JPH02232720A - Processing contents trace display device for printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily analyze abnormality contents in case of abnormality of the data expanding processing of a printer by successively storing processing information related to the data processing in a trace buffer. CONSTITUTION:The command address of a program ROM 14, control data held in a control expanding part 15, and the state of an internal register used by an instruction at present are successively cyclically stored in a trace buffer 24. When abnormality occurs in the printer, input data from a host device is checked, and a switching means 19 is switched to the side of a test print control part 25, and a switch 26 is operated to print stored data of the buffer 24 through the test print control part 25 by a printing mechanism 17. Thus, the condition of the expanding processing in the printer is recognized, and the cause of the abnormality is easily analyzed.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Summary) It relates to a printer processing content trace display device, in particular, a data expansion processing unit that expands print data to a expansion memory;
A printer having a printing mechanism that executes printing based on expansion memory information, and a test print control unit that has test expansion data and causes the printing mechanism to print the test expansion data to test the function of the printing mechanism. Regarding the applied processing content trace display device, if there is an abnormality in the data expansion processing executed in the printer, the purpose of this is to make it possible to easily analyze the abnormality content. The processing content trace display device of the apparatus is configured by providing a trace buffer for sequentially storing data processing information of a data expansion processing section and adding a function of causing a printing mechanism to print the contents of the trace buffer.

(Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a printer processing content trace display device, and particularly relates to an expansion memory in which information to be printed is expanded as bitmap information, and print data from a host device is expanded into the expansion memory. a data expansion processing unit that performs printing based on the expansion memory information, a printing mechanism unit that executes printing based on the expansion memory information, and test expansion data, and causes the printing mechanism to print the test expansion data to test the function of the printing R structure. The present invention relates to a processing content trace display device applied to a printer having a test print control unit.

(Prior Art) Generally, there is a printer device having a configuration shown in FIG. 3. This printer is an electrophotographic page printer that receives orders and control data related to vector information indicating graphic data including character codes or images from a host device (not differentiated), and prints them for one page. It is printed on paper using an electrophotographic system that develops image data as a bit pattern and exposes it to light using a laser diode array or liquid crystal shutter.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 11 denotes a reception buffer that temporarily stores the order and control data of character codes or graphic data to be printed sent from the host device. 12 is a central processing unit (CPU) that controls data processing of the printer; 13;
14 is a CGROM that stores the font of the character corresponding to the character code as bitmap data, and 14 is a CGROM in which the central processing unit 12 refers to the CGROM and expands the received character code into bitmap data, or converts graphic data into bitmap data. A program ROM, 15, stores a program that expands data and issues operational commands to the print function.
16 is a control expansion unit that stores control information such as internal registers used for processing; 16 is an expansion memory in which one to several pages of expanded character and graphic data are stored as bitmap data; and 17 is this expansion. It shows a printing mechanism that prints the contents of memory onto paper page by page.

In addition, in the same figure, 18 indicates a test print control section, which includes a test development memory in which test symbols different from those of the general printing control system are developed into a bitmap, and a printing mechanism control section. In addition to the above-mentioned normal printing control system, a switching means 19 (to be described later) calls up bitmap data from a test expansion memory stored in advance in this test printing control section, and prints it on paper in the printing mechanism 17. This makes it possible to independently perform a functional test on the printing mechanism 17 without requiring data reception and control from the host device.

In the figure, reference numeral 19 denotes a switching means for switching the input to the printing mechanism 17 between the above-mentioned normal printing control system and the test print control section 18, which includes two ant gates 20, 21,
It is composed of an inverter 22 and an output control 23 that generates a switching signal rOJ rlJ by an operator's operation. According to this switching stage l9, when the output of the output control 23 is set to "0", the AND gate 20 is turned on and the AND gate 21 is turned off.
6, the printing mechanism 17 prints the data from the host device. On the other hand, if the output control is set to "1", after the ant gate 2l is turned on, the and gate 20
is turned off, and a test print is performed based on data from the test print control section 18.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, when such a printer prints based on data from a host device, the output result of the printer becomes abnormal or the printer stops operating. There are cases.

In such a case, if there is an abnormality in the printing mechanism 17, the above-mentioned test print control section 18 tests the printing mechanism, and the abnormality can be analyzed based on the results.

Furthermore, if there is an abnormality in the data sent by the host device, the data output by the host device can be collected and analyzed.

However, if there is an abnormality in the data expansion process executed in the printer, the program used for the expansion process will be simulated on the program list and analyzed. The problem is that it takes time and effort.

In addition, analysis of the development process inside the printer can also be performed using a debugging tool, but even if such a tool is used, it does not matter if the failure is reproducible, but if it is not reproducible, the analysis will not be possible. It's not easy.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a printer processing content trace display device that allows the content of the abnormality to be easily analyzed when there is an abnormality in the data expansion processing executed within the printer. purpose.

