JPH03247480A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform a time-out for no sheet in a host system and to prevent data from being fed again by providing a sheet feeder capable of stocking predetermined number of sheets, means for counting the number of sheets at each time of printing, and means for displaying residual number of the sheets. CONSTITUTION:When 200 sheets are, for example, inserted into a sheet feeder 71 and a sheet feeder lever 72 is returned to its original position, a CPU 68 in a controller 50 initializes a counter 200 for storing residual sheet information of the sheets set in a RAM 61 by the return of the lever 72. Thereafter, each time when a print command is sent from the CPU 68 to a printer engine 51 through an engine interface 65 to send a print command to print, the CPU 68 counts down a counter for storing residual sheet information in the RAM 61, and repeats until the residual sheets become 10. The number of the residual sheets at this time is displayed on a counter 81 of an operation panel 52 through a panel interface 66 under the control of the CPU 68. When the residual sheets become 10, an alarm lamp 82 of the panel 52 is flashed to inform a sheet supplying period.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an operation panel and control portion of a printer.

(Prior art) Conventionally, in a page printer, the presence or absence of paper is confirmed by a paper end sensor attached to the printer's paper feed section (for example, the paper end sensor 21 in Fig. 1), and the sensor detects when the paper runs out during printing. For the first time, the panel display section displays that the paper is out and notifies the user. In other words, the user could only become aware of the fact that there was no paper left in the paper feed section of the printer.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the conventional method of displaying the presence or absence of paper in a printer, the printer user only becomes aware of this fact when there is no paper in the paper feed section.

Additionally, if you notify the host that the paper is out of paper while receiving data from the host, the host will automatically abort the data transfer and the printouts you have made so far will be wasted and you will have to resend them. There was a problem.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and not only displays a warning to the user that the remaining paper is running low, but also prevents the situation where the host runs out of paper and causes a timer out and resends the data. The purpose is to provide printers.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a printer with a paper feed section capable of stocking a fixed number of sheets of paper, a means for counting the number of sheets of paper each time a sheet of paper is printed, and a printer with and means for displaying the number of sheets of paper. It also has an interface that allows bidirectional communication, and is equipped with means for returning information about the number of remaining sheets in response to an inquiry from the host.

(Function) Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to issue a warning to the printer user before the paper runs out in the paper feed section, and also to notify the host before the paper runs out.
Since information on the number of remaining sheets can be returned in response to an inquiry from the host, it is possible to prevent communication from being interrupted due to the host causing a timer out.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of a laser link, which is a type of page printer. In Figure 1, 20
21 is a paper feed roller, 21 is a paper end sensor, 22 is a paper feed tray, 31 is an engine drive boat, and 32 is a controller board.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of a controller and external options in one embodiment of the present invention, and the controller has the same configuration as the controller board of FIG. 1. In FIG. 2, 50 is a controller, 51 is a printer engine,
52 is an operation panel, 53 is a read-only cartridge, and 54 is a read/write cartridge. The controller 50 includes a ROM 60 for storing programs and fonts, and an RA for storing bitmaps and downloaded fonts.
With M61.

a non-volatile memory 62 for storing mode set information;
It consists of an option interface 63, a host interface 64, an engine interface 65, a panel interface 66, a bus 67, and a CPU 6g.

The printer engine 51 creates and develops a latent image on a photoreceptor in response to video signals and control signals from the controller 50, and also feeds transfer paper from a paper feed section, transfers and fixes the latent image,
Make a print. The operation panel 52 consists of a display section showing the printer setting status, and keys and switches for changing printer mode settings, fonts, etc. controller 50 according to the control mode set at the time.

The data from the host is converted into video data to be output to the printer engine 51. Cartridge (ROM) 53
is an emulation card used when you want to print using fonts other than those built into the controller 50, or when you want the printer to perform other functions (emulation of other printers). A cartridge (readable and writable) 47 is a cartridge for expanding the capacity of the RAM 61. The CPU 68 processes data from the host and performs other controls in accordance with the program in the ROM 60 and the data in the nonvolatile memory 62. ROM6
0 stores a control program for the controller 50, characters to be printed, signals, and other pattern data. The RAM 61 is used as a work memory when the CPU 68 performs processing, an input buffer memory that temporarily stores data from the host, and a bitmap memory that develops video data output to the printer engine 51 into a bitmap. Non-volatile memory 62 is used as a mode set memory for the printer. Option interface 63, host interface 64. Engine interface 65 and panel interface 6
6 is an interface for connecting the controller 50 and each device. The bus 67 is a collection of data, address, and signal lines that connect each block within the controller 50.

Fig. 3 shows the operation flow of the first and second embodiments of the present invention, Fig. 4 shows the configuration of the first operation panel of the printer in the embodiment of the invention, and Fig. 5 shows the embodiment of the invention. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the printer according to an embodiment of the present invention when an optional tray is attached to the printer.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6. When 200 sheets of paper are loaded into the paper feed section 71 (Fig. 5) and the paper feed section lever 72 (Fig. 5) is returned to its original position (S□ in Fig. 3), the CPU 6 in the controller 5°
8 is the RAM 6 due to the paper feed section lever 72 being returned.
The counter that stores information on the remaining number of sheets of paper set on 1 is initialized to 200 (FIG. 3, 82). From then on, every time a print command is sent from the CPU 68 to the printer engine 51 via the engine interface 65 to print (including paper jams), the C
The PU6g counts down the counter that stores information on the number of remaining sheets of paper in the RAM 61, and repeats this until there are 10 sheets of paper left (Fig. 3, 83-84) - the number of sheets of paper remaining at this time ( The counter value) is displayed on the counter 81 (FIG. 4) of the operation panel 52 through the panel interface 66 under the control of the CPU 6g. When 10 sheets of paper remain, the warning lamp 82 (FIG. 4) on the operation panel 52 is blinked (FIG. 3 85) to inform the user of the time to replenish paper. Paper is replenished using an optional tray 85 as shown in FIG.

Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6. When 200 sheets of paper are loaded into the paper feed section 71 (Fig. 5) and the paper feed section lever 72 (Fig. 5) is returned to its original position (S in Fig. 3), the CPU 68 in the controller 50 starts feeding. When the paper section lever 72 is returned, the counter that stores information on the remaining number of sheets of paper set on the RAM 61 is set to 2.
Initialize to 00 (SZ in Figure 3).

From then on, each time the CPU 68 sends a print command to the printer engine 51 to perform printing, the CPU 68
counts down a counter that stores information on the number of remaining sheets of paper in the RAM 61, and repeats this until there are 10 sheets of paper remaining (S, S4 in FIG. 3).

At this time, the number of remaining sheets of paper (counter value) is determined by CPU6.
8 is displayed on the host's display through the host interface 64. When 10 sheets of paper remain, warning information is sent to the host and displayed on the host's display (Fig. 3, 55), informing the user of the time to replenish paper. Supplementary sheets of paper are carried out using an optional tray as shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 8 shows the configuration of the second operation panel of the link in the embodiment of the present invention.

Next, the operation of the third embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG. 2 and FIGS. 5 to 8. When a certain number of sheets of paper are loaded into the paper feed section 71 (Figure 5) (Figure 7, 8□1) and the increment switch 93 or decrement switch 94 on the operation panel in Figure 8 is operated, the RAM 61 is loaded by the CPU 68.
A counter that stores information on the remaining number of sheets of paper located above increases or decreases, and the value of the counter is displayed on counter 91 in FIG. 8. As described above, operate the increment or decrement switches 93 and 94 (Fig. 8) to set the number of sheets of paper loaded into the paper feed section on the counter (Fig. 7 Si,
), and thereafter, each time the CPU 68 sends a print command to the printer engine 51 for printing, the CPU 6
8 counts down the counter that stores information on the number of remaining sheets of paper in the RAM 61, and repeats this until 10 sheets remain (Fig. 7 S1 □l 514) II. value) is displayed on the counter 91 (FIG. 8) of the operation panel 52 through the panel interface 66 under the control of the CPU 68. When there are 10 sheets of paper left, the warning lamp 9 on the operation panel 52 will turn on.
2 (Fig. 8) blinks (Fig. 7, 8□5) to inform the user of the time to replenish paper. Paper is replenished using an optional tray 85 as shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

Next, a fourth example will be described. Paper feed section 71 (fifth
A certain number of sheets of paper are put into the paper feed section (FIG. 9, S, . . .), and the number of sheets of paper put into the paper feed section is set on the counter by operating the operation panel shown in FIG. 8 (FIG. 9, 82□). In addition, the number of warning sheets is set in the RAM 61 by the same operation (823 in Fig. 9).
). Thereafter, each time the CPU 68 issues a print command to print, the counter is counted down, and this is repeated until the number of remaining sheets reaches the set warning number (
Figure 9 824182, ). At this time, the remaining number of sheets is C
It is displayed on the counter 91 (FIG. 8) of the operation panel 52 through the panel interface 66 under the control of the PU 68. When the remaining paper reaches the warning number, the operation panel 5
The warning lamp 92 of No. 2 is blinked to inform the user of the time to replenish paper. Paper is replenished using an optional tray 85 as shown in FIG.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above embodiments, the present invention makes it possible to issue a warning to the user before the paper runs out in the paper feed unit, and prevents the host from causing a timer out and communication being interrupted. It is possible to prevent this from happening.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the configuration of a laser printer, which is a type of page printer. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a controller and external options in an embodiment of the present invention.
and a flowchart of the second embodiment, FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of the first operation panel of the printer in the embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a printer according to the present invention with an optional tray installed, and FIG. 7 is an operation flowchart of a third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of a second operation panel in an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a fourth embodiment of the present invention. 20... Paper feed roller, 21... Paper end sensor, 22... Paper feed tray, 31... Engine drive board, 32... Controller board, 50...
Controller, 51... Printer engine, 52...
・Operation panel, 53.54...Cartridge, 6o・
ROM, 61... RAM, 62... Non-volatile memory, 63... Option interface, 64...
...Host interface. 65... Engine interface, 66... Panel interface, 67... Bus, 68... CP
U, 71...Paper feed section, 72...Paper feed section lever, 81
．． 91...Counter, 82, 92...Warning lamp,
85...Option tray, 93...Increment switch, 94...Decrement switch.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A printer having a paper feed section capable of stocking a fixed number of sheets of paper and a means for counting the number of sheets each time a sheet of paper is printed, including a panel display section for displaying the number of remaining sheets of paper. A printer characterized by: (2) The printer according to claim (1), further comprising an interface capable of bidirectional communication, and means for returning information on the number of remaining sheets in response to an inquiry from a host.