JPH04529A - Method for controlling printing controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the operating time and operability of a system by restarting the operation of a printing device based on the fault releasing instruction information obtained by OR operation between fault releasing instruction information and another fault releasing instruction information inputted from a console panel in the case of a fault to be processed only by th switching operation of the console panel. CONSTITUTION:When the paper lacing state of the printing device 2 is information to the display part of an information processor 1, a user inputs data instruction the depression of a paper feeding switch from the processor 1. The data are reflected to a switch/lamp information register 7 through an interface control part 5 and an OR circuit 10. In the case, the circuit 10 sets up OR between data obtained from the processor 1 and switching data obtained from the console panel 4. Then a console panel control part 8 recognizes the data reflected to the register 7 and instructs the lighting of a lamp to the register 7 to light up the lamp of the paper feeding switch on the panel 4. Simultaneously with the operation, the control part 8 sends a paper feeding requiring signal to the device 2 through an adapator 6. The device 2 receiving the requiring signal executes paper feeding processing.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention is applicable to center printers, LAN (Local A
rea N network (internal communication network), etc.
This invention relates to a method for controlling a printing control device that controls a printing device installed at a location far from a host information processing device, and in particular, to efficiently deal with a failure that does not require work on the printing device itself. The present invention relates to a method of controlling a printing control device suitable for

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, information processing using computers (information processing devices) has been widely implemented.

Information processed by the information processing device is displayed on the display of the information processing device, and a user can obtain the information from the display.

However, in reality, the processing results are often printed out on paper or the like and used as materials as before. Therefore, the function of a printing device that prints and outputs processing result information of an information processing device has become important in an information processing system.

For example, in order to take advantage of the advantages of information processing devices that operate at high speeds, we are developing highly functional and high-performance printing devices with the aim of achieving high printing speeds, high reliability, and ease of operation. is in progress. For this purpose, printing control devices that exclusively control printing devices have been developed.

Furthermore, in order to cope with the rise in prices that accompany these advances in functionality and performance, systems such as LAN, in which a single printing device is shared by multiple information processing devices, are also being developed. being developed.

However, in a system in which one printing device is shared by a plurality of information processing devices, the installation location of the information processing device and the installation location of the printing device including the print control device are separated. Therefore, when a failure occurs in the printing device, the time loss required to eliminate the cause of the failure and reset the printing device and print control device becomes a problem.

In order to prevent system failures due to such failures, it is becoming increasingly important to improve the reliability of printing devices including print control devices and to facilitate release operations when failures occur.

For controlling conventional printing devices, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 57
As described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 153329, an information processing device that is a host device receives data in the printing device and recognizes its status, and as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-45634, There are devices that monitor the operating status of printing devices.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, for example, those described in JP-A-57-153329 and JP-A-57-45634,
In the information transmission between the host device and the printing device, no consideration is given to the transmission of operation panel instruction information of the printing device or the printing control device. Therefore, even in the case of a failure that requires only the operation of a switch on the operation panel, the user can install a printing device that is located far from the host device,
It was necessary to move to the operation panel of the printing control device and operate a switch to clear the fault.

For example, in recent years, as the functionality of laser printers has improved, print data has become more complex, and when debugging data, there may be problems such as data errors that can be moved to the next process simply by operating a switch.

However, even in the face of such failures, users have to use the printing device,
Alternatively, it is necessary to move to the location where the print control device is installed, which causes problems such as a large time loss.

An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of these conventional techniques, and in response to a fault notification from a printing device, in the case of a fault that does not require fault removal procedures in the printing device itself, an information processing device that is a higher-level device A printing control device that improves the performance of the system by handling printing device failures by operating from The purpose of this invention is to provide a control method for the following.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the method for controlling a print control device of the present invention provides a method for controlling a print control device, in which the print control device is provided with logic that performs a logical OR operation between fault clearing instruction information from the information processing device and fault clearing instruction information from the operation panel. A sum circuit is added between the operation panel and the operation panel control section, and if the failure notified to the information processing device is a failure that can be dealt with simply by operating the switches on the operation panel, the user can , sends fault clearing instruction information to clear the fault to the printing control device via the information processing device that has been notified of the fault, and furthermore, the printing control device that has received this fault clearing instruction information uses a logical sum circuit. hand,
Performs a logical OR operation between the fault clearing instruction information from the information processing device and the fault clearing instruction information from the operation panel, and uses the operating panel control section to perform a logical sum operation based on the fault clearing instruction information obtained from the logical sum circuit. It is characterized by restarting the operation of the printing device.

