JPH03277580A - Printer having cumulated use state display function - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To record and store the total individual use time and the number of printing operations at every printer, in a printer wherein the printing instruction of a host apparatus is converted to an internal signal by a control part to be output from a printing part, by detecting a use elapse time showing a cumulated use state and the number of printing operations to record and hold the integrated values thereof in an internal memory. CONSTITUTION:When a power supply is turned ON, a current supply time detection part 16 detects and counts machine clocks at every one min after initializing operation is completed to increase the value of a current supply time 26 by one bit and, when printing data is inputted from a host apparatus to perform printing output, a printing time detection part 15 measures a printing processing time at every one line in a 3msec-unit and writes the count value while adds the same to a printing time 25 and a number-of-printed character detection part 14 increases the value of the number 24 of printed characters by one bit at each time when it detects one of character and mark printing signals. The total use time during the ON-period of the power supply, the net use time at every one line during actual printing operation and the number of times of the driving of a printing head at every one character of a printing part 3 are detected as use times to be written in the respective regions of a memory 2 in a binary numeral and, by inputting the instruction of 'test printing' from an operation panel 5, these values are displayed as a cumulated use state to perform printing output.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a printer that converts a print command from a host device into an internal signal by a control unit and outputs the signal from a print unit.

[Conventional technology 1] Conventionally, when using this type of printer, the cumulative usage status such as the power-on time and the cumulative number of prints was estimated indirectly from the display time of a timer installed in the central processing unit and the amount of printing paper consumed. It had been.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The conventional method for determining the cumulative usage status of printers described above does not directly measure the power-on time, printing time, number of printed characters, etc. for each printer, but uses other data in the system. Since this was an indirect estimation, the usage status of each printer is not clear, and it is difficult to predict when to replace consumables such as printing ribbons or to analyze the cause of a failure.

The purpose of the present invention is to detect the usage elapsed time and the number of printing operations that indicate the cumulative usage status, record and hold the cumulative value in an internal memory, and print out the cumulative value if necessary. An object of the present invention is to provide a printer with a function of displaying cumulative usage status.

[Means for Solving the Problems] A printer with a cumulative usage status display function of the present invention includes a writable non-volatile memory, a machine clock that is detected at predetermined intervals to measure time,
a usage time accumulation means for writing the number of hours into the non-volatile memory; and a printing operation for detecting an internal signal of a print command sent from the control unit to the drive circuit of the printing unit and writing the number of times of detection into the non-volatile memory. and a usage status display means for printing out each integrated value of the number of hours written in the nonvolatile memory and the number of print command detections.

[Function] Each time the printer is used, the operating time and number of printing operations are accumulated by the operating time accumulating means and the printing operation number accumulating means and written into the non-volatile memory, so the usage status can be updated if necessary. The display means can print out these integrated values and display the cumulative usage status up to that point.

[Example] Next, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a Bunonta with a cumulative usage status display function according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a display of the printed output 31.

The printer of this embodiment uses a microprocessor (not shown)
A control unit 1 consisting of a computer and a ROM memory (not shown) converts data manually inputted to the interface 4 from a host device (not shown) into an internal code and a control signal in a code conversion unit 11, and drives the printing unit 3. This is a dot matrix serial printer that prints a print output 31 using a timer 12 that inputs a machine clock generated by a clock 6 from a 9 MHz oscillator, and an operation panel 5 for inputting settings for each operation mode of the printer. Memory where various data are written (
RAM) 2. Further, the control unit 1 measures the total usage time of the blink, that is, the time the power is on by counting the machine clock at one-minute intervals using the timer 12, and stores the counted value in the memory 2.
The energization time detection section 16 writes the energization time while accumulating it to 26J (3 bytes = 24 piuts), and the printing time for each line as the net usage time, that is, the print output of the control signal sent to the printing section 3. The count value of the time measured by counting the machine clock at 3 millisecond intervals from the detection of the first printing signal for each line to the detection of the line feed signal of that line is calculated as [Printing time 25J (4, 5 bytes =
36 bits).
Among the signals sent to the printing unit 3, only the signals for character printing such as alphanumeric characters, symbols, kana, and kanji are detected, excluding signals for controlling functions such as line feed and page feed, and are detected for each character. Count the number of printing operations and use the counted value as the number of printing operations.
(4,5 bytes = 36 bits) and a test print output unit 13 from the operation panel 5.
When the is started, it reads out the number of prints 24J, the print time 25J, and the energization time 26 from the memory 2, and converts them into lO base numbers in the units of "cross", "minute", and "hour", It includes a usage status display section 17 that edits the value as shown in FIG. 2 and prints out the edited value before test printing 35.

