JPH02277652A - Page printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable request repeat to be simply and immediately performed in case of occurrence of printing errors such as paper clogging or the like by a method wherein the title page printer is so constructed that a number in page of a page to be recorded next is calculated and displayed. CONSTITUTION:A CPU 37 makes a display on a panel display 'printable', and zero clears a page counter established by applying a partial memory of a RAM 42. When image information is inputted, a value of the page counter is updated by +1, and the display of the panel is made to display a message having a content 'during processing, page x'. The image information stored temporarily in the RAM 42 is developed to be written in a bit map memory 41, and one page content image data are outputted to a recording part. When all the page recording is not ended, a value of the page printer is updated by +1, and a number in page of a next page is displayed on the display of the panel. Therefore, what page a following recording image is on can be simply confirmed. In that case, for a page in which paper clogging occurs, the number in page of said page is confirmed by displayed contents, and resupply of said page is requested for a host computer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a page printer that records images such as characters and figures on a page-by-page basis.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a page printer that records an image corresponding to image information inputted from image information generating means such as a host computer on a page-by-page basis on recording paper.

In this page printer, an image corresponding to the input image information is recorded by developing the image information input from the image information generating means into a bitmap memory in bitmap format and transferring the developed information to the recording section. Ru.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the above-mentioned page printer, image information input from an image information generating means such as a host computer is
It includes character codes and vector data representing the coordinates of the starting and ending points of the line segments that make up the figure, or the center point coordinates and radius. Therefore, inside the device, it is necessary to convert such vector data into bitmap image data and develop it in a bitmap memory. Such processing requires a certain amount of time.

However, with conventional page printers, from the time they receive image information from the image information generating means to the time they start recording the image on recording paper, a message saying "Processing in progress" is simply displayed on the display on the operation panel. Since it is configured only to display images, it is currently unclear how many hundreds of images are being processed, and the tedious task of counting the number of printed sheets of recording paper is required. In particular, when a printing error such as a paper jam occurs, in addition to repair work, it is necessary to check how many hundreds of pages have been printed by counting the number of sheets of recording paper, which can be extremely troublesome. There was a problem.

An object of the present invention is to provide an IJ page printer that can easily know how many hundreds of images are to be recorded.
It is about providing.

[Means to solve the problem]

The page printer of the present invention includes a counting means for counting the page number of image information to be recorded, and a display means for displaying the counted page number.

[Effect]

In the present invention, the page number of the image information to be recorded next is displayed. Therefore, even if a paper jam occurs, you can easily check how many times it is by the displayed page number, and
A retransmission request for that page can be made immediately.

〔Example〕

A detailed explanation will be given below, taking as an example the case where the present invention is applied to a laser printer.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of the laser printer.

This apparatus is comprised of an image supply device 21, a recording section 22, a power source 23 for driving these, and a panel 24 through which an operator inputs recording operation instructions.

The image supply device 21 is provided with a host interface (1/F) connection terminal 26 that receives information for recording a predetermined image from a host computer, etc., and a LAN connection terminal 27 that connects to a local area network, etc. It is being The recording unit 22 is a device that records an image corresponding to image information on a recording paper 29, and receives image information 31 and operation commands 34 from the image supply device 21, and also receives synchronization pulses 32 and status for recording operation. The image supply device 21 is configured to output a signal 33 to the image supply device 21.

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the main parts of the recording section 22 shown in FIG. 1.

Here, a laser beam 52 emitted from a laser oscillator 51 passes through a polarizer 53 , a laser beam modulator 54 , and a polarizer 55 , is reflected by a polygon mirror 56 , passes through a lens 57 , and is directed to the outer periphery of a photosensitive drum 58 . reach the surface.

Image information 31 (pit stream) from the image supply device 21 in FIG.
The plane of polarization of the laser beam passing through the modulator 54 is rotated in accordance with the image information by, for example, an electro-optic effect.

By this so-called electric shutter action, the black and white binary image information is converted into an optical on/off signal of a laser beam, and the outer peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 58 is irradiated with the optical on/off signal. The polygon mirror 56 is rotated at a constant speed by a motor 62.
After this laser beam 52 is reflected, it is scanned in the direction of an arrow 63 (this direction is referred to as the main scanning direction). That is, while one line of image information is converted into an optical bit string and irradiated in a direction parallel to the rotation axis 64 of the photosensitive drum 58, the photosensitive drum 58 is moved in the direction of the arrow 65 (this direction is referred to as the sub-scanning direction). Rotate to. In this way, an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image to be recorded is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 58.