[Operation] In the present invention, when the printing device abnormally stops, the operation panel control section notifies the information processing device of the failure information. The information processing device that receives this fault notification displays the details of the fault on its display unit to notify the user.

The user can determine whether the failure is due to the displayed failure details.
Determine whether the printing device itself requires troubleshooting processing. If the printing device itself does not require troubleshooting, the user can reset the printing device and perform the Print processing execution command,
Send as fault clearing instruction information.

The printing control device uses an OR circuit to perform a logical OR operation between the fault clearing instruction information from this information processing device and the fault clearing instruction information from the conventional operation panel. and,
Based on the fault clearing instruction information obtained by the logical OR operation, the printing control device resets the printing device and performs the next printing via the operation panel control unit in the same way as instructions from the operation panel by the actual user. Instructs the printing device to perform processing.

In this way, in the case of a failure of the printing apparatus that does not require troubleshooting of the printing apparatus itself, the user can deal with it through operations from the information processing apparatus.

[Example 1 Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing one embodiment of the processing operation of the print control device according to the present invention.

This is an operation of a printing control device provided with a logical sum circuit that performs a logical sum operation of fault clearing instruction information from the information processing device and fault clearing instruction information from the operation panel.

First, a failure is detected (step 101), and the failure information is notified to the upper information processing device (step 102). Next, the user who has recognized the content of the fault waits for the user to input fault clearing instruction information via the information processing device (step 10).
3) If inputted (step 104), the inputted fault clearing instruction information is logically summed using an OR circuit (step 105).

Then, a fault release command is sent to the printing device (step 106), and the process ends.

If in step 104, the input is from the operation panel rather than the input of the fault clearing instruction information via the information processing device (step 107), conventional fault clearing processing is performed (step 108) and the process ends. do.

In this way, in this embodiment, in response to a fault notification from the printing device, if the fault does not require a fault removal procedure on the printing device itself, it can be handled simply by operation from the information processing device that is the host device. Address printing device failures.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the configuration of a printing control device according to the present invention that performs the processing operations shown in FIG.

Information processing device 1, which is a host device, and this information processing device 1
In other words, a printing device 2 installed at a remote location is connected via a printing control device 3 to which the present invention is applied. still,
The printing control device 3 is installed near the printing device 2,
Further, it may be built into the printing device 2.

The print control device 3 includes a printer adapter 6 that performs input/output processing with the printing device 2, an interface control section 5 that controls input/output with the information processing device 1, and an operation panel 4.
The switch/lamp information register 7 stores the user's operation instruction data from the switch/lamp information register 7, and the operation of controlling the printing device 2 via the printer adapter 6 based on the operation instruction data stored in the switch/lamp information register 7. A panel control unit 8, a sub-processor control unit 9 that performs error checking on text data from the host device, and user operation instruction data from the operation panel 4 and user operation instructions from the information processing device 1. It is composed of an OR circuit 10 that performs an OR operation with data.

The operation and operation of the conventional technique will be explained below.

First, for example, in the printing device 2, when a paper out occurs during printing using continuous paper, the adapter 6 and
The information is reported to the information processing device l via the interface control unit 5.

When the out-of-paper state of the printing device 2 is reported on the display unit of the information processing device 1, the user first sends out all the continuous paper remaining in the printing device in order to replenish paper. To do this, the user presses the paper feed switch on the operation panel 4 of the print control device 3.

This switch data is reflected in the switch/lamp information register 7, and the operation panel control section 8 recognizes the data, instructs the switch/lamp information register 7 to turn on the lamp, and feeds the paper on the operation panel 4. Turn on the switch lamp.

At the same time, the operation panel control unit 8 sends a paper feed request signal to the printing device 2 via the adapter 6. The printing device 2 that receives this paper feed request signal executes paper feed processing.

As described above, in the conventional technology, the series of operations after the information processing device 1 is notified that there is no paper is available are executed unless the user recognizes that there is no paper and presses the paper feed switch on the operation panel 4. Not done.

The printing control device 3 according to the present invention performs the data input of pressing the paper feed switch by data input from the information processing device 1.

Hereinafter, processing operations when there is no paper will be explained based on this embodiment.

The method is the same as the conventional method until the user confirms the out-of-paper state of the printing device 2 on the display unit of the information processing device 1.

However, in this embodiment, when the out-of-paper state of the printing device 2 is reported on the display unit of the information processing device 1, the user can press the paper feed switch from the information processing device 1 to replenish paper. Enter the data that instructs. This data is reflected in the switch/lamp information register 7 via the interface control section 5 and the OR circuit 10. At this time, the OR circuit 10 sets the OR of the data from the information processing device 1 and the switch data from the operation panel 4.

