corresponding to each identification code according to the present invention.

The RAM 27 is a large-capacity random access memory, and is an input buffer for temporarily holding data transferred from the host computer 50, and stores font data downloaded from the host computer 50 or loaded from a font cartridge. A font file for extracting the data held in the input buffer, a source address where the data is actually stored, a destination address and size for specifying which address in the video buffer to generate video data, etc. a page buffer that stores page data to which information has been added, and the page data of this page buffer and the font file or R
It is used as a video buffer for storing video data generated using font data stored in the OM2B, and is also used as a system memory.

It is also used as a control mode setting memory that stores any program that is compatible with the operation panel identified by the CPU 25 after reading it from the ROM 2B.

The printer engine 30 includes a mechanical section including the photoconductor drum 5 shown in FIG. 2, various parts around it, an image forming section including a laser optical system 7, and a paper transport section such as a pair of registration rollers 16, and a control section thereof. The engine driver 19 receives commands and video data from a printer controller 20, and controls the sequence of the mechanical parts, and also prints characters and images on paper based on the video data.

As shown in FIG. 5, the operation panel 40 includes an LCD (liquid crystal display) module 44, an LED group 45° and a switch group 4.
6, a microcomputer (CPU) 47, and resistors R1+R2 connected in series between a power supply (+5V) and ground to generate an identification voltage.

The LCD module 44 is composed of an LCD display 41 capable of displaying characters of, for example, 2 lines x 32 characters, a driver 42, and an LCD controller 43. The LCD controller 43 drives the driver 42 according to a command from the CPU 47. various characters are displayed on the LCD display 41.

The CPU 47 decodes and executes serial control commands sent from the printer controller 20, thereby outputting a character display command to the LCD module 44 and causing each LED of the LED group 45 to emit light.

Further, this CPU 47 receives various input information from the switch group 46 and sends the information to the printer controller 20 in serial.

Furthermore, this CPU 47 also functions as the identification code sending means C shown in FIG.
When the receiver receives an identification code request (command) from 0,
Divided voltage of Vcc (+5 V) from analog input port rA NJ by resistor R1+R2, i.e. rR
2.Vcc/(Rt +R2)J is taken in, A/D converted, and sent to the printer controller 20 as an identification code (8-bit data).

Next, the operation panel identification process by the cptr 25 (FIG. 4) of the printer controller 20 in the printer main body in this embodiment will be explained with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 6.

In order to simplify the explanation, specifications of two types of operation panels A and H shown in the following table will be used.

Also, the above identification code is 8-bit data, that is, 2
Assume that the hexadecimal code is converted to a hexadecimal code.

The routine shown in FIG. 6 starts from the initialization routine (inside) when the power is turned on, and first requests an identification code from the operation panel 40, and then
The CPU 47 in the operation panel 40 (
(Fig. 5).

Next, check whether the identification code is "1" or not, that is, whether the operation panel A has the identification code "1" or the identification code "2".
The operation panel B having the .

If it is "1", the LCD control is set for "16 characters x 1 line" and the LED control is set for 4 LEDs NOI to NO4, that is, multiple identification codes stored within 2 days in the ROM shown in Figure 4 are set. The control program corresponding to the identification code "1" is read out and transferred to the RAM 27 (control mode setting memory).

Moreover, if it is not "1", the LCD control is set for "24 characters x 2 lines" and the LED control is set for 6 LEDs NOI to NO6.

When the above control mode settings and other mode settings such as print mode are completed, the system exits from the initialization routine shown in the dashed line and enters the normal routine, and the LCD control is performed according to the set control mode. and performs LED control.

The embodiments in which the present invention is applied to a laser printer have been described above, but the present invention can also be applied to other page printers such as LED printers, as well as line printers such as Digiwheel printers, wire dot printers, and thermal printers. It is something.

As explained above, according to the present invention, even if the operation panel is replaced, there is no need to change the firmware, so there is no need to replace the ROM, and it is possible to reduce costs. The work time required to change the specifications of the operation panel can also be significantly reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the basic configuration of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a laser printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a block diagram showing the system configuration of the laser printer, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printer controller 20 in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printer controller 20 in FIG. 3. A block diagram showing the configuration. FIG. 6 is a flow diagram showing the operation panel identification process according to this embodiment. 1... Laser printer 1A... Printer main body 1 day... Engine driver 20... Printer controller 25 ...CPU (microcomputer) 26...
・ROM (program memory) 27...RAM (
30...Printer engine 40...Operation panel 44...LCD (liquid crystal display) module 45...LED group 46...
・Switch group 47...CPU (microcomputer) 50...Host computer Performer Ricoh Co., Ltd. - Figure 1A Figure 3 Figure 4jI5 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a printer in which various operation panels can be selectively attached, each of the various operation panels is provided with an identification code sending means, and the printer body side is provided with an identification code transmission means for each of the attached operation panels. an identification code requesting means for requesting transmission of a code; an operation panel identification means for receiving an identification code from the identification code sending means of the operation panel and identifying the type of the operation panel; A printer characterized in that it is provided with a control mode setting means for setting an operation panel control mode according to the type.