(Means for solving the problems) In the present invention, the means for solving the above problems are as follows:
As shown in FIG. 1, there is a data expansion processing unit that expands print data from the host device as bitmap information into expansion memory, a printing mechanism unit that executes printing based on the expanded bitmap information, and a test Has deployment data,
In a printer having a test printing control unit that causes the printing mechanism to print the test development data and tests the function of the printing mechanism, a trace buffer is provided that sequentially stores processing information regarding data processing of the data development processing unit. In addition, a function is added to the test print control section to cause the print mechanism to print the contents of the trace buffer.

[Effect]

According to the present invention, the trace buffer 5 sequentially stores information related to the data processing of the data expansion processing section 2, and also has the function of causing the printing mechanism 3 to print the contents of the trace buffer 5, so that the print result is If there is an abnormality in the data expansion processing unit required for print control of the printing mechanism 3, the test print control unit 4 will issue a trace buffer even if normal printing cannot be performed. 5 can be printed by the printing mechanism 3, trace data near the point where the abnormality has occurred can be obtained, and the result of the abnormality can be easily analyzed.

〔Example〕

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a printer processing content trace display device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of a printer processing content trace display device according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the processing content trace display device is composed of a receiving buffer 11, a central processing unit 12, a CGROM 13, a program ROM 14, a control expansion section 15, an expansion memory 16, a printing mechanism 17, and a switching means 19, as in the conventional case. to the printer that is
It has a structure in which a trace buffer 24 is provided and the functions of the test print control section 25 are increased. This increased functionality allows the contents of the trace buffer to be copied to the print mechanism 1.
7 can be printed.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the trace buffer 24 is connected to the program ROM 14 and the control expansion section 15, and the program ROM 1 to be executed is
4, the control data held by the control expansion unit 15, and the status of the internal registers being used by the command are sequentially stored as, for example, hexadecimal encoded data, until the storage capacity of the trace buffer 24 is full. If it happens,
The first (oldest) stored information is cyclically rewritten with new information, and data replacement is stopped when an abnormality occurs. The trace buffer 24 of the slave lever stores a certain amount of information starting from the latest state in which an abnormality has occurred.

In this embodiment, the test print control unit 2
5 has bitmap data for displaying characters 0 to F representing hexadecimal numbers and encoded codes including special codes as test development data. If this test character expansion data is originally stored in the test print control unit in a form that includes these characters, that data can be used as is, or new data can be added. If so, all newly added data can be used for test printing.

In the above configuration, the test print control unit 25 not only prints the bitmap data it owns in a specific order so as to perform the original print test, but also prints the above trace data by operating a switch 26 provided on the operation panel of the printer. The contents stored in the buffer 24 are printed using the same procedure as for test printing.

According to the second embodiment, when an abnormality occurs in the printer, the input data from the host device is checked, the switching means 9 is switched to the control section for test printing, and the operation panel of the printer is switched. By operating the switch 26, the trace buffer 24 stores the program address and register status of the expansion process in the printer.
By causing the printing mechanism 17 to print the stored data using the test print control unit 25, it is possible to grasp the status of the expansion processing within the printer, and the cause of the failure can be easily analyzed.

This data is printed using a test print control unit that operates normally even in situations where normal printing is not possible, that is, when an abnormality occurs in the processing of expanding the received data and normal printing is not possible. This is normally performed by the printing mechanism 17 operated by the printer 25, and can be performed even under abnormal operation of the printer.

In the above embodiment, the trace buffer stores the addresses and internal register states of all programs while the printer is operating, but the trace buffer stores the program addresses and internal register states when the printer is in an idle state, when the printer is not operating. By controlling the status not to be stored, only valid data during printer operation can be stored in the trace buffer, and with the same capacity trace buffer,
It is also possible to store the printer's data development processing status over a longer period of time.

Further, in the above embodiments, a page printer was used as an example of the printer, but it goes without saying that this can be applied to any type of printer, such as a line printer or a serial printer.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, a trace buffer is provided for sequentially and cyclically storing information related to data processing in a data expansion processing section, and the content of the trace buffer is printed by a printing mechanism. Since we configured the printer's processing content trace display device to add
If there is an abnormality in the print result, the test print control unit will update the trace buffer even if there is an abnormality in the data development processing unit that controls the printing of the printing mechanism and normal printing cannot be performed under these controls. By printing the stored contents using the printing mechanism, it is possible to obtain trace data in the vicinity of the point where the abnormality has occurred, and the result of the abnormality can be easily analyzed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the principle of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a processing content trace display device for a printer according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a conventional printer. 1... Expansion memory 2... Data expansion processing unit 3... Printing mechanism 4... Control unit for test printing 5... Trace buffer

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A data expansion processing unit (2) that expands print data from a host device as bitmap information in an expansion memory (1), and a printing mechanism unit that executes printing based on the expanded bitmap information. (3); and a test print control unit (4) having test development data and causing the printing mechanism (3) to print the test development data and testing the function of the printing mechanism (3). The printer is provided with a trace buffer (5) that sequentially stores processing information related to data processing by the data expansion processing section (2), and the test print control section (4) transfers the contents of the trace buffer (5) to the printing mechanism. (3) A processing content trace display device for a printer, characterized in that a printing function is added.