JPH0220370A - Printing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the printing form altering load from a host side and to prevent a printing mistake due to printing form setting mistake by judging the kind of the recording medium received in a receiving means by a judge means and automatically setting the printing form data read from a form data memory means to a printing mechanism according to the judged kind of the recording medium. CONSTITUTION:When a paper feed cassette 3 is mounted, a paper kind judge mechanism 22 judges the kind (binding hole sheet, slip, manuscript paper, tabulation paper etc.) of the recording paper received in the paper feed cassette 3 from the mount signal from a sensor, for example, at every cassette. A control part 21 discriminates the kind of the recording paper, which is received in the paper feed cassette 3 mounted after a power supply is closed or immediately after the replacement of the paper feed cassette 3, from the paper feed cassette 3 and reads the printing form corresponding to said kind on reference to a printing form data table 23. Subsequently, the printing form data to the printing data inputted according to the read form data is set and printing processing is started on the basis of said printing form data.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a printing device that performs printing based on input printing information, and in particular to printing that automatically sets a printing format by determining the type of recording medium. It is related to the device.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, this type of device has been configured to receive input printing information (printing code data, printing control commands), etc., and execute printing based on the inputted printing code analysis result. ing.

In particular, print format settings are often set based on control codes input from the host. Further, the paper size may be automatically set by detecting the size of recording paper stored in a cassette set in the printing section.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, as this type of printer becomes more widespread, the types of recording paper used for printing (stitch paper, manuscript paper, slips, etc.) have become more diverse, and the shapes, materials, and colors have also become more diverse. Therefore, it is necessary to set a print format that is set according to the type of recording paper used. For example, in the case of paper with binding holes, input operations such as inputting data to shift the normal print start position to the printing direction taking into account the binding holes are required, and each time the required printing format is selected according to the recording paper type. It is necessary to input and set information from the host computer, which necessitates a considerable number of setting operations before printing can begin, leading to printing errors due to input errors and other problems, as well as significantly slowing down printing processing efficiency. there were.

This invention was made to solve the above problems, and by automatically setting a print format suitable for the type of recording paper set by referring to a print format for recording paper stored in advance, To provide a printing device that can reduce the burden of changing print formats on a host side, prevent printing errors due to printing format setting errors, and efficiently execute printing that conforms to the print formats.

(Means for Solving the Problems) A printing device according to the present invention includes a plurality of storage means that individually store recording media of different types, and determines the recording medium type of each storage means attached to a feeding mechanism. a determining means, a format information storage means for storing unique printing format information corresponding to the type of each recording medium accommodated in these storage means, and a format information storage means based on the recording medium type determined by the determining means. The apparatus is provided with a format setting means for automatically setting print format information read from the printer to the printing mechanism.

[Effect]

In this invention, when an arbitrary accommodating means is attached to the feeding mechanism, the determining means determines the type of recording medium accommodated in the accommodating means. Then, print format information read from the format information storage means is automatically set in the printing mechanism according to the determined type of recording medium.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a printing apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 is a host computer;
Print information consisting of print data and a control code is output to the printer device 2.

The printer device 2 includes a control section 21. Paper type discrimination mechanism 22
．． Print format data table 23. The controller 21 includes a printer section 24 and the like, and the control section 21 is equipped with a ROM and a RAM (not shown), and collectively controls each section based on a control program stored in the ROM.

The paper type discrimination mechanism 22 also serves as a discrimination means of the present invention, and when the paper feed cassette 3 (provided for each type of recording paper) serving as a storage means is mounted, the paper type discrimination mechanism 22 detects the paper feed cassette 3 based on the mounting signal from the sensor. The type of recording paper stored in the cassette (stitch-hole sheet, slip, manuscript paper, tabulation paper, etc.) can be determined for each cassette, for example. Note that the sensor may be of an optical type or a mechanical type (such as a microswitch). The print format data table 23 also serves as a format information storage means of the present invention, and stores in advance the print format information (information regarding print areas, etc.) corresponding to each of the paper feed cassettes 3 in a rewritable format.

The printer section 24 includes a printing mechanism section, a feeding mechanism, etc. for forming a permanent visible image on recording paper according to the print information analyzed by the control section 21 and the printing format data.

Next, the printing process according to the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the print processing procedure according to the present invention. Note that (1) to (4) indicate each step.

Immediately after the power is turned on or the paper feed cassette 3 is replaced, the control unit 21 identifies the type of recording paper stored in the attached paper feed cassette 3 from the paper feed cassette 3 (1).

Next, the print format data table 23 is referred to for the print format corresponding to the identified type (2), and the corresponding format data is read (3).

Next, print format data for the input print information is set according to the read format data (4). Next, printing processing is started based on the set printing format data.

As a result, printing is performed with the margin changed as shown in FIG. 3(b).

FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) are schematic diagrams illustrating print output according to the present invention. In these diagrams, reference numeral 31 denotes a binding sheet, which is fed from the paper feed cassette 3. Reference numeral 32 denotes a valid printing area, and print information is printed in this valid printing area 32.

When the binding hole sheet 31 is fed from the paper feed cassette 3 as shown in FIG. 4A, the printing start position will hit the binding holes in a normal machine, causing printing to disappear. Therefore, when the control unit 21 determines that the type of recording paper stored in the paper cassette 3 is a binding sheet 31, it automatically changes the margin information as shown in FIG. Printing should be performed to prevent printing from disappearing.

Note that in the above embodiment, the case where margins are changed as a change in print format information is explained, but character size,
Typeface line pitch, character pitch.

Changes may be made to the left margin, right margin, top margin, bottom margin, comment line, etc. Furthermore, changes may be made to the character font format, print color information, etc. This makes it possible to automatically set print formats for a wide variety of paper types, such as manuscript paper, slip tabulation paper, label paper, and the like.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention includes a plurality of storage means for individually storing recording media of different types, a discrimination means for determining the recording medium type of each storage means attached to a feeding mechanism,
Format information storage means that stores unique printing format information corresponding to the type of each recording medium accommodated in these storage means, and printing that is read out from the format information storage means based on the recording medium type determined by the determination means. Since a format setting means for automatically setting format information in the printing mechanism is provided, the complicated printing format change setting operation from the host can be greatly reduced. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently print the inputted print information on the predetermined recording paper without being aware of the paper type.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a printing apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the printing IA procedure according to the present invention, and FIG. 3(a),
(b) is a schematic diagram illustrating print output according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a host computer, 2 is a printer device, 3
21 is a paper feed cassette, 21 is a control section, 22 is a paper type discrimination mechanism, 23 is a print format data table, and 24 is a printer section. (a) Figure (b)

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a printing device that has a feeding mechanism that feeds a recording medium to a printing mechanism, and a printing mechanism that prints on the recording medium fed from this feeding mechanism based on printing information input from a host, a plurality of accommodating means for individually accommodating different recording media; a discriminating means for discriminating the type of recording medium of each accommodating means mounted on the feeding mechanism; a format information storage means for storing corresponding unique print format information; and a format setting for automatically setting print format information read from the format information storage means in the printing mechanism based on the recording medium type determined by the determination means. A printing device characterized by comprising means.