This electrostatic latent image passes through a developing device 66 as the photosensitive drum 58 rotates in the direction of an arrow 65. Here, toner is deposited in accordance with the electrostatic latent image. When the recording paper 29 is fed in the direction of an arrow 68 by a recording paper transport mechanism (not shown), the toner attached to the outer periphery of the photosensitive drum 58 is transferred onto the recording paper 29 by the action of the transfer device 69. The recording paper 29 is further fed in the direction of the arrow 68 and subjected to processing such as fixing, thereby obtaining a recorded matter.

Note that the laser beam 52 is scanned in the direction of an arrow 63 with a width exceeding both ends of the photosensitive drum 58. Therefore, the transfer timing of the image signal 31 is determined by detection pulses that detect the passage of the laser beam from the scan start sensor 71 and the scan end sensor 72.

The specific configuration of the image supply device 21 shown in FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. 3 using a block diagram.

This circuit connects a microprocessor (CPU) 37 connected to a CPU bus 36 and various interfaces (I/
F) 38-40, memories 41-46, and control blocks 47-48.

The interface includes a host I/F38 and a panel I/F38.
There is an F39 and a recording unit I/F40.

The host I/F 38 is a circuit that receives image information input from a host computer (not shown) in accordance with, for example, the R5232C standard. Further, the panel I/F 39 is a circuit that relays an instruction signal 39a input from the panel 24 (FIG. 1) operated by an operator. And the recording department! /F
Reference numeral 40 denotes a circuit for relaying signals such as those explained in FIG. 1, which are exchanged between the image supply device 21 and the recording section 22.

The memory includes character button memories 44, 46, bitmap memory 41, and random access memory (RAM).
42, and program memories 43 and 45. The character button memories 44 and 46 are so-called font memories, and are memories that store character patterns composed of dot matrices. The bitmap memory 41 stores, for example, one page of images to be recorded on the recording paper 29 in the recording section 22 (FIG. 1) in bitmap format. The random access memory 42 stores various data for the operation of the microprocessor 37,
It is used for temporarily storing information input from the host I/F 38. The program memories 43 and 45 store programs for the operation of the microprocessor 37.

Of these memories, the program memory 45 and the character pattern memory 46 are removable memories, and by replacing them as necessary, it is possible to use various types of programs and character patterns.

As a control block, a bitmap controller 47
．． There is PTC48. The bitmap controller 47 is a circuit that controls access timing and addresses to the bitmap memory 41.
It performs control, etc. for transferring the image data formed in the image data to the recording unit I/F 40. The PTC 48 is a known programmable timer counter and is a circuit that generates a total time n1 and a timing signal.

In the above configuration, image information for one or more pages inputted from a host computer (not shown) is sent to the host I/O.
The data are sequentially stored in the RAM 42 through the F38. This storage process is performed by the CPU 37 according to the program stored in the program memory 43.

The image information input from the host computer here is
This is vector data that represents a line segment of a character or figure by the coordinates of its starting point and end point, or by the coordinates of its center point and radius, and cannot be recorded as is. Therefore, the CPU 37 develops one piece of bitmap format image data from the vector data in units of a predetermined amount and stores it in the bitmap memory 41. The CPU 37 performs conversion into bitmap image data using a signal indicating the end of one page (for example, 1
Execute until you see a signal with the code "FF" in hexadecimal notation. In this case, character pattern memory 44.46
When a character code specifying one of the character patterns stored in is input, the character pattern corresponding to the character code is read from the character pattern memory 44, 46,
The data is developed in the bitmap memory 41. Here, CPU3
7 develops the image data in the bitmap memory 41 so that it has a size corresponding to the input recording paper size information prior to inputting the image information.

When one page of image data has been developed in the bitmap memory 41 in this way, the CPU 37 reads the status signal 33 (FIG. 1) of the recording section 22 through the recording section 1/F40, and the recording section 22 It is checked whether the recording operation is possible, and if it is possible, the operation command 3 is sent to the recording unit 22.
4 (Figure 1) is output. Therefore, when the status signal 33 as a response signal to the operation command 34 is returned from the recording section 22, reading of the image data from the bitmap memory 41 is instructed.

The bitmap controller 47 receives the synchronization pulse 3 from the recording section 22 when starting to read out the image data.
2 (FIG. 1) is read through the recording section 1/F40, and each address of the bitmap memory 41 is accessed in synchronization with the synchronization pulse.

