JPH04241978A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To aim at the execution of proper forced paper-discharge in a printer having a function forcibly conducting printing and discharge when the input of data from an external device is interrupted for a fixed time. CONSTITUTION:A timing means measuring time intervals when data are not transmitted from an external device, a discriminating means deciding whether or not forced printing and discharge are effective regarding data input, and an output control means controlling as to whether or not data are discharged forcibly on the basis of the result of the discrimination of said discriminating means when it is decided that data are not transmitted for a fixed time through said timing means are provided, and data in a printer are printed and discharged forcibly only when compulsive printing and discharge are effective.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that prints on paper or the like in accordance with data input from an external device such as a host computer.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the flow of processing in a conventional printing apparatus 1.

This printing device 1 is a device that inputs and prints print data output from an external device 2 such as a host computer, and includes an input section 3 that receives the data, and an analysis section 4 that analyzes the input data. , a page buffer 5 that stores the results of this analysis, a development section 6 that develops into a bitmap image based on the contents of this page buffer 5, and a frame memory 7 that stores the developed image data.
It has an output unit 8 that controls the output mechanism 9 according to the image data in the frame memory 7. The output mechanism 9 is
For example, it is composed of a laser beam or the like, and outputs the data from the output section 8 to a recording medium 10 such as paper.

[0004] In this printing device 1, the data input unit 3 receives print data output from the external device 2, the analysis unit 4 analyzes the data, and provides the data to the expansion unit 6 based on the analysis result. Data is stored in the page buffer 5 in an exponent format.

[0005] The page buffer 5 is configured in units of pages, and passes data to the expansion unit 6 in a form that includes all information for one page. The expansion unit 6 stores the output image in the frame memory 7 in the form of binary bitmap data for one page, for example, according to the data passed from the page buffer 5.
Create above.

[0006] The output unit 8 records the print result on the recording medium 10 by controlling the output mechanism 9 to turn on/off a laser beam, for example, based on the binary bitmap data.

[0007] Furthermore, this printing apparatus is provided with a function for forcibly discharging prints (hereinafter referred to as "forced paper discharging") when data input from the external device 2 is interrupted for a predetermined period of time.

FIG. 5 shows the input section 3 that realizes this forced paper ejection.
3 is a flowchart showing the processing of FIG.

[0009] First, set the time measurement counter (TIME) to
0'' (S1), receives the next input data (S3), and returns to S1.

[0010] If there is no next data,
The counter (TIME) is incremented (S4), and the counter (TIME) is set to the preset threshold value (M
AX) is determined (S5).

[0011] If it is smaller than the threshold value, the process returns to S2, and if it exceeds the threshold value, forced paper ejection is performed (S6).
, After the forced paper ejection ends, the process returns to S1.

0012

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the above conventional example, forced paper ejection is executed regardless of whether or not the input data is valid for forced paper ejection. There is a drawback that, when the paper is being used, the paper is forced to be ejected in the middle of a series of data when it should not be forcibly ejected.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus that can perform proper forced paper ejection.

[0014]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides, in a printing device that outputs print data input from an external device, a timer that measures a time interval during which no data is sent, and a forced control device for input data. an identification means for determining whether or not print output is valid; and an identification means for forcibly discharging the data based on the identification result of the identification means when it is determined by the timing means that data has not been sent for a predetermined period of time. It is characterized by having an output control means for controlling whether to discharge or not.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The printing apparatus 100 of this embodiment includes an input interface 101 for inputting print data from a host computer 200, a CPU 102 for controlling the entire printing apparatus 100, and a CPU 102 for controlling operation processing procedures, character font patterns, etc. Memorized ROM103 and CP
a reception buffer for storing print data received from the work area of U102 and the host computer 200;
Furthermore, RAM is used as a page buffer to construct one page of output image from print data.
104, a frame memory 105 for developing the output image, and an output unit 107 for printing the output image.
, an output interface 106 that outputs the output image to the output unit 107, and a system bus 108 that transfers data and the like between these components.

The flow of processing in this embodiment is generally the same as that shown in FIG. 4 above, so the following explanation will be based on each unit shown in FIG. I will explain with additional information.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing in the analysis section 4 in this embodiment.

The analysis section 4 is mainly composed of the CPU 102 mentioned above.

In the analysis section 4, first, a flag (FLAGFF) indicating whether forced paper ejection is possible is reset to OFF (S11), and the input section 3, that is, the RAM 10
Receive 1 byte of input data from the receive buffer of 4 (
S12).

Next, it is checked whether this input data is the beginning of a command or print data such as character data (S13), and if it is not the beginning of a command, it is stored in the RAM 10.
Create a conventional page buffer in 4 (S14),
Return to S12.

[0022] Also, if it is the beginning of the command, the flag (F
LAGFF) is turned on (S15), the command is analyzed (S16), and it is checked whether it is the last command (S1
7). If it is not the end of the command, 1 byte of data is further received from the input section 3 (S18), and S1
Return to 6. If it is the last command, the process returns to S11.

By performing such processing, the flag (FLAGFF) is controlled to be ON during the command, and OFF at other times.

Next, FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing in the input section 3 of this embodiment.

Here, the input section 3 includes the input interface 101, the reception buffer in the RAM 104, and the C
It is constituted by PU102.

Of the processes in the input section 3 of this embodiment, S
Since steps 21 to S25 are the same as the conventional processing steps S1 to S5 in FIG. 5, the explanation here will be omitted.

In this embodiment, the counter (TIM
If E) exceeds a preset threshold value (MAX), it is checked whether the flag (FLAGFF) is OFF (S26).

[0028] Then, the flag (FLAGFF) is OFF.
If so, perform forced paper ejection (S27), and after forced paper ejection, S
Return to 21.

If the flag (FLAGFF) is ON, the process returns to S21 without forcibly discharging the paper.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is determined whether the input data allows forced paper ejection, and if, for example, data is interrupted in the middle of a command, forced paper ejection should not be performed. If this is the case, it is possible to control the forced paper ejection so as not to perform the forced paper ejection, thereby preventing inappropriate forced paper ejection.

In the above embodiment, it is possible to set the condition that paper should not be forcibly ejected even when the command is not currently in progress, such as when image data is being processed or form data is being registered.

[0032] Also, in the above S26, the flag (FLAGF
F) is ON, the threshold value is set to (MA
Another possible method is to change from X) to (MAX2) and return to S22. In this case, when you are in the middle of a command,
Control can be performed such that paper is forcibly ejected when a dedicated waiting time (MAX2) is exceeded.

[0033]

According to the present invention, when input data from an external device is not input for a predetermined period of time, forced ejection is not performed if the paper should not be ejected according to the data that has already been input. This makes it possible to ensure proper forced paper ejection.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing processing in an analysis section in the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing processing at an input unit in the same embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the flow of processing in a conventional printing device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing processing in a conventional input unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

100...printing device, 101...input interface, 102...CPU, 103...ROM, 104...RAM, 105...frame memory, 106...output interface, 107...output section, 200...Host computer.

Claims (1)

[Claims] [Claim 1] In a printing device that outputs print data input from an external device, a timer for measuring a time interval during which no data is sent; and whether or not forced print output is effective for the input data. an identification means for determining whether or not data is forcibly ejected based on the identification result of the identification means when the timekeeping means determines that data has not been sent for a predetermined time; A printing device comprising: an output control means;