Next, the operation panel control section 8 recognizes the data reflected in the switch/lamp information register 7 and instructs the switch/lamp information register 7 to turn on the lamp.
Turn on the paper feed switch lamp on the operation panel 4.

At the same time, the operation panel control unit 8 sends a paper feed request signal to the printing device 2 via the adapter 6. The printing device 2 that receives this paper feed request signal executes paper feed processing.

When paper feeding is executed, a notification to that effect is sent to the operation panel control unit 8.
is detected and reported to the information processing device 1 via the interface control unit 5, and the command is completed.

As a result, the user can use the operation panel 4 to complete paper feeding while moving without pressing an actual paper feeding switch, and can shorten the time required to replenish continuous paper.

Next, a first countermeasure operation for a failure caused by an error in text data from the information processing device 1 will be described.

When text data from the information processing device 1 is being developed into data to be actually printed, the subprocessor control unit 9
When a data error is detected, the user notifies the information processing device 1 via the interface control unit 5 6 Based on the reported content, the user determines the cause of the data error and, for example, takes action that does not require investigation. Recognize the error.

Then, when the user wants to reset the print control device 3 to print the next data, in the conventional technology, the user presses the check reset button on the operation panel 4 to reset the error state. , followed by pressing the ready switch.

However, when using the print control device 3 of this embodiment,
The user inputs data representing the actions "Press the check/reset switch on the operation panel 4" and "Press the ready switch on the operation panel 4" from the information processing device 1. These data are stored in the interface. The information is transmitted to the print control device 3 via the control section 5 .

Then, in the print control device 3, the data for the operation of "pressing the check/reset switch on the operation panel 4" is reflected in the switch/lamp information register 7 via the OR circuit 10. At this time, the OR circuit 10 sets the OR between the data from the information processing device 1 and the switch data actually input by the user via the operation panel 4.

Based on the data reflected in the switch/lamp information register 7, the operation panel control section 8 resets the subprocessor control section 9.

After that, "Press the ready switch on the operation panel 4"
Using the operation data, the operation panel control unit 8 sets ready lamp lighting data in the switch/lamp information register 7. With this data, the ready lamp on the operation panel 4 lights up.

Conventionally, the series of processes after a data error is reported in this way was not executed unless the user operated a switch on the operation panel 4, but according to this embodiment,
The user can print the next print data without actually pressing the check/reset switch or the ready switch on the operation panel 4. That is, in the case of a failure of the printing apparatus 2 due to an error in text data, the user can deal with the failure of the printing apparatus 2 by operating from the information processing apparatus 1, which is a host device.

Next, a second countermeasure operation for a failure caused by an error in text data from the information processing device 1 will be explained.

When a data error occurs as shown in the first countermeasure, when attempting to cancel the job in which the error occurred and execute the first job, conventionally, the user would do the following:
The cancel switch on the operation panel 4 of the printing control device 3 was pressed, and then the ready switch was pressed.

However, in this embodiment, the user receives data representing the action of "pressing the cancel switch" from the information processing device 1;
Enter data representing the action of "pressing the ready switch". Then, those data are transmitted to the print control device 3 via the interface control section 5.

In the print control device 3, first, data representing the action of "pressing the cancel switch" is reflected in the switch/lamp information register 7. At this time, the OR circuit 10 receives the data from the information processing device l and the operation panel 4.
The logical OR with the switch data actually input by the user is set via .

Based on the data reflected in the switch/lamp information register 7, the operation panel control section 8 sets data for lighting the cancel lamp in the switch/lamp information register 7. With this data, the cancel lamp on the operation panel 4 lights up.

Similarly to the cancel switch, ready processing is performed on data for the subsequent "ready switch press" operation using the data in the switch/lamp information register 7, and the lamp is turned on. After this, the next job can be executed.

In this way, these series of processes are similar to other embodiments, and conventionally the user had to operate actual switches on the operation panel 4, but according to this embodiment,
By inputting the data indicating that the cancel switch and the ready switch are pressed from the information processing device 1, the job can be canceled without actually pressing the cancel switch on the operation panel 4.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a data format transmitted from the information processing device in FIG. 2.

FIG. 3(a) shows the basic form of the data format, and the data 31 is composed of a command section 32 consisting of 1 byte and a switch/lamp data section 33 also consisting of 1 byte.

FIG. 3(b) shows an example of specific contents of the switch/lamp data section 33.

That is, if the switch/lamp data section 33 indicates "Ol" (displayed in hexadecimal notation, hereinafter referred to as rHEXOIJ) in the data column 34, this switch/lamp data section 33 indicates that the data is This indicates that the operation of the "paper feed switch" shown in the meaning column 35 is specified.

