JPH03244573A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable an operator to identify the number of remaining pages of data and efficiently transmit the data of a next file by a method wherein the number of remaining pages of data in an input buffer memory is calculated, and the value is indicated on an operation panel. CONSTITUTION:Data stored in an input buffer memory is converted to video data, and the data for one page is outputted to a printer engine 11 to be printed based on a print signal from a controller 2. Every time when the data for one page is printed on the print signal outputted from the controller 2, a decrement from the value previously written in a counter in a RAM 27 is performed. In this manner, the number of remaining pages of data in the input buffer memory can be calculated. This is repeated until the data for the last one page is printed, whereby the number of remaining pages in the input buffer memory can be recognized. At the same time, the value at that time is indicated on a remaining page number display part 32, whereby an operator can identify the number of remaining pages of data in the input buffer memory.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a printer device having an input buffer memory within a controller.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, in this type of printer, if the controller has a relatively large capacity input buffer memory, one
When one file is transferred from the host and printed, a display indicating that data exists in the buffer memory provided in memory (RAM) lights up on the operation panel, and then several pages are printed. I was worried.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the above-mentioned conventional printer device, the user does not have a means to know the data remaining in the buffer memory or how many sheets are left to be printed, just by looking at the lighted display on the operation panel. In addition, the data for the next file was transferred from the host while the display was on or after the display disappeared. Therefore, when printing data that spans multiple pages, the user often cannot determine how many copies of the data will be printed until printing has actually finished, and when printing other files in succession, Even if data is sent from the host, the next file will not be printed until the previous data has been printed. In other words, until the printing of one file is finished, no matter when the next file is sent, the process of the previous file has to wait.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems.By detecting and displaying how many pages of remaining data are stored in the input buffer memory, a user can It is an object of the present invention to provide a printer device that can efficiently transfer data from one computer to another.

(Function) Therefore, according to the present invention, by displaying the remaining pages of data on the operation panel, the user can check and data transfer can be performed efficiently.

(Embodiment) The first construction drawing shows the configuration of a laser printer in an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a laser printer, which includes a controller 2 and a printer engine 11.
and an operation panel 12.

The controller 2 has an engine interface 21°, a host interface 22. Panel interface 23
．． Program read-only memory (program ROM) 24
．． Font ROM25. Optional random access memory (optional RAM)26. It consists of a RAM 27 and a CPU 28 that controls various operations of the controller 2. 15 is a host machine, and 16 is a font cartridge.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of an input buffer memory provided in a RAM in an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 shows the detailed configuration of the operation panel 12 shown in FIG. 1, in which 31 is a liquid crystal display (LCD display), 32
Reference numeral 33 indicates a remaining page number display section, and 33 a switch section. Fourth
5 and 5 show the operational flow of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 shows the flow when receiving data, and FIG. 5 shows the flow when printing.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. In the above embodiment, the printer engine 11 creates an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor according to the video signal and control signal from the controller 2, develops it, and also feeds transfer paper from the paper feed section, transfers and fixes the image form.

The operation panel 12 includes a display section that shows the status of the printer, and a switch section that changes the mode, font, etc. of the printer. The controller 2 converts the print data from the host into video data and outputs it to the printer engine 11 according to the control mode set at that time and the control code from the host. C in controller 2
The PU 28 processes data (print data, control data) from the host machine 15 according to the program stored in the program ROM 24. The RAM 27 is a work memory when the CPU 28 processes data, and the host machine 15
An input buffer memory that takes in data from the input buffer memory, a page buffer memory that temporarily stores data from the input buffer memory in page units, and a bitmap that converts the data stored in the page buffer memory into an actual print pattern and stores video data. It is used for memory and user areas used by users. This is an interface for control signals from the controller 2 of the engine interface 21 to the printer engine 11 and status signals from the printer engine 11 to the controller 2. The data sent from the host machine 15 through the host interface 22 is print data and print control data (SP, CR, LF, HT, VT, . . .
etc.) and others, and print data and print control data are stored in an input buffer memory.

In response to a print command from the host machine 15, the controller 2 issues a print start command to the printer engine 11 through the engine interface 21.

