JPH04168083A - Printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make possible the transfer processing of specified information at high speed by receiving/sending information between a printing device and an outer device in a parallel data format mode. CONSTITUTION:If sending/receiving information is demanded, a sending/receiving part 31 converts specified wired parallel information to wireless parallel information and a sends it to an outer device. If sending/receiving information is demanded by the outer device, specified wireless parallel information sent by radio from the outer device consisting of a host computer 1 and a radio sending/ receiving device 2 is received and then is converted to wired parallel information as data which can be processed. Subsequently, data which conforms with a parallel data format and is processed by a printing device can be processed by communications with the outer device. Thus the processing efficiency of transferring data from the outer device is significantly enhanced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a printing device capable of communicating print information with an external device via a wireless device.

[Conventional technology 1] Conventionally, in this type of printing device, when communicating print information with an external device via a wireless device, the frequency used for data transfer was single, so both the host computer and the printing device were connected in parallel. Even with devices that can communicate, data must first be converted into serial format data using a wireless device before communication can take place.

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention 1] As a result, the communication speed decreases, and a conversion process to a data format that is originally unnecessary becomes necessary.
There were problems such as hindering efficient printing processing.

This invention was made in order to solve the above problems, and by transmitting and receiving predetermined information in a wireless parallel data format between a printing device and an external device, information transfer processing can be performed at high speed. The purpose is to obtain a printing device that can perform the following operations.

[Means for Solving the Problems] A printing device according to the present invention converts predetermined wired parallel information into predetermined wireless parallel information and transmits the same,
The apparatus is provided with a transmitting/receiving means that receives predetermined wirelessly transmitted parallel information, converts it into wired parallel information, and performs parallel wireless communication with an external device.

[Operation] In this invention, when transmission of information is requested, the transmitting/receiving means converts predetermined wired parallel information into predetermined wireless parallel information and transmits it to the external device, and the information is not transmitted from the external device. When requested, it is possible to receive predetermined wireless parallel information wirelessly transmitted from an external device and convert it into wired parallel information to make it processable data.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a printing apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention, in which a host computer 1. Wireless transmitting/receiving device 2. It is composed of a printing device main body 3 and the like.

The host computer 1 stores print data and the printing device main body 3.
0 control command etc. are sent to the printer main body 3 via the wireless transmitting/receiving device 2 to cause the printer main body 3 to perform printing processing.

The wireless transmitting/receiving device 2 has an interface 21 . for transmitting and receiving data with the host computer 1 . It includes a transmitting/receiving section 22 that converts data into a parallel format and performs communication.

The printing device main body 3 has a microprocessor including ROM and RAM, and performs communication by converting data from a wired communication format to a wireless communication format, or vice versa, from a wired communication format to a wired communication format while keeping the data in a parallel format. Transmitting/receiving section 31. Interface 32 for sending and receiving data. A control section 33 that controls the overall device, and an output section 34 that actually performs printing. A data bus 35 is provided.

In this example, it is assumed that data is communicated in parallel format via a parallel interface manufactured by Centronics or the like.

In the printing apparatus configured in this way, when transmission of information is requested, the transmitting/receiving means (in this embodiment, the transmitting/receiving section 3
1) converts predetermined wired parallel information into predetermined wireless parallel information and transmits it to an external device, and when the external device requests transmission of information, the external device (host in this embodiment) to computer 1 ．． Consists of wireless transmitter/receiver device 2, etc.)
Receives predetermined wireless parallel information wirelessly transmitted from the computer, converts it into wired parallel information, and converts it into data that can be processed. As an example of converting wired parallel information to wireless parallel information, for example, an oscillation source corresponding to each bit is provided, and each bit signal modulated at a different frequency from these oscillation sources is modulated based on a synchronization signal. It is only necessary to transmit it, and when receiving it, it is sufficient to demodulate each bit signal and convert it into a wired parallel signal.

The print information wireless transmission/reception process in the printing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of a print information wireless transmission/reception processing procedure in the printing apparatus according to the present invention. Note that (1) to (5) indicate each step.

First, when the host computer 1 generates data to be transferred to the printing apparatus main body 3, the interface 21 determines whether there is data to actually be transferred (1). If No, the process ends; if YES, interface 2
1 checks the frequency indicating the status of the printer main body 3 via the transmitter/receiver 22 (2).

Next, it is determined whether the state of the printer main body 3 allows data transfer (3), and if YES, the interface 21 transfers the data to the printer main body 3 via the transmitter/receiver 22.
Transfer 1 byte of data to the computer in parallel interface format 5) and return to step (1). Note that the transmitting/receiving section 2
2 can communicate simultaneously on multiple frequencies, so one byte of data can be transferred at once.

On the other hand, if the determination in step (3) is No, the interface 21 notifies the host computer 1 that the data transfer is not permitted (4), and repeatedly transmits the frequency indicating the state of the printer body 3 until permission is obtained to transfer the data in step (2). ) and continue investigating.

In the above embodiment, a case was explained in which a parallel interface manufactured by Centronics was used as an interface, but the present invention can be easily applied to the case where any other parallel format data interface is used.

[Effect of the Invention 1 As explained above, the present invention converts predetermined wired parallel print information into predetermined wireless parallel print information and transmits the same, and converts the predetermined wirelessly transmitted predetermined wireless parallel print information into wired parallel print information. Since we have provided a transmitting/receiving means that performs parallel wireless communication with an external device while converting the data into the data format and receiving the data, it becomes possible to communicate and process data that conforms to the parallel data format processed by the printing device with the external device. This has the effect of significantly improving data transfer processing efficiency.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a print information wireless transmission/reception processing procedure in the printing apparatus according to the invention. In the figure, 1 is a host computer, 2 is a wireless transmitter/receiver,
Reference numeral 3 designates a printer body, 31 a transmitting/receiving section, 32 an interface, 33 a control section, 34 an output section, and 35 a data bus.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a printing device that receives print information wirelessly transmitted from an external device and performs printing processing, it converts predetermined wired parallel information into predetermined wireless parallel information and transmits the same, and also converts the predetermined wirelessly transmitted parallel information into predetermined wireless parallel information. 1. A printing device comprising a transmitting/receiving unit that performs parallel wireless communication with an external device while receiving and converting the received information into wired parallel information.