In this way, for example, in FIG.
When the action of "pressing the paper feed switch" is input in the information processing device 1 , data "HEXOl" is sent to the print control device 3 via the interface control section 5 .

This data rHEXOIJ is the same as the data when the paper feed switch on the operation panel 4 is pressed.
The operation panel control section 8 performs exactly the same process as when the user presses the paper feed switch on the operation panel 4.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the contents of the operation data stored in the switch/lamp information register in FIG. 2.

In this example, the operation data 41 is composed of one byte, and the data content 43 is set depending on the state of each bit 42. For example, the rQJ bit is
It represents "pressing the ready switch", and the "work" bit represents pressing J of the paper feed switch.

For example, in FIG. 2, when the user presses the paper feed switch on the actual operation panel 4, the first bit of this register, that is, the operation data 41, is set to "1".
”, and based on the data, the operation panel control unit 8 sets the fourth bit to “1” and sets an instruction to turn on the paper feeding lamp.

Furthermore, even if rHEXOl'' is received using the data shown in FIG. 3, the first bit will be rl'', and in the first example explained in FIG. 2, the following behavior will occur.

First, when out of paper is reported to the information processing device l,
Data r from the information processing bag y11 in the format shown in FIG.
HEXOIJ is sent. Then.

The interface control unit 5 determines that the switch is a paper feed switch, and outputs the operation data 41 shown in FIG. Then, the logical sum with the actual switch data of the operation panel 4 is set.

Based on the data, the operation panel control unit 8 lights up the paper feeding lamp of the 4th bit of the operation data 41 as "IJ" in the same way as when pressing an actual switch. Controls the paper feed of the device 2.

Then, when paper feeding is completed, the operation panel control section 8
The 4th bit of the operation data 41 is set to rQJ to turn off the paper feeding lamp.

Further, the first and second countermeasure operations for text data errors are also executed in the same manner as in this example. That is, in the case of the first countermeasure operation example, the data rHEXO2J
, then rHEXOOJ is sent. In addition, in the case of the second countermeasure operation example, rHEXO3J, then,
"HEXOO" is transmitted.

As described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4, according to the present embodiment, data input based on the switches on the operation panel of the printing device can be performed without having to move the data to the actual device, and the information stored in the host device can be input. This can be done from a processing device.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, when a fault occurs in a printing device, if the fault does not require a fault removal procedure for the printing device itself, the user can deal with it from a higher-level information processing device. There is no need for travel time to directly operate the switches on the operation panel, thereby improving the operating time and operability of the information processing system using the printing device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show embodiments of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the processing operations of the print control device according to the present invention; FIG. 2 shows the present invention of the print control device that performs the processing operations shown in FIG. A block diagram showing an example of the configuration according to the third embodiment.
The figure is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the data format transmitted from the information processing device in Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the contents of the operation data stored in the switch/lamp information register in Fig. 2. be. 1: Information processing device, 2: Printing device, 3: Printing control device,
4. Operation panel, 5. Interface control unit, 6: Printer adapter, 7: Switch/lamp information register, 8
: Operation panel control unit, 9: Sub-processor control unit, 10
: Failure detection section, 31: Data, 32: Command section, 33
: Switch/lamp data section, 34: Data column, 35:
Data meaning column, 41: Operation data, 42: Bit, 4
3: Data content. Figure ρノ

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A printing control device that is connected to a higher-level information processing device and controls the operation of the printing device based on instruction information from the information processing device, and is equipped with a group of switches used by the user to input operation instruction information. It has an operation panel and an operation panel control means for controlling the printing apparatus based on operation instruction information from the operation panel, and when a failure of the printing apparatus is detected, information on the failure is transmitted to the information processing apparatus. and remove the cause of the failure by the user who recognized the failure via the information processing device, and operate the operation panel control means based on the failure cancellation instruction information input by operating the switch on the operation panel. In the method for controlling a printing control device, the printing control device is configured to receive fault release instruction information from the information processing device,
A logical sum circuit that performs a logical sum operation with fault release instruction information from the operation panel is added between the operation panel and the operation panel control means, so that the fault notified to the information processing device is In the case of a failure that can be handled simply by operating a switch on the operation panel, the user sends failure cancellation instruction information to cancel the failure to the print control device via the information processing device that was notified of the failure. Further, the print control device that has received the fault clearing instruction information performs a logical OR operation between the fault clearing instruction information from the information processing device and the fault clearing instruction information from the operation panel using the logical sum circuit. and restarting the operation of the printing apparatus based on the fault clearing instruction information obtained by the OR circuit using the operation panel control means.