When the laser printer 1 receives data from the host machine 15, it sequentially stores the data in a buffer memory called an input buffer memory provided in the RAM 27 of the controller 2, which temporarily stores the data. They are retrieved and processed one by one in the order in which they were stored.

When the data from the host machine 15 is stored to the end of the memory address of the input buffer, it is returned to the beginning address of the input buffer memory, which has already been taken out and is now empty, and is stored again in order.

As shown in FIG. 2, data consisting of multiple pages is transferred from the host machine 15 in the controller 2, which has a sufficiently expanded input buffer memory to transfer a large amount of data at once and reduce the load on the host. and,
All or most of the data (at least one page or more) will be stored in the input buffer memory. At this time, the present invention performs the following processing. That is, before the data is stored in the input buffer memory, the controller 2 generates a code (F ro+m Fe
ed.

(hereinafter referred to as FF) (Fig. 4, 81□+St□)
This is counted (813 in FIG. 4), and the counted value (Nt) is written in a counter (not shown) provided in the RAM 27 of the controller 2 (81 in FIG. 4).
). The data is then stored in the input buffer memory.

Thereafter, the data stored in the input buffer memory is converted into video data, and in response to a print signal from the controller 2, the data corresponding to the epage is output to the printer engine 11 and printed. When a print signal is output from the controller 2 to print one page, the value previously written to the counter in the RAM 27 is decremented (see Figure 5).
Z3) The number of pages (Ni) of data remaining in the input buffer memory is calculated. For example, assume that all data of a certain file is stored in the input buffer memory, and the number of FFs (Nt) in the data is 5 (one page of 5). When the first page is printed, the value of the counter in the RAM 27 (number of pages Ni) at that time becomes 5-1=4 since Nt-1=Ni. By repeating this until the last page of data is printed, the number of remaining pages in the input buffer memory can be determined. At the same time, by displaying the current value (Ni) on the remaining page number display section 32 in FIG. 3, the user can confirm how many pages of data remain in the input buffer memory.

In the above embodiment, page management is performed based on the number of FFs, but in reality, pages change not only with FFs alone, but also with image data, line breaks, positioning commands, etc. If the data exceeds this value, it will be treated as data for the next page. Therefore, as another method, the number of pages can be counted by managing the value of the current dot position in the vertical direction (sub-scanning direction), and the remaining pages in the input buffer memory can be counted in the same way as in the method of the above embodiment. It becomes possible to know. In this method, for example, if image data, line breaks, positioning, etc. are included in the data transferred from the host machine 15, they are stored in the image buffer memory via the input buffer memory of the RAM 27, It is expanded into bitmap memory with information such as character information and dot positions. In this process, the vertical value of the dot position is determined, so when the controller 2 determines that the value exceeds one page,
If you increment the counter provided in the RAM 27 first, even an image composed of data without FF will become one page, and if you clear the dot position value at the same time, page management will start again from the beginning of the next page. can be done.

If this operation is performed on all data transferred from the host machine 15 in this way before a print signal is issued, page management can be performed on any data.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above embodiments, the present invention calculates how many pages of data remain in the input buffer memory and displays the value on the operation panel, so that the user can It has the advantage of being able to check the number of remaining pages in the file and efficiently transferring data for the next file.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram of a laser printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an example of an input buffer memory according to the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an operation panel according to the embodiment shown in FIG. , FIG. 4 is a flowchart at the time of data reception in the embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart at the time of printing in the embodiment. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Laser printer, 2... Controller, 11... Printer engine, 12... Operation panel, 15... Host machine, 16... Font cartridge, 21... Engine interface, 22... ...Host interface, 23...Panel interface, 24...Program ROM,
25... Font ROM, 26... Option R
AM, 27...RAM, 28...CPU, 31...
・Liquid crystal display, 32...Remaining page number display, 33・
...Switch part.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a printer device having a buffer memory capable of storing at least one page of data from a host device, the printer device has means for calculating how many pages of print data stored in the buffer memory; A printer device comprising a mechanism for displaying the number of remaining pages stored in a memory.