Therefore, in the printer of this embodiment, when the power is turned on, after the initialization operation is completed, the energizing time detection section 16 detects and counts the machine clock every minute, increases the value of the energizing time 26 by 1 bit, and When the print data is manually input from the device and the printout is performed, the printing time detection section]5
measures the printing processing time for each line in units of 3 milliseconds and writes the counted value while adding it to the printing time 25, and each time the printing number detection unit 14 detects one character or symbol printing signal. Increase the value of print number 24 by 1 bit. To display the cumulative usage status, enter the "test print" command from the operation panel 5, and the usage status display section 17 will display the energization time 26, which is written in binary numbers in the memory 2, respectively.
Read out the printing time 25 and the number of prints 24 and select [hour 1, "minutes"]
These values are converted into decimal numbers in the unit of "cross" and displayed by the printing section 3 in the format shown in FIG. and output.

As explained above, in the blink of this embodiment, the usage time includes the total usage time when the power is turned on (power-on time 26), and the net usage time for each line when the actual printing operation is performed. (Printing time 25) and the number of times the print head is driven for each character of the printing section 3 (Number of prints 24) are detected and written in binary numbers in each area of the memory 2, and the operation panel 5 reads "
By inputting a command for "test printing", these values can be displayed as cumulative usage status and printed out. This is set as the time width required to reliably detect and count one character at the printing speed, and the size of each area of the memory 2 is determined when the energization time 26 is 3.
Approximately 280,000 hours (approximately 31 years) of part-time work, approximately 3.4 million minutes of printing time 25 of 4.5 bytes = 57,000 hours (approximately 6
．． 5 years), the number of prints 24 is 4.5, the number of prints is 2” = 6.
The capacity is equivalent to 8 x 10" characters (1 page of B4 size, 136 characters x 50 lines, 107 pages = 3,000 pages x 3,300 boxes), but these values may vary depending on the printer's performance and expected usage period. You can adjust each.

Next, in a case where a printing drive signal is sent line by line or page by page, such as in a line printer or a page printer instead of a serial printer as in this embodiment, the printing time detection unit 15 and the print number detection unit 14 The signals it detects are not print drive signals for each character, but print head drive signals and paper feed control signals such as line breaks and page breaks, and measure the time and number of operations, and store these values in memory 2. will be accumulated. In such a case, the usage status display section 17 converts the
A "line" or a "page J" is used as a unit to display the number of prints on the printout 31. Therefore, when trying to calculate the actual number of characters to be printed, an estimated value that is larger than the actual number of characters to be printed will be given for printed output with many spaces between characters or blank lines. Expression of the number of lines or number of pages is sufficiently practical as a cumulative record of past usage results of the printer, and the present invention can be applied to printers other than serial printers.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the present invention includes a usage time integration means that measures the usage time by sampling the machine clock at predetermined intervals, and a usage time integration means that measures the usage time by detecting a predetermined internal print signal. A printing number accumulating means, a memory in which the accumulated values of the usage time and the number of printing operations measured by the two means are written, and a usage status display means for reading out each of the accumulated values from the memory and printing them out. By providing a printer, the total usage time and number of printing operations for each printer are recorded and saved, and these numbers can be displayed by the usage status display means, so ribbons, etc. are not worn out during the usage period. This has the effect of making it easier to determine when to replace a product, and understanding the usage status for cause analysis when repairing a problem.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a printer with a cumulative usage status display function according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a display of a printed output 31. 1...Control unit, 2...Memory, 3...
・Printing section, 4...Interface, 5.
-・Operation panel, 6...Clock, 11...
・Code conversion unit, ]2... timer, ]3...
Test print output section, 14...Print number detection section, 15...
・Printing time detection unit, 16...Electrification time detection unit, 17
...Usage status display section, 24.34...Number of prints, 2
5, 33...Printing time, 26.32-...Electrification time, 31...Print output.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A printer that converts print information sent from a host device into an internal signal in a control unit and drives a print unit to output print, comprising a writable non-volatile memory and a predetermined machine clock. Detect and measure time at intervals of
a use time accumulating means for writing the number of hours into the non-volatile memory; detecting an internal signal of a print command sent from the control section to a drive circuit of the printing section and writing the number of times of detection into the non-volatile memory; A cumulative usage status display function characterized by having a printing operation number accumulating unit, and a usage status displaying unit that prints and outputs each cumulative value of the number of hours written in the nonvolatile memory and the number of print command detections. printer with.