That is, the synchronization pulse 32 is generated each time the laser beam 52 scans the photosensitive drum 58 in the main scanning direction, and the bitmap controller 47 generates the synchronization pulse 32.
The image data in the bitmap memory 41 is stored as 1 after a certain period of time (the time from when the scan start sensor 71 detects the laser beam 52 until it reaches the latent image formation start point on the photosensitive drum 58) after 2 is generated. It is successively displayed in units of one main scanning line of the photosensitive drum 58 at a pixel period.

Therefore, image data for one main scanning line is serially outputted from the bitmap memory 41 at one pixel period.

This serial image data is input to the modulator 54 through the recording unit I/F 40.

Thereby, the laser beam 52 is modulated by the image data and is irradiated onto the outer peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 58. The electrostatic latent image thus formed on the outer peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 58 is developed by a developing device 66 and then transferred and recorded onto two recording sheets by a transfer device 69.

Next, the fourth step is about the process of displaying the page number of the image to be recorded next on the display device (not shown) of the panel 24.
This will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in the figure.

First, when the device becomes ready to operate after a certain period of time has passed after the device is powered on, the CPU 37 causes the display of the panel 24 to display “Ready to print” via the panel I/F 39 (step 100). . Next, R.A.
A page counter provided by utilizing a part of the storage area of M42 is cleared to zero (step 101). After this, you will be waiting for image information to be input from the host computer.
If the image information has been input (step 102), the value of the page counter is updated by "+1", and the message "Processing in progress. Page X" is displayed on the display of the panel 24 as shown in FIG. 6(a). Displaying the message content (Step 1)
03. '104). Then, the image information temporarily stored in the RAM 42 is developed into bitmap format image data and written into the bitmap memory 41 (step 105).
). After that, when information indicating a page break is input from the host computer (step 106), a read command is output to the bitmap controller 47, and one page of image data in the bitmap memory 41 is transferred to the recording unit 2.
2 (step 107). Thereafter, it is determined in step 108 whether recording of all pages has been completed.
), returns to the initial state if completed, but if not completed, returns to step 103 and sets the page printer value to [+
Only IJ is updated, the page number of the next page is displayed on the display of the panel 24, and the image data of the next page is developed in the bitmap memory 41.

The CPU 37 repeats the above processing until all pages of image information temporarily stored in the RAM 42 have been processed. As a result, the page numbers of the images to be recorded next are sequentially displayed on the display of the panel 24. This makes it extremely easy to check what page the next recorded image will be.

In this case, for the page where the paper jam occurred, the page number will be confirmed from the displayed content and a request will be made to the host computer to resend the same page. If the processing procedure is registered in the program memory 43 so that it can be performed automatically, resending work after recovering from a paper jam can be simplified.

In FIG. 5, when a printing error such as a paper jam occurs, the CPU 37 stores the page count value at the time the printing error occurred in the RAM 42 (step 200,
201). Thereafter, a message "Error Death" is displayed on the display of the panel 24, instructing to remove the error condition (step 202). by this,
Once the error condition has been removed (step 203), the next page is monitored for printing errors. This allows the RAM
42 stores page numbers in which printing errors have occurred, corresponding to the number of pages in which errors have occurred. Therefore, when the recording of all pages is completed (step 204), the CPU 37 checks whether any error page number is stored in the RAM 42 (step 205), and determines whether the error page number is stored. If so, read out the stored error page numbers one by one and display the message "Please send page XX again" on the display of the panel 24 as shown in FIG. 6(b). At the same time, a request to resend the page is sent to the host computer (steps 206 and 207).
. If n error page numbers are stored, n retransmission requests are made.

By automating the retransmission request in this manner, it is possible to simplify post-processing after a printing error such as a paper jam occurs.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention is configured to count and display the page number to be recorded next, so it is easy to know which page the next image to be recorded is. If a printing error such as a paper jam occurs, a resend request can be easily and immediately made.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a laser printer to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the main parts of the recording section in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the image supply device in FIG. A block diagram showing the specific configuration, FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the process of counting and displaying the page number of image information to be recorded, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the process of requesting retransmission when a printing error occurs. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of displaying the page number of image information to be recorded and a display example of the page number requesting retransmission. 21... Image supply device, 22... Recording section, 24...
・Panel, 29...Recording paper, 37...Microprocessor, 41...Bitmap memory, 44.46.
・Character pattern memory. Figure 5 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A page printer that records image information inputted from an image information generating means on a recording paper page by page, comprising: a counting means for counting the page number of the image information to be recorded; and the counted pages. A page printer comprising: a display means for displaying a number;